30-06 Bullet weight

[.308WIN]

What does everyone prefer for 30-06 bullet weight. 150g, 165g, or 180g.

I found there is absolutely no recoil difference between the 150 and 180 recoil. I also find they group the same (cheap or expensive, I guess my rifles like anything federal)

What does everyone else prefer?

[huntwat]

Been using 150 grain for 45 years. From whitetail to moose. Work great. Mostly Rem coreloct.
Only other bullet I liked better was the Winchester xp3. No longer available.

[stob]

I have sensitivities I guess and can tell the difference between a 150 and a 180. That said, I have a whack of 165 - 168 gr 30 cal premium bullets, so that is what I use now and successfully up through moose and elk. I grew up slinging a 180gr '06 and nothing in AB walks away from a reasonable range (up to 300m) double lung or shoulder shot. I would prefer 180's but the 165-168 work the same for me. There was a couple of years where I used 220gr in the '06 and that was akin to watching the difference between being hit with a golf ball or a bowling ball....one friend always used 150gr in his '06 and it took everything equally as well it seemed.

[.308WIN]

Originally Posted by stob

I have sensitivities I guess and can tell the difference between a 150 and a 180. That said, I have a whack of 165 - 168 gr 30 cal premium bullets, so that is what I use now and successfully up through moose and elk. I grew up slinging a 180gr '06 and nothing in AB walks away from a reasonable range (up to 300m) double lung or shoulder shot. I would prefer 180's but the 165-168 work the same for me. There was a couple of years where I used 220gr in the '06 and that was akin to watching the difference between being hit with a golf ball or a bowling ball....one friend always used 150gr in his '06 and it took everything equally as well it seemed.

Yeah, my savage 110 30-06 shoots federal fusions 150grains .5" all day. Its quite amazing actually. Was considering buying 165's or 180's and testing those out as well. Maybe just split the diff with the 165s and call it good.

150's are a hell of white tail bullet weight thoe. Smacks em pretty dead out ofa .30 cal.

[prarie_boy1]

I like the 165’s perfect compromise in the 06 I’d say.

[dave99]

180 or 165 for cup and core style, and 150 or 165 for mono metal or tougher bonded bullets.


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[58thecat]

Originally Posted by prarie_boy1

I like the 165’s perfect compromise in the 06 I’d say.

yup....kinda the do all weight

[petew]

165 partitions worked great from Antelope to moose for me.

[Ackleyman]

Shot Nosler 150 gr out of Browning Bar for many years. Accurate and did the job.

[fordtruckin]

Always had good luck with 165s in my 06. Wouldn’t be opposed to 180s though and they would probably be my second choice.

[Flight01]

I have a 308 win and I like the 165 weight. Nosler partitions especially.
The same should be a do all in 30/06 too.
If your a one rifle man and that ‘06 is taking deer and moose I’d say 165
If you’ve got another rifle for deer I’d be inclined to bump up to 180 partitions for elk and moose. Not required , just something I’d try.

Ain’t nothing wrong with federal blue box or rem corlokt 180’s if they’re grouping good.

[catnthehat]

Years ago I was sold on the cup and core 165's for the 3006, but these days II think I would try the lighter mono bullets if I were to use one.

Cat

[b_doornenbal]

130 gr Barnes TTSX ... flat shooting and get lots of expansion.

The wife has made it work on Moose,Elk, Deer and has a nice recoil. She has had great accuracy to 715 yards

I also recently picked up another 30-06 and will be shooting the same, I have confidence in these rounds for bear protection (the gun has open sights)

For steel I have a surplus of 168gr TMK’s so I’ll probably burn those up.

[hunterngather]

My Apex Storm loves 180gr Nosler accubonds, although finding any since Christmas as been very hard.

I have been using Barnes 180gr TTSX as well.

Both do the job if I do mine.

[Ariu]

Originally Posted by b_doornenbal

130 gr Barnes TTSX ... flat shooting and get lots of expansion.

