30 cal. bullet you use?

[Dannyl]

Hi,
I use a Remington 700 in 30-06, and load it with (own reloads, muzzle velocity 260 FPS) NOSLER Accubonds, for myself I load 180 Gr' and for my wife 165 Gr'.
On paper thse bullets group consistenly (repeated results) 0.5 to 0.7 MOA.

I have hunted with these bullets the following game - Kudu, Oryx, Black Wildebest, Blue Wildebeest and Springboks. All were one shot kills, and there was very little meat damage.

I have recovered 4 bullets, all expanded to 14-15mm and retained 72%
of their weight.

Penetration is very good too. (the bullets recovered were wither frontal or diagonal) for example, one of the black wB was shot from the front, the bullet was recovered in the stomach, after penetrating the brisket, heart and lungs.

as you can see I lod to a relatively mild velocity for the 30-06. most of my hunting is done in bush, and even in more open terrain I never shoot further than 180 meters (200 yards ). I like to stalk as close as possible, so far my closest was an Oryx (Gemsbok) that I shot from 30 meters (the stalk started from well over 500 Meters)

Brgds,
Danny

PS, tomorrow morning I am off to my 4th hunt this season

[FrankenMauser]

In what respect does the Power Point not work? Accuracy? Expansion? I haven't shot enough through my hunting rifle to know.

Unpredictable expansion. Inconsistent ogives. Inconsistent nose shapes. HORRIBLY inconsistent weight.

...Which all adds up to unpredictable (or inconsistent) accuracy, and performance on game.

The Power Point works for some people, and I respect their experiences. But, I have had terrible experiences with the Power Point (in .22, .24, .27, and .30 calibers), where the Core-Lokt has never let me down.

I am a huge fan of premium bullets like the Swift Scirocco, Swift A-Frame, Woodleigh Weldcore, etc., but the Core-Lokt still amazes me. It is a fantastic bullet, for being such a "crappy and dated" cup-and-core design.

[Lawyer Daggit]

In what chambering and on what species of deer?. Bullet performance is all about speed and size and shape of target and range.

The bullet you would use on a Fallow deer at 250 yards in a 308 is not the same bullet as you would use in a 30-30 at 70 yards or a 30 winchester magnum on an Elk.

Most manufacturers will give you a terminal speed for a bullet, and if reloading it is easy to marry this up to the target species and anticipated range and bullet speed at that range.

[Jack O'Conner]

I've had very good luck with Sierra Pro Hunter 150 grain in my .308 Savage rifle.

Jack

[Maxem0815]

Nozler 150 & 180 ballistic tip. 1 shot kills all the time out to 350 yards. After 350 they are over the hill or in a valley and unseen in my hunting location.
Mace

[taylorce1]

190 grain Hornady BTSP, because my 300 H&H likes them and my deer hunt involves elk this year as well.

[Hawg]

30-06, 165 grain Nosler BTBT.

[Old Grump]

180 gr Core-Lokt SP bullets in M1 Garand 30-06, M1 Garand .308. Weatherby 300 magnum and H&R handi-rifle in .308 but I have the Schuster valves for the Garands.

7.5X55 170 gr Core-Lokt SP
30-30's 150 gr Core-Lokt SP

I have others but these have worked for me since the 70's and see no reason to change. When I hunt I like to go with what I know and have confidence in.

[Clifford L. Hughes]

Jack308:

I have successfully used 30 caliber Sierra 150 grain game king. However, now I use Nosler 165 grain ballistic tips loaded to 2,600 fps. This bullet produces 3/4 inch at 100 yards.

Semper Fi.

Gunnery sergeant
Clifford L. Huighes
USMC Retired

[JACK308]

thanks for the info Cliff!

[bamaranger]

Sierra 150 gr Prohunter, spitzer flat base, loaded in .308. Iuse loads about in the middle of the velocity ranges, straight from the manuals. Works for me in my heirloom Win M88 and a Savage Scout. I also load the same bullet in '06 cases for use i\n my Garand's, but have never killed a deer with the Garand.

