I need some help with factory ammo options for a 30-06. I recently had a Remington 700 glass bedded and free floated. It has a Bell & Carlson stock, Timney trigger, and Leupold VX-3 scope. I took it to the range today for the first time and shot a 0.4 inch group with 180 grain core lokts. I also shot some ttsx in 180 grains and accubonds in 165 grains. The ttsx shot okay and the accubonds were inconsistent. Got a 1 inch group with the accubonds but then the next group was all over the place. The cheap core lokts were clearly the best.

It makes me nervous to rely on core lokts for any sort of expensive hunt. What other options would group like a core lokt?

Don't know why you'd be uneasy. There are probably more deer, elk, and bear killed, each year, with "cheap" core lokt ammo than all the rest combined.
If you're worried that one of your expensive hunts would go awry with "cheap" core lokt ammo, learn to reload and then you can make up whatever you'd like.
I reload. I've reloaded for about half a century and I've pretty well reduced my bullet selection for hunting to Partitions and Core Lokt bullets.
What drives you to bad-mouth core lokt bullets?

I agree with wasbeeman.
What kind of hunt are you contemplating ?
If you are planning a hunt where you expect a fairly long shot , you might want to shoot something lighter
than a 180 grain. But you don't really need too.
If you tell us what and where you are thinking of hunting you might get better answers.
...tj3006

I'm not bad mouthing core lokts. Just wanting opinions on some similar options. If the core lokts keep shooting groups under half an inch, I would be foolish not to shoot them.

My brother recently had some core lokts that misfired. Just wouldn't want that to happen to me on a hunt.

I'm probably going after kudu, oryx, and Hartmann zebra in Namibia next.

Tex:

I faced the same question last year getting ready for a trip to Tanzania. Since I quit reloading, I've been relegated to factory ammunition and last year's light rifle was a .30-06.

I bought one box of a lot of different ammunition (I think I had at least a dozen different makes, loads, and bullet weight combinations)and spent a lot of range time finding out which my rifle liked best. Turned out my light-weight, cut down M70 liked Barnes 180gr. best, so that's what I took.

I'd buy a number of alternatives and go to the range if I were you.

Most of my rifles shoot very nice groups with Remington CoreLokt and Federal blue box ammo. Just because the price is not outrageous does not mean the actual bullet will not perform.

Put the bullet where it is supposed to hit and you will not have any problem.

My choice for the game you are hu ting would be the Federal Premium 165 TSX. It is my go to load for plains game and elk.

I would say the Winchester CT AccuBond or one of the Barnes TSX or TTSX loads if you confirm that your rifle will shoot the Barnes loads well. That Winchester is very good factory ammo.

I wouldn't worry a whole lot about groupings. A one inch group will work fine. A repeatable first shot will be great.

A friend brought a Ruger 338wm MKII and some green box Remington's 225s to get brass and practice.

After several .750 groups I said we are done buy more of this ammo and go hunting.

I would suggest that whatever ammo you decide on, run back to the store and buy several boxes with the same serial number on them. The major ammo companies do change their recipes from production run to production run.

Go hunting with the Remington ammo and kill shit. At 30-06 velocities standard cup and core work great. I would go buy more boxes of core-lockts.

Other factory loaded options might be the Federal trophy tipped or Hornady Interbond or GMX.

Tex, I have almost 8 full boxes of Federal Premium with the Barnes 180r MRX bullet, which is like a plastic tipped TSX boat tail. I could send some down to try in your rifle. I can't imagine a better long-range Plains Game cartridge in the 30-06.

Tex,
I never say never, but: doubt the misfire your Brother had was the ammo's fault. Factory Ammo is just so good nowadays. Highly unlikely ammo was to blame. Lot's of other sources of misfires in the rifle to look at.
The 180 grain Rem CL is a great bullet for deer, elk and the like. As mentioned before, it has killed a pile of them.
Good luck!

