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

I like it!

The 30-06 is a remarkably versatile round.

All of the guys on our lease except the 1's that handload all went to the Federal Fusion ammo.It's reasonably cheap,7 different calibers shot 3/4in groups or BETTER,performed very well on deer,hogs and varmints.

I realize you do not have to use premium bullets for deer or moose, and I haven't always done it. I do now, because I can afford it, and they work so well. If I ran low on shekels, I would revert to using Hornady BTSP Interlocks. They shoot good in all my rifles, and work well on game animals as large as moose.

Something about those shiny TSX's does it for me right now, though. In my 6.5 Swede I have successfully used a Sierra 140 BTSP and it performed well. (But I did buy a boox of 120 TSX's. )

I ran my .30-06 at 2700 and some change with 165 Sierra BTHP. Very accurate and not so destructive.

Using the same bullet in my .308 at 2690 fps, well behaved with good blood trails.

168 ttsx and h4350 a match made in Heaven for my 30-06.

I love my 06's also. My "go to" load is 56gr. of IMR4350 and the plain Jane 165gr. hornady sp interlock bullet...All of my 30-06's love it..

As is mine, bear , moose , deer no problem. Does the 5 shot 1" thing Sako advertises as well.

I have run Federal's loading of the 165gr Sierra GameKing out of several 30-06's. GREAT results on all whitetail I've shot with it (about 6 or 7) shots from 15 yards out to 200.

In those deer taken I've made neck shots, behind the shoulder double lung shots, and a high shoulder shot to break it down right there. In all instances it performed great and I've yet to recover a bullet.

For the non handloader I always suggest they give this loading a try, it has shot 1.5moa or better out every rifle I've tried it in and performed great on game. Plus it is a mid priced factory load, not as cheap as say federal's blue box stuff, but not as pricey as their premium loadings with Partitions and TTSXs. Listed muzzle velocity is 2800fps.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/69...-gameking-soft-point-boat-tail-box-of-20

As others have said, don't shoot into the meat if you do not want to blow it up.

I don't know what your hunting conditions are, or whether you reload. If you hunt brushy areas with short range opportunities here is a reduced load combination you might want to try. 47 gr. R15 under a 170 gr. Hornady 30-30 bullet. Hornady says these can be used at up to 2500 fps. This load is like an improved 30-30 or a 300 Savage. Mild recoil and a good practice load.

Jim

I loaded up some of those 170grain 30-30 bullets at reduced velocities but did not get a shot at a deer with them. Since then, I've concluded that bullet shape and velocity has no effect on straight-line penetration of brush provided that the bullet holds together. I shot two pronghorns and a mule deer with a 150 grain Sierra cup-and-core bullet at about 2950 fps years ago. No excessive meat damage but then again I didn't hit any of them in the shoulder. Since then all my hunting has been with .300 magnums. If I had to use a 30-06 on deer, I think I'd use 165 grain Nosler Partitions at a reasonably high velocity.

That pretty much ranks right up there with E=MC(don't have the keyboard capability to make the raised 2, so just pretend that I did it).

I worked up a "carbine load" for my 20" sporter. 43gr RL7, 178 AMax, 2500 fps from 20" bbl.

Not a book load, but something I worked up using Quickload. QL calcs pressure at 57K psi at 70gr case volume.

It's a very accurate load, modest recoil. 2500 fps shouldn't nuke a 178 AMax, but it should open up just fine on deer.

Lots of good replies here. If your shots are under 150 yards or so, a 180 roundnose at around 2600 is a fine choice. It'll knock the snot outta deer and not make a mess doing so.

Yep. I've also used the 170 Nosler Partition designed for the .30-30 at that velocity and it works well.

A lot of people have advised cup-and-core 165's loaded pretty much full up. I haven't noticed those resulting in much less damage than C&C 150's at top velocities--but there is a difference in 180's at the traditional 2700 fps or so.

Off the top of my head I've shot deer-sized game with the .30-06 and a few different bullets in the 150-200 grain range including the Barnes TSX; Berger Hunting VLD; Hornady Interlock and Interbond; Norma Oryx, Nosler AccuBond, Ballistic Tip, E-Tip and Partition; Remington Core-Lokt and Core-Lokt Ultra; Sierra GameKing and ProHunter; Speer Hot-Cor; Winchester Power Point, Silvertip and XP3--and a few others I've probably forgotten.

The monolithics do the least amount of damage at muzzle velocities over 2700, but at 2700 or less the lead-cores are pretty good too.

Hunt with whichever weight bullet you shoot the most accurate in your rifle. Then you can place the bullet where you want it.
On a 100-300 lb critter using a 150 grain versus 165 grain versus 180 grain bullet isn't going to make any difference. They all kill Deer, hogs, pronghorn, etc...