The wife has made it work on Moose,Elk, Deer and has a nice recoil. She has had great accuracy to 715 yards

I also recently picked up another 30-06 and will be shooting the same, I have confidence in these rounds for bear protection (the gun has open sights)

For steel I have a surplus of 168gr TMK’s so I’ll probably burn those up.

^^^this!
By the way, I have a lot of 150gn bullets (TTSX, Accubons, SST's) which I would trade for 130gn TTSX.

[Coiloil37]

I’ve used the ‘06 almost exclusively for the past 20 years and shot a ton of game with 130-220 grain bullets. If I had to pick one weight it would probably be a 165 accubond or 168 ttsx over 52 grains of IMR 4064. In a 24” barrel that load will give you 3k FPS and it’s what I have the most experience using.
The 150’s never made any sense to me as I never found a load that would beat the velocity of the 165 by more then 50 FPS.
180’s are good and it’s no trouble to get them over 2850 FPS but how much penetration does one really need?
The last year I lived in Canada I loaded up some 130 ttsx at 3300+ and shot three deer and a moose. They were some of the most dramatic kills I’ve ever seen. The furthest I shot a deer with them was 340m and the moose was on the run at about 120m. All shots were pass throughs and I hit the onside shoulder of the moose so IMO I got plenty of penetration even with the 130’s. Everything I hit that year went down immediately like I had pulled the rug out from under it. Sighted in 3” high at a hundred had me less then 10” low at 400 so it didn’t require much thought to hit game out to my maximum range. I still have several hundred loaded up although I’m not there to use them anymore but they were very good on the limited number of animals I shot with them.

[hunterngather]

For me there is way too much stock put into velocity. I hunt moose and elk. That's it.

Have never taken a shot over 300 yards. I shoot 180gr accubonds out of my 06. (When we could buy them)

I have never had to haul out my meat more than 400 yards, ever...

Pick your shot, know your gun and ammo. The rest is hard work and money.

[mindoutside]

I started with a 150 gr but after I could not find Speer hunting bullets I ended up changing to 165 accubonds.

Partly because they were more readily available at the time (now is a different story) but mainly because they shot well and dropped elk for me. Not looking back unless I can't find any

[Redneck 7]

I’ve loaded 150 gr accubonds but couldn’t find a charge that shot less then a moa. So I switched to 165 gr partitions and that’s what my 30-06 likes.

[PartTimeHunter]

My son and I both have :06's. Both guns like 165 -168 grain bullets. His with IMR 4350, mine IMR 4831. Tried 125's, 150's and 180's as well - the 165's won

[Buckhead]

My 30-06 likes the 180 grain Accubonds the best so that is what I use.
I would use a 168 or 165 as well but I have plenty of 180's in stock.
If I am going down to the 130-150 grain range then I will just pull out the .270 or the 7 RM. But that's just me.

[Bushleague]

Personally, if I dont plan on shooting a 180 grain pill, I dont use a 30 cal rifle... so yeah, 180 grain bullets in my 06's.

[6.5 shooter]

I use shot a 190 gr. btsp Hornady when they were still in production, awesome BC and enough weight to do anything it was asked to do. If I had to shoot one bullet from the 30-06 now it would be the 180 gr. or 165 gr. Nosler Partition. Not that they are the best, it is simply because they work, and in my rifles they shot very well

[Jerry D]

I think the .30-06 is at its best with 165-180gr.

If I was shooting lighter 150gr bullets I’d probably go with a .308 for close to the same speed but less recoil.

I’ve shot 150-180 though and got deer with all 3 weights and a moose with the 180gr accubond.

[savage shooter]

Cup 'n' core good old 180grain.

A Barnes TTSX 150grain moving faster.

[Pioneer2]

150gr TTSX 40" of moose

[Andrzej]

Barnes 150 gr TTSX for Hunting,
Hornady 150 gr SST for Plinking.

Blue Tip for Hunting, Red Tip for Plinking.