3006 pronghorn load?

i'd just use the 165 load. a lighter bullet won't offer much less drop at 300.

It'll do. Honestly, I'd worry more about a good range finder and tripod for the long shots or focus on putting the sneak on them for shorter shots if that's not an option. I live in Eastern Montana and it is unusually difficult to estimate the ranges of antelope, there are usually few trees to reference and antelope are pretty small critters. That being said, the wind on the prairie is almost always blowing at a pretty good clip so a high BC bullet will afford you more margin of error should you miss a wind value by several MPH at longer range. I've filled goat tags with 55gr 223 bullets all the way up to 200gr 308 bullets, just shoot them where it counts and it will work.

If you are sure you won't be shooting much past 300 yards a 165gr Bullet In the 30-06 is more than good. If you are going out past 600 yards you might want to make a few changes. (which I would not personally do)

If your load will take an Elk why wouldn't it take an animal that weighs between 90 and 150 lbs?

Not to worry IMO, even though there are many many new and great cartridges out there there is nothing in North America a 30-06 with bullets from 150gr and up can't take cleanly.

The 165gr bullet is also my favorite bullet weight for the 30-06 even though most shooters I know like the 180gr.

brewer12345 said:

I would not shoot farther than 300 yards, so no worries. Not worried about knock down power, just trying to make sure there isn't something fundamentally wrong with the premise.

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Switching to a better wind bucking bullet is the only possible change I would even consider, there's nothing wrong with what you've already got. As posted above, range and wind calls are more important, every wounded 'lope I've gone after has been due to bad dope from some weekend warrior. Don't know where you drew for, but if there's pronghorn, there's wind, if you're confident with that, then you're good to go!

brewer12345 said:

Horsey, there is definitely wind. So how does one compensate for wind? Never really had to. Ideally I will be getting within 200 yards, but it may not be possible.

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Bullets with better bc buck better such as ballistic tips, accubonds, ablr and eldx, there's also the bergers and scirrocco 2s if you wanna spend a Lil more money but not necessary. I'll post more data to illustrate when I get off work

Why not 130's or 150's? I have been shooting 150 pulled Federal Fusions out to 600 yards, they group well and the elevation is well within what I expect to get out of 165/168's out to 300 yards.





Grouped well at 100 yards with 59.0 grains AA4350 and the velocity was good.



This three shot group at 300 yards is worth bragging about. And the whole shooting society agrees that three shot groups are the gold standard for accuracy and consistency.



Because with five shots, the groups open up



And then with ten shots, it is hard to shoot ten shot groups without throwing a round or two



Which is why I am only showing a five shot group at 600 yards.



I will have to cut this load. While I had no issues at the 100 yard range with 59 grs of AA4350, when I used 60 grains of H4350 I had primer leaks. Oops!



But, take a look at the real elevations required to go from 100 to 300 yards, and even 600 yards. I think all the blah, blah about BC is well inside my group diameters at 300 yards. While there is a real trajectory difference between bullets the further you go out, someone needs to go shoot some ten shot groups at a 300 yard distance, to prove, that the differences in BC will move the group outside of the ten ring between bullets. The ten ring is seven inches. And I claim, if you can hold seven inches at 300 yards, you are able to stay within the critical lethal zone of a small animal.

So why not try a 150 grain bullet, or even a 130 grain bullet in the 30-06. The 30-06 will push a 130 grain bullet faster than a 270 Win, and Gunwriters have written libraries and made entire careers bragging about the 130 grain bullet in a 270 Win.

brewer12345 said:

Horsey, there is definitely wind. So how does one compensate for wind? Never really had to. Ideally I will be getting within 200 yards, but it may not be possible.

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Ok, so now that I have time......obviously practice in the conditions you'll be shooting in is recommended no matter what, getting a kestrel and rangefinder and use of a ballistic app would also be helpful, I also like mildotbar scopes. Sooooo, using the 165 partition at 2800 fps (this velocity used hereafter for all 165 class weights) with a 15 mph crosswind will yield 9.8 inches of drift at 300 yds (3 moa .9 mil holdover) with a 165 btip/accubond 8.2 inches (2.6 moa .76 mil) 165 tipped game king 7.4 inches (2.3 inches and .68 mil). With 150 b tips moving at 2900 fps, you're looking at 8.7 inches (2.8 moa and .81 mil). With a 125 btip/ab at 3180 there should be 9.3 inches of drift (3 moa and .86 mil).

brewer12345 said:

I have an elk load that used 165 grain partitions and does MOA or so.

