Deer load 30-06 edition with a special situation

A few seasons ago I went with the 180 ProHunters in my sporterized 03A3.

Here’s my work up for that load

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/30-06-hunting-load-work-up-2-0.827446/

I rarely get “bang flops” or “DRTs” (although, I generally get “MOA all day”…. if I do my part )

My bullet placement strategy is usually the double lung shot. They will run but rarely get more than 50 yards and they leave a nice blood trail. You can’t get far if you can’t breathe, right?

However, I decided this particular season I would try the shoulder shot so I created the load I mentioned above. The 180 ProHunter is a flat based cup and core bullet and I was pushing it at 2,750 FPS. That should be stout enough for the task.



I set up in a tree line looking over a winter wheat field and it wasn’t 15 minutes before a nice mature 8 point steps out ~150 yards from me.

I punched straight through both shoulders taking out his front legs and yet he STILL ran, plowing the field for a good 30-40 yards before going down for good.





I guess the bottom line for me is if you’re shooting a .30-06 why not go with a 180gn bullet.

I shot a doe point blank one time, was maybe 5-6 yards. Had a pretty warm load in that 308 so probably was not far off from 06 speeds. Bullet was a 150 hornady interlock, what if did I was surprised by. The deer dropped like one would expect, she was looking at me and I put cross hairs just above the eyes. I was expecting a deer that could only be sexed by what was out back and not the head.

After she dropped I packed my stuff and got my field kit out, it had dropped 3 inches of snow since I was hunting. The bullet hit middle of the forehead and came out the back like it would but it was like there was no hole in the skull. I could feel it was broken but the in and out holes were all most impossible to see. I would have thought there would be more explosive damage.

KansasTrapper77 said:

I was gunna say something on this like. You want bang flop? Try a Hornady 150gr SST. Might be some meat loss but they seriously dump all the energy in the animal.

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My experience with Hornady SSTs has lead me away from them. I was shooting them out of my .308 at 2900fps…

I shot a doe at 20 yards.. quartering away. She went down immediately and was kicking a little. I chambered another round and layed my gun across my lap, at which time she jumped up and hauled ass. Zero blood at the scene if the crime and only found two pin pricks of blood over the coarse of 150 yards. The shot and her reaction were on camera and confirmed a lethal shot entering her ribs with and intend exit at the opposing shoulder.

Later that season, I shot a buck. Perfect broadside with front leg forward and head down. Kicked like a mule and ran off. Zero blood. We found the buck a week later 250 yards from where he was shot. The buck was 158 inches by the way…

The following night (after losing the buck), I shot a doe with a perfect broadside shot. She was standing still at 80 yards, went down immediately and based on the other two experiences, I immediately chambered another round with intention of keeping her down. She got up and hauled ass before I could re-shoulder the gun.

Normally, I don’t share the above because it still upsets me to this day and it probably makes other hunters cringe. But that’s my experience with Hornady 150 SSTs at 2900fps out of a .308, I don’t use them anymore.

DRT shots are almost always due to shot placement and/or variables well outside your control.

There is no perfect formula for this though I have spoken to several who love 25-06 because it seems to produce swift kills. I have zero data to back that up but I would assume that bullet velocity and frangibility play a key role, among other things.


I have seen what would appear to be perfectly shot deer run hundreds of yards. Some with no shoulder. Some with eviscerated hearts.

There is luck involved.

I would vote 180gr for better penetratation as the 150 doesn't move fast enough in 308 or generally even 3006 to compare to a .270 130 gr or a 25_06 117 gr.

I would also favor a ballistic tip or similar in that weight but make sure it isn't made for 300 WM speeds. Last I remembered some of the 180s have thicker jackets due to that intended use but my memory may be failing me. Can't go wrong with a hot cor or game king if they shoot well for you.

My .02

Neither one would be a bad choice. But I voted and favor the 150's.

Yeah I have not been out with a 30.06. I have had good luck with 150 gr .308. Hopefully next year I can comment on that subject.

Bud of mine is an avid deer hunter. Not to avid about the costs of belonging to the hunt club, it is about $1000 a year and going up. However he uses a 308 Win out to 300 yards and decided on Hornady 150 grain SST's. Bud claims, hit them in the lungs, and they will run off and you will find the corpse, eaten by Coyotes, the next morning. He did not change bullets, he changed aim points. The more muscle mass you hit, the better the performance of the bullet. Bud hits them in the region between neck and shoulder, there is a lot of bone and meat there. It is not so much dead on the spot, but the animal goes down and dies in place.

You don't need some howitzer projectile to kill deer. I have an article written by Ralph Walker of Walker Arms, and he advocated the 130 grain bullet in the 30-06. He hunted in southern Alabama, almost unlimited deer, but small, 120 pounds with a big one 150 pounds. Ralph claimed the lightweight, high velocity bullets knocked them down, and they stayed down.

