Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 30-06 220 gr.

I was wondering, am I the only half old fart(44 years old) that likes the '06 220 grain loads? Gramp's wood/timber load. They aren't at all popular in factory. I believe only Remington Core-lokts and Fed blue box hi-shok? Just looking for some opinions and thoughts. Would be a shame if they stopped making them. I also like hand loading the 220.

I carry 220s in my '06 that I carry while guiding.

No zero my Mauser scout in for 220s when I hunt in the places we have a lot of big bears, and my lever action M95 Browning is also zeroed with them. I have liked them and used them in the 30-06 since I was in my early 20s. They work very well on everything they hit. I found out years ago that a 220 grain 30-06 penetrates about 2X deeper then a 180 grain 300 mag on elk. I have used 220s ever since in timber, and I also use the that same bullet or the 200 grain Partitions in my 300 now.

I have been using them for years. I recently had to curtail using them for a 180 gr and a muzzle brake because of a very bad shoulder( Having that replaced this December). Might be able to go back to them in 2018 if I can still hunt

Use them for hogs here in south Georgia (Hornady RNs). Punch through just about any hog.

Please, enough already about this obsolete .30-06 cartridge. Let it die in peace. Besides, Quickloads says the .308 pushes the 220 faster anyway.

The 250 Barnes Original is where it's at boys . . .

Had you bothered to check Quick Load you'd know the better designed, more efficient .308 launches that bullet faster than the obsolete .30-06.

My father traded for a Remington 760 pump in 30-06 when I was 15. Some 220 grain ammo came with it, and I shot it in preparation for deer season. I think that first shot was responsible for the flinch I had for years afterward, and for ringing in the ears I've had for practically all my life. Dad had the steel buttplate replaced with a recoil pad, and went to 180 grain ammo, but it still kicked like a mule. I believe I still have one of those 220 gran shells in my old ammo collection.

My Rem 742 is a 220 whore. Gobbles em up like Rosie O'Donnell on donuts!

Remington and Federal still load the 220s. I haven't seen the Federal loads anywhere but in midways catalog. I got a rem 760 and a box of 220/corelocks but haven't tried them in it. If I were hunting Big big game I think they would be perfect.

Muskegman mentioned 250 grain Barnes originals. I shot a small cow elk in the spine using one of those loaded in a 30-06 and a healthy dose of gun powder. The bullet failed to penetrate to the opposite side. It did break the backbone and lodge in the back strap. The bullet showed classic mushroom. I only killed one mule deer buck with the 220 Remington's. The buck was quartering away and I took him behind the last rib and the bullet was recovered in the opposite shoulder. The recovered bullet looks like something from a Remington advertisement.

Try 50 to 54 Gr. I4350 and you may find your gun shoots like a target model. 51 grains in my gun shoots well under an inch.
Jim

For those who seem to value "efficiency", the .300 BLK is a more "modern" case and way more "efficient" than the .308 Win.

I like 208's in mine. Similar "efficiency" in a .308 Win would yield loads at about 3800fps but, dammit, the .308 just can't do that.

All right OK. You are trying to bait lama Bob in on my thread. Nope this is my baby. 220 gr.'06! No room for his 308 conspiracy theories. That guy.......

I've loaded them in 308s with good success...when tracking black bears and as defense load for browns when fishing in their territory. I've abandon the them in recent years with the faster better performing monos

Often the most or tied for most accurate loads in the six rifles I have owned. Nosler very accurate. Hornadys proven stoppers in Alaska. Re loader 22 scoots them along 2600 fps. Was shooting a big rock at about 400 yards from the bow of a 42 footer in PWS. Another shooter was firing also...with a 270 and factory 150s. The captain was watching us from the flybridge. I asked which gun is shooting faster? The skipper said "cannot tell, both about the same". Trajectory seemed equal as part way through we switched rifles both had 200 yard zeros.
The tide came in.
The rock got about covered with salt water, we were still splashing bullets off of the about to be gone rock.

Shot an elk and moose in the same year with 220's in my 30-06. They work but so do 180's and I like the trajectory of the 180's better so I have not used 220's in 20+ years.

Kind of apples and oranges there, but worth considering. Velocity, range, and bullet construction to be considered....

Finn Aaguard's wet telephone book tests found the 180 (in .30-06) to penetrate better than any other load in that caliber. - in that medium, anyway. And I think only C&C, maybe. That could spell some difference.

I don't really understand how you guys are getting all those recovered bullets on game to determine how 200 gr gets 2X times penetration over 180, again on game. A pass thru is a pass thru. I almost never have a bullet stay in game, regardless of caliber and bullet used, if I have executed (pardon the pun) properly. Even with C&C. If the critter goes down, it really doesn't matter.

Then again, I haven't shot as much game as some of you guys, only maybe 130 animals in my lifetime, but I'll go with my own experience every time until it doesn't work.

So should everyone. (On their experience, not mine or someone else's, but useful as starting points, maybe. And fun to compare)

One of the few bullets I have recovered was a 120 gr. Speer C&C out of a .25-06, at about 200 yards, on a big bull caribou, quartering to. The bullet entered at the base of the neck and I found it in the opposite hind leg. Perfect mushroom. A heavy for caliber bullet.

Another was same gun, same handload, on a cow at something over 500 yards. The rifle was sighted 5.5 inches high at 100, MOA. The hold (second shot after I saw where the first one hit in the snow), was just above her upright ears, standing broadside, head up, looking down the hill at me). The bullet centered both front shoulder blades, completely penetrating the blade on the far side, but with the very base still lodged in the bone. Another perfect mushroom. IIRC, these were Speers, handloaded.

Another was again on a big bull caribou, at about 356 yards (paced- I think more like 375, actual). 30-06, 180 C&C, probably Corelokt, clipped the top of his brisket, opening up his heart with a fragment, apparently. Found the jacket wedged in the far knee, no lead.

There are maybe 5 other instances where I've recovered a bullet or parts there-of from game.

I know for a fact that 250 gr. round nose (Hornady), print 3 inches lower at 100 yards than do the 250 gr Sierra GK in my .338. Both are loaded one grain under book max- but I don't recall whether those powder loads are identical or not. The Hornady RN is MOA, the Sierras go right at an inch at 200.... 3 shot groups. Both were "junk loads" just thrown together with no work-up at all. Now I'm stuck with a lifetime supply of those ugly RN, cuz they shoot too well to not hunt with. A moose ain't that hard to hit anyway...not at my 70 yard average for over 20 moose. The Hornady RN drop like a rock farther out, the GK are much flatter.

The only fair way to compare them would be at the same velocities.

When they both properly blow a hole to daylight on game, I can hardly compare penetration factors, and there is no need to on other mediums.... . I generally try to avoid end-to-end shots...especially from the wrong end.

I've only actually used the Hornady RN 250 on one moose. Took the top of his skull right off, at about 30 yards, from the front. No bullet recovered.

He ducked.... that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. It's also true.

I favor the 180, and 165 for the '06. Currently using 150's for longer range (300-500) caribou shooting (Hornady Super-performance). I've no doubt the 200 and 220 grain bullets are real thumpers too, but the 180 has worked so well for me over the years, I've not found need to go heavier than the 180.

Whatever floats your cork is good.

I switched over to them last year from 165s. Not that it'll make any difference on whitetail, just wanted something new to play with.
-Jake