Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Fav 30-06 bullet

Giving my 30-06 yet another face lift and will be using a CDS scope this time. So what bullet do you guys like to cover "most" hunting, mainly deer, black bear, caribou so on, nothing really hard to kill but I would like to find one load and spend more time shooting and less time swapin loads.

165 Accubond?

I have shot numerous whitetails and a few mule deer with 150 gr Hornady Spire Points. Every single one was DRT.

155gr Scenar

Hornady 165 BTSP never a bad choice.

It depends on the '06. I use 180's in my FW; NPT's, IL's or Core-Lokts over 57 gr H-4350. I used it on antelope, blacktail deer, coyotes, elk, whitetails and mulies. I used 165's in a M70 Standard Grade for a long time. Hornady BT's and 165 Interbonds with R-19.

I think the 165 Accubond should be a dandy choice based only on what I have read. John Nosler wrote that the 165 developed the best performance of all weight s in the '06.

Favorite is the 165 gr. Hornady SP flat base).

165 Nosler partition.

This.

Dink

180 gr. speer hot cor

180 Swift A-frame if I had to choose one bullet for all game that I hunt: moose to small coastal island blacktails. I hunted several seasons with only that bullet. It does not feel like a favorite so much as the most capable that I have tried.

My emotional favorite bullets to shoot in 30-06 are all 165 grain. I fudge and shoot 165 Hornady Interbonds for most deer nowadays when outside of grizzly areas.

180 grain Nosler Partition

I'm w/Bobin & Dink. Muddy

My choice, as well.

The 165 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip!



These bullets are so accurate, ya don't even have to aim, and they shoot so flat, they beat a laser! Killing power? No problem, mice to mammoths!

Enjoy.

Guy

180gr Partition over a max charge of IMR-4350. If you can't kill it with that load, it don't need killin'.

I've been using IMR 4350 for a long time, but H4350 gets a big nod these days. I also like 180gr. partitions for big game and 180gr. Winchester powerpoints for cheap target practice and deer hunting. I load them up with the same seater die adjustment and similar powder charge wts and get pretty good accuracy. I've also had very good luck with the Hornady 165gr. sp interlock in the ol 06..

If I were you, I'd just use 180gr. Nosler partitions and rock on. Look for the blemished ones to be on sale at SPS:



If you can't kill all the animals on your list with the 180gr. partition, it is definitely not the rifle/cartridge or bullets fault...

I went through a similar exercise recently with mine and chose the 168 gr NBT.

Because they've beefed up the jackets so much on these the bonding is superfluous. Plus I've not gotten as much accuracy from NABs as NBTS in my rifle.

I ordered 4 boxes from Dan H & am well stocked!

This is my "load to kill them all" (NA game).

Love me some NBTs... and Hunter... 2875-ish?

Mine shoots B-tips into tiny clusters at about 2950 IIRC. I like the B-tip but Im worried that its not tough enough for an all a rounder.

When did they beef up the jackets? Did they just beef the jackets on the 168 or 165's too?

Most any 165 will cover anything in NA. Go premium or plain jane, your choice.

Of the half-dozen -06's I've had not one would shoot a NP of any weight as well as they did some others, PJ and Premiums both. Acceptable accuracy (under 2" MOA, but not by much) just not as good as others.

That said, my favorite is the 180 wt. I just like it!

Currently I am using 150's for caribou to ranges of 500 yards. Killed that bull moose back in November right dead also- head shot at 30 yards....

I50's are not my favorite, but they will do, and may even be preferable in some situations. But I would not choose them for a one-load for everything in NA.