BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[NorthernMIHunter]

Hello i will be hunting antelope and mule deer in the fall of 2007. I will be using my .30-06 i was wondering what everybody would recommend for a factory load to use. Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

[Hiker]

NorthernMIHunter, Welcome to BGH. :)

06 is a great caliber and offers a ton of choices. For antelope & muleys, I'd personally use 150grain Nosler Partitions and I like Federal Premiums in the gold box.

[147 Grain]

165-gr. or 180-gr. Winchester / Federal (Nosler) Ballistic Tip.

[WesternHunter]

150 grain out of a .30-06 will give you a plenty flat trajectory and deliver more than enough energy for a clean kill on pronghorn and mule deer.

[147 Grain]

WesternHunter wrote: 150 grain out of a .30-06 will give you a plenty flat trajectory and deliver more than enough energy for a clean kill on pronghorn and mule deer.

True, but remember that Antelope shots are usually very long and aerodynamic 165-gr. or 180-gr. loads will be more accurate at typical 300 - 400 yard distances.

You are right about 150-gr. being plenty enough to kill the 'lopes, but you got to get the bullet there first and longer projectiles increase your odds of an accurate shot way out there.

My two 30-06 rifles love factory Winchester 180-gr. (Nosler) Ballistic Silvertips with a BC of .507

[fuzzybear]

It would be best to find the 150, 165 or 180gr big game bullet that shoot the best. Any of the three weights will work. Whichever one you choose. Use it exclusively.
If you intend to hunt larger game with the rifle. Find the 180gr that shoots the best and use it exclusively.

[WesternHunter]

I think you mean that 165 gr and especially 180 gr will be a bit more stable in a heavier winds than the 150 grain will. I see your point about a longer heavier bullets having more accuracy (more bullet surface to engage the rifling). Still, a 150 gariner is no light bullet and plenty accurate. Areas that pronghorn inhabit are typically windy plains or windy semi-arid areas. The 180's grainers have the stability but just don't have as flat a trajectory as the higher velocity 150gr do. Consider that for years it was (and to some, still is) the lighter high velocity 6mm Remington and the .25-06 Rem that were the favored pronghorn cartridges.

Of course you know my opinion about those unnessesary 400 + yard shots. Yes you will typically use longer range shots on pronghorn, but the few times I've hunted them I was always able to take them at around 200 yards.

[remington]

150 gr Ballistic Tps.

[330-Trapper]

I think you're wrong about using a 165gr. and a 180gr. to obtain better accuracy in your 30-06... getting the 165-180 to shoot flat out to the 300-400 you are talking about would require 12 to 18"'s high at 100.. because that's the drop from 100 to 400 with a 180

Now with the same powder charge and all other things being equal... the 150 gr will be a perfect choice, and will float out there compared to the lead football 180

That's why the 25-06 bullet with the little 100gr bullet performs so well at very long distances... more powder, less lead = performance


Put the bullet where you want it and let it do it's job...

[WesternHunter]

Even on pronghorn I've never seen the need to take those 400 yrd shots.

I don't agree that more power with less lead = performance for all applications. I will agree that the .25-06 has long been, and still is about as good a pronghorn cartridge as you are ever going to get.

[Don Fischer]

Make that two of us against those 400 yd shots. On an animal like an antelope, the 150 to 180 gr bullets loose or gain nothing over one another. Doesn't matter which one you use, at 400+ yds your going to eleavate the sight's reguardless. I know of no cartridge that has a point blank range of anywhere near 400 yds.

Fuzzy Bear has it right. Were I to use a 30-06 I'd find the best shooting 165gr bullet. If I needed a 180gr, I believe it's better suited to magnums but will certainly work in the 30-06. Matter of fact I'm fooling with some old Herter 180's in my 30-06 right now. Just fooling around!

[330-Trapper]

I think a lot of comments got mixed up on this thread... and the Original question of which would be the best bullet choice for His 30-06.

No one including myself advocated or endorsed shooting a 130# max wt. animal out to 400; However the differences in Drop (even with elevation) between a 150 gr bullet and a 180 are great... it isn't whether the bullet size is substancial or not for Antelope... because both will kill the animal Dead...

In sighting in the bullet say 1.5 inches high at 100 and then shooting at various ranges from 100 to 200 and then out to 300 the 150, 165, and 180 have a large difference in regards to pull of gravity. The effective range of each depends on how much elevation is given when sighting in. The (drop) of the bullet in practical hunting terms need to be looked at and tried on the range before Picking a bullet to do what you want it to.

I believe that a person needs to actually go out to the range with one gun... all three boxes of shells spoken about here and shoot at the same target, same yardage etc... with all three bullet weights looking at the different points of impact when shooting at 100,200 and 300 yards befor giving another reply to this question.

[WesternHunter]

While there may be a few armchair respondants here, I believe that the vast majority on this forum do hunt and shoot regularly. Many posters here have many years experience hunting and shooting. I myself have 22+ years of shooting regularly rifle, pistol, and shotgun. 20 years of that is hunting experience. Not a lot compared to some, but it's something I can use as credability for my feedback here, and that experience helps me to sift through and determine who the few BS'ers are. :lol:

I agree with you that one needs to take various bullet weight and shoot them a various ranges to actually see what their rifle will do.

[Don Fischer]

NorthernMIHunter wrote: Hello i will be hunting antelope and mule deer in the fall of 2007. I will be using my .30-06 i was wondering what everybody would recommend for a factory load to use. Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

330-trapper, that's an awful wide open question and a lot more could be said in answer's. Antelope are typically killed at longer ranges than deer but the long shots mentioned are a matter of choice, not need.

Re-read fuzzybears post. He say's the 150, 165 or 180 gr load that shoots best. Pretty sound advice!

Western hunter once again offers good advice and I've enough experience to believe he has the experience to give it.

147grains post points out the flaw in the origional question. A short question requiring a longer answer complete with an explaination.

Hiker was right to the point and answered the question at face value. But were the question asked, this guy would also have ansewred more.

I have been watching these guy's for quite awhile and while at times I might disagree, these guy's on this site, including some that didn't answer, give sound advice to question asker's. Based on what they find prudent rather than the stroke your ego and gee-whiz stuff I see on other site's. Read again the origional question, it certainly appears that this is a first time antelope hunter doesn't it. His question seemed genunine. To some it may have seemed foolish. He deserved the best most complete answer we could give him.

In short, these guy's are good and you are out of line! :[-X

Need to add one more point. You claim zeroing on 1 1/2" hight at 100yds.........have you ever hunted antelope? That is a poor way to zero a long range cartridge. Ask and it shall be answered. I think I'm a bit miffed. These guy's are not "armchair hunter's". Good answer's you guy's! :thumbsup1:

[Hammer1]

I was just playing with favourite site: http://www.federalcartridge.co.....earch.aspx

and imagine this, The difference in bullet drop at 400 yard, between the 150 grainers and the 180 grainers(sighted in for 200 yard) is around FOUR iches and the 165 ers somewhere in between.
One comparision between the same 150s and 165 s was around an inch and a half difference at 400 yards.
I think I'd be inclined to go with the 165 gr bullet.