My first new rifle was a Remington 700 ADL Deluxe chambered in 30/06 and I didn't handload at that time. I shot 180 Rem Corelokt ammo and it was a tack driver. I shot my first deer with that load at nearly 600 yds., and my rifle was factory stock. It had a decent trigger without any work done and my oldest son now has that rifle and won't trade it back to me for anything I possess. LOL

I have never had a corelokt fail in the 30-06 in near 70 years of using them..I buy them by the bulk because they are cheap and they still work as well as the new stuff at least as at 30-06 velocity, especially the RN, but the spritzer works fine..I don't recall using them in any calibers but the 257, 250 Savage, 270, 30-06, 30-30 and the 25-35 ( I think the 25-35 were corelokts). I have used corelokts in these calibers mostly on deer and at least once or twice on elk.

Are there better bullet? I suppose so, The Nosler partition, GS Customs, Woodleighs, North forks, and the monolithics, but at any rate your certainly in good shape with the Corelokts that always get the job done. Your gun shoots corlokts great, and if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I did read in a magazine some time ago that the corelokts were not as good now as the old ones, but you hear that stuff all the time these days from self styled experts, not sure what he based that on, and I have had my present batch of corelokts for maybe 10 or more years, and its time to re order...Same experience with Win. PPs another good old bullet..

If I were hunting DG, I might opt for Nosler, GS Customs, North Forks or Woodleighs if for no other reason than why not!.

The day of bullet failure is about run its course, it used to be common but the bullet makers today got it together, bullets have never been better, even Corklokt makes a bonded core bullet today..

Take out the atrium of the heart, or the plumbing right above it and you won't have to debate bullet performance.

I'm another one who wouldn't be afraid to use corelokt's on just about anything. I've shot a fair amount of elk with them and they performed just fine.

If you want to try some of the premium bullets just keep searching until one works to your satisfaction. Another thing to work with is bullet weight. I've had a couple rifles that just hated certain weights no matter what brand.

Some rifles are easy to deal with and some take a little work. It's just part of the journey until you find the sweet spot for your rifle.

One bullet I'm qualified to comment on is the 180 gr PSPCL. Have shot many thou in practice, have killed 90% of my deer (plus one cow elk) with it. Mostly, its been sent out via some .300 mag casing. MV has always been a sedate 2950 fps.

Change of venue to Maine (ie., behind the house) has led us to think about cutting back further to 2800 fps MV. It's either that or go to a partition/accubond type. On big whitetails within 100 yds we found it gives too much expansion from the .300s - final frontal diameter is so large we don't get an exit. Typically, we cut it out of the off side skin and then it will separate in the hand. Retained weight on all we've found is always more than 105 gr. Can't complain all that much b/c literally no animal has gone more than 50 yds ever. Cannot say the same for the .22s and .24s.

At distance or lower impact velocity don't know what more I could want from a .30 projo. We call it our nickel bullet, goes in .308 and leaves a nickel sized exit hole. It opens just fine at 2100 fps-ish impact vel on even light animal chest cages.

BTW, at 2950 fps MV we get softball sized exits on coyotes around here. Seriously.

Core lokts are great at 30-06 velocities. Where the run in to problems and people bad mouth them is in a magnum chambering and short distances. They can and will blow up on impact with little to no penetration.

So 30-06 = core lokt good.
300 win mag = core lokt bad.

I think your rifle 'likes' heavier or longer bullets. My 06 has best accuracy with 165 gr bullets.

If you are set against using Core-lokt bullets, try another manufacturer's 180 gr loads. There are many dollars to be spent tuning load and rifle, just open your wallet and get cracking.

As stated, when you find the premium bullet load you seek, buy as many of the same lot as you can find or afford.

I appreciate all of the info guys. I'm not necessarily against the 180 grain core-lokts. I'll use them as my primary whitetail load given how well they group in my rifle.

I would like to find one premium bullet that groups well. Next on my list to try are the 180 grain partitions, accubonds, and the federal trophy bonded tip. I think I'll also try the Barnes ttsx in 168 grain.

For frame of reference, these are the groups I'm getting with core-lokts:

Three shot group:


The first two shots immediately following the previous three shot group:

Now THATS good shootin!

Shooting like that with factory remington ammo you will be fine on any game animal!

