Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Is a 30-06 too much gun for deer?

I have 2 30-06s and I think they are one of the finest rounds we have available,but by my way of thinking using one for deer is like using a rat trap to catch a mouse,I started shooting deer 6 years ago with a 243 winchester and Ive never had to chase one at all,bang flop and its off to the barn we go...........

RickT
I think your question is valid. I shoot a few deer every year, primarily for the meat, and also to alleviate some crop damage for ranchers. Meat damage is a concern.
If I was going to chose a rifle strictly for deer under 200 yards, it would be something between a 257 Roberts, and a 7/08. There are lots of elk that get killed with those two calibers every year here in Montana, so I have no doubt they would work on even the largest deer.
Keeping your 30/06 and loading it down also makes sense. loads that replicate a 300 Savage would be more than adequate. A good round nose bullet at moderate velocities, I believe, would kill decisively without the massive amount of meat damage with full boat 30/06 loads.

Fred

Royce, you're right on. 300 Savage is more than adequate for deer. I do the same thing with 308 WIN and this is my favorite deer load.

Is 30-06 overkill? I'd think we'd have to define overkill first. Personally, I don't think of a moderate amount of overkill to be a bad thing. A 30-06 does do a heck of a lot of damage when sent through the boiler room. On the other hand, I never seem to need to track deer shot with the '06. I would be the first to say the performance is beyond the minimum requirement, but what is the maximum? Why need there be a maximum?

Our immediate tribe has done in a large number of deer with 308 caliber rounds. '06 is the stoutest of the bunch. On the other end is 30-30, and I've never really been happy with it. We're fielding a 30-30 again this year, so it's not like we absolutely reject it. It just doesn't seem like this the optimal round for us and our deer hunting, when there are stiffer fare to be had. In this case, #3 son is due to take his first, and the 30-30 lever seems to make a good Yute rifle.

I never really thought the 30-06 was too much for deer but I have never loaded to max in either of the 30-06 rifles I have had. I had a 760 and now a M70 and I load at least 2gr of 4350 under max with 165gr bullets. I load Hornady 165gr flat base now and have used 165gr Rem Core-Lokts for most of the deer I have taken. In fact I use Core-Lokts in my .243 and 7mm-08. The deer don't seem to know they're hit with a cheap bullet from a .243, 7mm-08, or a 30-06.

Coyo -- Don't get me wrong the .243 is a very good choice. My choice of the 30-06 over the .243 in the woods of the Northeast because of several reasons. One of which is the fact that many times you might have less than 4 sec. to see the buck, identify him, set your x hairs and pull the trigger. All off hand. As the buck is walking in thick brush. Perfect shot placement sometimes is very hard. The .243 and the man behind the gun can do this . The 30-06 has the edge in this case I feel. Sometimes at 50 yards by the time you put your eye to the scope,the deer is nowhere to be seen. I do not know where you hunt deer but if I hunted in open fields with shots of 100 to 200 yards, I might use a .243 but for heavy woods .30 cal- .35 cal. Just my opinion --- Web

No.

I do not use my .30/06 rifles often. Most of the time I choose a lever gun in .44 Mag or .30-30, or for longer shots, a .270 Winchester.
The deer I have shot with .30/06 were DOA, and I used the Remington CoreLokt 150 or 165 grain factory load.

...The 30/06 is not "to much", but it is more than necessary. Exactly what would constitute "to much", other than blowing away to much of the flesh of an edible animal?

Wldthg,

I somewhat agree with that. The .270 with 130 gr NBT or the 300 Win Mag with 165 NBT are the source of the most bloodshot in our garage.

The girls/kids in the tribe shoot short 18.5" barrelled 243 carbines with 100 gr Core-Lokts or Hornady's in them. They work pretty well but aren't leaving the muzzle at much over 2700.
The nephew who shoots 85 gr bullets in his 22/24 in 788 Rem can make a real mess. I kill the few deer I shoot with a 243 with the kids loads.

What I didn't say earlier is I love the way a 180 grain '06 works on deer. It rolls them. I have seen all four feet in the air many times. I have shot them over the back and clipped all the ribs on one side and still been able to eat the backstraps on that side. They are just right when a 275 pound bench leg wanders through a little clearing too.

