Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles All around 30-06 load

Looking for suggestions here. I have loaded 30-06 for a decade or so, primarily 150-165 gr bullets, ballistic tips or sst. Settled on the sst for deer as it works well for me. Just bought a new 30-06 and as I tend to be a one load per rifle guy am considering going heavier than 165. Primary targets will be deer but also possibly an elk in near future. With that in mind, stick with a stouter 165 or up to 180-200?

My rifle likes 61 grains of Rl-22 under a 200 gr Partition, it will do it all, kill Elk to 400 yards, or shoot a 60lb white tail doe for the pot.

W-W brass and CCI-250 mag primers, COL of 3.325" works well in my pre-64 '06.

I'm not an SST Fan, but I don't see any need to got to a heavier bullet. Any decent 165 will work at 30-06 speeds. I've found the "big game" weight of Ballistic Tips to work well, and I particularly like the 168 version. If you can get it to shoot, the 165 Accubond is great on elk. Of course, ditto the never-wrong 180 Partition. I personally see no need for a 200 gr bullet in the 30-06 on elk. There's nothing wrong with it, unless you just prefer more recoil.

A 165 Accubond with 56-58 gr of RL19 behind it works wonders for me. Measure from the ogive to the base for a length of 2.61. I use a Sinclair nut and include the nut dimension for a length of 3.560. Works great in all 3 of my 06's.

I think the 30-06 is at it's best with a good 165-168gr bullet.I've been shooting the Nosler Ballistic Tips in those weights on whitetails and it really hammers them.I get complete penetration everytime and I wouldn't be afraid to shoot a larger animal with them.58.0grs of any of the 4350 powders shoot very well in my rifles,but with those bullet weights I've used powders from Varget all the way to Reloader-22 with good success as well.Guess that's what so great about the 30-06,it gives you so many options of bullet weights to chose as well as a wide variety of powders that work great in it.

180 grain x,y,z bullet and about 57 gr of H4530.

^^^^^^^^

This.

For those saying use ballistic tips, did they beef them up a little? Used the 165s about 11 years ago and they seemed to grenade inside a deer. Much less so than the sst which is I switched.

NBT's have gone through a number of iterations since they appeared in the 80's. Those designed for Big Game are now extremely stout (same jacket of equal weight/caliber as Accubonds), and I've had no issues with them on elk.

Here's some good reading:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...let-test-cow-femurs-and-newspaper-part-1

I've caught 180 partitions in elk, the 200 seems to penetrate much better...and yes, I like more recoil.... Duh...

Same for me but I use a BR-2 primer. Its a hammer yet doesn't tear up a lot of meat either, even up close! I like the fact it has a soft nose section, always works on deer too!

A bullet that works very well up to Red Stag which also means elk sized game is the 180gn Hornady BT. It shoots very well and always gives good accuracy and likes the 4350's in the .30/06 case for around 2800-2820fps which is a terrific all rounder.
John

180 Partition, 56-58 grains H4350 or 54-56 grains Re16, Fed 210 primer, WW brass.

You better buy a tractor trailer to haul all your game in <G>

The simple fact of the matter is the 30-06 is a "terrific all rounder" of a cartridge. No matter what bullet weight you use, from 165gr on up... I know you really like those 180gr. Hornady btsp bullets. I wish you were within shipping distance, I have about 300 of those pills I probably won't use...

I’m not going to mention my load data (not hard to find here) one of the campfire hero’s said I was going to blow fingers off but rl 26 with 180’s or 200’s is where it’s at. Try RL 17 as well.. RL 22 is another one to use with 180’s, I chrono that load with 62gr of rl 22 and 180’s was getting 2815 with it.

My “all-around” ‘06 load is a 165 Partition at 2900+ FPS.

If that won’t do it, I need a much bigger rifle, IMO.

For that class bullet weight, it's is very difficult to "beat" the Nosler 168 BTip. It is stout at those velocities.

But for a more enjoyable and just as effective alternative all-around load, the Barnes 130TTSX is nicer and does the same things when run at high speeds.

Thanks all for the posts. I really enjoyed that thread Brad. Going to have to revisit those ballistic tips.

What are you pushing your 130 TTSX bullets with? Varget?

My All-Around load in my 30-06 is a 165gr Partition over a 52gr R15. Not sure how fast it's going, but it's never not worked. My primary rifle uses R15, so I worked up a load for the 30-06 with that powder on purpose. It's my quintessential backup.