30 06 shooters
 

whats your ammo of choice for deer hunting
? i hear remington corelocks, i hear the new stuff by federal,i hear winchester balistic tips, and the new winchester xp3. man there are thousands of choices out there. how does one find the best?

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

When I had a 30-06 I used handloads with 180 speer bullets. Most of the guys I hunt with use remington core-lokt's 180 gr. Some use the roundnose too.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

By shooting it in your rifle, and seeing which one shoots best.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

i wish i had a cuple hundred bucks to drop down on a bunch of ammo to see which one worked the best. :) i guess i could try 2 diff kinds and see.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

Actually, if you want to be that way, you can get the ammo you want to use and sight t6he gun in for that.:D:D:D

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

If you are not worried about trying to get sub 1" groups at 100 yards any factory load you can buy will work great for you. Some brands or weights might shoot a little more accurate in your gun but almost any you buy will have enough accuracy that you will not have to worry about them. just pick a brand you can get locally for the price you want to pay and sight your gun in for them. Personally we use Federal Premium 165 grain.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

I got roughly 1" groups with my 700 ADL using Winchester Super-X 150 gr. Power Points. 2 bucks and 2 does with 4 shots. And, they're on sale right now at most places, $12.99 per box, with a $5 mail in rebate. Pretty inexpensive ammo. Good luck!

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

When I shoot factory loads in the 30-06, I like the Federal Blue Box ammo loaded with 150 grain Speer GS bullets. They adversise 2910 fps and thats just what the clocked from my 7600 Rem. In my gun they were also very accurate.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

1910 fps ?

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

Chances are that your rifle will shoot any loading just fine re- accuracy. If I didn't handload and wanted to find a good round to use, I would just take the accuracy issue right off the table, and concentrate on bullet design and weight. I've owned several 30-06 rifles and have interchanged ammo between them for years and have seen very little in the way of point of impact changes so long as the same bullet weight was used. Relax and enjoy ! It doesn't take a $1.50 bullet to kill a dear.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

Federal does two loads in the blue boxes, one is high shock and the other is Low Recoil, I would imagine that is the low recoil load he is talking about. Either that or a .30/30?


Really, the bullet type and grain are the most important, as well as your budget. If you are just a casual deer shooter who just wants minute of deer accuracy at 100 yards, just about anything in the 150 or 165 class will do the job. you don't need a bonded bullet, or a ballistic tip, although both will do the job.

The Core-lokts would be fine for you. Those or the Win Power points, or some Sierra Game Kings from Federal. Whatever, suits your taste and budget. Just shoot a few 3 shot groups to make sure you rifle can put them inside of 2" and you will be fine or anything out to 150 yards or so.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

The new Remington Corelokt ultra is really good and shoots good in my savage. Federal has the premium ammo line and is available with the Nosler Partition. This bullet has almost mythic status amongst big game hunters.
If I were you, I would pick a bullet and find the factory ammo that has the bullet and weight you want.
My buddy swears by the Swift A Frame. Another buddy used to use the Winchester Silvertip but now uses the Winchester Failsafe.
I use the lowly plain Jane Remington ammo with the original Core lokt.\
For deer sized game most of the good ammo will suffice. I just buy the Core Lokt because it's cheap and shoot good in my mauser.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

i personally have killed deer with Sierra HPBT, SPBT, winchester power points(realized i groundhog hunted all year and never shot anything else) and winchester ballistic silver tip(NBT with coating) all were 165gr..except the winchester ballistic tips..168. Oh ya..chaulk one up for a 180gr round nose corelokt. of them all ive taken 9 deer. couple with both sierras and 3 with powerpoints. ive always been a fan of ballistic tips..both sierras performed flawlessly...the powerpoints were terrific..3 deer in their tracks..the corelokt...well...thats a funny story..point blank shot..heart and lungs fell out of the exit hole..exit hole was the size of my fist. deer was a buttonbuck..my 2nd deer. made it like 150yds!!!!!

