Wbat grain to use on whitetails?

quamnet

I just bought a 30-06 and I was wondering what grain to use for hunting whitetails. I gave some Federal 220 grain at home but that would be a little too much??? What do you recommend? Thanks.

Big Sky Redneck

My favorit bullet for a 30-06 is a 150 grain bullet. If you reload I use sierra boat tail game kings and load them to 3000 fps. They have some incredible shocking power and will plant a rib/shoulder shot deer in its tracks right now. I have found that with the large heavy bullets on deer alot of times they just poke right thru and do not kill well. On white tail deer you need a fast expanding bullet that delivers shock, they are too light and do not have the body mass to make a heavy bullet work. Now I know some will dissagree with me, I'm only speaking from my experiances and not speaking for everybody else.

Nighthawk

Good question as there are many good loads for the 06.As you can hunt any North American game with confidence. I use a 150gr boat tail bullet it is very versatile. You can shoot long distance with it or short. I have taken more Whitetail with my model 700 30-06 than any other gun I own.Hope this helps!


Good Luck.

Rugster

.280 freak

I think most folks use 165 or 180 gr. bullets in their 30-06's for whitetails. You might want to consult some ballistic tables also when deciding which weight to use. They can be real eye-openers in terms of showing trajectories and retained energy levels at different ranges.

Don't assume that those figures will be exactly what your loads in your gun will give, but it will give you a good basis for comparing what you can reasonably expect from the different bullet weights.

Hope this helped, I'm sure some others will chime in with their thoughts on the subject.

Edit -
Wow! Nobody else had posted yet when I started typing my reply. Post it and got beat out by not just one, but two! Gotta learn to type faster, I guess. Looks like 150 grain is favored by some. I always assumed that 150 would be a little bit light for caliber, as that is my preferred weght for whitetails with my .280. Ya learn something new every day.



Edited by - .280 freak on 06/16/2002 13:34:20

Edited by - .280 freak on 06/16/2002 13:36:47

Rickstir

For me, my 30-06 loads depend on which deer stand I am using. I have one deep in a brushy hollow, I use 180's from that one. The rest of my stands offer a more open shot, and I load up with 150's. Either one is fine. Just completing the 14th deer stand on the property, and this one will be a 150'er too.

Like in the NFL, defense is the key.

will270win

I'll throw in one more for the 150. If you reload, the Hornady SST is awesome as are the game kings 7mm was talking about.


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4GodandCountry

I have found that barley tends to bring em in pretty good. lol...

When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....

.280 freak

Barley! ROFLMFAO!

Best answer yet, why didn't I think of it?

Shootist3006

You might want to try different weights (150, 165, 180) and see which one you (and your gun) shoot best. The best bullet is one you can shoot most accurately.

I would recommend Winchester Failsafe's or Hornady Light Magnum - I stay away from ANYTHING msde by Federal.

Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis

.280 freak

Shootist 30-06 -

Would you please expound on reasons you would have for avoiding Federal? Have you had some bad luck with them at some time?

My reason for asking is that pretty much all I shoot through my favorite .280 (for whitetails and muleys) are Federal Classics in 150 grain. They are very accurate in my rifle and drop deer out of all proportion to what "paper ballistics" say they should. Very interested to hear your thoughts on the subject.

turbo

I forget where I saw a recent brush test, but according to American Rifleman conducted a brush test awhile back that had excellent results for the -06 as follows;

30-06, 150 grain, Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Mfg by M2, Nominal Velocity (f.p.s.) 2740

So if you hunt in medium to heavy brush, the FMJ, beat out the ;

150 Bronze Tip (BR TP)
150 Win Silver tip (ST)
180 " " " "
180 Fd Premium
180 Win Silve Tip (ST)


308 Cal.
173 Match
150 M80 FMJ
150 Win ST


270 Cal.

130 Win ST


Although any of these these cartridge class I loads, would do the job, the heavier class II bullets with class I loads would kill any good size deer when hit in the chest cavity farely quickly, up to 200 yds.

So in the end acuracy and shot placement are really the determinating factor which makes the succesfull hunt.

Here were I live the whitetails are so small, I hunt them with 6mm 100gr, bullet loads about 1500 ft/lbs at 250 yds, that way their is something left for the table.

Except that now that there is this disease going around I think I'll just do more fishing, no reason to kill healthy deer if, they are going to be needing them to rebuild their numbers in the years to come.

"The great object is that every man.... everyone who is able may have a gun." Patrick Henry

He Dog

I was going to suggest corn, but barley got there first

In various rifles of various calibers, I shoot anywhere from 130 to 180 grain bullets and any will do the job on white tails. for 30-06 I would go with 150 grains for less recoil. I also find Federals the be the brand most of my rifles like best, though I shoot some of Hornady's Light Magnum rounds in a few calibers.

Big Sky Redneck

I wish someone would show me a 180 g bullet that kills on the spot, every dang deer I ever shot with a 180 ran off, shoulder and chest shot. Just run away, find them 2 weeks later. Now wonder I went to a teeny weeny wittle pea shooter, atleast when hit with that worthless dinkly thing, they fall dead in their tracks.

If your shootin average sized eastern deer that wiegh in around 100-150 lbs, that 180 may dissapoint you. I know it has let me down more than once.

homer4

165gr BT. The 150's are excellent too. Deer are thin skinned...accuracy is the key.

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