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Hi All, Well my lisence for my 30-06 finally arrived last week and went to collect my rifle. well here starts the fun and games. i digress but a bit of additional information that might be useful, i have a two gun battery for hunting currently - the rest are still awaiting license approval. first is my .458wm, shooting 450 gr TSX and Banded solids = sorts out the big stuff, then the above mentioned 30-06. the rifle is scoped with a leupold 3-9 X 50 VXII i will be hunting from springbuck to kudu with it here in South Africa, anything bigger i will bring out my .458. shooting distance not over 250yrds. if i have to take a first shot at that distance i should rather be taking a break. now what bullet weights should one be looking at? the 168 or 150? i put a box of 150's through it and it groups like a match winning rifle, 3 shots in 1.95cm.... any advice from the 30-06 fundies is greatly appreciated. i will start off with factory ammo and then move onto developing a load for the 30-06 either using barnes TSX or GS custom bullets thanks | ||
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I'd lean towards the heavier bullet. You might also want to consider the 180 gr TSX. I used the 180 in my 30-06 on zebra, kudu, and wildebeast and it worked well, but not even 180 gr was perfect. I think the 180 would be better than the 150 gr if you hit an animal like the kudu in the shoulder. My kudu completely absorbed my 180 gr in the shoulder. The shoulder was shattered, but my bullet had all the pedals torn off and it didn't penetrate very deep into the animal. It put him down, but I think the heavier the better if you hit bone. | |||
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I too would go with the 180. You aren't giving anything up in trajectory and you get better penetration and more pass thorughs for better blood trails Mike  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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+1 for the 180's. Better BC and SD make for more retained energy. Inside of 250 yards,they will be superior to the lighter bullets in everything but a slight increase in recoil. The TSX would be my choice. Have gun- Will travel The value of a trophy is computed directly in terms of personal investment in its acquisition. Robert Ruark | |||
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180s would do it for me.Find what it likes the best and go for it. | |||
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I've never hunted Africa, and unless I hit the lottery most likely, I never will hunt Africa, but I do hunt with a 30-06. 180 gns is the way to go. I have very good luck with Nosler Partitions and IMR-4350. I see 150's as useless for a 30-06 and since you are staying inside 250 yards the 180 wins out easily over the 165-168 offerings. I say if you are using a 30-06, get the most out of it, and use 180's. PA Bear Hunter, NRA Benefactor | |||
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I will be the outlier here and tell you I would opt for the 165... It will hit like a 180 and have virtually the same trajectory as a 150. To me, the best of both worlds. | |||
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Being among the fortunate few that was lucky enough to hunt RSA....(I used a 200 grain in a .300 H&H) and if I return, it'll be with a .30-06 and 180 A-Frames. Some of the plains game run up to 1500 pounds and a lot of them over 700... When one shells out 5-10 large for a hunt, it just don't make sense to scrimp on the ammo! /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill | |||
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I've never Hunted Africa and never will. But, if it were me, I'd consider the Worst Case situation(Biggest Game) I'd be likely to see and use a Bullet suited for it. It will also work perfectly on the smaller game in a 30-06. So, for me it would be either the 180gr Partition or the 165gr Partition. Good Hunting and clean 1-shot Kills. | |||
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Altho 180s weren't mentioned, they are an excellent choice. However, 99% of the bullets that go thru my '06s are 165s. For what that's worth.  Aim for the exit hole | |||
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458, I like the 165 and 168 gr TSX in this caliber. They will penetrate through anything in the class you are shooting. BigBullet "Half the FUN of the travel is the esthetic of LOSTNESS" Ray Bradbury https://www.facebook.com/Natal...443607135825/?ref=hl | |||
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Is this recommendation from your vast elk hunting experience?  .458Aubs, since Barnes recommends going down one bullet weight when using their solid copper bullets, and the conventional wisdom is that the 180's are the best choice for the old '06, then the 165gr TSX would be your best choice. | |||
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Yo Aubs, Congratulations on your new Boomer (nice scope, too) - have fun with it. The old '06 is my primary hunting rifle and it's a good cartridge today, 104 years later ..... As several above I prefer 165 grainers and that answer has been provided by Mr. Nosler's Partition for about as long as I can remember. That's primarily for European sized game and works perfectly. I've only even shot one African animal with a 180 gr. PMP .30/06 Sprg. load as the .375H&H's w/300 gr. RN's been with me every trip. For game the size of what you'll expect I'd have to agree with others above that the 180 gr. Nosler Partition would be difficult to beat as a Go-To load. From my way of thinking the Barnes & GS bullets are both conceptualized differently and I'll not even get into the "which is better debate"; to each his own, they both work well also. Cheers, Number 10 | |||
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Aubs, after dozens of loads and years with my 06 I have settled on the Barnes 165 XXX. Very accurate and works like a bomb. Option 2 is the GS 150gr. Harris Safaris PO Box 853 Gillitts RSA 3603 www.southernafricansafaris.co.za https://www.facebook.com/pages...=aymt_homepage_panel "There is something about safari life that makes you forget all your sorrows and feel as if you had drunk half a bottle of champagne." - Karen Blixen, | |||
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Drop JJ Hack a line over at www.24hourcampfire.com. He's the moderator on their african forum and a PH in RSA. He uses 165Gr. Barnes Triple X in his 30/06 rifle which he often lends to clients. This rifle bullet combo accounts for alot of game every year and Jim has tried several bullets before settling on the 165 Triple Shock. Tom Z NRA Life Member | |||