Now if I could find a rifle I could handle that would do that on an elk...

1. As many have already said, it's not too much but it's more than you need.

2. Bullet selection and shot placement are more important. You can use a really explosive bullet in any suitable cartridge and put it in a "meaty" spot and destroy a lot of good venison, or you can use a very tough bullet meant for much larger game and have it pencil right through your deer.

3. Bottom line - the .30-06 is dandy for deer, and with the right bullets is so versatile that it can be used for anything from groundhogs to moose.

I shot a 35 Whelen, a 30-06 and a 45-70 this morning at the range. The Whelen will be loaded with 200 grain Hornady spirepoints pushed to 2500 fps and i figure this will be a reasonable non messy deer killer. The 30-06 is one I recently was given and needed a whole lot of work which I finished a couple days ago. I like to shoot factory ammo in any rifle I have no previous experience with so I bought some Federal Blue Box shells loaded with 150 grain Hi Shoks. Planning to make Whelen brass out of the empties. The rifle shoots too well 1 1/4 inch 5 shot group with cheap factory ammo. Great trigger too. I think I'll let one of the lease partners use it on deer this year just to check damage caused by a not so experienced shooter. I am sick of his usual 7 shots per deer thing he does with his 30-30. Truthfully though on deer that seldom weigh more than 150 pounds and the does less than 100 pounds the old 06 can be pretty brutal. If I have time to load some lighter rounds up for it and get to the gun range before season he might get to test them on his deer.

I'm guessing that if he needs seven shots with a .30-30 he'll need at least six and a half with a .30-06.

Is his name Lucas McCain???

Tommy, he has pretty poor eyesight and is crippled from Vietnam. He sits at the lease cabin drinking scotch and waiting for deer to come to the water trough there. I don't mind all that but he shoots up more than a box of shells for his three deer. I am hoping a scope will alleviate the excessive gunfire.

The only thing I think is a little much for deer is the 50 BMG,all the others are just right..

Nope.But when we play this game, we run into inherent contradictions. For example, we may say,well a 7/08 is perfect for deer(it is)but is a good elk cartridge,too.So how can it be ideal for a 200 pound animal, and yet be a good elk(500-700 pounds) cartridge,too;and yet the 30/06 is too powerful for deer and is also a good elk cartridge as well......So am I saying that a 7/08(308,7x57,270,280,30/06,etc) are all pretty much the same cartridge with minor variations on the same theme? And if one is excessively powerful for deer, they all are?

.....Uhh......yes.Of course,we all know what the real true perfect deer cartridge is.......it's the 30/06...Improved

You've been spending waaay too much time with Dober on the phone

rickt300 - your thinking is flawless but your question is better suited to magnum 30 cals -don't you think? Which 30-06 is too much gun? The '06 plowing 220 grainers over max loads or the one rocketing 110grain varmint bullets? Luckily, that much versatility guarantees perfection somewhere in between, doesn't it? Trying to match the 7x57 is a wise thing to do in this case and you just can't come closer than the 30 cal. 150 at 2700fps. Consider yourself most strongly affirmed. I believe it the best combination of factors for these deer FWIW.

Howdy wldthg,I hunt in NE Kansas where we have lots of open country with traces of timber on the creeks and plots of heavy timber here and there and lots of row crop land and up and until 6 years ago you couldnt have given me a 243 and now I own a fleet of them,I started using it as a coyote calling rifle and then the deer moved into the picture and I kill them just as easy as a coyote with it,I new an old man once that deer hunted with a ruger 1 in 375 H&H and swore that he made less mess out of the deer with it than he did with the 30-06 or 270,Im not at all knockin the ol 30-06 as I have 2 of them and when you look at its potential and all the rounds today that have spawned off it,I had a buddy here a few years back put his wife in the tree stand with a 30-06 and shortly thereafter heard her shot and when he returned she had killed two whitetails with one shot,Now thats efficiency..............

Brad: Co-conspirators! BTW, I notice you're building one...