i will admit to LOOSING...2 deer. both with 165gr PSP corelokts. before i get flammed let me tell the story please. i worked all summer cutting lawns to buy my own deer rifle. someone gave my dad a shotgun scope for me to put on it..said he barely used it. i think it was simmons or tasco. first year on it it worked great. second year i lost one, missed one and wounded another. after that i QUIT deer hunting. took the scope off to give to dad for a slug gun...was going to sell the mauser and quit hunting. i been shooting all my life..no reason i should miss standing deer or wound them..exspecially 30yds away with a scope:eek: the gunsmith was boresighting the scope and adjusted the magnification..when he did the crosshairs MOVED! never consistant..just moved significantly every time the magnification was adjusted! sooooo although i cannot blame the ammo soley for the loss of 2 deer i feel a deer shot at 30yds with a 3006 should certainly leave more then ONE drop of blood at one spot and a 30yds pin drop trail on another!! dad is a seasoned bowhunter and tracked both..hes GOOD..never found anything more. i watched him track deer with NO blood before..not bashing corelokts....more deer died death due to them then any other bullet out there i bet.....but if i aint shootin groundhogs i aint shooting corelokts! and from my groundhog hunting i think the corelokts expand way to rapidly...i think they were blowing up upon impact..gnated i had a busted scope(sighted in perfect because i left the magnification alone) and i have no idea where either deer were hit..thats just my story and why i wont shoot them. i shot one almost clear through the body with a power point(same price as corelokts) entered the brisket..out just before the far ham...deer dropped like a train off a bridge..and the bullet exited..id recomend them over corelokts

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

I have about 7 people that I hunt with that use 06's (including myself till last year) and most of them have been hunting for over 20 years and have shot 150 gr. rem. corelocks for all that time and have never had any problems with them. That's what I used when I still used a 06 and what I use now with a 7mm-08 and every deer I shot was a one hit kill. I would say go with the 150 corelocks if you're just deer hunting and you shouldn't look back.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

Ditto what you guys said. I don't think youneed to get fancy with deer bullets. Rem. Core-loks are excellent (thats why their still around) Win. Power Points are great. I shoot Hornady BTSP.For deer I alwasy opt for a soft point that willstay together and mushroom fast. I shoot 150 grainers in my 06'.At one time I shot Nosler Ballistic Tips and Partitions. They group well but the performance on deer is not what I like. I'm sure their fine for elk.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

That was a typo should have been 2910fps for the 150gr GS (federal blue box). They don't load this bullet in a reduced load!

150-180 grain will work. Price being an issue then look at federal blue boc, winchester x and rem corelokt. Though the only way is trial and error. Maybe you'll get lucky and pick a great shooting bullet of the bat. Then again maybe not, but look at the bright side at least you'll get more shooting in that way and enjoy your new rifle even more.

Huntingmay not bethe cheapest way to put meat on the table but recon it is a fun way too;);)!

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

drop a couple hundred bucks and start handloading

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

I am sorry, thats 2910 fps. Senior moment.:D

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

.44Cooter...buy em try em...decide

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

Well I killed most of my 06 deer with the 180 gr Winchester Power Point -Soft point round nose. Hehehhee I have never had deer go down that quick with anything else. Dropped like the Hammer of Thor...lol.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

thanks all. some good advice here. im going to grab a box of rem core locks, win silver BT's, and maybe a federal and shoot them all.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

Be sure to report back to us how well each did.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

I used to shoot 150 grain core lokt out of my ruger 30-06 with "adequate" results. Just not ever real happy with them. I tried the new winchester XP3s this year and I and sold. Between them and a new timney trigger, I was was shoooting moa groups at 100 yards. This past Monday I dropped a sitting down coyote at a ranged 310 yards. That was enough proof in the pudding accuracy for me.

RE: 30 06 shooters
 

I use hand loads in my '06. 150gr Hornady IB going 3000fps. They seem to work really well on deer and group excellent out of my savage. I also have barnes XTC 150gr which I also use (haven't shot any deer with these yet). I have some 165gr Hornady SST's (reduced load) for varmits and such)