Slamfire said:

Bud of mine is an avid deer hunter. Not to avid about the costs of belonging to the hunt club, it is about $1000 a year and going up. However he uses a 308 Win out to 300 yards and decided on Hornady 150 grain SST's. Bud claims, hit them in the lungs, and they will run off and you will find the corpse, eaten by Coyotes, the next morning. He did not change bullets, he changed aim points. The more muscle mass you hit, the better the performance of the bullet. Bud hits them in the region between neck and shoulder, there is a lot of bone and meat there. It is not so much dead on the spot, but the animal goes down and dies in place.

You don't need some howitzer projectile to kill deer. I have an article written by Ralph Walker of Walker Arms, and he advocated the 130 grain bullet in the 30-06. He hunted in southern Alabama, almost unlimited deer, but small, 120 pounds with a big one 150 pounds. Ralph claimed the lightweight, high velocity bullets knocked them down, and they stayed down.

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From a tree stand at anything under 50yds a Speer 130gr Hot-Cor moving north of 2500fps between the shoulder blades is a dead dear in eyesight. Maybe not bang-flop but I’ve seen plenty of shattered spines from putting the bullet in that spot. We got real small deer here too. I don’t know if that will work on some monster Buck up north.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

From a tree stand at anything under 50yds a Speer 130gr Hot-Cor moving north of 2500fps between the shoulder blades is a dead dear in eyesight. Maybe not bang-flop but I’ve seen plenty of shattered spines from putting the bullet in that spot. We got real small deer here too. I don’t know if that will work on some monster Buck up north.

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Jack O'Connor really promoted the 270 Win with a 130 grain bullet, but you know, you can push a 130 grain bullet faster in a 30-06. I shattered the rear upper thigh bone on a deer with a 130 in a 30-06. Distance, around 25 to 30 yards. I hit the ball and socket on the pelvis, and the bone was shattered all the way to the knee. Ruined the meat in that leg, but sure was a horrible wound. Neck shot finished the evil deed.

I have a similar situation to the Op. I hunt a couple places where I can't let a deer run more than a few hundred yards in certain directions or it will be on someone else's land.
That's one of the reasons I use the ELDx. Some bullets will pencil thru at close range, others will blow up. The Eldx will expand properly down to 1600fps, and above 3000fps as well. The deer I've shot up close had a fist sized exit, some of my 200yd + heart shots with 30-06 still had golf ball sized exit.
If I was only hunting places with shots of 100yd or less, I might be inclined to go with a Barnes TSSX or Hornady CSX. I am going to test some of those later in the season.

I've taken deer with 30-06 using 150 and 180gr and prefer 165gr Accubonds or Speer Hotcors. I read about bang flops and have had some, but after takings a couple hundred deer I have come to the conclusion that sometimes they run no matter what you hit them with. The best shot placement that I have found is a high shoulder shot and have used a neck shot when they are up close and personal. I had a 257 Weatherby that was good for DRT's, but I only took 2 with it. Neither one kicked.

Put me in the "no to SSTs" camp as well. I believed the literature that they were basically an interlock with a better BC...they're not!. My wife and I have taken 4 deer with them, none lost. I guess they did the job, but with different shot placement, things might have gone poorly. 3 deer were double lunged/ heart almost dead broadside at relatively short range.
2 with a .308/150gr, the other with a .280 Rem 154 gr. No exit on any of the 3, poor blood trails. Fortunately none of the 3 deer traveled far and ran down established trails so were easy to recover. Heavy meat damage including fragments as much as 45 degrees off impact vector.

4th deer was a real eye opener. 154 SST from a .280 Rem ballpark 2700fps impact velocity at 10 yards on a 200+ lb buck in full alert mode (came in on the heels of a hail of gunfire on the neighboring parcel, and had an extra bullet hole through an ear). First shot hit quartering away through both lungs. Second roughly the same vector, opposite side of the deer as he turned a 180 and ran at the first shot. 3rd shot roughly same angle, quartered through breaking left side shoulder after deflection from a rib. 4th shot below the right ear and he quit moving. Deer traveled over 100 yards over those 4 shots up a steep hill. Only the head shot exited. That's 3 rounds of 100% energy transfer from a pretty snappy caliber/bullet combination. Not a believer in the bang-flop theory unless CNS is disrupted. There was almost no blood. A lot of meat was wasted. I kept shooting as I had expected clear evidence of an impact on the first shot and saw none, thinking I might have had a bullet deflection from the spotty brush. Deer was not running, but was moving. In that scenario I shoot 'till they're down. No SSTs for me! IMHO, a conventional soft point, semi-premium or premium will work well on a CNS shot, an SST will not work well on a quartering body shot. I get much better results with conventional soft points in both calibers in question.

I am partial to lead bullets with a wide metplat, guaranteed to be a .311 channel through the major organ areas.

If lead bullets are out of order then I would use a 220 grain slug loaded to the MAX. It's going to do bad things

Again if I used 150s I would load the MAX, velocity is your friend in any situation.

IMO there is no need to spend the money on the Nosler AccuBond or Partition bullet for Deer. For Moose, Elk and Bear, sure.

How about the Nosler Ballistic Tip to go along with the Sierra GameKing bullets? Those are both good bullets for Deer all day long.

I can't vote because you only offered a 150gr bullet or 180gr bullet but not a 165gr bullet which I prefer in the 30-06. (like many have already posted here)
My Deer load is either the 165gr GameKing or Ballistic Tip...

