I am looking for an off the shelf load in 30-06 for whitetails in Michigan. Shots will be anywhere from 40 - 150 yards in cover ranging from tyical harwood/pine mix to open cornfileds. I have been shooting 165 gr. Spitzers handloaded by a friend, but he has stopped reloading and I am low on ammo. I am shooting a pre-64 M70.

Thanks

Last time I shot an '06 I used Hornady Custom Ammunition with their 165 grain interlock boattail bullets. There have been a lot of new bullets introduced since then, but the Hornady should still do the job.

I really like the 165 and 180 gr. Hornady SST's and regular Interlok's. I've had good results with them in several rifles.

I shoot & like the Hornady Custom 165 grain interlock boattails simply because they work and were the most accurate in my M70.

Gent's sounds like Hornady is the way to go. I guess that is not really a suprise. I have known for years that they make great ammo.

Now you have me thinking, can someone summarize the practical differences of boat tail, interbond, sst and spire point?

Thanks

At 150 yards the difference wouldn't compute.

Before I became "bullet savvy" all of the whitetails I shot with my '06 fell to a plain old 150 gr. Remington Core-Lokt. And they were just as dead!

quote:

40 - 150 yards

Any factory ammo with soft point bullets of 150 gr. or larger will be fine. For 150 yard and less I would look for some 180 gr. roundnose, since they make prettier mushrooms. Fancy controlled expansion bullets are unnecessary for this application.

The 30-30 and its bullets have been pretty well perfected over the years so that any bullet is suitable in factory ammo..I would just use a 170 gr. bullet like a Remington corelokt, WW silvertip or PP, Federal ammo, its all good and I have used most of it and was satisfied...I have one old 30-30 that dotes ont he 150 gr. corelokt and it never has let me down on deer...mostly I have used the 30-30 on mule deer and elk as I was raised in Mule deer/Elk country.

The ammunition makers have been working on bullets for your whitetail deer application for over 50 years, and I think they have all figured out how to do it. The Remington CoreLokt, the Hornady Interlock (their current non-bonded design), the Winchester Power Point and now the Federal Fusion are all good. If you find some Federal Hi-Shok sitting on the shelf, they are good too. I have several boxes left for my .308 Win.

The comment above that premium bullets are not needed is correct.

jim

quote:

Originally posted by akpls:
Before I became "bullet savvy" all of the whitetails I shot with my '06 fell to a plain old 150 gr. Remington Core-Lokt. And they were just as dead!

or 165 or 180. I've used them all. It's almost embarassing and people look down their nose at you for buying it at wal-mart but the deer tastes just as good as if using a $2 bullet.

I thought that this was probably the case. The hunting situations I deal with most of the time are pretty basic and I am sure that the differences between loads, bullets and manufacturer are probably pretty small.

One difference that does seem like it would make a difference is round nose vs. ballistic tip. Scota 4577, why do you think a roundnose it the way to go?

Thanks

I've adopted the Federal Premium 180 grain Nosler Partition as the default load for my 30'06 rifles, but if you want ammo that's affordable and available anywhere try the 150, 165, or 180 grain Remington Corelokt. Good hunting!

Most whitetails will fall over dead from fright at the muzzle blast

For deer only, I'd buy a box of Federal's new "Fusion" ammo in a 150 gr or, at most, 165. Stuff apparently shoots very well and is a wee bit faster than most other factory offerings.

I'm not Scota but since I moved to WV, I've tried some 154gr RN's out of my 7-08. Out to a couple of hundred yards or so, they are just as flat as a spitzer for hunting purposes. And IMO they seem to have a greater initial thump to them. By that I mean they seem to really flatten a deer.
I think you'll find the premium bullets, ie grand slams, etc, a bit too hard for your needs.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
The 30-30 and its bullets have been pretty well perfected over the years so that any bullet is suitable in factory ammo..I would just use a 170 gr. bullet like a Remington corelokt, WW silvertip or PP, Federal ammo, its all good and I have used most of it and was satisfied...I have one old 30-30 that dotes ont he 150 gr. corelokt and it never has let me down on deer...mostly I have used the 30-30 on mule deer and elk as I was raised in Mule deer/Elk country.