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Well I've never hunted with a 30-06.  However based on my experience with various 30 cal mags I'd opt for a quality 165.As usual just my $.02 Paul K | |||
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More important than the weight is the accuracy and performance of the bullet. First select a bullet that shoots well in your rifle, then start worrying about terminal performance. The monometal bullets work quite often, only exhibiting total expansion failures just enough of the time to cause me to distrust them. Several companies now have bonded core bullets that appear to work well, but the jury is still out on them. Nosler Partitions work so dependably that failures to perform are almost in the realm of Bigfoot sightings. I chose a 180 grain Nosler Partition for my son's .30-06 to use on our African hunt. With it, he took two oryx, two springbok, one kudu, one warthog, one mountain zebra, and one jackal. Bullet performance was flawless, and ranges were up to 300 meters and more. I suspect that a 165 grain Partition, or even a 150 grain Partition would have worked about as well, but the additional weight was no handicap and offered a bit of margin. IF you should use a conventional cup-and-core bullet (which is quite acceptable and likely to perform just fine on the game you seek), then by all means beef it up to a 180 grainer. The lighter cup-and-core bullets may tend to penetrate inadequately on some of the larger game. This assumes that you want to stay with one bullet for all of your hunting, both large antelope and small. Any 150 grain bullet from a .30-06 will take care of springbok, warthog, blesbok, impala, and the like. | |||
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Hallo 458 Aubs I am from there and our hunting fiends shoots a lot of .30 caliber. I agree that the crucial element is bullet performance. My 2 cents worth will be a 180 grainer if your rifle shoots accurate with these bullets. Here in the RSA there is a bullet hunters swear by. It is called Rhino. It is a core bonded solid shank. See web www.rhinobullets.co.za. Keep in mind that we usually differentiate between plains hunting and bushveld hunting.I presume our bushveld hunting is like your brush hunting. A shot of 120 m is often accepted as a long shot and game at a distance of 60-80 meters are accepted as the norm.On the Highveld and Karoo which is often much more open longer shots are taken. My brother uses a 30-06 Adl Remington. When he shoots bushveld he only uses 200 gr Rhinos. I think they crony 2300 f/s. Keep in mind we hunt meat more often than trophy.Therefore a heavy slow bullet that penetrate is preferred above a fast bullet that breaks up on impact and where secondary projectiles causes a lot of meat wastage.If you know your trajectory a 180 grain Rhino will serve you well on the plains and in the bush. Happy Hunting! | |||
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Nice choices. I've only done one trip to Africa, that was with an 06. I used the same 180 grain Nosler load that I developed for here in the US. I only recovered one bullet. The found bullet was from a mountain zebra at about 125 yards. That one hit a branch about five feet before it hit the zebra. It still penetrated 32 inches and was all but through the skin on the off side. Penetration included a rib, a lot of zebra, a rib, and the edge of a shoulder blade. Had complete penetration on everything else. I had a lot of faith in the load before I went, now that I'm and expert I really like it. just my opinion based on my limited experience.Good Luck Bfly Work hard and be nice, you never have enough time or friends. | |||
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IMHO there is not going to be much difference in a 168 gr bullet and a 150 gr, OR not much either between a 168 and a 180. As mentioned, the important thing is to see how it shoots with them. An accurate 150 gr is going to be better than an inaccurate 180 on most anything IMHO. Having said that, my 06 does not shoot lighter bullets worth a hoot. I suspect it is because most guns of this caliber are throated to accept 220 gr bullets and the jump with smaller bullets is simply too great to get good accuracy out of them. I'll qualify that statement by saying that guns are individuals and what my gun does is not necessarily what the next serial numbered one does. Anyway, my gun likes the 180's so that is what I load for it and they have no problem retaining energy at 300 yards which might be a consideration too. for every hour in front of the computer you should have 3 hours outside | |||
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hi all, thank you for all the input and information, well what did i decide on? 165 g barnes tsx, but until i have my loads worked out 150% i have gone for using standard pmp 168g. and i managed to blood my new rifle last week, here are the results, both blessbuck one shot kills, the first one was further than i thought but it still bit the dust - i set the rifle in to shoot two inches high at 100m and it performed well right out to the longest shot on the second blessbuck, 235m. i also brought down a gemsbuck bull for the owner and they worked like a charm.   thanks again | |||
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Kewl!! As I'm sure you gathered from all of the post, it's hard to feed an '06 anything that it doesn't like. FWIW, 4350 of whatever brand seems to be the powder for the '06. That said, I am sure a host of folks will rise up shouting that their powder is better. But what do they know....? Aim for the exit hole | |||
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4350 is an excellent choice in the .06 and I use a lot of it. Other excellent choices depending on bullet wt: Re19, 22, and don't forget IMR4064!!!! Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my guns | |||
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Aubs, Waidmannsheil, Buddy ..... good shooting.
 Cheers, Number 10 | |||
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165/168 lead core or 150gr tsx.. i havent used the 130 for any games shooting, but i would consider it, too #dumptrump opinions vary band of bubbas and STC hunting Club Information on Ammoguide about the416AR, 458AR, 470AR, 500AR What is an AR round? Case Drawings 416-458-470AR and 500AR. 476AR, http://www.weaponsmith.com | |||
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I have to agree. If cup/core, then 180gr would get the nod, especially for larger Gemsbok & Kudu. With the TSX, even dropping to 150gr would likely give you all the penetration you need w/ a bit flatter traj. Congrats on the new rig & first blood! LIFE IS NOT A SPECTATOR'S SPORT! | |||
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| One of Us |
thanks for all the input and well wishes guys, much appreciated | |||
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