Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 30-06 Ammunition Question

Overall, some of the most accurate loads I have ever shot were using the 150gn Partition in a .30/06. It has been a very good bullet for me in .30 cal.

The guidelines I suggest for a bullet for elk.

Minimum caliber 6.5 mm

Cup and core:

S.D. Greater than .25
Foot pounds energy at impact. Greater than twice weight of the animal.

Monolithic
S.D. Greater than .2
Feet per second at impact greater than 1850 fps

.
Personal experience, advice from buddies, the web sight of Terminal ballistic research and debate here at the campfire has helped me with these suggestions.

Go with a 165-168 gr Barnes TTSX and there will be no worry about bullet performance. A 150 gr TTSX is ok, too. I have taken mule deer and elk with 150 gr Barnes out of a 7mm Weatherby and 168 Barnes TTSX out of a .300 Weatherby. Never had to track a one of them.

+1

We've been taking game with the TTSX since they came out and the MRX before that. Most animals have dropped straight down, none have gone more than a few steps. Confidence in them is high enough that I recommended a 130g @ 3045fps for Daughter #1 and her .308 Win. She will be using it for elk and antelope again this year. If she shoots an elk I doubt we'll recover the bullet as we haven't recovered one yet.

Well, of the 7 elk I've taken, only one was with the 06. Bullet was the 165 gr. Nosler Accubond, the hit at about 100 yards. Velocity 2880 MV. Bullet hit at the short ribs and ended up (I think) in the left lung which was mostly Jello. Elk ran about 30 yards and collapsed.
The rifle was a custom on an FN Mauser with a 1 in 12" twist Douglas barrel. Neve could get decent accuracy with 180 gr.spitzers although round nose shot fairly decent groups. Went to the 165 gr. ABs and the rifle and I were happy. I went with the slower twist as I was shooting a lot of cast bullets back then.
Normally my go to rifle for elk is my .35 Whelen pushing a 225 gr. Barnes TSX at 2710 FPS MV. Of the 5 elk taken, two were DRT and the other 3 hit so hard they were unable to get back up to run off. I did take one elk about 9 years ago using a .300 Win, Mag. and 200 gr. Speer Hot Cores at almost 2900 FPS. The elk dropped like a rock, the hit at 530 yards laser measured.
I'm thinking if I take the 06 again for elk this year, I'll try the 165 gr. Partitions loaded up to about the same speed as the ABs. Probably bring the .35 as back up.
Paul B.

Kind of like the 180's myself. I like 2 holes, one in and one out. Last fall this one took 2 180gr Hornady Interlocks. First one would have done the trick but he was still standing there, so I gave him another.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/76vtfb5.jpg?1[/img]

I like 180's in the '06. JJHack has seen a lot more game taken in NA and Africa than most other posters here and thinks the 165 is the cat's meow. He might know something...

I've been using 150's exclusively here on the open tundra for caribou the last 5 years, taking caribou out to 433 yards with good effect. And one moose at 30 yards. I started with Corelokts and they worked fine, then I went to Hornady Superperformance SST's for a flatter trajectory at range (6 inches higher, 3 inches right of the Corelokts at 300 yards). Just for grins, I'll try some GMX monos this year- tho nothing more than C&C is needed. The two years (2010-2012) prior to the 150s, I used an '06 and 180s and a .260 with 140s, respectively. Corelokts both, were effective to 400 yards on caribou.

That same .260 gun/load did just fine on a cow elk at 150 in Colorado a few years back, so I would not worry about a 150 gr '06 load, but personally? I'd use a165 or 180 on elk or moose, by preference.

I've taken maybe 10 moose with the '06, I think all with 180 C&C.

Pick a load that is accurate in your rifle. Then go hunting.

Most of the time it won't matter if the bullet weighs 150g, 165g or 180g. You might hunt a lifetime using them all and never see a difference.

Agreed.

But, the older I get.....tend to choose heavy for caliber.

Perhaps it's linked to my body getting heavier for caliber.

In my experience with elk hunting and killing, I have seen many killed with 30 calibers. In fact probably 1/2 of all the elk I have seen killed in the last 42 years were killed with 30s and the other half with every other caliber combined.
What I have seen in all those kills is that most times 150 grain 30 caliber bullets will not exit an elk. If I were to guess at the percentage, I'd say about 80% of the 150gr 30 cals I have seen hit elk were still in them when I gutted or butchered them. The very best of them, those that retain 80% or more of their original weight will some times exit.
Bullet weight is one factor, but frontal area of the expanded bullet is another, and retained weight is the 3rd factor. A 33 things come together in a complex equation, but to strip all the boring details away and just address the bottom line, what you want is a good hole that exits the elk to leave a good blood trail and to drop it's blood pressure as quickly as you can.
150 grain 270s almost always exit elk. Why? Because they have a thicker jacket in comparison to their overall diameter and because they open up to a maximum of about .53" where a 30 cal will open up to a maximum of about .60" So the one that is a bit smaller is going to push out less mass in front of it, meaning it goes a bit deeper. It's hole is a bit thinner too. The other factor is that the more any bullet tries to turn into a disk instead of a mushroom or a ball, the more it tents to come apart and loose weight.

So in a nut shell, if i were to recommend a 30-06 or 308 factory load with elk, and that load must use a 150 grain bullet my 1st choise is going to be Winchester white-box with Federal Premium being a close 2nd is loaded with Nosler Partition bullets.
why?
Because I have seen super good accuracy from WW White box, and the bullets I have recovered have all weight between 125 and 132 grains. please note that I have recovered some however, so that factor is the reason I would recommend a 165 or a 180 grain bullet before any 150 grain 30 cal. The 165s get out of the elk nearly every time and so do the good 180s
Stay away from Sierras or Burgers. I know I have NEVER seen a Burger work to my satisfaction on an elk from any gun at any distance in any caliber in any weight. I have seen a few Sierras do OK, but none are as good as standard Winchester Power Points or Remington Core Lokt. The Federal"Power Shok ammo is not very good either. Bullets come apart far too much to please me on elk.
If factory ammo is the only choice and 150 grain is the only option for some reason look hard at WW White Box, Federal Premium with 150 gr Nosler Partitions. Any good bonded bullet from any maker will be good, and Swift ammo (if you have lost of money to spend) Also any ammo loaded with Barnes X bullets will give you exits in many cases.

But the easy way around the issue is to use a good 180, 200 or 220 grain.

Look out your window....the torches, pitchforks, drones, and balloon launchers are coming.

I use 150 monos for elk in my .30-06. I would also use 150 Partitions or Accubonds. If I recall correctly, Steve Timm likes 150 Interlocks for elk.

Why would you want to use a 150 when a 165 or 180 will do everything the 150 will do, but more of it?

If recoil is an issue I understand, but it's tough to beat a good 165 at 2,900 from an 06'. Ditto a 180 at 2,800.

I wouldn't intentionally use a 150, but having said that, also wouldn't be worried about killing an elk if that's what I had.