Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting What is the best 30-06 bullet weight???

I like it

Let's PRAY that Hornady does NOT discontinue them AS they have other GOOD performers.??

I like the 165-168gr bullets the best in my 30-06's.Plenty of speed and plenty of power for most game.

Being how this is in the deer forum, I'll assume it is for deer - and that being the main target 150gr gets the nod in my 30-06's.

For deer, pretty much any of the 3 main bullet weights work fine in the ‘06. My preference is for the 150s. They work just as well and offer slightly less recoil and slightly flatter trajectory over “ normal” hunting ranges.

Welcome to the hunting fraternity (and the 30/06 fraternity! )

Started handloading for .30 caliber more than 40 yrs. ago, used a 180 gr. Hornady RN at that time and took the biggest whitetail I've ever harvested with that bullet. Since that time my preference had been for 165 gr. spitzer bullets, Hornady, Nosler, Sierra whatever my rifle shoots the best.

I like 165's in a 308 or 30-06 . Two 30-06 rifles i have do not care what goes down the spout they are shooters. I can say I am very disappointed with Deer season XPs and Browning BXR after having used them on under 200 lb deer, too much blowup IMHO. I would like to try hornady superperformance SST's this year for some reason. I shot thru 1 1/2 inches of exterior plywood and then 1/2 " hardened steel plate at 100 yards and left a neat hole thru the plate.
Decisions

Forget about shooting through brush, nothing is really reliable for that.

+1

DF

Yes indeed.

In yesteryears the Gun Writers DID testS with diff bullets ATTEMPTING to see which bullets worked best --> thru brush -- NONE did.
Forget aboutit.

Jerry

I like the idea of 120 for coyote and pigs, 150 for deer, 180 for elk, 220 for moose, and 165 for everything. But bullet placement and construction are more important. Frankly, a 125 grain bullet, properly constructed for the task, will kill anything in the Western hemisphere with a single well placed shot. As will a 220 grain bullet. I haven't seen any commercial 110 grain bullets that I would seek out for hunting the great bears, the big five, or the big cats of Africa. For those, I'd like to have a bit more persuasion than the '06. Nor have I seen a 220 grain bullet I would select for squirrels, prairie dogs or coyotes. But if that's all I had, and the situation warranted it, I'd sure pull the trigger. If it's a fox in the henhouse, stuff a few in the magazine and get out there! If it's a bull elk or moose in the haystacks, look for something heavy. Just don't take shots you are less than sure about!

Back in '75, W.L.Godfrey published his notes on the '06 in a 400 page spiral bound notebook. He included everything from 50 grain bullets at 4740 fps and 110 grain bullets at 3500, to 300 grain bullets loafing along at 2100 fps. The latter was a jacketed bullet with lead core up front and a tungsten core behind. I wouldn't try to match his loads. He showed a bolt with sheared locking lugs. I get a headache just thinking about it.

Trouble comes when I start talking up some other gun and my wife asks "What will that one do that your .30-06 won't?"
I have no answer for that question. There is nothing wrong with the 30-06.

Man, can't the ladies dampen our Loony tendencies with pure logic.

Don't ya just hate it when that happens...

DF

Im glad you said you were 13 and getting started...

First the myth of " brush busting" bullets is just that...a myth. Counter intuitive but usually higher speed/lighter bullets work better in brush..but fact is NONE of them work good...
You didnt say what kind of hunting you'll be doing with your '06 so I have to assume it will be deer.
As some have said the 150 grainers are great for that, and as you've noticed, so are the 165s so I'd suggest shooting whatever is most comfortable and whatever your rifle prefers.

We were all 13 at one time. Thanks, Ingwe, for encouraging Chase. We all read about "brush shooting" back in the day, and until test actually showed the fallacy of that premise, it was an intuitive given that's what would happen.

I think we have a Loony in the making...

DF

Except on a set of measure zero, we all didn't know what we didn't know at 13.

Hey Chase, glad to have you here. It's good to ask questions. You don't have to make all your own mistakes that way.


Your question cannot be answered accurately because "best" is not something that we can define without a context. That's like asking what car is "best". Best for what use? keep in mind that weight is not always indicative of how a bullet works either. A 162 Gr Armor Piercing and a 165 grain Grand Slam bullet are very close in weight and would leave the muzzle at similar velocities, but the GS would not be the "best" for shooting up enemy vehicles and the AP would not be best for killing elk.

Most versatile? That could be answered, but bullet construction is actually more important then bullet weight. If we look at (for example) a 165 grain weight and compare a Sierra Game King to a Barnes TSX, the TSX is going to cost you more and give a potential for a lot more penetration in a moose or elk, but would not do anything any "better" then the Sierra if you were to shoot a white tail doe. And firing 500 rounds of ammo you can afford to practice with is going to do you a LOT more good then firing 200 round because your ammo costs so much.

So you see, "best" has a lot of facets to it that need to be examined. it may be better for you to give us all an overview of the use of your rifle before we delve deeper into trying to answer your questions. Also remember that you fire hundreds of rounds to learn the skills of marksmanship so that you are prepared for the 1 round you fire when it really matters. So for a new rifleman, the 'best" bullet is probably any accurate bullet you can afford to fire in large numbers. When hunting season gets close you then need to buy only one box of 50 or 100 special bullets---- and in a 30-06 many times you would not even need to do that. Ordinary "plane vanilla" 30 caliber 150 grain bullets have been killing deer for over 100 years from 30-06s, so unless you are hunting some kind of game that is typically over 400 pounds, your practice bullet and your "serious bullet" can be and probably are going to be the same one.

Oh......one thing more.

I started loading my own ammo at 12. that was a bit over 50 years ago. You should too!

PM me and I'll help you.

Happy hunting.
Steve Zihn.
Gunsmith.
Shoshoni Wyoming.

Good advise, I have been reloading for more than 45 yrs. and agree with what szihn is advising you. I especially agree that your practice bullet and your hunting bullet should be the same and that whitetails do not require a bullet so expensive so as to make adequate practice too expensive. I practice pretty much year 'round and even though I have loads that I've developed years ago I still keep an open mind and load development/trying new combinations is an ongoing process. I have developed a target with space for recording load information, after a range session I fill in the data and place the targets in a caliber specific file. That way by reviewing the targets in the file I can see what loads produce the accuracy I am looking for. Anyone that would like a copy of this target can PM me and I would be happy to e-mail them a target.

I am lucky I think, mine just says I want one also.

Ya gotta jewel. Take care of her...

DF