There's not a thing wrong with the two loads you've mentioned. I found a definite preference to 180gr Core-Lokts with a new M70 Featherweight in '06 I bought several months ago that gave sub MOA with that load. I have nothing against Remington ammo and have used it in a LOT of rifles over the years. However, my newest '06 (another M70 FW) will be fed Federal Fusions and also (if needed) Hornady Whitetail ammo (using interlock bullets) initially. I have had very good luck with Fusion ammo in other calibers and the price of both these loads is generally a tad less than Remington stuff.

Usually no rhyme or reason as to what a rifle will take a liking to, so pick up something that is known to be of decent quality and is also decently priced and give it a go. Good luck and congrats on that fine new rifle!

 

Congrats on the new piece! It's hard to beat the remington core lokt at the price point. Prior to my reloading days that is what I shot thru my fathers 30-06.

I liked velocity back then (later I recognized the benefits of heavy for caliber bullets) and shot the 150 gr version. Overall very good performance but did in one case have a poor hit (my fault) that destroyed one hindquarter.

Anyways, I would recommend the 165 or 180 gr version which will hold together better and fly just as flat (better BC with longer bullet).

 

Gentleman,
Thanks for your replies!



Thank you and yes, I am pretty excited about it!

So is it that the lighter bullet expands quicker and that causes it to do more damage, and the heavier bullet gets through the deer before it expands too much?

I am trying to understand this aspect of the whole thing....

 

Welcome to the forum, Twohawks ! You don't have to worry about the 30-06's knock down power, it will have plenty of energy when the bullet arrives if it's a 150gr, 165gr, or 180gr. It's a great round and you made a great choice. As Tnhunter stated I've shot the Hornady American Whitetail in my 25-06 that is loaded with the 117gr Interlock SPBT. Also, I've shot the Hornady Custom loaded with the 117gr Interlock SPBT ( Spire Point Boat Tail ), they were both sub-moa shooters and the American Whitetail version was $9/box less. If you want more of a guarantee that the bullet will hold together and retain it's weight which will aid in penetration, then I would get a bullet that is well bonded and tough. Hornady Interbond, Nosler Accubond, Remington Core-Lokts Ultra Bonded, all three tough bonded bullets. Then there's the new monolithic bullets ( lead free, no core, copper bullets ). This ammo is higher in price, but if a heavier boned/muscled animal is on the list such as Elk, Moose, or Bear, these bullets will penetrate like no other while basically retaining all of their weight. They will lose the polymer tips and on occasion I've heard of a petal breaking off, but in general will keep their weight better than anything out there. The Nosler Partition is a old bullet but a good one, and tough, can't go wrong there either, also one of the best bullets I've used on deer with minimal damage and complete pass throughs is the Winchester Supreme XP3 line, 95%+ weight retention and a very tough, accurate, bullet. Personally I like to have two different loads that shoot well in a gun, one lighter and one heavier depending on what I'm doing. In your case a 150gr load and a 180gr load is what I would do, it's not needed, that's just me. Best to ya !


Forgot to list the monolithic bullets I was talking about. Barnes has the TSX, TTSX, and LRX ( long range ). Hornady has the GMX and Nosler makes the E-Tip. The Nosler E-Tip is loaded in Winchester Ammunition and also in Federal Vital Shock called Trophy Copper.

 

Bullet construction is a big part of it. The 180s tend to have somewhat thicker jackets, and are intended for use on heavier game where more penetration is needed, and with larger bones that are of course harder to break. This will result in less meat damage.

The other side of it is, in my experience, lung-shot "runners" MAY go a little further, but they will expire. I've shot deer in the lungs with heavy LBT hardcast and heavier jacketed rifle bullets, and they did seem to run just a bit further, maybe on the order of 20 yards or so, but I haven't lost one.

Of course, the difference when contact is made in the shoulders is tremendous. The entrance wound tends to have far less jellied meat, and I usually am able to break one if not both shoulders, depending on angle. And if the angle is severe, I am more assured of reaching a shoulder with the heavier, more stoutly constructed bullet.

My inclination would be, in .30-06, to start looking for a good bullet in the 165 grain weight and go from there.

My personal favorite for my .308 is the 165 Sierra HPBT at just under 2700 fps MV, and that bullet has worked very good in '06s at 2800 fps MV.

There are others that work just as good or better terminally, but the accuracy of this bullet in my .308 is outstanding.

 

The other side of it is, in my experience, lung-shot "runners" MAY go a little further, but they will expire.

Newton would have been proud of that one, as a running deer tends to stay in motion, no matter where they are shot, or what you shoot them with , until they run out of blood.

