Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 30 caliber 180's

Just curious if you guys have heard the same we hear around here about 180's. Some guys love them, some guys are afraid of them it seems. When you say you use 180's in a 308 300 savage or a 30-06 or a similar cartridge they roll there eyes and say what are you using those for? They will blow a deer or a black bear into 3125 pieces of exactly the same size and shape! They will go through M-1 abrams tanks, schools coal mines or any other big building. Lol

I like them in my '06, especially the round nose ones. I save the 150's for my 308s.

Me thinks the opposite.

Them hyper fast smaller pills cause more blood shot meat IMO.

huh?

I always shoot what groups best in the gun I'm using. If it shoots 180's better than 150's, 165's or 168's, then that's what I'm hunting with. I never put to much thought into what the bullet would do to Tanks, Schools, Mines or Buildings. A good quality 180 gr bullet is not going to blow anything to pieces. They work well on Deer, Elk, and Black Bear. JMO.

There is a lot of superstition and mythology that just ain't so when it comes to hunting.

I've shot a few whitetails in years gone by with 180 NPT's and the long-discontinued Remington Extended Range. Totally unnecessary but totally effective.

Wouldn't choose them now, but wouldn't worry about it if they were all I had.

I’ve killed more white tails with 30-06 180 grain bullets than maybe all other loads combined - that in close to 60 years of deer hunting.
They almost always go through the deer killing the deer fairly fast with out a lot of blood shot meat. I have only recovered one 180 grain bullet from a 30-06. I believe it was a interlock, but I may have still been shooting Remington CL’s. I have the bullet somewhere. It had expended well and obviously penetrated well. The buck was angling away at full speed the bullet took out a major bone in the back left hip traveled the length of the buck and the bullet rested under the skin on the shoulder. The buck didn’t need a second bullet.
Anymore I take a different rifle every year. But none do better than a 180 grain bullet from an ‘06.

My 308 likes sierra 180 grain roundnose the best. It shoots ragged hole groups

I grew up hunting deer in south Arkansas where the deer are small, and just about everyone used heavy for caliber bullets. The only guys that didn’t use heavy for caliber were the guys that shot .270’s, and my dad with his .243. Even then, he used 100 gr. bullets which where the heaviest you could get then. Even living in Alaska now, most people I know are going heavier bullets in their rifles. Of course a grizzly bear is more intimidating than anything in the wilds of S. AR.

My boy has a Weatherby Vangard in 300wm

First load I built up was 69gr 4350 and a 180gr Sierra. Powder charge is at rhe bottom of my old manuals but it grouped very well and no need to mess with it imo...

He pancaked 2 whitetails with it this year. I wasn't there for the buck but I was for the doe. She sprayed blood 5ft out both sides for 25 yards. Not sure how she ran like that with no front shoulders.

Next time he should neck shoot the does... we lost a lot of burger out of those fronts.

shot my moose this past Sept with a 180 gr bullet zipping out at 3350 fps from my 300 RUM

350 yard guillotine execution ! No wasted meat

bullet used ?

180 gr Bonded Polymer Tip from Mead Industries, fandamntastic bullet !

Mead 180 gr Bullets

.....

I use 150’s for the little deer we have here. If I hunted in bet country, I’d go 180’s

I’ve been shooting 180’s for years and the only thing I like better in a .30 is a 200gr.

BS for sure.180's tend to run slower than150'sinan.06. Velocity in a C&C bullet will destroy more meat the lighter bullet . I use a 180 gr Partition for elk or a220 gr Sierra RN .Both work for deer too. Start talking about magnum velocities using C&C bullets and it is a differt story

I toyed with the 180 Hornady bullets. For me it is as others stated. Run them heavier, and they will run slower resulting in less blood shot meat. The 150 grain should work as well if you keep the speeds down. I am working on a load right now using Hornady 150 Interlock bullets at 2700 fps. (30-06) That should do all I need it to for deer. If somebody asked me about deer bullets in an 06 and I knew they liked to push them hard, I would tell them to use 180's

The only bullet I like more than a 0.308" 180 grain jacketed bullet for my 30-06 is a 0.308" 200 grain jacketed bullet.

I've killed quite a few whitetails with 180gr speer BTSP out of my .308. I like them because they tend to anchor game where it stands, and if they do run they don't go far. It is not overkill by any means. I've had a lot more meat damage from lighter bullets pushed at higher velocities.

Yeah, learned that when I was 12. Maybe you should inform the OP..

This is that whole Bigger/Badder vs. Smaller/Faster thing. It's Keith vs. O'Connor. I remember this argument as a kid in the barbershop in the 60's. I doubt we're going to get a consensus.

Me? I started with 180 grain 30-06 back in Regan's 1st term, and I thought it was a miracle pill. I'd been used to 12 GA slug loads previously, and 180 grain 30-06 loads were a boon if not for the reduced recoil alone. 20 years later, guys on shooters.com got me to try 165 grain loads on whitetail and I became a 165-grain snob for the next 20 years. However, I was loading 150 grain REM PSPCL for my sons, and they were just as good on whitetails. At the same time, I was shooting 200 grainers out of my 35 Whelen and I could not find them doing any better job on deer. All it did was make my shoulder ache more.

About 5 years ago, I received a free lifetime supply of 150 grain Hornady IL SP in a deal. I let them sit until last year, and finally decided to switch from 165 grain to 150 grain for my main 30-06 load. I did not get a chance to blood it this season, but I am quite confident of my success in the coming years.

Killed my biggest whitetail buck with a Hornady 180gr. RN, this was back in 1974 when most hunters shooting a .30 cal. were shooting 180's. I've since gone to 165gr. Sierra Game Kings, they anchor deer with authority.