Interestingly, the don't shoot to badly out of my PSL in 7.62x54r, but on occassion I get a "what the devil happened to that one" shot, and have switched to the .311/150 Pro hunter for the PSL and that seems to have solved the problem. NOt killed a deer (yeet) with the PSL, but hunt it a bit every year.

[Wild Bill Bucks]

I would use the bullet that shoots the most accurate in my rifle, regardless of what brand it is, keeping in mind that it doesn't matter what bullet is used, it's where you hit the deer that counts.
A bad shot on a deer won't be any better with a premium bullet, than a cheap bullet. It's all about shot placement.
Personally I am using the 150 grain BT Combined Technologies bullet. I don't think it is any better or worse than any other, but it shoots a dime at 100 yards consistently, and allows me to take the best shot possible.

[globemaster3]

To the OP, a lot of folks have given you their personal insights and experiences and all are valuable. I'm going to take a different direction.

What brand/weight bullet does your gun like? Knowing that SSTs, SGKs, Silvertips, Power Points, etc work in their rifles does not translate into what will work in yours.

I'm not talking about what will work from a terminal ballistic perspective since in general your gun won't have an impact on that. I'm talking about what your gun shoots well. Find out what hunting style bullet your gun will shoot respectible groups with and practice with it. Then go hunt.

Knowing that Nosler Partitions are a great hunting bullet doesn't mean beans if it won't group them reasonably. Since we are talking deer and not a larger, or hardier animal, the bullet selection is much more open.

[publius]

.30-06- 165gr. Barnes-x. first thing i ever handloaded way back in '92, i think. Still have a few of those original 50.

6.5x55- 140gr. Sierra GK

[langenc]

30-06-MI deer (or any other for that matter)-

Rem Core Lokts-150 or 165..

Moose/elk 180 gr-probably Nosler partitions or some Accu-checks Im itching to try-180.

Friend in Alaska used 180s for moose and 150s for caribou and if it was a hunt for either 165s. I suspect 165s would do in AK(or anywhere in the US) for all except for grizzly.

[SurplusShooter]

Berger bullets.

[aaalaska]

165 gr Hornady interlocks up to and including moose ,anything bigger 220 Hornadys.

[94bluerat]

168 gr Win Supreme Balistic Tip in .308. I prefer the heavy bullet over the traditional 150gr.

[Tomas]

I have a Weatherby Vanguard in .308. The primary bullet I use is the 180gr Winchester Fail Safe (Not CT) over 44gr of 748. I used to use Barnes XLC in the same weight, and do like them quite a bit. The Fail Safe, though, is designed to shed some (or all) of its small copper petals after 10" or so of penetration, and the core continues to bore through the animal and usually punches out the other side. I killed a black bear in 09, the bullet did not shed any petals, but penetrated 47" inches (yup, 4 FEET!) in her. I shot a nice 5x5 mule deer last year and the bullet entered at about a 30 degree downward angle, hit him in the chest while facing me, and penetrated the whole length of the rib cage and exited just in front of his off side thigh.

They were complicated and expensive to make, so WW stopped a few years ago. Luckily, I still have 300 bullets, 200 not even loaded yet.

I've had good results with the Fail Safe, but would be just as happy shooting a Core Lokt, Scirroco or SST. I just happened to hoard all the 180gr Fail Safes I could, so I shoot those. Not sure what I'm going to do with my 165gr, as I only have one box.

Sometimes, if I'm sure the forest is thick and the shot close, I'll take out my 220gr Partitions. My rifle is a 1:12, but these are exceptionally accurate from my rifle, even out to 300 yards - though the bullet drop is pretty high, even with a 200yd zero. I'm not sure they'll fly true much past that, but they are very effective on elk.

[Big Pard]

I have had excellent success with the Federal Game-Shok 125gr. in my 30-06 whether they use the Speer Hot-Cor or their soft points. There has been 40+ deer killed with this set up that I know of ranging from 75 to 400 yds.