Looking for advice

Welcome to THR. I use 185gr for whitetail however it would also depend on what local you are in. Say in California the bucks are smaller and I have used 150gr reliably.

You may hear a lot about the 30-06 trajectory as well. Tends to shoot high at 100 yards, no big deal as long as you are aware of it.

Have fun and safe shooting

Looks like a fine set up to me, and i usually run 150-165gr for whitetail.

My Savage loves Federal and Remington.

I'd second 150-165gr for whitetail. They're not that hard to kill! There is good evidence that a standard, lowly soft point bullet kills better/quicker than an expensive premium bonded one on whitetail, so save your money and buy Rem Corelokt, Win Power Point, Hornady BTSP (or maybe SST), Federal Powershock, etc. If shooting longer distances, maybe a ballistic tip bullet. Forget the Barnes TSX, Nosler Partition types - save them for the Elk hunt!

You have a very nice setup that can be used to hunt anything in North America that a rifle would be used for. Congratulations!

I third the notion that any 150 grain or larger American made soft point will be ideal for whitetail. Sight in at 2" high at 100 yards and you will hit within the vitals of a whitetail out to 300 yards.

Nice rig

150gr corelokts are about perfect for whitetail with the '06.

Well, if you ignore the light magnum variants (LM), the following table shows very little difference (for hunting accuracy) between 150 gr and 180 gr loads.

Ballistics for 30-06

All I load for is deer, so I don't have a lot of experience with this myself.

(I confess to loading my wife's .243 w/ 95 gr for similar ballistics to my .30-06 w/ 150 gr bullets, so the drop tables are the same. Also makes sighting-in easier, as I can expect the two rifles to hit about the same place for the same range.)

you have a very nice set up. i would try some Hornady or Fusion in 150 gr. i've had very good accuracy & terminal results on whitetail with the sst's & the Federal was very accurate but untried on game as of yet. this is out of a 270 but results i think would be similar.

First Thank You for your service. Great choice on the Tikka, you'll love it.

30/06 I run handloaded 125grains (moving along)
Or 165grain store-bought (mostly these)

Today I bought Federal PowerShok 150 grain due to the cheaper price. I cannot beleive the prices of rifle ammo.(sticker shock). I carry an HK45 with Hydrashoks and I thought they were expensive lol.

Click to expand...

Learn to load your own. My premium .257Roberts loads are a quarter each. Allot better than the $2/shot I would pay for outdated round nose loads.

I'd go with 150 grain bullets for those Greensboro, NC whitetails...any of the factory loads should do the trick nicely.

Sight it in 2 inches high at 100 yards and get in some practice before next season.

asharris7:

Re: set-up, how awesome!

Re: trajectory, all bullets experience an arching effect as they travel to the target. The slower or the heavier the projectile, the more pronounced the trajectory. The reason you will note a high impact at 100 yards is pure physics. One has to loft the round high enough to impact at longer distances, and the bullet is merely passing through the scope's crosshairs (sight path). The further the zero, the higher the close-in impact. Depending on where you hunt, you may choose a 50 yard zero, or a 300 yard zero.

Re: factory-loaded ammunition brand and projectile weight, I like Federal Premium 165 grains.

Re: handloads, I prefer to form-fire and re-neck sized only the brass. The preferred handload is 165 grains at 3,100 FPS. That load hits with about 90% of a .300 Win Mag’s power at 300 yards. It is a real powerhouse. I read of that load about 15 years back in Petersons. Work up slowly, because it is a near max-load out of a 24" barrel. Of course check the reloading manuals and use all due care.

Congrats!

Doc2005

The one thing that stands out immediatly to me is the lack of a sling. If it does not have one, get a quaker "claw". When you put one of those over your shoulder, it doesn't move. As for ammo, that is really only a trial and error thing. You will need to buy several boxes of ammo, to find out which one works best with your rifle. What you are looking to do here is match a bullet/velocity combination that is in tune with the vibrations of your barrel. Every gun is different. Yours might prefer hornady 180 sst's while the next one will like winchester supreme's. Just dont skimp on the actual hunting rounds. The extra money you are paying is for the bullet. Which is specificly designed to work properly in flesh. Most premium hunting ammo is very good indeed, so brand is not all that important. But finding the one, that will allow you to put 5 holes all touching each other at 100 yards is. The better the accuracy, the better your chances of a quick, clean kill. Persoanlly, i prefer 180 grain bullets for whitetail. Some may say that is overkill, that 150's will kill just as efectivly, and have a flatter trajectory. But imo, a heavier bullet just does a better job. Finally, if the trigger pull seems stiff, get a professional gunsmith to drop it down to the 2-3 pound pull area, it will markedly improve your shooting. The only drawback to this is it makes it easier for you to accidentaly send a bullet down range. So you will need to be on your tows. Just follw basic firearm safety rules, (always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, and keep the safety on, and your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot) and you will do fine. But you already knew this, right?!

In Idaho I use 150 grain Federal Power-Shok for mule deer. I think these would work for your whiteail hunts.

Good Luck

sounds like a great set-up. +1 for the 165grn bullets.

Very nice rifle. Tikka makes a fine shootin' iron.

Ammo - pretty much what the rest of the crew is saying. 150-180gr will be fine. But keep in mind that if you sight it for 150, the 180's will have a different point of impact if you don't re-sight.

You really don't need a big bullet to kill any deer. I used a .243 with 100gr soft points when I lived in MT and that was enough. An '06 has much more power than a .243 so I'd say you are good to go.

sounds like a great set-up. +1 for the 165grn bullets.

Click to expand...

+2 for 165er's and as you know hitting an animal, any animal, is like real estate "location, location, location" My father has killed danged near everything there is to kill in this great land of ours, using a 264 win mag, 100 gr. hp's loaded hot.. once again "location, location, location"
Make the ethical shot, don't let it make you

I've got an almost identical setup, jus usin a Prostaff instead of a Buckmasters. Ive killed several deer, couple of Antelope, and a bunch of hogs with everything from 150gr to 180gr ammo, jus make sure you have it sighted in for what ammo you're using and youll love that T3