What length barrel? Is the 2915 chorno'd?

thanks

Wow...those deer look like they were shot with a 30-30....or an arrow! How far did they run....or did they?

This. But I like my 165 Sierra GameKings and H4350.

If this is your first big game rifle and your first year hunting perhaps you should find a range where you can sight the rifle in.

Before you do that you will need ammo and perhaps want a scope.

So go to a gunshop near you and ask them where to sight the rifle in and what scope and mounts they suggest.

Don't worry about meat loss!

You will be lucky to see a legal deer and to get a shot let alone hit it!

Study on line advice on where to shoot a deer for best results.

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/big-buck-zone/2012/09/where-aim-kill-deer-one-shot

If you don`t want to ruin meat ,head shoot them with any bullet you like!!!!

I shot a 5 point MI whitetail a few days ago.

165 yards
165 grain Remington factory Core-Lokts

Bullet holes looked just like ironeagle's - deer turned around 360 degrees and fell over dead. Total travel distance was 0.

I don't know that it could have performed any better.

A few handy loads

125 Nosler grain ballistic tip - 2,900 fps- one hole - no exit - no meat damage.DOTS!

165 grain Sierra HPBT - 2,600 fps - BIG DEER LOAD - 280 lbs and up - complete penetration through heart & ribs - 1" hole at exit through the rib - TINY meat damage - DOTS.

These work for all my Pa deer hunting.

I have a 24" barrel. I chrono'd the load using a PACT model 1 XP chrony.



The buck dropped in his tracks, and the doe went about 50 yards. Most of that distance was down a steep hill, so maybe she fell over before that and continued to roll?

Terry,

Have you tried the Berger Hunting VLD's yet? The 155 .30 has the same effect as the 125 Ballistic Tip, but almost no damage around the entrance hole. It just tears apart in the insides!

We need to talk sometime, even if just to BS. Hope the Pennsylvania hunting season is going well!

Best,

JB's post could easily have ended this thread, but then we all wouldn't get to bloviate. I shoot 55gr of H4350 under 180gr jacketed bullets with complete satisfaction. Works well at any range or shot angle. Currently working on a big batch of SSTs I got on sale. They exhibit high BC and are tough enough to work well at that velocity in spite of the bad press. Tell your 06-hater buddy he's full of it and go kill some game to prove it.

165 grain Hornady or 150 grain Rem PSPCL over 5%-off MAX H4895. I've been loading it and shooting it out of all my .308 chamberings for 12 years. Never a problem. All deer recovered.
at loss.

I would have to agree with most of the advice here. If you use a properly constructed bullet then the location of the hit will be the determining factor on meat damage. Hit a shoulder bone and you are more likely to have meat damage than a shot thru the lungs. I find this true with any high velocity round. I have had good luck both 150 &165 bullets cnc bullets in my 308 which I suspect will produce about the same result as a 30-06. I have seen as much meat damage produced by a 243 than with these it just depends on the circumstance. Buy your rifle and go hunting.

Scores of whitetails get shot every year with the 30/06 in this part of the country,and in the heavy cover and big buck country the round is a favorite,maybe the most popular of all near as I can tell.Most shots are inside 100-150 yards,many a lot closer.Most of these are killed with factory ammo,and I hear few squawks about meat loss although I'm sure some does occur.

It's nice to be able to pick your shots but reality here is success rates in the 10%-12% range,and you take what's offered.Seems the meat loss thing is tied to bullet construction and impact velocity.

I lean toward tougher bullets, even for whitetails(yes I know they are not "needed",whatever that means)because I have seen more consistent and reliable results with them than with the plethora of thinly jacketed types and for years (30 or more)have loaded 165 Nosler Partitions in the 30/06 and used them on deer and black bear here with good success.Friends too,and there has been a good number of both.This slug is a pretty tough cookie and penetrates well(never recovered one)on deer and bear sized animals,and velocity is not screwed up so high with the 30/06 that you end up with tons of blood shot stuff.(driven 3250 or so from a 300 Win Mag it's a bomb.)

Along the way I have also used the 165 gr Bitterroot in handloads,and Trophy Bonded Bear Claws in factory High Energy ammo with both chronographing about 2940 from 22" barrels.They both provided lots of blunt trauma and rake big bodied whitetails nicely. Both are characterized by thick jackets that expand nicely to large frontal areas at woods ranges and 06 velocities,and chop reliable wound channels.I have never used a Barnes X or mono on anything and likely won't till the Bitterroots are gone,but would not hesitate as I trust a tough bullet a lot more on big bodied whitetails(and little one's, too) a lot more than any thin jacketed C&C design.

And yes if you run into that odd 300 yard shot on a clearcut or power line things like Partitions will make short work of them there, too.

