150 165 or 180gr in a 30/06

[doeslayer]

I have hunted in the heavy woods in the south most of my life, where most shots (at deer) were under 75yards. I used 180gr in my 30/06, but now Ihunt in Montana. I want to know what the best weight bullet will shoot the flatest and still have good knock down at longer ranges. I also reload so if anybody has a preference on brands or types of bullets.

 

[ashtxsniper]

I load 150's at 3100 fps in my 30.06 and 180's at 3200 fps in my 300 win mag. I use Sierra BTSP Gamekings. They are very accurate and very flat shooting.

 

[KODB]

165 gr Sierra Gameking (Spitzer point boat tail) or Hornady SST.
I load with Varget, 4895, and 4064. Load and hunt with bolt guns and M1 Garands. I have found these bullets to work at short and longer distance and to be extremely accurate. Hope this helps.

Regards,

Bob

 

[K3]

I also use Sierra Gameking SBTs for all .30 caliber work. I keep 150s, 165s, and 180s on hand. Excellent bullets. Took a bobcat at 60 yards the other morning with a 180gr. Passed through with only a 1-1/2" exit wound. I know, I know, bobcat with a deer round? My varmnt rig was cased, and the cat was a gimme. She was just sitting there under a tree. She is now at the taxidermist in line to be made into a full mount. Beautiflu pelt.

Powders are IMR4895 and 4831. I have some Varget, but I've only tried that in smaller cartridges.

I also like CoreLokt bullets. Accuracy isn't as good as Gamkings in my experience, but they knock deer down and out, and they are accurate enough. I especially like the 150gr running about 3100 fps. They haven't met a deer they couldn't handle.

 

[kyrifleman0714]

I prefer 180gr Core-Lokt myself, but again the key word is "prefer", it's just my personal fetish on 30-06 bullet weights. And as for the Core-Lokt, well it's cheap, accruate enough and when they connect they are deadly, my hunting friends and I call Core-Lokts "deer bombs" b/c once they met the rib, they friggin explode. One time I shot a doe for vension at about 40 yards with a 180gr deer bomb, it was a gut shot. Anyways after I tracked her down she was bedded 25 yards back into the woods, after I put her down with a head shot, my uncle and I examined the situation. After I shot her, I ran to where I thought she dropped but didn't find her, then I walked into the woods, found about 2 liters of blood and 1 of her 2 intestines in it's entitery on the ground in the pool of blood. The deer literally looked like it had been split down the middle with a buckknife, a perfect lasion running from her tail up to her breastbone straight down the middle, you could see all of her guts. So that is my story of how effective 180gr deer bombs aka Core-Lokts can be on deer, imagine if I woulda put one behind her shoulder!

 

[eliphalet]

I have been killing deer, elk and antelope with a 30-06 well over 25 years now. I began with a heavier bullet then switched to 150 grain Core-Lokt's the last 15 or better. I have only recovered a couple, one from a elk and another from a deer. Both had struck a couple of bones in each animal. Never has one been found that went through a rib cage. Weight retention on each was good but slightly different because, I surmise, of the distance and speed of the bullet. 50 to 75 yards with one and well over 200 on the other.
I began reloading with cor-lokts because of cost but continue because of very satisfactory results, accuracy and terminal. Switched to 150's because of a older, wiser, very experienced hunters advice. Many kills later he was correct IMHO.

 

[DogBonz]

not the answer that you probably want to hear, but...

the one that your '06 shoots best.

I have shot the '06 for a while and taken a few deer with it and if you do your part any modern bullet will do its part. Therefor, pick the load that you and your rifle shoot the best. I like the Nosler Ballistic Tips, but then again, my longest shot was under 200 yards (Adirondacks woods are dense) and the '06 is probably over kill at those distances). Most of my deer have feel to the Win 94 that my grandpa gave me, probably with regular soft points.

