Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 30-06 One Bullet for Lower 48

Now at 71 yo and not going to hunt Moose or Grizz I could be very happy using only 165s in the 06.
Come to think of it THAT is all I've used for many years. I've made front on, behind shoulder, neck, and spine shots
using the 165 BTSP and every ONE has worked w/o issue!

OTOH, I would want 180s or 200s for Moose or Big bear.


Jerry

PS > Edit: pardon me if I already posted very similar earlier in this thread. I probably did.

180 grainers in the ole 06 for the win!!

The good old 180 Power Points would work for me

180 great Remington corloc , hit him in the right spot he goes down , you eat good tonight,

I’ve used mainly 180 grain bullets in my ‘06’s. I’m sure that combination has killed more big game for me than any other combination. It started with Remington, then Hornady (flat bae)
But I’ve used others as well. One bullet you would never regret using is partitions.

Any hunting bullet your rifle likes will suffice for the lower 48.
Factory round manufacturers have known this long before any one of us so why the need to ask?

150 or 168TTSX. whichever the rifle liked best. If it didn’t like those…. 180 partition or AB. But honestly a 180 plain Jane Hornady would be just fine and a whole lot cheaper.

Especially when I use to hunt in far northern MN and Northern Wisconsin, often in swamps.....220 grain Round Nose.

it never failed to penetrate more than enough....normally Federal Factory ammo.

I once set up a friends new Mod 742 '06 with a s cope and he wanted an accurate factory round. He was paying for it, so I bought a few WW 150, Rem 150 cl and on a whim, Remington 180 round nose cl. Best the 150s did was around 4"@100, those old 180 RN went 2", sometimes under 1 1/2" He later killed a Georgia WT ( Northern WT plant) young buck dressed out 175#. Bit for us ( SE Texas) His round was perfect, no bloodshot meat with the heart/lung shot. Good luck finding many round nose today! lol

For hunting, I’m a 168 TTSX fan for the 06 and have 7 elk from 25 to 400 yards with all pass through.
But they are expensive for range time.
I Just loaded up some 180gr game kings and they clover leafed with 60gr of Hunter first time out this last weekend. Will be buying more and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them on any game.

That's for sure.

A great performer.

I like the mono's. I'll add the 150gr Nosler eTip and Hammer Hunters OTM.

tag

My local LGS had a surprisingly “huge” assortment of round nose bullets available. I haven’t seen that many in one place in years. It looked like the manufacturer made a run on round nose bullets.

Getting harder to find the RN bullets. Hornady still shows they make the 30 cal 180 RN IL but haven't seen them in stock for a long time even prior to the latest run on shortages.

Just for fun, I think I'm going to try RL-26 with a Nosler 200 grain Partition.

I'll see if it out preforms my load I have with RL-17.

For me it's the 165 ,grain TTSX.....

180 NP or Hornady FB Interlock. I believe those are all I've ever used in 30-06.

I do think RN bullets get an unjustified “bad rap”. True, they aren’t as aerodynamic, and therefore bleed speed faster, but for most all of the big game hunting I’ve done in VA, MD, and upstate NY . . . It’s a 200-250 yard at max game anyway. Most shots are half that distance, or even less. RNs in 6.5, .270, and .30 perform just fine at these distances.

I lucked into some “vintage” Hornady 6.5mm 140 gr. RN bullets awhile back. They shoot like match bullets in my Swede. Interestingly enough the same powder charge that gets a new 140 gr Interlock moving at 2648 FPS only moves the RN to 2558 FPS (muzzle). Old Hornady “Soft Points” are similarly moving at 2560 FPS with the same charge despite a similar profile to the new Interlock bullets.

The RNs drop significantly more at 300 yards than spitzers, but by shooting them at that distance, you know how much they drop. “Forewarned is Forearmed”!

Lots of good choices. My vote is for the 180 trophy bonded tip or 175 terminal ascent. Both expand well at low velocity and smaller game yet hold together well at high velocity and large game. I've seen them used on game from whitetail to moose and results have been the same. Works like a charm.