Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Factory .30-06 Loads Federal Blue Box

I just bought a new .30-06 Remington 700. I hunt whitetail deer and my average shot is 75 yards with an occasional shot at 200 yards. I bought some Federal shells in a blue box 150 grain Soft Point to try out along with a box of Federal Vital Shok 180 grain Nosler Solid Base. How would you rate the performance of these two loads on deer? Which one do you think would be better? I am hunting deer only. Also, which other loads would you recommend that I try out? Thanks in advance for your time.

If you're a factory fodder only fella, get a box of Remington Core-Lokts in 150 and 165, get a box of Winchester PowerPoints, in the same, and ditto that for the Federal Hy-Shok stuff.

Shoot all six boxes over a months practice, in 3 shot groups from each box.

Pick whichever one shoots best, load up, and go hunting.

Any of those six will kill any deer that ever walked.

IMHO, the 180s and up are too tough for most deer hunting, and the 15s and 165s kill stuff graveyard dead anyway.

Heck, JFSAG since you're shooting woods ranges, try the Remington "Reduced Recoil" loads as well..... they will kill deer very, very well to and past 200 yards.

Good advice.

I shot blue box fed 165 gr 30-06 for years because they were cheap & they grouped really well in my rifle.

one year I had a bullet come apart really bad, bout a 180 yd shot quartering away.. I'll say right now it was an irresponsible shot to take & before anyone has to point that out I have since learned not to take shots like that.

anyways, point of impact was off slightly, hit him right in the ham bone. youch! then the tracking began. another long story but i did get him the next day.

at the spot where he was standing when i shot him there was fresh loose snow covering the ground & on top of the snow something caught my eye. looked like a copper daisy.
laying right on top of the loose white snow was my entire bullet jacket completely void of it's core.

don't know how to explain that one, no blood, hair or any sort of tissue on the jacket either, clean like a brand new penny.

that was the last time i used the blue box.

I usually shoot core loct now.

If you get good accuracy out of either of the loads you mentioned, go hunting and forget about it. If you don't get the accuracy you are looking for, keep looking. I have been getting very good accuracy with Federal Fusion 150 gr, I like Federal Ammo myself. You should be fine. I would look for 1.25" groups or better at 100 yards as being acceptable for the Rig & ammo mentioned.

deerslayer-welcome to the Fire!

My Dad and his brother for years used the plain old "Red Box" in the Federal lineup. It is now the Blue Box, and from where I stand it is very accurate (IMO the most accurate day in and day of factory ammo including the spensive stuff!) and will do all that the need it to do.

If it shoots then I'd be for looking no further.

Dober

I had a similar experience to Northern Dave where I recovered a beautiful mushroom jacket with no lead core while shooting federal red box. It was a angled 70 yard shot shooting 180's out of my 3006 and the jacket was on the far side shoulder under the skin.
I guess it worked, but I shoot rem core lokt now. The only fed blue box I shoot is 7mm08 because they have a 150 speer bullet that worked better than rem coreloct 140's.
You can't beat the blue box price though and maybe the quality control has improved.
H

A lot of factory Federal blue box ammo gets used on game up here in Alaska, so it should be safe to assume it would work on thin-skin deer.

I shoot blue box 180's out of my '06. This guy didn't like them!

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i have used them and like them for range work...
they shoot nice, i would not hesitate to use them on deer, but as stated have not yet...

I was depressed when I tried the blue box 180s in my '06 last fall, because they shot as accurately and faster than my handloads. Normally velocity from this rifle run 50-100 fps below what the reloading manual cites, but the blue box 180s went 2750fps.

I used the blue box 150�s this year and they worked well. I shot a small buck in MN. It was about a 200 yard shot and the bullet broke both shoulders, dropping him where he stood and on the exit side there was a trail of blood splatter about 10 feet long. So if the 150�s shoot well in your rifle save your money, shoot the 150�s.

If the Fed ammo doesn't shoot to your satisfaction, try Rem Green box stuff and/or Hornady brand. Hornday factory ammo typically shoots very well in my rifles.

The Federeal Blue Box are the only ones, that my .30-06 will NOT group well. My rifle groups the Federal BT 150's the best, but Rem Cor-Lokts are a close second. Since I am just a poor person, I use the Cor-Locts for my .30-06 now.

Here also...Lotta guys hunt with the Classic-Blue Box ammo.Really like that Hi Shock softpoint bullet myself.But like the Win Power Point more for shooting at game.

Bay dog, you need more orange!


just kiddin, nice deer, just hard for me to get used to as we don't have any orange requirement here yet.

handed an orange vest last time I went deer hunting in MO "WTF" says I, after takin my place in the treestand and waiting for first light on opening day when it sounded like a small ground war had broken out, I was wishin I was dressed like you in the pic.

I wouldn't hunt Wisconsin with any less. They have a half a million hunters and only nine days to do it.

I agree! I started hunting in Minnesota with the abosolute minimum orage required. After coming to Wisconsin and hunting in the area that I do, I feel much safer with complete orange.

I can also say that I haven't noticed any difference in the amount of deer sightings or deer that have picked me out because of it. I think a lot of guys just plain move too much and then blame a busted deer on their clothes.

Same goes for most duck hunters that I see. All decked out in camo with head nets, etc. I shoot a lot of flared birds in Carhartt's with a shiny blued gun and it really frustrates those guys!

30-06 and deer..
150 gr Winchester Super X Power Points would be first for me.Also might try a box of the Fusion Ammo from Federal.Very accurate stuff I've been told.Plus being a bonded bullet is a plus also.

Is there a reason a lot of guys recommend the Winchester Power Point bullet over the Federal bullet? I tested the accuracy of several loads over the weekend. My results at 100 yards are:

Federal 180 grain Nosler Solid Base - 3/4"

Federal blue box 150 grain Soft Point - 1"

Winchester 150 grain Power Point - 1 1/4"

Remington 150 grain Corelokt - 1 3/4"

Hornady Custom 150 grain SP - 1/2"

I could not believe how accurate those Hornady shells were. Would it be worth the extra $10 per box for 1/2" worth of difference?