My 30-06 hunting load is a 165gr bullet over 57.0gr H4350 using a WLR primer.
My match load is a 168gr match bullet over 58.0gr H4350 with the same primer.

I voted for the 150's. Primarily because all 3 of bolt 06's prefer them. All 3 have 03A3 barrels in them. 2 mausers and an 03A3. They all like the standard military ball loads. I've gotten bang flop out of multiple calibers from 12ga, 20ga, 243, 30-30, 30-06, and 35 rem. Some with reloads others with factory ammo. Also had deer go 100-150 yds with everyone of those caliber/guages. To me shot placement is the most important. I'd personally tell you to go with whatever loading gives you the best accuracy out of your rifle.

165 grain Sierra HPBT over 59 grains of H4831 SC. .30-06 Browning Hunter.

KY DAN said:

I am partial to lead bullets with a wide metplat, guaranteed to be a .311 channel through the major organ areas.

If lead bullets are out of order then I would use a 220 grain slug loaded to the MAX. It's going to do bad things

Again if I used 150s I would load the MAX, velocity is your friend in any situation.

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You’ll notice from the picture I posted I use jacketed soft round nose bullets almost exclusively. Only exception is for long range target shooting. For game animals I will sacrifice “ballistic coefficient” for the plow in mud effect a JSP-RN delivers. You don’t need an artillery piece to take down a deer.

When it was 150 Hornady Interlock's, it was 52.0gr IMR 4064. When I made the switch to 180 Hornady Interlock, it is 57.0gr H4350. These were for deer.
If elk was in the mix, 180-200gr Partition. Anchor!

I have been using 52.5 gr 4064 and 150 gr Sierra since 1975. THAT is my deer load.

Elk, bear, moose, get 54.5 gr 4350 and 180 gr Nosler Partition.

All I shoot in .30-06. They work, everytime.

I've had problems with 150 grain Sierra Game Kings in .30-06. They tend to blow up, severely wounding but not Bang Drops. I hunt within 100 yards of a public hunting area, so I want Bang Drops too. I've tried all sorts of bullets and powder combos, but I keep coming back to Hornady 165 gr. Interlock with 4350 powder. Core-Lokts were very good too, but don't find any for hand loading any more.

MWC1974 said:

But that’s my experience with Hornady 150 SSTs at 2900fps out of a .308, I don’t use them anymore.

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I could see why you’d not like them. Personally I’ve had stellar performance from them. Savage 111, nothing fancy and I’ve never had a Kansas deer go more than 100 yards after taking an SST in the lungs. I started shooting them after a Winchester soft point the year before absolutely exploded inside a deer destroying alot of meat.

Either way I’m still suggesting 150gr. A good 150gr .30-06 will make a complete pass through of a whitetail any angle. 180gr is simply more bullet than you need on a whitetail. Unless you’re trying to take a deer down at like 600 yards.

My pop and his brothers were fortunate enough to be able to purchase surplus 03A3's at awesome prices and '06 ammo that wasn't 50-75yrs old. Most of their hunting ammo was simply the same 147gr ball that they pulled and replaced with a 150gr Sierra Pro Hunter. I couldn't possibly put a number one the amount of deer they put in the freezer. I can say that whenever I heard them shoot, I knew there was a deer on the ground, and what I would be doing when I was picked up.

Those bullets averaged around 2750'ish FPS. I cannot ever remember recovering one in the years I was blessed with hunting with them.

My pop took whitetail and mule deer out past 400yds, and some did run a bit, but most no more than around 50yds. He shot for heart and lungs 99% of the time.

I still have his rifles and some of the ammo that they shot. Through the years I've loaded for quite a few of my friends and found it was hard to beat around 57grs of H4350 with a 150gr bullet. I also duplicated the velocity of the old milsurp stuff using H4895 and used the Rem CorLokt and it shoots around an inch for 5 shots out of his 03A3 with who knows how many rounds were put through the barrel.

Shoot the most accurate 150, 165, or 180gr load you have and put it where it needs to go and chances are within 50yds or less you will find you game. Heck most deer I shoot with my bow only run 30-40yds.

Good luck with your hunt. We have a 10acre spot about a mile away from the family farm and plan to hunt it in a week or two.

We've taken some nice bucks there over the years and yes they need to drop at the shot. So far we've been doing it right. The most used rifle has been a compact .308 with 150gr CL's. Ranges are about 50-75yds max. Plan this year is my Henry in 44mag and see how it performs using the 240gr XTP'S.

I'm in the 165 gr camp as well with my 30-06. Can't help you with recipes because of it. I've had deer get away from me with it. Too much gun for deer.
The 125-130gr bullets might fix that though in 30-06 and 308. My 308 is a 760 carbine so I use it in thick brush.
I do more deer hunting deer with a 243 Win than any other gun. 100 gr SGKs at maximum load of IMR4350. They go down and stay down.
My 8mm with 150 Hornady interlocks keeps them down too, but it just ruins to much meat. It makes an exit wound the size of the baseball so I quit using it.