Seriously, having shot whitetails with the .30-06 using 150/165/180gr bullets, most 150's are pretty fragile on the close shots, 25-50yds, and the 180's seem pretty tough out past 250yds. The 165's seem to be a good balance, but in heavy cover the 180's might have the edge. Over time, I stopped using 150's entirely. If you want a single bullet for everything, deer, bear, elk, etc. few would argue much with the choice of the 180gr SP.

But there is no law you can't stock all three, and decide for yourself.

As to brand, I do buy and use factory ammo for control purposes. I have a mix of rifles, and some shoot anything, a couple are picky. I have had good results with Federal, Remington, and Winchester. I don't recall truly lousy results with any of them.

 

Always thought the Hornady Light Magnmum 180 gr's work best in my old 1939 mfg'd M70. 'Course, the rate of twist will have a lot to do with bullet choice. Your rifle should have a 1:10, which will stabilize the 150 - 180 gr bullets best.

 

Another vote for Hornady Custom BTSP 150gr., one of few factory loads I'd even consider.

 

Hit that deer in the same spot that you aimed for while bow hunting, low and behind the shoulder.
No meat destroyed and that critter won't go far.
Jim

 

Welcome to the forum. I don't shoot factory ammo anymore, but I have loaded Remington core lokts for a 308,30-06, 30-30 & 243. If your rifle likes them use them. Have take several hogs with the 308 with 180 gr CL and with the 06.
Also some good info from others here so your going to have to try different loads to see how your rifle groups with them.
Myself I like at least a 165gr in my 30-06 and seems to be a real good medium in weight for deer size game.

 

I've always used Federal or Remington soft point factory ammo. Usually 165gr. and occasionally 180gr., They are cheapest most of the time and I have never had a problem or failed to take what ever I was after using them for the last 40 yrs.

 

Shoot with a fellow range member quite often who likes to hunt Texas whitetail, and other game. Matter of fact, hunts big game in Africa about every year and is there right now.
Asked him one time, whats your preferred brand/type of bullet for deer? Remington core-lokts was his answer without hesitation.

 

way back in the day, (man am i getting old!) the 180gr round nose in remington core lokt were the best thing for deer. after i started handloading(i am getting old) the 150gr round nose hornady was the bomb for the '06(30-30 and 308 win). under 200 yards those 180's and 150's were devasting.

you can shoot behind the shoulder to save a little bit of meat, or shoot one shoulder out(both if you can handle it) and lose more meat. i always try to take one shoulder out, its usually only hambuger anyway.

 

Trade it for a 260 or 7-08 and never look back, not sure why people in the east buy elk rifles to shoot little deer and expect not to have excessive meat damage.

 

I can only attest to the Remington core-lokt since it's the only factory rounds ever fired in my 30-06. I think I put 2 boxes through the rifle before I had dies to handload with. I recall distincly that it was plenty accurate enough. Powerwise, ALL factory ammo I've ever shot has been loaded hot(!) and the Remington core-lokt was no exception.

 

Welcome twohawks, nice to see you post.

The Remington 150 gr Remington core lokt is about perfect for the '06 for whitetail deer. Heavier bullets really don't expand in normal whitetail. remember whitetail deer are only large animals in our best dreams. they are very easy to kill.

the only bad bullet for the 30-06 for deer is one that is two heavy. Many people shoot 165 or 180 grain bullets, lots of long blood trails; they just don't expand in that short travel through a deer's chest.

Accuracy is more important than bullet, and the 150 is a very accurate bullet and recoils less making for more accurate shooting for most hunters.

 

You don't mention where you're from or what critters you'll be hunting. If it's deer, of one species or another, and they aren't all that big in your locale, then HarryS just gave you some excellent advice.

Deer are not hard to kill; all you have to do is put a decent bullet in the right place. The four things you need from a bullet are listed below, in descending order of importance.

Accuracy
Penetration
Expansion
Energy

If you put a bullet where it needs to go, which is to say behind the shoulder and NOT in the parts you want to eat, all you need is for that bullet to penetrate, expand and have enough energy to leave an exit wound. I have seen 180gr bullets from an '06 pencil right through a small blacktail deer and then watched that deer walk off, very sick, but not dead for at least a minute or two. There was no blood trail to speak of, but it was in the open when shot and since it didn't run, dropped within sight. I have also seen lighter bullets hit where they should, expand and exit, resulting in very short (and easy to follow) blood trails.

The two biggest things are:

1) Shoot behind the shoulder, where the only meat you'll lose is the stringy rib meat.

2) Pick a bullet that is very accurate from your rifle.

 

Broom got what us gun nuts missed in your OP Without meat damage. "1) Shoot behind the shoulder, where the only meat you'll lose is the stringy rib meat."

there is no usable meat if you shoot to take out the heart or the top of the heart and both lungs. They will go for 2 minuts at the most with massive blood loss death. AND there is no usable meat ( I do eat the heart and the liver, but I'm just a crazy organ man (with gout).

