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

in the old 06 i'd use the 180gr and the 220gr bullets

If you use anything other than a Berger 175gr VLD the bullet will bounce back and probably hit you in the eye.

Good Luck and wear eye protection.

To be honest, I never realized there were bullet options for the 30-06

Are you suggesting that a .30 cal 165 or even a 180 partition or similar at .30-06 speeds is adequate for deer but not for elk?

The 165 grain Hornady Interlock is all you need to know. Premium bullets haven’t killed more elk and deer. All the endorsements of the small bullets and good shooting have forgotten what some of the industry standards have always been and even endorsed by guys like Bob Hagel…



You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel

Well said Shrapnel. Too many forget this at the expense of wounding an animal to satisfy their ego.

Lol. Now it takes a 200 grain bullet to kill an Elk?

Obviously got my mule deer tag, but did not draw for Antelope.

Started working up recipes for 155 grain Scenar and 165 ballistic tips to see what shoots best

I find that normally the whitetails I end up shooting are shot ~ 100 yards or less with some exceptions.
Mule deer (bucks) on the other hand is a whole other game for me. I don’t get that close. Doe’s act like pets compared to a trophy mule deer buck.
Regarding the bullets you mentioned, I’d go with the 165 grain ballistic tip bullets.
In a “once in a lifetime” hunt I’d be looking at Partitions first though. There’s lots of premium bullets on the market but my first choice is partitions.

Shot many Mule deer with the old 150 grain Speer Hotcor. But if it were a trophy hunt the 165 gr. Ballistic Tip is an excellent bullet. So is the 180 grain version.

You guys have convinced me to use the 165 nosler

I’m going to just focus on that bullet

Thank you

You can’t go wrong with the partitions

Hard to beat 165s in the 30/06 like bread and butter

Scenar shoots really well at 3050 fps. .003 off the lands. 53 grains of Varget. mag primer

Quickly tell me a bullet coming out of an 06 that won’t kill a deer. Kiss! Edk

I shoot .30-06 Winchester Super X 180 gr. and the poor critters never made it further than 20 yards with 90% of them dropping in their tracks instantly dead.

Shot a handful of mulies - they aren’t that tough to kill. Less tenacious than a whitetail in my unprofessional opinion.

A 150 would work just as well.

A 150 or 165 Hornady Interlock, BT, Partition are all you need for any Muley. If elk were in the mix, I’d remove the BT but that is it and MAYBE go to a 180gr. I have never shot a Scenar.

Just got back from my hunt.

150 hammer bullet did the job at just over 300 yards. Wasn't a huge deer.

We didn't see any quality shooter bucks all week. It was pretty disappointing for the money we spent on the hunt and travel expenses. Not sure if drought impacted antler growth or blue tongue, or just a bad ranch. We did see some giant elk every day.

Grass Range Montana (middle part of state) is where our ranch was.

Talked to a Pro hunter (travels all over the world) in Billings airport that was kind of stunned we were hunting in that area for wall mounter type bucks. he turned us onto a place in Arizonia

Oh well, always next year.

I am going to start looking at South Dakota or Nebraska so we can drive it.