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.

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

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.