Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30-06 bullets for Pa. woods deer ?

When I switched the entire deer camp over to using the 180 grain Remington round nose Core-Lokt in their .308's and '06's, we never lost another deer hit anywhere. I remember one that dad shot when he came and got me to help get it and I asked him where he shot it? "Right in the middle because it was standing behind a tree." It didn't go that much farther than if it had been lung shot. I hit another one on the run that was headed into a green swamp and just clipped it's left ham. Never broke a bone or got inside, but that deer was dead in it's bed 200 yards away. Used one of my last ones for my .300 Savage this deer season and bang, flop. They work.

Elk, and everything else, too!
If I ever get to hunt ol' Griz - I'd just take my 375, instead of changing '06 loads.

When my Dad switched us from 180 RN Core-Lokts to 150 Core-Lokts we were finally able to stop following blood trails.

Moosemike, I suppose if your deer falls at the shot with a 150, it is a moot point. That said, I started a thread a while back asking what bullets have failed to give complete through and through penetration and the 150 grain bullets from the .308's and '06's hit the list pretty regularly. I don't suppose that Pennsylvania deer hunting is too much different than Midwest hunting and our shot opportunities are not always textbook broadside like we would like. Heavier for caliber, but with that big exposed lead head they expand quickly yet have enough mass to go out the far side for a better blood trail. Just our experience with them.

Yes, 150 CL's don't always pass through depending on shot angle. Broadside they generally do. But I don't remember my Dad ever having to blood trail another deer after we switched to them

Yeah Mike, I think he missed the point of your post. (not being critical)




Personally since I started with the 243/6mm then to 270, I never went heavy for caliber.
Even in the 35 Whelen I found the 200 HSP did what I wanted on WT.


Jerry

Jerry, I don't have a problem with the 180 Core-Lokts that he's fond of, but it seemed every deer we ever shot with them (at least the Round nose variety) ran at least a hundred yards. Sometimes twice that.

I've used 180 round nose core lokts in a 308 7600 carbine. I never had to trail anything. Second best shooting factory load in that rifle.

Every time you are a gentleman who knows his stuff. Hats off to you!

But did you do so in the 80's before they softened up that bullet?

Winchester/Olin's Deer Season XP 150 grain load is very accurate in my CLR, Husqvarna, and 760 BDL.

I haven't shot anything with this particular bullet, but the 95 grain 243 and 125 grain 6.5 Creedmoor are both very accurate and kill whitetails as quickly as any plastic tipped bullet that I've ever used.

[quote=gnoahhh


-------------------------------------

Well Sir, we share something in common besides rifles....


I looked for 2 yrs before finding this jacket. Got it for Christmas.




Jerry

This is the day after Christmas with my G son.

"Any gun good, shootum good" used to work.
Nothing changed for me.

Like what was written earlier, it is pretty hard to pick a bad one these days. That round nose Core-Lokt was the Benoit’s go to bullet of choice back when they were tracking big bucks up in the NE. They did go to pointed bullets in later years when they hunted in Canada. A terrific bullet for a .308 or .30-06 is the Hornady 165 grain Interlock. My biggest buck fell to that one from a 308. Again a short run which I really don’t mind, but an instant blood trail and that hasn’t always been the case with harder bullets.

No I did'nt,

Looks like I've settled on what I'm going to use back home.
I have several boxes of 150 gr tsx's, so I loaded 5 up with 52.0 grains of IMR 4064, at 0.050 off the rifling.
Fresh, scrubbed barrel with cr-10, and iosso paste.
First round low, then 3 into group. I saved the last round, so I didnt screw my group up under pressure !!
I'm not going to change anything, and load a supply up.

Terrific accuracy from that load all right, but that seems to be more of a prerequisite for longer range shooting out west than what I've experienced here in the Midwest. What you have chosen is one of the hardest 150 grain bullets. In my lifelong quest for a better whitetail deer bullet I did try the TSX's as a 140 grain bullet out of my 7mm-08 and I won't use them again. The several deer that I shot with them ran farther and bled less than any bullet that I have used before or since. I experienced very little blood shot tissue around the wound channel with small diameter exit wounds. I was use to lung pulp when I field dressed deer and the TSX gave me a quarter size hole through both lungs. The only deer that I ever lost shot with a rifle was with that TSX. Guys tell me that the TTSX works better, but I'm done with Barnes. Deer are less than 12" through the brisket and softer cup & core or tipped bullets expand and kill faster. Five pages of responses here and the TSX isn't mentioned often.

It's because I have 3 boxes of them.
I've shot enough animals to feel confident at killing what ever, at where ever with them.
Just be mindful of the size of the hole.
I'll be loading other bullets to test. I've got time to work it out.

Hey Windfall,
Here's a group with 165 gr Nosler solid bases.
1st round low from a clean bore, then 3.
Itll do just fine.
50.0 grains IMR 4064, at 0.025 off.