For all you 30-06 owners, what bullet are you using?

[QuietTexan]

Generally Hornady 150gr SSTs, but I have a least a partial box of about every weight of SST, ELD-M and ELD-X Hornady sells in .308, and I tend to use left over bullets because they all seem to work fine in the 30-06 velocity range. My 30-06 is not suppressed (unlike all but one other of my rifles), so it really sees limited use these days so if it gets fed random loads that's fine.

I do get good results from 125gr bullets and Trail Boss, just messing around for fun.

 

[marvee]

Curious as to what folks are using. So many rifles seem to have a few bullets that are really popular - 300wm and the Berger 215, 6.5 PRC and the 156, etc. But the 30-06 doesn't seem to have that hugely popular favorite bullet. Since there is such a huge selection of bullets, I would expect to see answers all over the map.

I wanted to shoot the Nosler 180 BT but I would get a flier a third of the time, Switched to Berger 185 VLD and it went away. With N560 I'm getting 2877 with this bullet and it should easily dispatch anything smaller than an elk, and could work for elk as well although it won't be my primary elk gun.

What are other people shooting?

Speer Grand Slam 165 grain in a Remington 760 Game master rifle. Me an LW been kicking elk *** for quite some time.

 

[Lee Goodwin]

180 are ok, for thump potential. Super performance powder was designed for the 180 in 30.06, but, the pressures are high.!
Probably 165 is good using modern powders.
165 may be the most accurate bullet weight in 30.06

 

[floyd kittrell]

178 absolute hammers

What is the load and speed ?

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

168 smk over 4064 And it is accurate.i am not a speed freak with a 30-06 I have other toys for that

Seems there are 2 types on this thread... 1. Those like you and I that own a 30-06 but have bigger rifles..
2. Those who run the 30-06 as their biggest rifle and wind the heck out of it..

As to the o.p. I run two loads through my 30-06... a 150 sierra pro hunter pushed with enough 4895 to make 2900 fps or so. a 165 hornady f.b. interlock pushed with enough I 4350 to make 2850 fps.
I have a 300win and a pair of 300rum rifles if I want speed from a 30... I don't have to kill a 30-06..

 

[just_jon]

I'm running 56 grains of 100V just over 3100 in a 26" barrel. COAL is 3.415". Didn't find the jump referenced in my notes, but I'm thinking 0.020". It was a quick load put together before deer season and have not had time to play much since. Proceed at your own risk.

 

[Jamun69]

I have heard a lot about how the Barnes don't perform, but I've been using the 180 in my '06 for 10 years with 4 elk taken at 400 +|- yards, others at closer distances. All passed through, one passing through the offside shoulder shattering the bone. So, logically, I stick with it.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I have a pretty good load for my 30-06 with 210 gr Bergers but I decided to save the rest of my Berger stash for a 300 RUM. I had a couple of boxes of 208 gr AMAXs stashed away so I tried those tonight in front of some IMR 4955 I picked up last week. So far, it looks promising. I have no doubt they will work fine on deer.

 

[Stammster]

165 grain Sierra Gamechanger with 57.3 grains of RL-26

Wow, that's one mild load. >2750 fps?

 

[arch408]

Laugh at me if you want, but the only bullet I use for deer is the good old 150 grain spire point core lokt. It's accurate and I've never had a failure.

 

[elf]

180 gr Accubond for deer; 175 gr partition for big stuff

 

[Stammster]

180 gr Accubond for deer; 175 gr partition for big stuff

I didn't realize Nosler made a 175gr partition in 30 cal.

 

[Dphil]

Curious as to what folks are using. So many rifles seem to have a few bullets that are really popular - 300wm and the Berger 215, 6.5 PRC and the 156, etc. But the 30-06 doesn't seem to have that hugely popular favorite bullet. Since there is such a huge selection of bullets, I would expect to see answers all over the map.

I wanted to shoot the Nosler 180 BT but I would get a flier a third of the time, Switched to Berger 185 VLD and it went away. With N560 I'm getting 2877 with this bullet and it should easily dispatch anything smaller than an elk, and could work for elk as well although it won't be my primary elk gun.

What are other people shooting?

30-06 has been dropping elk for years. I use 180 grain interlocks.

 

[agrodgers]

I've loaded mine for close quarters (20" barrel) 220gr Partitions (RL22) that are dead on @ 100yds and -6" at 200yds and 180gr AB's (RL22) that hit +3" @100yds, dead on @ 200yds, and -3" @300yds...so I carry both but when I'm in the thick woods looking for elk it's the 220's...when I hit an open spot then I switch out to the 180's so I don't have to think out to 350yds and have a bit flatter shot out to 500yds. All of this is overkill for muley's...but they are still dead so I figure it's "ok"