 

[luckytexan]

Lots of good advice here. You didn't say what you were going to hunt in Montana, though you mentioned deer hunting in the south. I use 150 gr Core-Lockts on whitetail; my dad has used the same for as long as I can remember. They'd be good on muleys and possibly elk as well, I suspect.

The nice thing about 150's is that not only do they shoot a little flatter than heavier bullets, their recoil is a little less as well.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I agree -- shoot the bullet that shoots best and performs best.

The classic load for the .30-06 for all-around hunting in years gone by was the 180-grain bullet at around 2700 fps. However there are some straws in the wind that may indicate we are on the threshhold of another quantum improvement in the .30-06 -- the 130 grain Barnes TTSX (Tipped Triple Shock X-bullet) is supposed to hold together well and penetrate deeply. And it can be driven to very high velocity and supposedly retains that velocity very well.

Personally, I've always been fond of the 165-grain bullet in the .30-06 -- it offers the best balance of sectional density and velocity (at least in years gone by.) And I've always considered that when hunting anything bigger than a white tail, a box of Nosler Partition Jackets was a small expense compared with the cost of the hunt, and justified for their terminal performance.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Back in my younger days when bigger HAD to be better,I used 180s and 220s in my Remington 700. Many years of whitetail deer hunting later, I am convinced that anything over 150/165 is just wasted energy and bigger bruises on my shoulder. The very biggest (Alabama)whitetail that I personally know of was a 360lb (live weight,certified scales) monster that fell to a single 150gr from a Remington Model 7400.

 

[sectional_density]

I too have been wondering about this issue. I was advised by a friend who has done a lot of hunting to use regular old 165 grain soft-points (i.e. Sierra Gameking 165 BTSP in the 30-06) for all around hunting chores (including elk). He evidently has heard anecdotal stories of bonded bullets not being all they're made out to be (not sure exactly what that meant).

Although I didn't get an elk this year (saw a few cows for which I didn't have permits)....I guess I was having a little doubt about whether this was really the right bullet for something as large and tough as an elk. The Gameking shoots well in my gun, so that's good, and the Sierra Reloading manual suggests that this would be a suitable bullet for elk (of course if I do my part). But I was thinking about trying Hornady 165 grain Interbonds.....if anyone has anything to say about those.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Bonded bullets work well -- but some of them tend to expand a bit more than others, and expansion is a trade-off against penetration. If penetration is what you're after, some other designs are a bit better.

However, for elk there is no indication that bonded bullets don't do the job, so why worry?

 

[kyrifleman0714]

What is this 130 grain barnes tipped bullet in 30-06 I hear of? Someone please tell me more.

 

[Snapping Twig]

165g for me, but like has been said in this thread, whatever your gun shoots best.

Years back I saw that the military used the 167g for competition and sniping, so I looked into the ballistics and became convinced that 165g was the best overall round. It works for me, but your results will possibly be different.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

What is this 130 grain barnes tipped bullet in 30-06 I hear of? Someone please tell me more.

It was the subject of an article in Handloader or Rifle, about two or three months ago.

 

[mustanger98]

In my '06... '03A3, RA 8-44 two-groove barrel... I've shot 147gr BT-FMJ which of course isn't a hunting bullet, and the same day, I shot some Hornady 165grSP's. For 100yd accuracy, they hit about the same, but I had to use the 200yd and 300yd sight settings respectively... just the trajectories are a bit different. I have some Hornady 150grSP's loaded to try in this same rifle... no immediate reason to think it won't hit, but I'm sure gonna try it at the range before I hunt with it.

 

[Oohrah]

If I could get the same accuracy from the lighter wt bullets, I would
use them. Vern's 130 gr. Barns sounds interesting. Most accurate in
my 1 in 10 barrels has been Sierra 180 gr. with 165 pretty close second.

 

[Lewis Wetzel]

1) What are you hunting? 180 is overshoot on deer, just right on elk, but I've used 180 grn BTSP 30-06 for many years (and other calibers and loads, as well) and shot placement and field marksmanship is the key.