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In the right spot and those ranges the pronghorn will never know the difference. If you’re a Nosler fan, you may want to investigate their other technologies since the BT is for thin skinned game while the partition and accubond are for heavier skin and bone game. And the BT and AB have a higher BC which your numbers above echo. I switched to these two bullets but the partition has been taking game since Nosler offered it for sale.

I load up a 150 gr Nosler ballistic tip hunting bullet with IMR 4895 for my dad Weatherby Mark V and he has found it to be excellent on Antelope to 350 yards.

A few years ago, my son in law's rifle was malfunctioning, so he borrowed the only thing I had to offer at the moment: my 30-06 with 180 grain elk loads. His pronghorn presented quartering toward, and his shot landed just forward of the front shoulder, blew out the heart, and broke a couple of ribs on its way out. Yeah, your -06 will work just fine.

There isn't a ton of actual difference in the trajectories of different weight bullets. The heavier ones tend to have higher ballistic coefficients, which somewhat offsets the lower muzzle velocity.

If I were loading for such a trip, I'd probably be happy with a 165 or 150 grain boat-tail load of some kind. Standard cup and core bullets tend to break up if they impact above 2800 FPS, so one of the tougher bullets might be called for.

No pronghorn is going to shrug off any 30-06 load.

They are funny critters.... you can walk to within 50-100 yards of them if you are downwind. If they can smell you, you usually can't get within 700 yards.

Enjoy your hunt!

Edited to add: If you can get one that has been munching alfalfa in a farmer's field, and hasn't been running, and if you promptly take care of it, yum yum. Once they kick in the afterburner, not so much.

LRDGCO said:

150s are a more conventional load for speed goats but if you have this 165 grs load dialed in and are confident out to 300, then you will get a little less wind push, so I'd stick with it. Good luck and happy hunting.

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+1

It’s been a few years since I drew a Pronghorn tag. Come to think of it, the last time I drew one was before I had my 308 Norma Mag and was still using my 30-06 for all my big game hunting. So I guess it’s been 15 or 16 years.

At any rate, when I used to use my 30-06 for Pronghorns, I used the same load in it that I used for mule deer – 165gr Hornady BTSP over a charge of IMR 4350 that kicked the bullets out at just over 2800fps. That load will do slightly better than MOA from my old Ruger 77 and I never lost a mule deer to it, much less a little Pronghorn antelope. I always keep my 30-06 sighted in to be dead on at 250 yards. And I'm confident with it on deer and antelope out to about 400 yards if the wind isn't too strong and I have a decent rest.

If I do manage to draw a Pronghorn tag this year (keeping my fingers crossed) I’ll be using the same load I now use for mule deer in my 308 Norma Mag – 165gr Sierra HPBT over a charge of H4831 that kicks the bullets out at a little better than 3100fps. That load also goes sub MOA from my rifle, I’ve never lost a mule deer to it, and I’ll bet it too will work just fine on Pronghorn antelope.

I love antelope stew.

.308 Norma said:

I love antelope stew.

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You should try my antelope green chili with white beans. I made 16 quarts for a work function potluck thinking I would have plenty of left-overs, all I brought home was a couple empty crock-pots.

brewer12345 said:

Horsey, there is definitely wind. So how does one compensate for wind? Never really had to. Ideally I will be getting within 200 yards, but it may not be possible.

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Like said above, a bullet with better BC will help in windy conditions. Try a 165gr Nosler AccuBond with the same load as the Partition and see if it shoots as well. If not You probably will need to make only very small changes to adjust the load. I'm a huge Partition can but for the past 2 years I have been using the AccuBond instead. The added bonus is a slightly lower cost too. (about 15% lower)

Personally I don't think it's necessary but more information is always better.