Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 30-06 200 grain speer for elk?

been shooting a 300 ultra and a 338 win mag. for elk for the last 6 or seven years. the last 6 elk i have shot have been in heavy timber and under 100 yards. both of the magnums have muzzle breaks and kill my ears. im thinking of trying a 30-06 with 200 grain bullets since most of the shots i take are less than 100 yards. would 180s or grains work best?

Try the 220gr RN from Sierra with 57-58 gr H4831. Work up to that load though. They are real elk thumpers.Been using them for years and it will reach out to 300yds or so if required

Thanks saddlesore. i have a bunch of 200 grain speer spitzers 200 grain accubonds and 200 grain grandslams. and a whole assortment of 180 grains bullets. i would like to use up something i have.

Any of those 200 gr bullets you have will work fine on elk inside 100 yards.
Providing bullet placement is fine.
The 180 gr bullet in the 30-06 will work just fine too.

You could also try reducing your 338 Win Mag load.
A friend of mine loads the Speer 200 gr at around 2700 fps, and gets great performance, accuracy, less recoil and muzzle blast. With a milder load like this, you could take off your muzzle brake and protect your ears too!

Working up a load in a 1917 Enfield with a 200 grain Nosler, I was able to work up to 61.5 grains of H 47831SC... that gave an MV of 2850...

Some consider that HOT to say the least.. but a conversation with a gentleman at Nosler in their Ballistics Dept, stated that you couldn't get enough 4831 Sc in an 06 case to get into pressure problems...

That would surely be an elk thumper... but I strongly stress working up...the load might be too hot for your rifle...

but in a Remington 700, Enfield, Springfield, Browning A Bolt and a pair of Model 70s, each rifle digested this load with no pressure problems.. cases were also reloadable 10 times.. used regular Large Rifle Primers, not Magnums.. per advise from Nosler...

The load was also very accurate in each one of these rifles...

Seafire.Not true about 4831 and heavy bullets. True for bullets in the 150-170 gr class. At 59 gr and 220 gr bullets I start to get sticky bolts on my Model 70 and extractor gouges on my brass.Of course, each rifle /chamber is differnt

338,those 200's will work just fine too

I would stick to a quality 180 for the 30-06.

I have killed dozens of elk in my 60 years of hunting and the 200 grain Partition at 2650 out of the '06 has never failed to put them down with one shot. Go figure.

Wayne

Haven't killed an elk with anything but have seen a few. Nor have I killed anything with a 200 Speer Hot-Cor, but have used the same bullet in other calibers and weights quite successfully on other things. I have, however, killed a couple dozen Alaskan moose over that past two and a half decades. Both the first and the most recent were taken with a single 190 BTSP Hornady bullet. Both went right on through. And, of course, plain old 180 CoreLokts have worked as well over and over. I would venture that an average Alaskan moose is a considerably more resistant obstacle for a bullet than is any but the largest of mature bull elk. Consequently, I can see no reason not to use those Hot-Cors. If in doubt, the Grand Slam is perhaps even better. They have worked well on several moose for me. There is no good reason to use something other than what you already have.

180 gr Sierra RN is HELL on elk. I would personally advise staying away from polymer tipped bullets. As they don't seem to open up as good at those ranges and speed.

160g 7mm Grand Slams performed perfectly for me for 20+ years, can't see why a 180 or 200 in .30 would be different...

I would't have any problems with the AB's either.

You might consider having a gunsmith cut off the muzzle breaks and re-crown those two rifles.

yes i could remove the muzzle brakes and or reduce the loads ,but then i wouldnt have a excuse to get another rifle. will use the 300 ultra and the 338 in the right conditions.found a good spot to hunt that i think the 06 is the perfect gun.if anyone has any reloading recipes they would like to share with the 200 grainers they would be greatly appreciated. dan

My younger brother has used the Speer 200gr spitzer on several bull elk with great results.

Two holes with lots of trashed elk parts in-between.
That, from an old, ugly, but well hunted model 700 in 30-06.

I use 56.5 gr. of IMR-4831 with the 200 gr. Speer Hot Core in my Remington 700 BDL. groups run about 1.25" and velocity is 2610 FPS from the 22" barrel. The load is fairly hot in my rifle.
Paul B.

Thanks PJGunner Iv got some 4831. Ill give it a try.

Good man--I made the mistake of magnaporting a couple rifles 25 years ago--never again.

A 06 with a 200 gr Partition is a great elk rig in the elk jungles, although my first choice would be a 180 Partition--for the times when they break out into the clear


Casey

No issue with magnaport, the others suck the ears off you. My 35 whelen is ported and I like it, recoils straight back, but then again a well designed stock well help with that. my hearing is alraedy damaged by industrial noise , so sound is not an issue either.

will pick up the 30-06 (remington buckmaster with 24"bbl.) tomorrow from sportsmans. bought a nikon monarch 3-9x40. loaded a bunch of 200 grain speer hot cors ,grand slams and nosler partitions. used some h4350. r22, r19, h4831,and some varget. will try and get to the range this week to check group size and velocity. dan

I have shot several elk with the 200 Grand Slam in my 06. I use 59 grains of H4831sc.

It is not just a 100 yard load. I would feel comfortable out to 250 or so with it. I don't like to shoot elk any farther regardless of what I am shooting.