Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Absolute best 30-06 Deer loads

I think it's hard to beat regular old 150 and 165 gr Remington CL factory loads for deer hunting with the 06. In handloads, I like 150 hornady SPZ and IMR4350.

Lou

ironeagle: where can you buy Fusion bullets to reload?

Another old standard that shoots well out of a lot of 30-06 rifles is a 150 grain bullet over 52 grains 4064. Out of my pretty much stock 700 Remington, the average for 20 3 shot groups was 1.04 inches. Ed Matunas used to recommend this load also.

When Midway had one of those "winchester is going to quit the 150 grain partition gold' saled, where boxes of 50 were $4.99, I ordered a thousand (20 boxes).

60 grains of H4350 under one of those or a 150 TSX, or 60 grains of RL22 under a 180 partition works pretty well on everything.

Truth told, my son killed a HUGE cow elk a few years back with a 150 partition Gold over 46 grains of Varget in a 308. Clean-through DRT performance.

My "BEST" 30-06 load is 165 grain Hornady SP Interlok over 47 grains of H4895. It's a light load, but it has been a death ray on deer. My longest shot with this load to date was on a coyote at 165 yards in 2002, and I had excellent performance. Most all of our shots are inside 80 yards. It has such light recoil that my #2 son, Moose, used it for his youth load.

I am back experimenting with a 150 grain SP Interlock and H4895 this year, more to use up a bunch of 150s more than anything else.

I have 500 165 grain Ballistic Tips, but feel they may be suited for more open country than I have at my lease. I might try some of The Federal Blue Box Power Shoks in 150 grain this year and if I do they will be the first factory loads I have shot deer with in 30 years.

My favorite is the 150gr BT. If you have 500 165gr BT's you should be using them. They are a great bullet, 10yrds to 300yrds = dead deer.

I don't think they are available yet....

My favorite for deer is 57 H4350 with a 180 C/L, Interlock or partition.

I load a light load with a 150 gr Hornady/4064 for my Brother-in Law and It works very well also.

My favorite deer load in my 7x57 uses the 150 grain Ballistic Tip at something under 2700 fps. The perfect deer load. I also like the 160 grain Sierra BTSP at about the same speed.

58.5gr IMR4350 and a 150BT, Fed 215 Primer...filled lotsa freezers with. Now I mainly use a 180 Federal blue box, wallyworld had them for 12 bucks a box...bought 11 boxes of the same lot #...set for a bit.

I'll agree with the many who have stated that any 150-180 bullet will work very well on deer. I use the 165 Gameking powered by 58 grains of H4350 which chronies about 2820 in my rifle. This load is absolute poison on deer, but I'm betting many other bullets are too. Its danged near impossible to make a bad bullet choice when it comes to the .30-06 and deer if you stick to the 150-180 grainers.

Just got back from the range. My Cooper mdl 52 Jackson game rifle with a 3-9 vx 2 leupy shot a 0.350 inch 3 shot group using 130 gr ttsx bullets and 55gr of Varget at 3152, 3115, and 3108fps
Can't wait for October to try it on Bambi....oh yeah, it is an "06

when i hunted in pa., i used 59.0 grains of h4350 behind a hornady 180 grain round nose.
devastating on whitetails.

59 grs. of rl-22 with a 180 gr. speer hot cor.

A little trick for the handloader for the 30-06, is to load 150 bullets for the 30-30 in the 30-06 to about 2700 fps (quite a mild load).They are really good for broadside lung shots,on deer inside 200 yds.I got this idea from reading jack o'connor years ago and tried it for a few years myself with some good results.I picked my shots carefully ,as a hit in a bad spot would ruin a lot of meat.Well placed lung shots are very destructive ,usually they drop right there,or at least offer a huge blood trail.

My dad used to get me to load 170 grain flat nose Sierra bullets in his 30-06 at 2600 fps. Short heavy blood trails.

I'm not gonna tell you it's the best but the 150gr SST works great for me. Hell just about any 30-06 load will work great on deer.

I've had good luck with Federal blue box 150 grain soft points from my .30-06. Just about any factory loaded 150 or 165 grain bullet is perfect for deer. Figure out what you want to use, test it for accuracy and practice with that load out to the farthest range that you plan to shoot, and go hunting. Place your shot and you will have a dead deer. Good luck!

Yeah, it is kind of strange considering after 3 years that the bullets still aren't available to reloaders.?

Interesting note: Bullet was conceived and designed by Speer engineering team with all the credit going to Federal and none to Speer for their efforts. Go figure!

Factory Fusion doesn't shoot well in my 06' or 270 but does fairly well in my 243.

As for an 06' load Hornady 165 IB, over 55.5 grs. IMR 4350, with a 210 Federal primer gives less then MOA and very effective on deer.

2Seventy