Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why does the 220 grain .30-06 load still exist?

I have a few boxes of Winchester silvertip 220 grain 30-06 ammo that I picked up cheap several years ago. I have never used them for any serious hunting. But was considering using them for moose, bear or elk at typical bush ranges, well under 200 yds. My usual load of 180 grain Nosler Partition or a 180 Speer Grand Slam has always worked well, and given deep penetration. My only experience actually shooting game with 220 gr bullets was in Germany, where I used some Hornady ammo on a couple of tiny roe deer and a very small wild boar. Hardly a test of the bullets capabilities. Likewise back home I have only accompanied one hunter who used the 220 gr,, in that case a Federal factory load. He shot a running mule deer fawn at about 300 yards. One shot placed in the shoulder crease and down it went. Again, a pretty odd application for that sort of bullet. I'm wondering whether to just burn those 220 silvertip loads up on offhand target practise or actually hunt with them.
So my question - when hunting game bigger than deer, is there anything that the traditional 220 gr cup and core 30-06 load does that a lighter controlled expansion 180 gr. does not do?

Not a gun writer, but about the only good application I have ever used them for is to give someone scope eye. Save them for sight in day at the local range, give them to the a-hole that wants to handle his o6 when every one is down range.

I've used the 220 Hornady RN in a 30-40, 30-06 and a 300 H&H. Took a few whitetail and mule deer does with it. Performance was good. Decent expansion, based on the wound evidence and not a lot of meat damage. The deer all died. I load the 220 grain Partition in my 300 H&H and loaned it to a friend to take his caribou. His guns were stolen the day before we left on our hunt so I loaned him my 300 to use. The caribou died quickly.

Those who get drawn for bison in Alaska are required to comply with some bullet weight and energy requirements. This is from the regs:

Rifle/handgun: must fire a 200 grain or larger bullet, which retains at least 2000 foot-pounds of energy at 100 yards. A .30-06 with a 220 grain bullet is about the minimal weapon that meets this specification.

I like heavy for caliber bullets.

Talking about heavy bullets is a subject on its own. The fast and dirty story is that firearms of yesteryear used larger projectiles. Over the years, driven primarily by military advancements, bullets have gotten smaller.

Black powder was eclipsed by smokeless powder,which meant that bullets could be driven faster and farther. To reach out and hit something hundreds or thousands of yards way required higher pressures, and subsequently, higher velocities. Lead bullets couldn't take the stress and were wrapped in jackets. Gun metals and cartridge alloys had to be developed to take the higher pressures. Powders, bullet design and primers have advanced too. These changes affected what successive generations used on the battlefield and hunting.

The short of it is that 220 grain and other "heavies" were among the first generation of jacketed bullets. The bullets were heavier than what we see today, but were they truly heavies? Earlier generations used heavy lead bullets. A 220 grain bullet in a 30-40 or a 30-03 would have been thought of as a lightweight when thirty yrs or so earlier 450 gr. 50/70 or 405 gr. 45-70 bullets were the standard.

Is there a use for them today? Sure. It depends where on the planet you hunt, and the species of game that your pursue. I have taken moose with 215 gr. 303 British handloads and 400 gr. lead bullets shot from my 45-70.

Should we get rid of 220s and use lighter weight bullets instead? No. Chat with a BP cartridge shooter or someone who uses a muzzleloader. Choices are great and variety makes the world a fascinating place. I cannot imagine a world where the only rifle that exists is a 6.5 Creedmoor.

I worked up loads using 220 grain Hornady bullets for my 30-303. They do a great job on moose where I hunt. Thank goodness for diversity.

I like heavy bullets, hardly ever met one I didn't care for.

Smokeless powder is a passing fad.

A crafty fella can put a jacket on a lead bullet. With paper. If you feel the need for speed one can knock on the 3,000 fps door with such things.

I admit that J-bullets are less time consuming and likely of better construction these days. Lead is more fun.

.44 Mag bullet, 320 grains, 30:1 alloy. Splat

Top 'mushroom' 450grn, bottom 500............. 45-70 paper patched

Big bullets are good.........

In the history of shooting big animals, it's likely that the biggest were taken with bullets that, by todays standards, were large and pedestrian..............

I killed a Moose with a 220 Core-Lokt out of a Husqvarna 30-06. The results were impressive but no more so than a 180 Partition.

The 220 out of a 30-06 out performs 225's out of a 338-06 or 250's out of a 35 Whelen.



WD Bell was probably the most prolific killer of big animals ever, he took over 1000 elephant. The vast majority with a 7X57. The rest with various rifles 30 caliber and smaller.

its balanced and opens up well....

I use to use it on MN whitetails with great success...

Round noses open up well and that heavy of a bullet has high sectional density and is therefore a great penetrating bullet...

Last big midwest buck I shot with one, was in Wisconsin...at 225 yds across a small swampy " mudhole' Pond.

Had to walk around the pond to look for it...it dropped where it was walking when hit.

there was only a dime sized entry wound and a dime sized exit wound...

gutting it, it looked like the lungs had been stirred with a chain saw....

This has been my experience with 220 factory loads as well Federal and Core lokts. If you think about it, considering you can buy 100 Hor/Sierra 220 gr bullets for the less than the price of 50 180 gr Partitions, that's not bad performance for the cost. A poor man's partition.

What would Elmer do...

Can some one please show their two side by side 10 shot groups so I can decide the validity of this 220 grain bullets worth.............

Pondoro Taylor says Bell lost a bunch too.

Because it works? A PH I know uses that load. A friend borrowed his rifle one day and took a shot at a Sable and hit a tree instead. Bullets went through the tree and still killed the sable.

-laffin'-

This is a very good post.....it hits a fairly accurate history of the development of todays bullets.

While there is nothing wrong with the 220 grain round nose (at least in my opinion) it has been eclipsed by such bullets as Nosler's partition, Swift's A-Frame, Northforks Barnes TTSX and a long host of other bonded bullets of 180 Grain. The lighter bullets can be driven faster and provide better trajectories and then deliver excellent terminal performance. The lighter bullet's sole advantage is, therefore, range. .....and somewhat lighter recoil.

Of the evidence I've seen, the round nose bullets provide very good terminal performance without the need for bonding and this makes them a tad less expensive.

Personally, I have no use for a .30-06 loaded with 220 grain bullets as I hunt places where longer shots are the norm and increasingly lead free bullets are required by land owners where I hunt.

How so?

If I'm following, you'd rather a 220gr Silvertip in a 30/06 facing a 10 foot brown bear or shooting up the ass of a moose over say a 250gr Partition in a Whelen or a 225gr X in a 338/06? Is that the sheit you're slinging?

Not factory.But I have been using 220gr RN for elk in my .06 for many years and will continue to do so,Don't plan to change just because some yahoo on the fire says you shouldn't.They are great for in the thick timber at slow speeds and will not ruin a lot of meat like 165's or so will. When I hunt out in more open countryI use 180 gr partitions or even (SHUDDER) 180ngr Game kings

Bear

You pick if the cover might not let you see the bear until they are 50 yards out... 220 grain, or something smaller.

Because it will knock the daylight out of something close.