 

There is a book by Bob Forker called Ammo and Ballistics which lists the ballistic data for an amazing amount of factory ammo including results for Taylor KO index. It is probably the answer to folks who are trying to decide where to start between factory ammo offerings. There are over 120 specific factory loadings listed for the 30-06 alone.

 

we should start this as an ok for '06 loads. from groundhogs to grizzlies, we do it all!!!

 

meat damage vs retrieving deer




2hawks,

I will take a Heart or D-Lung shot morning and afternoons, BUT 30 mins from dark, I'll shoot high shoulder to anchor the deer DRT so I don't have to track one in the dark! I really don't loose that much meat (i.e. the off shoulder).

That being said, Your least expensive option for minimal meat damage wherever shot, would be to use the Rem round nose soft points instead of the pointed bullet you have. They come in both a 180 gr and 220 gr for a 30-06.

 

I normally don't chime in on anything 30-06 related but this ammunition would probably minimize meat damage on whitetails as good as anything. Light well made bullet at low velocity=smaller than normal 30-06 damage on pint sized deer. Also these should be very pleasant to shoot in your CDL, low recoil and somewhat quieter. Read the reviews.

Remington Managed-Recoil Ammo 30-06 Springfield 125 Grain Core-Lokt

 

Yep, that's another good way to keep meat damage to a minimum, while still being a perfectly lethal option, at medium ranges. I load essentially the same thing using H4895 and 125gr Ballistic Tip bullets at around 2,600fps.

The 250 Savage is a cartridge that has fallen out of favor, somewhat, but it delivered a 117gr bullet at around 2,650fps and the 6.8 SPC shoots a 120gr bullet at 2,450. Both of those are known to be perfectly effective on deer-sized critters. Sometimes less is still plenty.

 

'06 Load

Good old Federal Mag Shok in the blue box. Cheap, accurate, and I get a ton of meat from my deer.

 

Good old Federal Mag Shok in the blue box. Cheap, accurate, and I get a ton of meat from my deer.

I usually expect to get about 1/3 the live weight of a deer in boned out meat. I've taken numerous deer in Pennsylvania and have yet to get a ton of meat from one..

I've killed them with both the 150 grain Winchester Power Point and the Remington 150 Core-Lokt - both work fine and are generally less expensive than the premium bullets. I've a;so used 165 grain and 180 grain bullets on Pennsylvania deer and they also worked well. The 165 grain Federal Premium were slightly more accurate in my M70. Through the shoulders more meat is lost than through the ribs or neck.

The least meat damage was invariably on those shot with an arrow with a broad-head .

 

In our experience (my dad, me, and my uncle with .30-06 and .308 with 150gr PSP as well as 180gr Core-Lokts SP and PSP), we seemed to have better experiences with 180gr in both cartridges. The 180gr bullet is slower, heavier, and seems to be more heavily made. With the 150gr, from the .30-06 especially, the bullets seemed to cause more meat damage on average. Never had a problem losing a deer with the 180gr SP, either. Never had a pencil hole through. We pretty much always take boiler room or front shoulder shots and we don't lose a lot of meat from the ribs anyway.

As someone else mentioned, with my .260 using 140gr Core-Lokts... just as deadly as the .30-06 on whitetails with even less meat damage.

 

Some of the very little factory ammo I've used for hunting was Remington, and it worked fine. Good luck....

 

I use the Rem Managed recoil '06 125 grain load for kids during the first year or so hunting with dad/uncle's gun. But based upon 5 deer hit, they do not exit; they kill buy limited blood on the off side.

Unless there is a recoil problem the straingt 125 is a better deer load, still not as good as the 150 gr Cor-lokt.

 

I agree ! We tried the Managed Recoil 308 Win load for a friends dad who in his 80's is recoil sensitive now, it's the same 125gr bullet and the point of impact when the gun was zeroed at 100 yards was so drastically different at 200 yards we hardly even hit he target. The shots that did hit the target were all over it and anywhere from 8-12 inches different from where they hit at 100 yards. It was/is by far the worst ammo I've ever shot in a rifle, we wouldn't even dare try to hunt with it cause the shots could have been up to about 225 yards. 3 different people shot the rifle and we went back and forth from hitting the bulls eye at 100 yards then missing the target completely at 200 yards. The Core-Lokt bullet in the managed recoil line is not the same standard core-lokt, Remington had to engineer an entirely new bullet for the line of ammo.

 

The year I used 150 gr. Corelocts the bullet broke apart on the first deer (simple reason- I was only 50 yards away, maybe less --- the deer had run right up to me -- and it was a quartering shot --- still dead). The next two were through the lungs at better distance, through and through shots with the deer travelling at most 20 more yards. So, as another poster said, put the bullet where you'd put the arrow and you'll be fine. Just about any projectile through the lungs of a Whitetail should do the job.