Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Need 30-06 advice.

I got a real good deal on 30-06 with a 22in. barrel.

Here is where I need some help? I was telling a friend about it
and he said that it's way to much gun for whitetails and i'll
end up with a lot of blood shot meat.

What would be a good bullet and powder combo for the '06
seeing this is my first experience with a 30-06?

thanks guy's
jr1968

To minimize meat damage you either need a monolithic 150 TSX or E-Tip) at 2900 or so (50 grains of 4895) or a 180 lead-core at 2700. There are a bunch of powder that will do that, accurately, but the best accuracy is often found with one of the 4350's.

The 30-06 may not always be the best choice for some big game, but its almost NEVER a bad choice.

The caliber of the bullet being used has a lot less to do with bloodshot than you'd think. I've found that larger calibers, especially at moderate velocities, damages very little meat compared to high-speed light caliber stuff.

I use 150gr Barnes Tipped TSXs on a max charge of H4895 with great accuracy results but I have not shot any game with this load. Prior to that, I've used the 180gr Nosler Partition on H4350 with great performance on game as big as elk. Blood shot was minimal. I only switched bullets to try something new.

Two of the old timers I hunt with shoot 180 gr Sierras out of their 760 Remingtons. Most of the time you can eat right up to the hole.

What Mr. Barsness said above, and stay away from the meaty parts with the bullets. Shoot them back of the shoulder. I have shot several deer with a 168TSX both with a 30-06 and a 300 WinMag, and the results are quick death and very little bloodshot meat. Highly recommend them. My load for the 168 in 30-06 is 57 grains of H414, but 57 grains of IMR4350 works as well.

JR, i used my newly finished 30-06 with a 24" barrel this year.

My load is, and forever will be as follows.

168 gr. Barnes TSX
59 gr. IMR 4350
Federal 210M primer
Norma brass
2915 Fps.

Here is what happened to the 2 deer i shot with this load. The first one was around 70 yards away, and the second was close to 200.

Entry...


And deer number two...

Entry...


Exit...


Internal damage...


I hope this is helpful to you.

Good points shared already. I wouldn't worry so much about bullets choice and put some good trigger time behind the gun. If you're shooting's good and you don't take chancy shots you be fine. Many/most calibers will ruin meat if you don't put it in the boiler room.

I always like the Hornady 165 gr btsp out of my '06

Whitetail or elk, it doesn't matter if you shoot them in the meaty part you are going to ruin meat. Shoot them in the lungs with nothing more than a Hornady 165 grain spire point with 57 grains of IMR 4350 and you will tag every one of them...

Two of the last three I took with the venerable -06 were fine.

Using 165SGK's at 2800 fps, and taking the money shot behind the shoulder on bona fide broadside the damage was minimal.

One I took a high shoulder shot because I wanted to ensure she didn't run, and it tore up a fair amount of rib meat - but there isn't a lot there to worry about to start with.

I'm using H4350.

Avoid shooting into the bones of the shoulder. The entry and exit pics above are excellent examples of bullet placement. If you notice, the line of the shot missed the big bones of the shoulder. The bullet undoubtedly reduced the lungs to tatters.
IMO it's more about placement than anything else.

P

Haven't had any excessively blown up meat with 150 Hornady, Speer, and Sierra's or 180 Speer's out of two different 30-06's. Ranges were from 50 to 300 yards. I have gotten equal accuracy with 760, IMR4350, and 4064 with 150's. The 180's shot best with 760 in my gun.

One thing I've noticed with my 22" 30-06 (and my pards 22" 30-06) is that the velocities I get are well below book using their loads. Same for what you read on the 'net. So don't get too frustrated. Make sure you chrono all your loads and don't assume you are getting a certain velocity because a book tells you that's what you should be getting.

It's a simple matter to load any 150 gr. bullet down to 300 Savage velocities with H4895... no 180's or 150 gr. mono's are needed.

Meant to add, for full power loads and minimum meat damage, a 150 mono or standard 180 makes a heap of sense... I just can't see the need to run a 30-06 at full power for NY Whitetails, hence the throttled back suggestion.

I've been shooting a 30-06 loaded with 165 Hornady Interlocks and 4064 at ~2600 for a while now. For me it's a familiarity thing. I've shot thousands of rounds of M118 and M852 out to 600 yards and I'm pretty comfortable calling wind for those rounds. Stuff drops pretty enough dead out to 400 that the magnum shooters shake their head when they know what I'm shooting...well that and how ugly my rifle is.;)

I know 3 people who load reduced recoil shells using H4895 and the 125 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip.

All three killed bucks this year, one of which was a REALLY nice mule deer.

The other two were blacktail deer, which are slightly smaller than whitetails. One of the blackies was an absolute toad, however. All 3 were one shot kills.

P

My go to load for all things 30-06 is 57.5 grains of H4350 behind a Hornady 165 grain boat-tail Interlock. It clocks exactly 2800 fps out of my 22" barreled M77MKII All-weather. This is the same velocity it shoots Remington green box 165 grain Spire Points. This load matches up to the BDC reticle in my Nikon scope so perfect it's almost scary.
Good luck.

I load for a buddy's 760 Remington pump 30-06, and he gets 57 grains of IMR4350 with Hornady 165 gr BTSP Interlocks, and he kills at least one moose and a deer every year for at least the last 30 years that I have known him. Most are one shot kills. He thinks I put some magic ju-ju on them when I load them.

I find the .30-06 with any Remington Core-Lokt bullet to be perfect for whitetail and similar game. I use the 180s because they shoot best in my rifle. I would bet that more deer are harvested every year with a .30-06 than with all other cartridges combined.

I loaded for a few 30-06 rifles with this load approach and it works just fine.

Doc