Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 30-06 Mule deer bullet?

I have a Lewiston Montana Mule deer hunt planned for this November and I want to start working up a load for my Mauser M12 30-06 (1:11 twist) rifle that I will be taking.

I have a bunch of 155 Grain Scenar's and also a bunch of 165 grain Nosler Ballistic tips on hand and plenty of h4350 powder.

I don't have any mono bullets on hand, but I am certainly not opposed to buying 160 grain hammer bullets, if you guys think that would be the best choice. They impress the crap outta me.

Probably over thinking things, but this hunt has been a 10 plus year dream for me and it's finally going to happen.

which one would you go with?

thanks

I’d use a 150 Partition with 59 grains of IMR 4350, been using that for over 45 years in probably 15 rifles. Accurate in all of them. I’m sure the equivalent load of H would be as good if not better.

The 150 partition referred to above would be hard to beat....or grab a couple of boxes of 150 or 165 grain blue box Federals and go kill stuff....

A 150 Barnes would be a great choice also.

Hows the 165gr Barnes ttsx?

Either of the two bullets you have on hand are about the best choice.
Anyone telling you to forsake them for something else doesn’t know much about guns, bullets or killing deer.

The two bullets you have will get the job done. Use which ever one gives the best accuracy and practice at different yardages and field positions. Have a great and safe hunt.

OK, I will see what shoots best. Never have killed anything with the Scenars but obviously have seen hundreds of animals piled up on this forum.

I also think you are overthinking this.

Any of those listed will work, and I would default to a combination that shoots well in your rifle.

Me? My favorite is a 165 gr. Nosler Partition in front of 58 gr. of H4350. I’ve killed quite a lot of mule deer, and other stuff, with this combination.

Those bullets will work great. FWIW, my go to for deer are 165g Hornady Interlocs. Dead reliable.

I've had great success with Sierra Game King 165gr. over IMR 4350, accurate and kills with authority.

Shoot the 165gr Ballistic Tip.

Didn't mean to just throw one in. I'm just testing some 165g ttsx in my 06 for whitetails, because I had them already, wondering if anyone's done well with them on deer?

The Barnes 150 TTSX bullet over some IMR 4064 or IMR 4350 works for me in my model 70 in 30/06.

I agree with 150 grain partitions or maybe 165 or 180 partitions. Then the 200 partitions have become my favorite bullet in the magnums and it would shine in the ‘06 as well.

Either one of those bullets will work fine, if your rifle shoots either one of them adequately. And the rifle doesn't have to put them into half inch groups to be adequate...LOL! I've shot and seen a fair number of deer shot over my decades here in MT and they all died just fine, whether the bullet was of standard construction or one of the premium ones. DON'T OVER THINK THE BULLET/LOAD COMBO. IMO, there are other things to worry about, like:

1. Get yourself in very good physical condition, especially if you plan to hunt public lands where you may need to be getting up early and hiking many miles into prime habitat.

2. Learn to shoot your rifle well & quickly from real world field positions, and practice, practice, practice, ... And I don't mean off a shooting bench with a bipod or other artificial supports. Practice shooting in windy conditions because there are many HIGH wind areas in central MT and the winds are very active the majority of the year east of the Rockies in MT.

3. Memorize the ballistic dope (drop & drift) for your carefully chronographed hunting load. You probably won't have time to pull out you smart phone and look it up. And there are plenty of locations not that far outside of Lewistown where you won't get a cellular signal at all.

4. Practice estimating distances in the field with your own eyeballs, and then use a rangefinder to validate your estimates. Big mature muley bucks are just as smart and cagey as eastern whitetails, and they aren't going to stand around posing for while a hunter fumbles around with a rangefinder and twists the elevation knob on their scope.

5. Mentally prepare yourself not to see the 30 inch 4x4 muley buck of your dreams. There aren't lots of those bucks left on public lands in MT. And the ones that are live in country where most hunters can't get to - either because it's too remote & rugged, OR because it's posted and not accessible to the non-paying hunters.

GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

I like bullets that hold together for all my big game, but the truth is that most 150 and 165 grain 30 cal bullets do ok on deer. I bought many thousand 150 grain Winchester Power Points and also several thousand Remington Core-Lokts in 150 grain many years ago. My WW bullets are all gone now, but I still have about 2000 of the Core-Lokts left. I have killed deer with both and the Power Points held together better, but both work fine from 308s and 30-06s.

If price (and availability) were not a problem, I'd go to what I thin of as the "Gold-Standard" every time, the Nosler partitions.
But from the kills I have made on deer and antelope (which I can say are MANY) the Core-Lokt 150 grain does kill well, and the old Power Points seemed to give the same wound channels clear through deer as I got with the Nosler Partitions.


A 30-06 is actually more powerful then needed for deer sized game and does well on both elk and moose. So any 150 grain bullet that is not a varmint bullet (some are, despite how they are marketed) do just fine on deer from a 30-06 and for probably 70 years, it's been considered the "standard weight" for deer hunting in the 30-06------ and for very good reasons.