2) Have you gone to the trouble to look up or calculate the ballistics/drop on the individual bullets and loads? Shooting 'flatter' is SO MUCH NONSENSE in .30 cal, 150-165-180 at reasonable hunting ranges. If you're shooting more than 300, then there are other questions to ask beyond th scope here. Look up the drops in a good reloading book (Hornady's two-book set is excellent).

3) I think you are making a false dichotomy, or to mix metaphors, a tempest in a teapot, as for under 250 yards, it's not going to make a big deal if YOU ARE A DECENT SHOT and understand shot placement.

If you can't do it with 180 grains at 2600-2700 fps, you just can't do it.

Zero at 225-240 yards...what's the deal?

 

[KODB]

I have also used the 165 Interbonds; no real difference from the SSTs in my rifle s. I was able to pick up several thousand blem 165SSTs a couple of years ago so have been using them for anything I want a polymer tip on since. No discernable difference in accuracy and all of the deer we've shot with the SSTs have dropped on the spot or with less than 50 yds of travel.

Regards,

Bob

 

[Lewis Wetzel]

A classic 30-06 target rifle load that is great for hunting is 47 gr. IMR 4064 with a 165-180 gr. bullet. Speeds vary a bit, but with 168 was a great, standard target load before the advent of the .308. 47 gr. for 180 will give about 2600 fps, which is a good moderate load, very accurate.

 

[mustanger98]

2) Have you gone to the trouble to look up or calculate the ballistics/drop on the individual bullets and loads? Shooting 'flatter' is SO MUCH NONSENSE in .30 cal, 150-165-180 at reasonable hunting ranges. If you're shooting more than 300, then there are other questions to ask beyond th scope here. Look up the drops in a good reloading book (Hornady's two-book set is excellent).

3) I think you are making a false dichotomy, or to mix metaphors, a tempest in a teapot, as for under 250 yards, it's not going to make a big deal if YOU ARE A DECENT SHOT and understand shot placement.

Zero at 225-240 yards...what's the deal?

I'm agreeing with points #2 and #3, but my understand of .30-06 in military usage is that the M1 Garand and '03A3 both were configured with a 250yd battle sight zero. Now, with my 165gr hunting load hitting as it is at 100yds on the 300yd sight setting, it wouldn't suprise me if this load is zero or close to zero at 300yds. I just can't prove it not yet having the opportunity to use a 300+yd range. I have looked up the bullets' drop in the Hornady 5th Edition and 300yds is about as far as I think I care to shoot while hunting. Seems to me though, when you get out beyond your rifle's battle sight zero, you better have a range finder and know your load's speed and trajectory to figure your holdover or sight adjustment.

 

[Richard.Howe]

180 grainers...use the capacity of that big .30-06 case. If you're gonna shoot 165 or 150's, run a .308 where the ballistic difference is nominal. That way you could move to a short action.

But, if you want to stick with the .30-06 (which is what I would do), then shoot the 180's. Range doesn't matter. You're good out to 500 with some practice, and the 180's will buck the Montana wind a lot better than the 150's anyway.

Rich

 

[KODB]

I have used the above loads to hit reduced humanoid silhouette steel targets out to 600yds with irons on a service grade Garand. I do not think the 165s put you at much disadvantage vs 180 until ranges that are probably not reasonable for sure and humane kills on deer sized game. If you're talking 800-1000 yd shooting then I would probably consider 175gr Matchkings or 180 Matchkings or 178gr AMAX. But, you could also do very well with 155 Palma or 155gr AMAX for target at those ranges.

Regards,

Bob

 

[TIMC]

30.06 and .308 for taking whitetail I love the Hornady 150 grain SST's. I load using H-335, 4895 and Varget depening on which rifle. If you don't want them to run that is a good bullet to use. As always the best bullet and load in the world does not make up for poor shot placement.