Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa 30-06 and 180 Ballistic Silvertip ??

But the proven effectiveness of old 30-06 performance on game remains valid. A 165/180 grain 30 Cal bullet at old school 30-06 speeds will kill most things quite effectively.

Yep.

And that can be said for a host of "old fashioned" rounds that have been efficiently killing stuff for generations.

The main thing I see with some of these new, high intensity rounds is superior performance at extended ranges. Most old time hunters wouldn't have considered shooting a deer at 500 yds. They'd have gotten closer and zapped it with a .300 Savage or such.

Shooting critters across canyons and hugh bean fields wasn't in their play book. I guess buffalo hunters out West, with their big rifles, did some of that. But they were professionals, not neighborhood deer hunters.

IMHO,

DF

I know the 30/06 is not a real long range cartridge in the sense we tend to think about it, but sometimes the numbers will lie to us...

I do know that if a 165 gr bullet fired from a 30/06 lands in deer or elk vitals out to about 500 yards,you have a very dead animal.How it works beyond that I can't say as 500 yards or so is as far as I have seen it used.It is no toy and a very lethal combination.

Yeah, back in the days before the belted magnums...the 30/06 was the 1000 yard competition round!

Great point.

Now, those old rounds just bounce off stuff, especially anything beyond 200 yds...

Go figure...

DF

Is the 180 BT harder than the Hornady 180 SST

From what I hear, yes, definitely.

I've heard that the NBT is tougher than the SST. I think changes were made in the past few years, thickening the NBT jacket.

I've shot 180 NBT's in my .300 WM at 3,050 fps. I've had the bullets cause explosive wounds on hog heads, all on the intake side. I've been told that hog heads aren't good tests of bullet performance.

But, I've shot hogs thru the head with my 6.5-284, using 140 gr. SST's at 2,950 fps and got pass thru wounds without a big exit hole.

I had one doe, shot thru the lungs with the 140 SST, run a long way and didn't have that much internal damage. I've switched to 140 VLD's with that rifle, hoping for more internal damage.

Those NBT's may have been the older ones, I'm not sure when the reported changes took place.

IMHO,

DF

I ran the old NBT's in a 300 WM as well. 180's and 150's and loaded them right near max. This was my crop damage rifle that I used over potato fields. Even the 180's were like hand grenades on deer. That was back in '95. I still have some and run them in my '06. I have bought a newer box of 150's and they hold up much better than those old 180's.

I killed a number of hogs with that .300 WM. It killed'em stone dead in their tracks. Where the bullets hit, it looked like something a Claymore may have done. No exit, just a massive, gaping hole with inside parts exposed.

I never experienced that with SST's. I've read stuff about them breaking up, just never saw it.

DF

My dad condemned the 139 gr SST's in his 280, foolishly IMHO. He hit a big bruiser of a buck in the pelvis on the run and damn near blew the thing in half. The bullet went completely through but tore the hell out of the deer and all of the best meat. My dad bitched about how explosive the bullets were. I kinda broke it to him soft by saying WTF did you expect hitting a deer there at 3k FPS.

I picked up 2 boxes of 180 BTs this past Sat. Been curious just exactly what they look like inside now. Change them they did! They are GOOD looking bullets now from a jacket perspective. They may not be bonded like the A-Bonds,but for $23 a box I can shoot some critters with them. I can't see any reason not to in the 30/06.

I reviewed these when introduced and they performed just like a Hornady of equivalent weight on feral game in the .30/06.

In the mid to late 90's, there were a lot of "pretty" bullets on the market as people seemed to be intrigued with "trinket" marketing.

They will be fine for the usual deer sized game.
John

John,

Nosler beefed up the jacket on the 180 BT a few years ago. Now it's very similar to the 200-grain .338, with the jacket comprising about around 75% of the bullet's volume and 60%+ of its weight. They act very much like Partition when they hit game.

JB
Good to know. Back then I had so many provided for review, I tested them all. Haven't tried them lately.

John