Need a good hunting bullet for 30 06

I've been hunting for 30 years with the Sierra 165 BTSP Gamemaster. DRT on many deer with complete passthrough, even on shots through both shoulders. It's not a whiz-bang high tech bullet, but the performance is consistent and always makes me feel that the guys spending coin on latest fad have nothing on me and my '06. If I had to have the very latest thing, I would try the Gamechanger, based on my confidence in the Bulletsmiths
 
planetwaves said:
I prefer 150 gr Nosler Ballistic tips for deer. They shoot very accurately from my Rem 700. They expand better than accubonds or tsx, so if you make a lung shot, There will be more internal damage, the deer won't run as far. Whereas the accubonds and tsx will pinhole through on a lung shot and the deer will run further and not leave much if any of a blood trail. For a shoulder shot, any of the above will work fine.
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it is obvious to any body that uses Barnes TSX that you don't know what you are talking about. If you hit the lungs they would be obliterated. I have shot tons of stuff with them, and never have I had to look for the animal after shooting them. As they were laying right where I hit them. Barnes and Nosler cooper bullets work awesome. Hornady GMX don't preform as well as either one of theses. They work simular to a conventional lead bullets. By the way I like Nosler bullets and have killed a lot of stuff with them. I like there ballistic tip bullets and had used them on Elk and Deer Antelope ECT with good results as well. I also like their Partition as well. But I like the E-tips the best. Anyway stick to Nosler bullets if you like them. They are one of the best bullet manufacturers on the market. Don't bash other brands though if you haven't had personal experience with them.
 
Jared2700 said:
it is obvious to any body that uses Barnes TSX that you don't know what you are talking about. If you hit the lungs they would be obliterated. I have shot tons of stuff with them, and never have I had to look for the animal after shooting them. As they were laying right where I hit them. Barnes and Nosler cooper bullets work awesome. Hornady GMX don't preform as well as either one of theses. They work simular to a conventional lead bullets. By the way I like Nosler bullets and have killed a lot of stuff with them. I like there ballistic tip bullets and had used them on Elk and Deer Antelope ECT with good results as well. I also like their Partition as well. But I like the E-tips the best. Anyway stick to Nosler bullets if you like them. They are one of the best bullet manufacturers on the market. Don't bash other brands though if you haven't had personal experience with them.
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I've had excellent experience with GMX bullets. There's quite a bit of user review data that also supports that. Barnes has been excellent also, particularly the Tipped TSX.
 
Laelkhunter said:
I use 55 grains of IMR-4350 pushing a 168 Barnes TTSX- 1/2 inch groups, and will drop any deer.
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In your opinion which bullet caused death on arrival? My personal experience is the Barnes do a faster kill. As the animal never move after being shot. But I do like Nosler bullets as well. I also noticed less blood shot meat. As you don't have lead particles going all over the place as the bullet comes apart. I also like the Nosler cooper E-tips. They work a lot like Barnes bullets. Let me know what your thoughts are. Thanks.
 
CO_Guy said:
I've had excellent experience with GMX bullets. There's quite a bit of user review data that also supports that. Barnes has been excellent also, particularly the Tipped TSX.
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I had a Doe mule deer run about 30 to 45 yards after hitting her about in the 2nd to the last rib and it existing between her front legs. It definitely did the job but if I had made a poor shot I'm not sure it would have done the job. Any deer I hit like this with a Barnes were the dead before they knew what hit them, and were dead right there. I also have hit them with Nosler ballistic tip right thru the same area and it dropped them in there tracks as well. Not to say it couldn't happen but it hasn't happened yet.
 
uncle_motorhead said:
You are more radical with the Barnes than I am. I stop going lighter when I lose the boat tail. 110's for .270, 120 for 7mm and 130 for 30 cal. The 7mm and 30 cal I send out over 4000 fps. Firebird and 30-378.
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I like Barnes and have nothing bad to say about them. This guy is only wanting to go out to 200 yards. I've had these bullets touching bullet holes at 200 yards. They are devastating on anything you shoot because of the speed they are going at.
 
Nowadays I tend on finding bullets that don't break up so much on an animal. I previously said I use Nosler ballistic tip and still do, but don't shoot the 06 much anymore. Where I hunt now is straight wall cartridge territory so anything with a .45 in the name is the game. But with the 06 and deer at short ranges most anything will work on 120 lbs. whitetails . I enjoyed the comments on rem coreloks , good bullet and good on pocket book.
Good shooting
 
Virtually any bullet is lethal to whitetails with proper shot placement at the distances that you mentioned.
My experience with Barnes X bullets on whitetails is that an X bullet placed behind the shoulder often results in a deer that shows less indication of a hit and is more likely to walk or run off only to die a short distance later.
Frangible bullets shot into the vitals of a whitetail normally give a dramatic reaction that is an unmistakable hit. Both kill reliably.
If you want the best of both worlds - try some Hammer bullets.
 
I recommend 4. The 165 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip the 180 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip and 180 Nosler Partition and the Hornady 165 gr Spire point for practice and an alternate to the Nosler Ballistic Tip
 
Varmint Hunter said:
Virtually any bullet is lethal to whitetails with proper shot placement at the distances that you mentioned.
My experience with Barnes X bullets on whitetails is that an X bullet placed behind the shoulder often results in a deer that shows less indication of a hit and is more likely to walk or run off only to die a short distance later.
Frangible bullets shot into the vitals of a whitetail normally give a dramatic reaction that is an unmistakable hit. Both kill reliably.
If you want the best of both worlds - try some Hammer bullets.
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Mabe I will have to try them. But I've always had Barnes drop them in their Tracks when shot with Barnes x bullets. Must be where you place the bullet...
 
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Just about any good 150 or 165 grain cup and core bullet will work well. Speer hot cor, hornady interlock, core-lok. Imr 4064 will work well with good accuracy. The 150 grain interlock with 51 grains of 4064 was my go to for over 20 years before moving to a different caliber.
 
CO_Guy said:
I've had excellent experience with GMX bullets. There's quite a bit of user review data that also supports that. Barnes has been excellent also, particularly the Tipped TSX.
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just going off of my own experiences. I can vouch for anything other than what I've been in involved with. I just don't see them as good as the Barnes bullets. In fact I would be willing to trade GMX .277 130gr. For .308 or .277 bullets in Barnes or Nosler E-tip copper bullts. I bought a bunch thinking I would have a good experience with them and need to get some for the 270 Winchester, as well as the 270 WSM. So I bought them blindly off people recommendations. So if anyone out there wants to pay me for them I could ship them to them They are tipped 130 grain .277 boat tailed GMX bullets. Or trade for Barnes. Let me know.
 
CO_Guy said:
I've had excellent experience with GMX bullets. There's quite a bit of user review data that also supports that. Barnes has been excellent also, particularly the Tipped TSX.
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One of the other things I don't care for is the lost of weight when fired. If I'm going to pay $35.99 plus shipping for a 50 box .277 130gr.
G1 Ballistic Coefficient 0.46
They should perform well. Let me know willing to trade for Barnes or Nosler or for the money. What do you have to trade?
 
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