Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Getting the most out of my .30-06: Ammunition Selection

It’s fun to discuss, but not all that significant.

It’s where you shoot them than matters, much more than with what.

And as others have said, 500 yards is farther than you think. Unless you practice, and a lot, from field positions at that distance, you’re asking for trouble.

Find the load your rifle prefers and buy a case of it, then shoot every week. I’d spend more time picking your boots that picking your bullet.





P

#truth

First off-
Any of those bullets in factory loadings will work.

If I were you, I would try to get over the notion that you are going to take your '06 elk hunting with 500 yard targets in mind. Unless you are planning on hunting on total windless days, which are rare in most elk country, wind drift must be taken into account, and understood. i would suggest finding a big prairie dog town, hit it on a windy day, and get a sense of what wind actually does at ranges of 200, 300, etc. ranges. It will make you a better big game hunter, in my experience. If your quarry is found in deep timber, then it's a whole different game- I've killed more elk in timber than in wide-open meadows or fields, especially later in the season when they have been pressured.
I would also ditch the 4-18X scope, and mount up something with less magnification and lighter weight. You don't need Mt. Palomar to go elk hunting.
If you prepare for shot opportunities out to 300 or so yards, in my own personal elk hunting experience you will be ready for the vast majority of situations afforded to you, if you are lucky. I have hunted and shot elk for most of my fairly long big hunting career, and can only remember two that were taken at ranges in excess of 300 yards, with the rest all taken from 50 yd. to 300. In that time, I have never had to track a wounded elk, but I always take what I regard as a certain shot.

Colorado is a great elk state, but keep in mind that hunter success is around 20%- if an opportunity presents itself, you'll want to make the best of it, and a lot of factors are way more important than bullet selection.

Welcome to the fire. There’s a lot of good information here. I’ll add the following:
• It’s hard to find bad 30-06 ammo, but some of it is better than others. Test a bunch of loads for accuracy and velocity, then pick the one that gives you the best combination of the two.
• You’ll definitely want an accurate load, but remember that the vital zone of an elk is as big as a toilet seat.
• Chronographing is vital. Some loads WILL run slow in your rifle but you won’t know which ones until you clock them.
• Don’t ignore standard load like the Remington CoreLokt. There’s a reason that they’ve been around for decades.
• Shot placement matters. Some bullets need to go into a shoulder to do their best work.
• Barnes bullets penetrate deeply but they need velocity to expand. You can drop 1-2 weights (down to a 150 or 165 from the 180) in the 30-06 and still get plenty of penetration, plus you get more velocity. The 180 Barnes might be best in a 300 magnum.
• Knowing your drops beyond about 250 yards is important, but you also have to know how to read the wind.
• Whatever physical condition you’re in now, improve it.
• A 165- or 180-grain Nosler Partition is never wrong in the 30-06, but chronograph them first. Some factory loads run on the slow side.
• Once you choose a load, buy an entire case so you get the same lot number. Ammoseek.com finds the best ammo prices.
• Check out the elk on display at Cabelas and compare them to the deer you’ve killed. Nearly all of them are trophy animals, but they’re not as big as you may have been led to believe. Study them and get a feel for shot placement.
• If you’re really serious about shooting past 300 yards, get a rangefinder. When you look across canyons and mountains, things look different than they do when you look across farm fields and rolling hills covered with deciduous trees. 300 yards is a long poke, and you need to know the exact range.
• Get good at fast offhand shots inside of 100 yards. The only shot you get may be in the timber.

Again, welcome to the fire.

Keep us posted.


Okie John

That was horrible reading.

Shoot, Thanks for pointing out the incorrect nomenclature of the TSX...This is what I meant by being a stout bullet (not core) 😎

I've shot elk up to 435 yards (rangefindered) with a 165 grain partition. I personally feel that the 165gr bullet and the 30-06 is a match made in heaven. A lot of folks go heavier, 180 gr and up, but I don't see a need for it. If you feel the need to go heavier then go 35 Whelen or get into the 300 mags. A lot depends on your sensitivity to recoil. Heavier bullets, heavier recoil. Less flinch is a big deal when you get out to 3-4-500 yards. Everybody already knows this but few really and objectively think about it.

^^This^^.

168TTSX out of my 06 in my preferred Elk medicine.

Thanks to all of you for your constructive feedback. I have gleaned a great deal from you all and intend on applying a fair bit of it. I'm going to hit an indoor range and shoot 4 different loads I've picked at 100 yards. I'll pick the one that groups best out of my gun and then buy a case of it (resounding them here) and then shoot every week (or as much as possible) this summer and into the fall to get comfortable at various distances. I am going to shoot off-hand, off my pack and I think I will invest into shooting sticks as well, of which I will practice with.