Ray,

The guy was asking about 30-06 ammo
Not 30-30

quote:

Originally posted by Doublegun:
Gent's sounds like Hornady is the way to go. I guess that is not really a suprise. I have known for years that they make great ammo.

Now you have me thinking, can someone summarize the practical differences of boat tail, interbond, sst and spire point?

Thanks

Doublegun,

Before you go out to buy the more expensive loads with premium bullets try a 180 round nose load for about $10 per box. Remington load number is R30064 and Winchester load number is X30064. Either should give good expansion with both an entrance and exit hole out to the 150 yards you require = Dead deer!

The last issue of American Rifleman has an article on the new Federal Fusion factory loads. They were especially designed for deer. Try these if you want to impress all your friends with the latest and, well time will tell if they're the greatest.

I use the 150gr bullet for deer out of my 30/06
Hornady interlock bullets. They kill the deer dead.

I would buy whatever ammunition with soft point 150 to 180 grain bullets that I could get that satisfied two criteria: it gave good accuracy in my gun, and it was inexpensive.

Deer are easy to kill. Almost any bullet that is not a full metal case one will work on them. I would stay away from the expensive stuff with premium bullets, as it is unneeded on deer, and may even be counterproductive because premium bullets will tend toward being too hard for deer.

quote:

Originally posted by LE270:
I would buy whatever ammunition with soft point 150 to 180 grain bullets that I could get that satisfied two criteria: it gave good accuracy in my gun, and it was inexpensive.

Deer are easy to kill. Almost any bullet that is not a full metal case one will work on them. I would stay away from the expensive stuff with premium bullets, as it is unneeded on deer, and may even be counterproductive because premium bullets will tend toward being too hard for deer.

I'm with Lloyd on this one. The Nosler Partition is a great bullet, but it's more than you need for deer, and the same is true of anything tougher. Cheap ol' Remington CoreLokt ammo is just fine, and Federal factory ammo is very accurate in every 30-06 in which I've tried it. And what Ray said about the 30-30 is just as true for the 30-06 -- millions have gone into R&D for it over the last century or so, and the ammo companies have just about got it figured out.


Okie John

I seen 30-06's that shoot the cheap stuff kill as many deer as the premium stuff. But i still like winchester 180 accubonds.

Easy. Winchester 180gr Power Points. I own several pre-64s and those bullets are the most consistently accurate AND effetive on deer i've used. Remember, When Winchester/Olin developed the Power Point they used the Model 70 as a test bed. And they are available at ANY Wal-mart. jorge

When I hunted in Michigan, which was a lot of years, I had very good success with plain old Remington Core-Lokts from a .30-30, a .30-06, and a .270 Win. Nothing I used worked any better.

What I and my hunting partners decided, after a few years, was that the .308 150 and 165 grain spitzers killed considerably more quickly than the 180 grain spitzers. We never tried the round-nosed bullets.

I imagine that the Winchester or Federal plain vanilla cartridges would work as well as the Remingtons, but I don't have any experience with them.

Any of the standard 150-165 grain factory loads will work great. Deer haven't gotten THAT much tougher since the 'net came along, although it's hard to tell for sure, based on some of the stories out there. Find one your rifle likes and go get some venison.

Some of that factory loaded ammo is pretty good, y'know. I've used some that will require major handloading work to outdo.

quote:

Originally posted by jorge:
Easy. Winchester 180gr Power Points. I own several pre-64s and those bullets are the most consistently accurate AND effetive on deer i've used. Remember, When Winchester/Olin developed the Power Point they used the Model 70 as a test bed. And they are available at ANY Wal-mart. jorge

Dang Right

I have a 7-08,7x57, 308 and a 30-06 and reloaad for all. The 308 is my 'loaner'. It's a Whitworth MKX Mauser. Anybody borrows it, they buy a box of 150 Power Points. It'll shoot thoseabout 1.25" It has killed deer and 200lb pigs out to about 200yds. I don't know why I even reload for it!!! My opinion at Standard speeds the PP is a great bullet, although its BC is about like a grape. I just wish that they made a 165. capt david

Try Federal FUSIONS