Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 165 gr GameKings in .30-06.

For the accuracy, I have used the 165 h.p.G.K. version on about 5 deer from the '06. All shots have been less than 100 yards and all behind the shoulder. The lungs have pretty well been mush but all the deer have run 100 yards or more. Two went more than 200 yards.

Used 150 grain G.K's in a couple .308's to kill about the same number of deer. They have resulted in quicker kills with the same shots, that is the deer have went less than 50 yards, maybe less than 20 but memory may be incorrect.

I shot a awful amount of critters with them before I knew they wouldn't work...……………….


LC

I'd use them for deer, but elk, nope. Not if I had better controlled expansion bullets available.

I used them for years in a 308. Much like others, I found they open readily. On a shot into the vitals of a deer without hitting shoulder, they are devastating. If you hit the shoulders, they may not be satisfactory. I’ve never shot an elk, but suspect there are better bullets.

Old70

Many years ago when the GKHP came out I loaded a good load for my 30-06. Come deer season we were moving from the area we were hunting with no luck to another spot we wanted to try. While on the way we spotted a coyote so I decided to see what that bullet would do to the song dog. He was about 200 yards out and when the bullet hit things happened. The front half went one way and the back half another. We walked over to see the results and figured the bullet must have hit the spine and blew up. That left me a bit leery using them on deer so resighted the rifle with 180 gr. factory loads I picked up at the local hardware store. It just may have been a fluke but I lost confidence in that bullet so never used it again on anything other than targets a plinking.
Paul B.

Over the years I have shot a lot of deer and hogs in the shoulder on quartering to me shots. The 150's never failed to kill the animal quickly. The shoulder was ruined and the insides looked like soup. So they do come apart but not before major damage is done. a lot of times with deer I would find the bullet just under the hide behind the opposite shoulder.

Far as I'm concerned they are only good for broadside ribcage shots only,if you like eating your venison. They come apart bad on bigger bone. Very accurate

I have 3 boxes of 150 grain Federal Premium sitting at home . I know they shoot like a house on fire out of my Tikka 30-06. After reading this stuff skeered to use them on deer.

I didn't like the amount of damage the hollow point version did.
But, they were the most lethal deer killers i have ever seen. They
even exited, if I would have needed to track. (Ha! Ha!l

I would use them again. I have had worse luck with other bullets.
I prefer to see my deer where I shot them.
Having to hunt before, and after the shot, sucks.

You should be skeered I take them off your hands. All you have to do is meet me half way.

LOL...where you at in NC?

Central NC around Burlington. And you?

I've never used the 165 .30 GK at all that I can recall, but have used the 160 7mm in the 7x57 considerably, handloaded to around 2700 fps. Have never had any difficulty with them at that velocity, but have had with other GameKings at around 2900 or so. But this is pretty much true of cup-and-core bullets, with the exception of Hornady Interlocks.

I suspect the muzzle velocity in factory .30-06 loads would be around 2800 fps, which would probably work OK on deer-sized game, but wouldn't be my first choice on anything larger.

10 miles from W-S

They will come apart on impact the majority of the time, even when they hit small deer---- but from a 308 or 30-06 it won't matter all that much on deer (unless you object to the meat loss)

I would advise AGAINST their use on elk.

Their breaking up inhibits their penetration, and there are a LOT of other choices that don't come apart as badly, so why take the chance?

My experience with game kills and game bullets is that the closer you get to the low end of the power scale when hunting any game animal, the more important bullet design becomes. To clarify, there is a wide variance in performance of 150 grain bullets which you can load into a 30-06 but I think you would have trouble finding many that would not kill small deer well.
If however we were talking about shooting deer with a 223 I lean HARD toward the use of premium bullets that hold 70% or more of their weight. Reason: a 30-06 has a lot of power to spare for deer hunting. A 223 doesn't.

It is also not the best policy to assume a good deer load is going to be as good on an elk. Many are. Some are not. And there are only 2 ways to know which ones are not.

#1 is make your own mistakes.

#2 is to ask others that have made them, or seen them made.

I fall into both categories, but as someone with a LOT of experience in using (and seeing used) good and bad bullets on elk for about 50 years, my counsel is to avoid them for elk.

Not that you can't kill elk with them, but I can promise you many better choices exist.

I'd use them pretty much anywhere I'd use a BTSP Interlock of the same weight.

My Rem. 700 30.06 loves the Federal Premium 165-gr BTSP GK's - extremely accurate. I sighted it in at 200 yards and moving back to 100 yards it shoots small groups exactly 1.5 inches high. All of my deer have been shot under 150 yards - I just don't need that much horsepower for that short of a distance, so my under-construction 6.5x55 SE will be shooting 130-gr AccuBonds. I've never shot an elk so I can't comment there. IF I were to ever hunt 'out West' for mule deer/elk/pronghorn antelope/bighorn sheep I'd definitely change to 165-gr. Partitions.

This doe had a pencil-sized entrance wound and a fist-sized exit on the other side, she ran a short distance and some blood seeped down from the entrance wound:

With similar shot placement and adequate velocity, I'd tend to think the TSX will perform better than the Gameking. And your meat won't have any possibility of being contaminated with lead.

The 165 grain GameKing is my go to bullet for both my .30-06s. They are very accurate in both rifles and they put deer down quickly. I have only caught one and it held up pretty well. I have no reason to use another bullet in the .30-06, at this point. If I were to go after an elk I’ll likely go to a Partition or an Accubond.

Thanks to all for your comments and insights. I think I’ll mothball them and see if I can sell them or just pull the loads and use the new brass. They were free after the online seller refunded my money and told me to keep the ammo. My lightweight Weatherby is no fun shooter in the recoil department so just firing them for giggles is a non-starter. I think I’ll stick with the TSX load. Happy Trails