Loading cartridges to sub standard velocities with thin jacketed bullets to avoid bullet blow up,fragmentation and meat loss never made any sense to me at all;I'd rather load to full power in the 30/06 with a tougher slug and smack them good.Things like Bitterrots and TTBC's don't throw any fragments and IME kill very reliably.

For many yrs I hunted out of a camp with an older gentleman(whom became a very good friend) that carried a BAR useing nothing but factory 220s. He shot a lot of deer & while we laughed at his bullet choice, a few yrs latter noticed his deer weren't shot up as bad as most others. Finally dawned...a heavily constructed bullet at a reduced velocity tended to poke good holes with minimum meat damage.
Any 06 can be loaded down to 30-30 velocities useing a C&C 180 gn bullet to achieve the same results.
My only recommendation on 170gn 30-30 flat points is to make sure they cycle thru your gun BEFORE the hunt. Not all guns like FPs...don't ask me how I know

In other words they're using 30-06's loaded down to 308 Win levels

Brad: Mostly......yeah!


Some of them don't know WTF they're using! Seen them at the range, "sighting in" and they have mixed boxes of this and that; 150's 180's,etc....couple shots with this....couple with that.

What saves them is the shots are close....but I bumped into one the other day.....said he missed a buck on a power line.Saw the boolits kicking up under the buck.

I'm like....Huh!?

I don't know any cartridge more thoroughly abused by the groveling masses than the good, old 30/06.LOL!

True... especially by notoriously frugal Yankees (the real kind in N. New England)!

I've chrono'd enough factory 308 and 30-06 stuff to know they run about exactly the same. Handloading obviously changes the equasion.

"I've chrono'd enough factory 308 and 30-06 stuff to know they run about exactly the same."

Not surprising, since that's what the .308 was intended to do - duplicate .30-06 performance in a more compact package.

BTW - if the original poster is still looking for info on the .30-06, and JB is too polite to link to his own great article on Getting the Most out of the .30-06, here it is:

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/newsletters/May_2009.html

Good stuff, and I recommend it to anyone using the .30-06 for hunting.

Regards, Guy

Excellent article GuyM. Thanks for posting that. I've got an old A3 sporter I'm going to work on and this will help.

Now I'm curious. How many 30/06 and 308 factory loads have you tested? 10? 20? 100? I'm not being a smart ass. I'm curious what your sample size is.

Quite a variety over the last 23+ years (since I started using a chrono around 1989)... I've owned at least 8 308's and at least 7 30-06's in that time and I've chrono'd factory loads in each and every one.

Generally, a 30-06 with equal bbl. length runs right at 308 factory speeds.

Out west where you might shoot a little farther, I used
Winchester 760, with 150gr Hornady Bt, for deer. When I
was younger I couldn,t afford to hunt Elk. I did use the
same powder with 165gr Hornady,s but I thought the 150,s
shoot flatter. Seem to kill deer real well, never lost
any. I was getting right at 3000fps with the 150gr bullets.

First, find a smarter friend , then follow the advice already given.

150 gr Sierra Pro Hunter & 50 gr IMR4064. I get a little over 2800 fps from my 22" barrel 30-06. Very accurate, light recoil. The Sierra manual says you can load this down to 45 gr of 4064 for around 2600 fps. I've never used that one but it might be even better.

You won't have any trouble finding a good load for whitetails or too much else with a 30-06.

43Shooter,

Last night I loader 150 gr. sierras with 48.5 grs. of IMR 4064
going to try it tomorrow.

Thank You Guy's for all your help I really appreciate it

jr1968

That'll work fine. The 30-06 has to be the most popular whitetail round of all time (I suspect it passed the 30-30 a long time ago). I got a chuckle out of 6 pages of guys telling you that you need magic bullets to kill a deer with a 30-06 without blowing them up like a prairie dog. Just load any bullet from 130 gr. on up at a reasonable velocity and go shoot deer, they'll work. It's what the 30-06 has been doing for a century.

Have used the 06 for 50 years. Just don't shoot deer "in the shoulder" and you won't have blood shot meat. A 150gr bullet, through the ribs, just behind the shoulder, will take them down like they were hit by lightening, and nothing there to bloodshoot. Well, maybe the thin layer of meat on the outside of the ribs. Oh, don't shoot them in the neck either. Have seen an entire neck bloodshot from the bullet hole clear down and into the front of the shoulder area.

Thanks everyone it's made me more confident in the '06

I really appreciate everyone's help so much !!!


Talk Later,
jr1968

Until you gain a bit more experience, would you refrain from comments.

Advice about as good as it gets regarding what to feed a 30-06 for general hunting.

Just about any decent 150gr soft point will get the job done with a minimum amount of fuss...I've had good luck using a 150gr Hot-Cor and 50gr IMR4895...