I have used 150s from Remington, Winchester, Speer (Hot Cores, were so-so, the Mag Tips were good and the Grand-Slams were very good) Hornady Inner-Locks (good) RN Inner-Locks (excellent) and SSTs (break up more then I like) Sierra Game kings (break up badly) and Pro-Hunters (which do better, about like the Speer hot-Cores) Nosler Partitions (the best so far) and Nosler Ballistic Tips (mostly good but with a few break-up)

In 165 grains I have used Hornady flat base Inner-locks (good) Hornady Boat tails (break ups every time) Sierra Game Kings (many break-ups) Speer Grand Slams (no problems) Nosler partitions (perfect every time)

In 180 grain I have used Remington Core-lokts in both RN and pointed (never a single problem on a deer) Winchester 180 grain RN (excellent) Hornady Inner-lock in both Spire Points and RN (always perfect results) Sierra RN Pro-hunters (perfect on every deer shot) Nosler partitions (perfect in all cases) Norma Alaskan (perfect )

The overall results from 180s are better then 150s in that so far I have never seen a bad blow-up with a 180, but that is likely because of the lower impact velocity and the fact the heavier bullets exit so if they didn't hold together, the extra weight was enough top exit so seeing the broken bullet was not possible. If I get an exit, the rest of the numbers don't matter.and a bullet holding together is only important for penetration. Once you have exits, nothing else really matters.

BUT, the 180s do not shoot as flat as the 150s and because there are a number of very good 150s to choose from, I still go with 150s for deer and and antelope hunting when using a 30-06.


Here is a buck antelope I killed 2 years ago with a 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. He was facing me straight on, and I hit him at the bottom of the neck, through his heart and the bullet exited from just in front of the rear leg. Range finder said he was 218 yards away. A bang-flop with an exit, lengthwise. I can't say any other bullet could have done much better.
M1 2020 Buck 2 by Steve Zihn, on [bleep]

Thanks SBElk, I'm using em over A4064 for about 2770fps so far, very accurate, just got to arrive on a final load! Helps to hear good words before shooting at a deer!

I just logged ~200 miles well off the asphalt surveying wildlife east of Lewistown over 4 days. I saw plenty of mule deer (and elk). Unfortunately the landscape is popcorn dry going into the second spring without rain. Most the animals were near water sources (the Missouri River, natural seeps, or cattle tanks if turned on). The best mule deer I ever shot was in the Missouri Breaks, a .270 Win pushing a Barnes TSX 140 gr. I jumped him out of a deep coolie, and he made the mistake of pausing at the top of the next ridge about 200 yards out. I always carry a set of shooting sticks and popped him about 10 seconds after settling to one knee. It was a high chest shot, must have also shocked his spine too as he instantly collapsed, and was DRT when I got across to him. My advice would be to find a real accurate load at 100 yards, then practice with it to 300 yards. A lot of deer will be observed at far past that distance, but won't be approachable because of terrain. But others will present quick close shots for the same reason. Conditions in that region can also be quite breezy, so I never plan for true long distance shooting. Better to have a gun you are willing to carry far than one designed to shoot far (500+), and the M12 is a good fit. Lot of good advice above by MTDDFAN. But I would also recommend a mono because I don't like lead grit in my meat. I've never tried the Hammers, but you have me interested in buying some! Good luck.

cooperfan;
Good morning, I hope the day's looking decent for you out in Michigan and you're all well.

While it appears that you've already made a decision on the bullets, I trust it's okay that I offer a few thoughts on chasing mulies that I've learned over the last 40 years hunting them here in our part of southern BC.

The response by MT DD FAN was in our experience spot on, though I can't comment on the deer populations in the area of MT that you're hunting just to be clear.

Here though, you won't see a 30" rack that often. I can recall seeing only a handful in the 40 plus years here for instance. As well, I'm reluctant to talk numbers because context is sometimes tough to establish on the inner webs, but I've personally been front and center when at very least 120 mulie and whitetail bucks, sheep and black bears have been taken with bullets ranging from .257" 80gr up through .338" 250gr of all sorts of construction types. While there was some difference in terminal effect, it was usually less than we thought it'd be, so I've seen bigger bucks drop faster when hit with the 80gr .257" than a 225gr .338" for instance. The size of the hole in the barrel doesn't mean as much to me as it once did in terms of the ability to cleanly take game. Bullet construction is more important, but can be worked around to some degree with shot placement.

When we used to have more sheep on the mountain behind the house, I'd shoot the breeze with the locals who were guiding hunters who'd come in from all over the world. Their number one complaint by a large margin was that their hunters could not shoot from improvised rests or field positions in a timely manner.

You might get time to range that big old mulie of your dreams, set up a good rest and get the bipods out - might. Or you might have to the count of 3 to decide whether or not you're going to shoot it - or not - like I did with the California ram I took, or most of my largest mulies and whitetails and the bull moose and all of the black bears so far and.. Well you get the picture.

Sometimes one gets to see them on a sagebrush hillside out yonder and do a stalk, but for us here we're much more apt to bump them in draws and travel corridors or in the timber.

Whatever you can shoot fast and confidently with will give you an edge that you might find handy when the time comes.

Hopefully that made sense and was useful to you or someone out there this morning.

All the best and good luck on your hunt.

Dwayne