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

165 grain

I thought Accubond always did the trick. Partition was excellent too

I'm a big fan of 165 grain pills. My old Mauser really likes Federal Premium 165 gr. Sierra Game King BTSP,

I bought my first centerfire rifle, a .30-06, back in 1967, and for 10 years it was my only centerfire rifle. I loaded 125 grain bullets for prairie dogs, 150 grain Hornadys for deer, and 180 grain Sierra spritzers for elk. In 1977 my hunting partner showed my a .30 Gibbs case, and I thought that case looked so cool that I had my .30-06 rechambered to the .30 Gibbs, and I built a .257 Ackley for deer size critters. For the next 20 some years many elk, moose, and a few other critters fell to a 180 grain Partition from that .30 Gibbs.

First off, welcome to the fire. There is a massive amount of stupidity online, in print, and in gunshops, and 24hourcampfire tends to be a refreshing exception to all of that. There’s a lot of good advice here and on this thread. Some of the best advice in this thread is that energy figures are unreliable measures of how useful cartridges are. For instance, energy figures for factory loads in 45-70 and 22-250 are almost identical, but they’re radically different cartridges with radically different uses.

There is no formula to express cartridge usefulness with a number—it takes paragraphs to do that, and even then the historical baggage creates a lot of gray area. For instance, back when all bullets were made the same way, the guidance was to match the bullet weight to the game. In the 30-06, that was 150s for deer, 180s for elk and bear, and 220’s for anything bigger. That still works with standard bullets, but now we have monometals like the Barnes TTSX, bonded bullets like the Trophy Bonded Bearclaw, and multiple variations of the Nosler and Brenneke designs. With those designs in mind, you could easily use one bullet weight and match the construction to the game. In the case of the 30-06, you could use a traditional 150 for deer-sized game and a 150 Trophy Bonded Bearclaw or TTSX for everything bigger or tougher. Plenty of smart folks just use a 155-grain Scenar or a 180-grain Nosler Partition for everything. But you still run into people who are unaware that 30-06 ammo has changed in the last century, so you still get advice that dates to the 1950's.

As for brush hunting, having a good scope, the right zero, and a rifle that fits you so you can make fast offhand shots is far more important than worrying over bullet weight, but that’s another thread...

Then there’s the fact that round-nose bullets drop velocity faster than pointed bullets of the same weight, so that even if they start at the same velocity, then the RN will be going slower as range increases, but that’s also another thread...

Either way, you’re smart to start with the 30-06. It’s the standard by which others are judged.

Stick around and keep the questions coming.


Okie John

I’m surprised no one mentioned 240 Woodleighs or 250 Barnes. LoL.

Welcome to the fire Sir! There is a lot of great information here at the 24HRCampfire.

My tidbit is to try a few different sizes, mainly 130 to 165. Those are going to be the more logical choices
for deer.
My favorite is the 130 Barnes TTSX. Works very well for me. Eventually when you decide to hand load
you’re going to have even more to choose from.

Have fun and good luck!! Tom

I have used various 180 gr bullets over the years ( Corelokts, Fusion, SST). I'm going to try some 168 gr TSXs this year with axis deer.

It is always fun to encourage youth toward a lifetime of hunting and shooting.

The 30-06 with a 165 will do anything you ever need it to do. I used it exclusively for deer hunting for nearly 25 years. My load was the 165 gr Speer boat tail or Sierra spbt, and then the Nosler ballistic tip after it was introduced, all over 60 gr of H4831 with a CCI 250 primer.

I will make a couple suggestions for you since you are only 13 yoa. I would encourage you to use lighter recoiling ammo for off season practice. Heavy ammo is a great way to acquire a nasty flinch, and the flinch is not easy to be rid of.

I used to load the Speer 110 gr Varminter over a minimum charge of IMR 3031 for plinking or ground squirrels. A guy can burn up a couple hundred in an afternoon with no ill effect upon barrel or shoulder.

I also loaded hundreds of Speer 125 gr TNT or 130 gr Speer hollow points over 20 gr of SR 4759 for my kids to shoot when they were your age. 30 gr of H 4895 would also work well with the 125-130 gr bullets as SR4759 has been discontinued.

Good luck and have fun.

Just a note on brush busting.

My first bull elk stopped and stood in the trail 400 yds away on the ridge line across a canyon at about a 20 degree down angle. I was perched on a big rock about the same size as a volkswagon beetle with a perfect rest and armed with a Ruger #1 in 7mm STW.. The first 162 gr Hornady hit him perfectly in the heart. The bull took two jumps uphill and decided he could not climb the mountain. He turned around and stepped behind a big shrub of some kind. I could see him thinly veiled through the brush with his nose nearly in the dirt. But elk are resilient animals and one takes no chances with them. A critically injured bull can still cover an amazing amount of ground. So I took the best shot offered, through the brush. The bull started walking away from me and I dropped one more round into his back (it actually entered the pocket in front of the hip bone and also passed through the arortic arch). The bull walked out of sight and traveled about another thirty yards before falling over.

But this was supposed to be about that second shot, through the bush. Fortunately the bull was actually standing right beside the bush, because otherwise the shot would have probably missed. The bullet did hit, about two thirds the way down on the chest, just behind the front leg. But the entrance hole was as big around as my fist, and contained about a half cup of elk hair just under the skin.

It was pretty obvious that the bullet had made contact with something and expanded before entering the elk. Heck, it might have even entered sideways or backward.

Shooting through brush is an act of desperation, and something I would only do to anchor a wounded animal.

168 TTSX per JJhack recommendation and I'm done - no other weight needed. Incredibly effective on game ranging from springbok to Oryx and Zebra.