I think the quote that took the cake on this thread was both comical as well as very thought provoking. That quote was

I'd suggest picking the best flying bullet at 200 not 100. At least from what I've seen, that's where I see things get more visibly not grouping.

For example, my wife's7-08, with 3 different bullets the groups at 100 were roughly the same. At 200 one of the bullet groups exploded WAY out of whack. Consistently niether of us could hold tighter than a 6 inch group at 200 off a bench with sand bags with that one bullet type. The other 2 stayed tight.

That's also good feedback. I assume though if I cant get good groups at 100 I will certainly see even worse groups at 200...or am I assuming incorrectly? I was thinking the indoor 100 yard plan would help me vet the list and then take the ones that group well at 100 and shoot them at 200 and then 300. Once I find "the one" then try getting comfortable with 400 yard shots.

Of those 3 bullets, the only one I've used is the AB. I shot a bunch of deer and elk with them, then quit using them because they blew up and wasted too much meat. They were highly accurate, though. I was later assured here on 24 Hr that it was a factory problem that had been fixed. So, I gave them another chance this fall. I shot a cow elk and left a good amount of ground meat on the hill when it blew hell out of the rib cage. It's highly effective in putting an elk on the ground but the meat waste is large.

+1, ..... but someone will compose a lengthy essay.

I've only killed 3 cow elk here in Utah. My "average" is 190 yds! One in medium aspen (135yds) one in fairly open timer ( 200yds) one high up on a knife ridge (250yds). The wind is my biggest boogerman, and he has "got me" several times, ha. As mentioned, a few days out on a prairie dog shoot "will educate a man quicker than you can say skat!", ha. Antelope hunting? My furthest shot was 347yds, but it didn't need to be. The rest I have shot from 50yds, 150yds, 300yds and I "missed" one old confused doe antelope around 500 yds with a hot, 6mm/284 wildcat. "Four times", the wind blew it over, and under and one way off to the side! I quit before I gut shot the poor thing, went around the end of the ranch and shot one at 150yds. I have also had the wind blow my bullets 6 feet to the side on 5 different pronghorn bucks (300-350) one day. Where I was at, the wind was "slight on my rosy cheek". Out where they were at, on that short grass prairie, there were "no wind indicators". That was with a 280 AI and a 150NBT. I finally slipped up on a 15 1/2" buck behind a snow fence and popped him at 250yds. So, I think you should "re-think" shooting 500yds...with anything, ha But that's just "me". You have fun though, that's what's really important here.

PS The Vortex 168TTSX shot under an inch in my friends Browning BAR 30-06. I was with him when he shot a Eurasian hog ( 200#) right at 50yds and it opened fine yet didn't ruin any meat, and boy, do those things have some good meat...its "almost " steak, not white pork. The 165s are waaaay plenty in the old 30-06. Just my .02!

I regularly shoot my 06 at 400 yards.

Taken elk at about 60 yards and then at about 70 yards. Used a .45-70 on the second one.

Practice practice practice. And be ready to shoot from awkward positions while physically exhausted.

Have fun

-jake

Only one person mentioned it, but I second the opinion: ditch the 18x scope and get something smaller and lighter. Elk hunting is a rigorous activity, and lighter weight will benefit you. Also, the possibility of having it set for a very high magnification when an elk appears at 60 yards is one point of failure I would, for one, prefer to avoid.

If you're determined to use that particssular scope, set it for 4x, 5x or 6x and put a piece of tape on the magnification ring to remind you not to change it! Then practice at that chosen magnification and get used to how things look. You can do very well at 400-500 yards with 6x magnification...indeed, some very experienced elk hunters go afield with a fixed 6x scope, which is lighter, simpler, and less likely to fail under tough conditions.

Best of luck!

That's true...IF your eyes are still young. Mine aren't. The rifle I hunted with this year has a 4x scope. I was working in to a large herd and wondering if I could see well enough for a 300+ yd shot when a cow came out from behind a tree at about 75. I quickly decided that she's was the best eating one in that whole herd. I've done some shooting at 300+ with that scope and it's not easy. A 4" bullseye at 300 is pretty fuzzy with a 4x.

pretty much what i would have written, but this excellent summary was posted first!

Agreed... and I'd skip right on past Berger.

I'd also look at 165 Accubonds, 180 Hdy BTSP, 180 Partition's, and a plethora of other factory offerings including the 180 Federal Blue Box. The 30-06 isn't especially hard on 180 bullets, and any decent Cup and Core bullet will do fine. I'd not worry about BC inside 500 yards.

If going TTSX, I'd drop down in weight to a 150 or 165 at most.

The 30-06 is the classic elk round... good luck.