30-06 hunting ammo for deer
Does anyone have any sugestions as to what would be a good ammunition to use for whitetail deer in 30-06 cal. I would prefer to stay with the 165gr bullet weight. I've had this rifle for a while now but haven't used it in a number of years. The last ammunition I used was winchester power-point. I know there have been alot of changes from manufactures in regards to bullet advancements in recent years. The problem is I haven't kept up on this information. So any suggestions in regards to something that would not only be effective but accurate as well would be helpful. I would be using this in a bolt action rifle if that matters. Thanks in advance
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I decided to try some of the federal 165gr fusion. The price was within reason as compared to others. Anyone have any experience or comments about this ammunition. I put this out under the same title. For some reason it said that the topic was locked. Anyone know why this would happen 0 -
When it hits ten replies the topic locks. 0 -
Ive shot the federal Fusion in 7mm mag and I like it.
I use to shoot a 30-06 and I shot a factory load that was called light magnum, IIRC Hornady made it.0 -
try federal premium ammo, it usually works well for me 0 -
I shot a doe 2 years ago with a fusion thru the lungs my only concern was the exit wound wasn't very large as I don't think the bullet opened up much but she only ran 50 yds so it done it's job 0 -
One of my customers just returned from Africa were
he and his wife took 23 animals in 14 different species.
They used 243 Win and 270 Win for everthing and Federal
Fusion in both cartridges. In his opinion, after watching a
lack of expansion on everything from DikDik to Kudu, that the
Fusion bullet shouldn't be used on anything tougher than
paper.0 -
I am a big proponet of consideration of Caliber vs Velocity vs Mass (Grain of bullet)! A .30-06 is a high velocity caliber and a bullet with too much mass shot from the standard 22 or 24 inch barrel, will not break down sufficently upon impact and traverse through a deer's vitals to put them down right away. Thus the deer will more than likely run for a long distance and never be found or require a lot of walking and tracking of any blood spatter to find them. Now, if you use the 165 grain bullets and hit a deer in a shoulder bone or other bone, that is a completely different matter and outcome! Just expect destroying quite a bit of edible meat when the bullet shatters when hits bone and gets distributed through a fairly sizable amount of the deer's muscle (meat) tissue. All too often, I see many folks purchase a .30-06 calibered rife and purchase a box or two of 180 grain bullets because they think larger size as in grain of bullet, means better results. Well, they are all too wrong and probably more deer and similar sized game have been lost to 180 grain bullets shot from a .30-06 and similar (close) sized calibers than a lower grain bullet. I shot Factory Remington 140 grain Core-Lokt PSP bullets in all of the 7mm Remington Magnum Rifles that I have ever owned and shoot the same grain bullet in my' 7mm Remington Ultra Mag.! Go with an appropriate grained bullet for the .30-06 and the game you are wanting to shoot and for deer, in my book that is a 150 grain bullet!
Frank0 -
you can get different opinions about any ammo. its like asking who makes the best truck,I have been deer hunting successfuly for 34 years I have used the cheapest ammo when I had to0, and have used some of the more expensive ammo when going out west. the most all around ammo I have found at a reasonable price is rem corelokt 150 -165 gr. but, we all know about shot placement. jmho. 0 -
shot placement! shot placement! shot placement! Terminal performance usually only comes into play when marginal shot placement has been achieved.
I've shot 17 deer with bullets that all weighed less than 100 grs. and one deer, one antelope and one elk with bullets weighing 100 grs. The closest I ever came to losing a deer (I didn't shoot it) was a friend took his son out deer hunting and the son shot a big 2x3. The bullet entered the chest and went through both lungs but was a ways behind the heart and didn't hit any other vital organs. The deer with one shot through the chest meandered through the juniper and doubled back on us. When we decided tracking it was necessary we found it hadn't left a blood trail for close to 400 yds. Once we found the blood trail it was another 500 yds. before we found him. Fortunately, it was open terrain.
The point is the bullet slipped in between two ribs on the entry side but broke two ribs going out. Where he hit there wasn't a whole lot to make that bullet, or any bullet, perform any better. And, I'm betting that had he hit up closer behind the shoulder, it would more likely have been a one-shot/drop.
Get the bullets you shoot best with and make your best shot count. Ten crappy shots is what leads to wounded animals. Deer, elk and moose are not armor-plated and any good high-velocity bullet will reach the vitals. Some better than others. But, none of them will reach the vitals if you don't make that shot count.0 -
I ended up trying 3 different ammunitions. One was Winchester power Point 150gr, one was Federal Fusion 165gr, the last was Remington Core-Lokt Express 165gr. I had some accuracy issues with all three at first perhaps because of a clean barrel, making some scope adjustments or perhaps myself or my son. The last three shots taken were by my son at 100yds with the Remington Core-Lokt and about 1/2 left of center. We called it close enough since all three could be covered with a dime. Since some of you are probably wondering what I was using it was a Beretta Mato with a Bushnell 4200 1.5x-6. 0 -
Personally, if you are just looking for deer hunting, or possibly antelope, I would suggest trying to find a load with the Barnes 130 grain Tipped Triple shock. They are outstanding for accuracy in two Browning A-Bolt's, a Tikka T-3 stainless, and a Weatherby Vanguard that this particular load was shot thru. Each one grouped less than 3/4 MOA, and the Tikka, was under half MOA. Yes, they are expensive, and you don't want to shoot a lot of them, but they seem to shoot very well, and their performance on deer have been outstanding. If you are going for ELK, the 150 grain in THIS bullet is adequate.
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