30-06 Ammo
 

I'm a new rifle hunter; just bought a Ruger bolt action 30-06. It appears that there's quite a variety of ammo for a 30-06 (one reason why I bought it). As a newbie, I need some feedback as to how to pick from the choices of ammo (gr. of powder, type of tip, etc.). At this time, I expect my use of the rifle to be limited to whitetail, out to about 100yds. Thanks.

Ed

Any 150-165 gr load that your rifle likes will be more that sufficient.

06 Ammo
 

I use good old Federal PowerShok in the blue box. 180 grain for whitetails and black bear here in PA.:happy0001:

I love the Federal 165grain Sierra Game Kings. I had good luck with the 150 grain Ballistic Tips as well. A Remington Core Lokt bullet is quite effective as well. Actually any of the soft point bullets in 150 to 165 grain should be just fine. Just make sure you are not shooting bullets that are designed to shoot thick skinned heavy boned game. These bullets will pass through a deer and do very little damage. The deer will run a long long way and you may not ever recover it. Try different bullets in your gun and see which bullet your rifle shoots the most accurate. Go with that one. Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback and the good info.

Ed

Remington 180gr. corelokt PSP for me.

I used the same ammo in my 06 for nearly 20 years and killed moose elk deer bear and antalope with it,winchester super x 180 grain silver tips.a little much for antalope though

Edv...

Ruger makes great guns and 30-06 is a great caliber. For deer, use the 150 or 165 grain bullets as already mentioned. If you want to shoot varmits, go to 125 grain, or even lighter if you can find them. If I were going after elk or moose I would use 180 grain. Dangerous bear would get the 220 grain medicine. The old 30-06 has been in use so long that there are few suprises left. It is accurate and will kill anything in the Americas and won't pound your shoulder doing it. I would probably use something more powerful then 30-06 on dangerous bear on second thought and I do use a Limbsaver on my 30-06. Congrats on the new Ruger 30-06, a great choice.

Jenks:
Good break down of which size bullets for which animals. Thanks.

Ed

Good choice in brand and caliber, LOL!!! Put a real good scope and mounts on it and you'll be good to go on anything but big bears as mentioned above. Ruger makes good stuff at reasonable prices IMHO and I have a M77 25-06 that is quite a shooter.

One of my 30-06 rifles that I use most often is a Ruger 77UL with a Zeiss 3X9X40 scope. I have hunted deer, caribou and elk with that same gun and always use Federal 180 gr Barnes TSX bullets. No problems this year bringing down a Vt buck and a Colorado elk with that set up. Great performance as well as accuracy out of that little light weight gun with that load.
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You could prob get away with any of the lead tipped ammo out there... Win power point in 150-180 will prob shoot good in most rifles

Did not see anyone mention this so ... every rifle is somewhat unique in what load it groups best with. The reasons are rather complex and no need to go into now. Exacting hand loaders like myself will fiddle with powders, loads, and bullet combinations hours on end looking for that "best" load.

Using factory loads, the method is similar. I would recommend is to buy (or bum 3 rounds from) 3-4 boxes of significantly different loads. Say for your 30.06 Spr. .... something "cheap" using a 150 gr., another maybe "premium" using 165 gr. , a third using 180 gr., and a different maker that uses one of these same bullet weights. The more different ones that you can try the more likely you are to find that one that matches your rifle best. But at $15-$60 a box that can get expensive in a hurry.

Go to the range ... make sure you are on paper good at 100 yards. I like to use a big piece of white "project" board for this phase of sighting in just to make sure I am "on" the paper !!! Then shoot 3 rounds aiming at a bulls eye centered in the target. Take your time between shots to let the barrel cool off. Shoot with the best form that you can. Don't sweat where the "group" hits. If it is way high and right of where you aimed for example, no big deal. What you are looking for at this point is finding the tightest group, no matter where that 3 shot group happens to hit.

With a pen, connect the 3 shot holes, forming a triangle. Now draw a line from on point to the center of the opposite side. This will form a 3-spokked "star". This is where the "average of that group is hitting. You can measure the distance from each bullet hole to the where these 3 lines cross. Average that distance and that is the measurement of how tight your group is. You should not settle for anything greater than an average of 2". If every ammo that you tried hit wider than this, try a few more. My experience is that you will be able to find ammo that will hit well inside 2".

Once you have found that best (tightest) group, then adjust your iron sights or scope for whatever "zero" you want. You probably will have to shoot a few more times to zero the rifle. If, as you say, your max range is around 100 yards, I'd zero it dead on at 100 yards.

Go back to where you bought the ammo and buy more of that same stuff that grouped great. Each box should have a "lot number" stamped on it. Stay with that lot if at all possible.

As far as bullet wieight for deer .... 150 gr. or heavier is plenty good enough.

^^ Agree ^^

Ed, I've got a 30.06 and it's now my elk and moose rifle here in B.C.. For this big game, after a lot of research and talking to a lot of guys with experience, I went with the 168 grain Barnes TTSX ammo. I've shot a few elk and several moose with it, and they've dropped immediately or didn't go far at all. It's a tough all copper bullet that stays in one piece even if you hit a large bone and penetrates deeply.
When I used the 30.06 for our big stout mule deer and smaller whitetails, I used a 150 grain Nosler Accubond in the later years. It's also a stout bullet but not as stout as the Barnes, and will open up perfectly out to several hundred yards. That makes it an excellent bullet for deer at close or long range, it shoots accurately out of almost every rifle, and the light weight reduces recoil. I'd recommend them loaded in Federal ammo.
Hope this helps! :-)

I've been using 150 gr Remington Core Lokts for 30+ years with very good results. One of the least expensive to boot.

My 30-06 likes either 180 gr Core-lokts or 180 gr Fusion rounds. I like the expansion on the Fusion bullets that I have recovered from deer that I have shot over the Core-lokts though.

Mojo gave you a pretty good response. When you buy ammo off the shelf, you may have to try a few different ones to get the one that will shoot the best out of your gun. I bought a new 7mm a few years ago and because of a budget had to try the less expensive soft point ammo off the shelf. In the past I have had good luck with federal, but I could not get the riffle to group. Shot up a couple of boxes before buying some Winchester to try. Within 10 shots the rifle was tack driving at 100 yards. Just my experience so take it for what it's worth. Good luck. HD.