Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 30-06 loads?

LOL, they haven't given us an elk hunting board on Kentuckyhunting so I had to go find one... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

That's for sure, glad you found "us" over here, I think you'll really enjoy this place(and there is no crossbow fight here LOL).

I would choose a good 180 grain bullet for Elk and never look back from what I have seen with the 30-06.

Jayco

I would choose a good 180 grain bullet for Elk and never look back from what I have seen with the 30-06.

Jayco

I've used 165 Sierras, 180 Nosler partitions, and 180 Swift A-frames on elk, including several five and six point bulls. Seen some bulls taken with 220 Cor-Lokts, all in 06. For my money, to go all the way to elk country, whether that is up the crick or half way across the continent, I'll pay for the extra margin that one of the bonded bullets gives. My 06 groups the A-frames tight, and they have the most consistent, quality performance of any bullet I've so far used or observed on larger game, in my admittedly limited experience. I plan to try the 165 Interbonds. As a reference point, I've killed bull elk with a .30-30, one of them with 130 grain bullets. Been in on kills with 6mm 95 grain Nosler partitions, 200 N Part. in .300 Win. mag., .338's, .270's with ?Silvertips and the cheapest Federal non-premiums, plus some bow kills. For elk with an 06, I'd recommend a bonded bullet, at least 165 grains. Why? Observing those elk hit convinced me that the average elk is far tougher pound for pound than the average deer of any size. It is not merely size, but tenacity of life.

I started with the wonderfully accurate 165 Sierras and killed several elk, including a six point bull, but their tendancy to shed jackets and not penetrate very far into big critters kept bothering me as I autopsied wounds. Then one day I hit a bull whose position in brush made my best option to angle through his shoulder to break his spine. Hit where aimed but did not break his spine. Haven't tried Sierras on game in probably ten years, so they may hold together better now.

Went to 180 Partitions. Liked the deep penetration (recovered one close to four feet into a moose) but didn't like the relatively small wound channel. Though I tried them in four 06's, I never got at the level of accuracy I prefer. They collected several more elk, mostly five points I think, but I never quit tinkering with the load, trying to improve accuracy. I hunted most of the time with a load that grouped about 2 1/2 inches. Someone mentioned that Noslers tend to go straight inside a critter. I had one caroom around inside a bull elk like a ping pong after ricochetting off pelvis bone at a low angle impact, as I think any bullet probably would.

Tried Swift A-Frames and found the grail at least for my current rifle. It groups them tight with 62 grains of VV N560. More important, A-frames have punched the same wide and deep wound channel on every critter I've shot with them, short range or long, from big bodied mature bull elk shot through heavy bone, to a lung shot bull when I missed ribs on both sides (totally soft tissue), to dinky coastal blacktail forkies. The most impressive performance to me was the 6 point bull shot at about 40 feet broadside through both lungs without hitting a rib on either side. Bullet not recovered of course but the wound channel on soft tisse expanded from a .30 entry to a 2 1/2 inch hole in the near lung, and made a double fist size hole through offside lung. No pencil hole.

Thanks for the post Okanagan. I'm planning to get a trigger job done here very soon then I'll try some of these and report back.

Check out the new Federal Premium 180 Barnes TSX 30-06 load. Maybe save yourself some time and energy. If I used a 30-06 for elk this would be my choice. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I still think the 168 TSX is the best of all worlds in the 06... more penetration than either the 180 NP or Swift while giving more frontal area than the NP and nearly the frontal area of the Swift. All that and flatter trajectory and lighter recoil, not to mention about half the cost of the obscenely expensive A-Frames...

I really like simplicity. 180 psp factory loads. The last three years at 300, 100 and 50 yds. The farthest that one ran was 40 yds. He was shot at 100. The 50 yd shot went down on his knees and rolled over. The 300 yd shot danced on his hind legs and then fell over.

I will look into the Federals but I'm sure I'll look other places first. I couldn't get the Federal premium loads to group in my rifle when I was looking at the lighter whitetail loads.

I personally think the 180 grain Federal High Energy Trophy Bonded loads are the best bullet of all time for the .30-06. They ALWAYS expand to huge diameters and still exit. You simply can't destroy them on bone or big critters. They generally shooot about 2,950 fps in 24 inch barrels and that is .300 win mag factory ballistics. This load simply hammers stuff, especially elk. Reloading is fun, but can be aggravating at times. The Federal stuff shoots extremely well. Give it a shot. Flinch

Thanks Flinch, hopefully your screen name is not fitting of you. Mine would have to be boom boom..LOL

has anyone tryed the fail safes on elk? I recently bought a win. model 70 in 338 mag and got 4 boxes of ammo with the deal, 230 grain Win fail safes. Never shot them before, and was wondering if they have addequate penetration being that they are an open point bullet. Any info appreciated.

Failsafes have a good reputation for weight retention and penetration. The only knock I've ever heard on them is they may penetrate too well without expanding on game such as deer. If they shoot well out of your Model 70 they will make fine elk rounds.

Jeff

I have used the 180 fail safe in the 06 for elk the past 4 years and am very happy with its performance and have not found a reason to use different. Although last week I used the fail safe to shoot two 750-pound buffalos at a range of 30 yards and the bullets flew right through with the exit hole the same size as the entrance. One took three shoots through the lungs and heart and the other took one shot through the heart. I believe I was to close as the elk I have downed using fail safes were 100-300 yards away, most one shot kills with 2 inch exit wounds.

I've killed 28 elk since 1978. I started using 150 grain BTSP. Until the day when it took four shots, in the lungs, at 30 yards to kill a cow elk. So I switched to Federal Premium HIGH ENERGY 180 grain Nosler Partitions, in my 30-06. Since then, sixteen elk have dropped immediately or within a few steps.

KC

Haven't taken an elk, but my 180 gr. Accubonds over 57.5 gr. of H4350 in rem brass clobbered a 285 lb. Muley in Montana last year. That load also took 2 nice 165 Lb. whitetails in Georgia. It's definately my Sako's favorite load. Hit's 'em like a hammer!

My favorite elk load in the 30-06 is one I got from an article by Col. Boddington (regarding his favorite 30-06 loads), which is a 180 grain Nosler Partition over 56 grains of IMR 4350. This is a little over max (as stated in the article), but delivers 2800 fps in most 24" barrels. In mine (well, technically my wife's as she stole it a long time ago, but I still get to use it when she's not hunting), a Winchester Model 70 Sporter LT, it averages 2810 fps and groups at 1/2 to 5/8 inches at 100 yards. Only have shot one cow elk with this load though, 150'ish yards, through the lungs, went right down.

Good luck choosing!

stan

I have booked a elk hunt for '06. My .30-06 shoots both the 165 grain Hornady Custom BTSP and Federal Premium 165 gr. Nosler Solid Base into 1/2 inch groups. I have not tried any of the 180 grain loads in this rifle as I didn't feel they were needed for our deer around here. In the opinion of those elk hunters, would either of these loads be adequate for elk?

duckster, I hanload the hornaday 165bt sp in my 06 , it works just fine on elk, or at least the dozen or so I've shot with that rifle seemed pretty dead in short order.
Good luck on your hunt.