If the core lokt works for your rifle I would stay with it. Last fall I was shooting 30-06 180gr handloads over H4350, Nosler Accubonds and Rem PSP core lokt. The AB had some kind of quality control problem (or didn't like the rifle/load) and were all over the place. The core lokts were not spectacular but were reliably shooting a little over 1" average out of my old Vanguard.

I've killed Moose with CL's out of a .30-06. That was with 220's.

Except for brief week long flings a couple of times, there has not been opportunity here in Iowa to shoot deer, the most prominent target we get. So most all of my medium bore shooting has been done on paper. I shoot decent from a rest, not so hot free standing or sitting. In my little world I have not been able to outperform Rem Corelokt with anything else I've tried. My opinion ain't worth much, but those are my results of a few thousand rounds.

IME a rifle that shoots rem. corelokts well usually doesn't like anything else.

your just shooting a deer, corelokts are more than enough bullet to kill them.
at least I hope so, I haven't shot anything but the Hornady version on everything up to and including moose.

the trick is keeping them under 2900 fps muzzle velocity.

I guide whitetail hunts in West Texas. By far, the most popular round is the 30-06. Every year, we have clients that bring the 150 grain Core-lokt ammo and clients that are avid reloaders with premium bullets(typically accubond, ttsx, etc...). The Core-lokt works every time with a good shot. The premium bullets have been more of an issue. They do not expand/transfer energy as well.

I also loaned out my .308 this year to a novice hunter in Colorado. I gave him a box of 180 grain Core-lokts to take on the trip. He was the only hunter in the group to have a DRT kill on a bull.

I am an avid reloader and enjoy my time working on different loads and measuring the results on cull hunts here in Texas and in Africa. I am always looking for the perfect load for deer. However, I think it is very hard to beat cup/core bullets driven at moderate velocities on deer sized game.

My M70 loved 180 gr CLs. 1/2 inch groups were common. My Dakota 76 loves 180 gr Swift A-Frames. Every rifle is different. Unless you are hunting heavy-boned game the CLs work great. I would stick with them.

The Federal Trophy Bonded Tip 180's are very good!

M

Tex

I'm coming to this party late but if your rifle is shooting sub .5 MOA with that Remington Ammo just shoot it as others have suggested. Shoot it at different distance so you understand the real trajectory and just go hunting.

Mark

I would like to point out that if you're first group with Accubonds was nearly an inch then the next was all over the place a close inspection of your action and or scope foundation screws torque is in order

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
I would like to point out that if you're first group with Accubonds was nearly an inch then the next was all over the place a close inspection of your action and or scope foundation screws torque is in order

I think the reason the second group of accubonds was all over the place is because I didn't let the barrel cool down sufficiently. I'll check the actions screws, but the groups I shot with the core-lokts were the last groups of the day. So it seems like those groups would have been all over the place too if the action and scope screws were loose.

I think I've settled on trying 180 partitions, accubonds, and trophy bonded tips. I'm also going to try 168 ttsx. I really just want to find one premium option for heavier game.

Tex84,
My son shot his 6X7 WYOMING ELK with his 30-06 using Barnes TSX. That elk took 5 big hits and still kept going. I would not advise using anything lighter than 180 for heavy game. Also, in my experience with Nosler Partitions, they are too soft in front and within 2 inches of penetration, the front is gone and all you have is a 30 cal billet traveling through making a small channel.
Bob Nisbet

"Green box" Remington will do everything you need. The trick is to find what your rifle prefers. I have a classic 70 Win. Using Barnes Vortex TTSX 180'sn I shoot a 3 shot ragged hole.

It may be heresy, but if you are shooting a .30-06 with 180 grain bullets, I don't think you are putting all that much stress on the bullet for performance's sake.

While I like A frames, Partitions, North Forks, and TTSX's, I don't think for elk and smaller you NEED those.

Here's a couple of different options

Lapua Mega in 200 grain
http://www.ammunitiondepot.com...P4317567&Click=17909

Federal trophy copper 165 grain
http://www.ammo-sale.com/prodd...006TC2&source=A10002

Let us know how shooting the Federal Trophy Bonded Tips in your rifle turn out. I love shooting them in mine.