Your Favorite big game bullet

[stinger 327]

Stinger 327...Remington Core-Lokt rifle bullets are what everone who manufactures bullets are striving to attain. Core-lokts are the "holy Grail" or "bench mark" and have been sense they first appeared. They are just plain hard to beat in any weight...If you load them and get good accuracy. Absolutely...Go for it.

This is what I was using in 220 grain and did get some bullseyes. I also got some bullseye with the 150 grain but I had to change the sight adjustment quite a bit.
Now here is a good deal I can get Federal 30.06 in 150 and 180 grain in boxes of 20 for $16.00 per box.
I do like the Remington as they have a wide variety of different weights and are reasonably priced.

 

[stinger 327]

That depends on your rifle. One remington 700 bdl will like 180 gr bullets, another will shoot better with 150 gr bullets. The only way to know is to buy a box of each and go shoot it. If you don't have a 1 in 10 twist barrel, I'd stay away from anything over 180 grains as your barrel will have difficulty stabilizing the bullet.

I have a Beretta Tika 3 Light.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

This is what I was using in 220 grain and did get some bullseyes.

Bullseyes don't mean squat if they don't group well. For load development, stop worrying about bullseyes and see what ammo gets you the best groups. Out of that Tika, 1 1/2" at 100 yds shouldn't be difficult, assuming you do your part.

 

[Legionnaire]

Well, thus far my big game hunting has been limited to deer, and to date, Remington Core-Lokts have been more than adequate in the rifle areas I hunt. But I've just started reloading, so I expect that I'll eventually choose something else as I work on improving the accuracy of my hunting rifles.

 

[stinger 327]

Bullseyes don't mean squat if they don't group well. For load development, stop worrying about bullseyes and see what ammo gets you the best groups. Out of that Tika, 1 1/2" at 100 yds shouldn't be difficult, assuming you do your part.

Yes I have been getting groupings consistently. There is no erratic pattern at 100 yards with 220 grains.

 

[stinger 327]

Well, thus far my big game hunting has been limited to deer, and to date, Remington Core-Lokts have been more than adequate in the rifle areas I hunt. But I've just started reloading, so I expect that I'll eventually choose something else as I work on improving the accuracy of my hunting rifles.

Remington Core-Lokts seem to be very popular and available everywhere. I don't know if Walmart sells them though I thought I saw them there before. These Core-Lokts are available in all different weights too.

 

[Art Eatman]

I guess it was somewhere in the late '60s that I went to loading Sierras. 150-grain SPs, both flat-base and boat-tail, for my '06. 85-grain HPBTs for my .243. Generally sub-MOA on the bench. Very much mostly, DRT in the field on Bambi.

 

[stinger 327]

It sounds to me most people here prefer the 150 to 168 grain 30.06 bullets to shoot.

 

[waffentomas]

Tough to limit the choices to just a handful.

I picked Barnes because it's what I used to use, with great success.

Now, I'm hoarding Winchester Fail Safes (Not CT). Similar to Barnes in a way. I like that the petals will break off on occasion allowing the core to penetrate deeply. Not that it needed it a few years ago when I shot a bear and the 180gr .308 Fail Safe penetrated almost 4 FEET!

I also load them in my 7mm mag., that my son uses.

Deadly bullet.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Sierra Gameking's have always provided excellent results for me.

In handguns, heavy-for-caliber Hornady XTP's are my choice for game gettin'.

 

[usmc1371]

I picked partition, I have killed alot of mule deer and elk with this bullet in 180 grain from both 30-06 and 300wm. Maybe not the 'best" bullet but I have used it so much that I know what to expect from it and that counts for quite a bit to me.

I tried the accubond last year but the test was kind of skewd, shot 2 mule deer and a coyote with 265 grain accubonds out of my 375 HnH. I don't think it would have matterd what bullet I was using. All three just fell over, well the coyote kind of fell all over but he didn't move.

 

[stinger 327]

Remington Corelokt is the best priced.

 

[waffentomas]

A Coyote with a .375 HH? Dude, that bullet is still going!!

Semper Fi

0311/8541

Tom

 

[stinger 327]

Stinger 327...Remington Core-Lokt rifle bullets are what everone who manufactures bullets are striving to attain. Core-lokts are the "holy Grail" or "bench mark" and have been sense they first appeared. They are just plain hard to beat in any weight...If you load them and get good accuracy. Absolutely...Go for it.

How long has this Corelok been around?

 

[Art Eatman]

The Remington website sez "over six decades" of production for Core-Lokt.

 

[stinger 327]

The Remington website sez "over six decades" of production for Core-Lokt.

Well that's good. It has a long history just like the tried and true 30.06. It can be all that bad.

 

[tehweej]

+1 on the Fail-Safes. Taken 2 elk and many deer with the 150gr out of my '06. Shoots MOA-ish (not sure if under or over, but right in there)

 

[Six-Gun]

After seeing effective the 140 gr. pill was out of my 7mm-08, the Nosler AccuBond gets my vote. In 6 days, I took 8 game animals and several varmints and none of them stood a chance after getting hit by these things. When I got home the only two recovered bullets from my kudu were perfect mushrooms that retained an identical 75% of their original weight. I'll take that every time.

 

[stinger 327]

+1 on the Fail-Safes. Taken 2 elk and many deer with the 150gr out of my '06. Shoots MOA-ish (not sure if under or over, but right in there)

What can you take with 150 grain 30.06 and 165 grain 30.06? I'm sure the range on these two are further in distance than the heavier ones.
I tried the 125, 150, 165, 180 and 220 grain and I just can't tell the difference in recoil.

 

[Art Eatman]

150-grain '06 is plenty good for way-out-yonder deer, and does quite well on big mulies. My father always loaded to GI specs with 150-grain Hornady Spire Points, and has made 500-yard kills in front of witnesses.

His high year was 32 tagged bucks. Not all his tags, but all his kills. Those whiskey-drinkers and poker-players had something to take home and show Momma. He got invited to bunches of hunt camps on account of his "helpfulness".

 

[stinger 327]

150-grain '06 is plenty good for way-out-yonder deer, and does quite well on big mulies. My father always loaded to GI specs with 150-grain Hornady Spire Points, and has made 500-yard kills in front of witnesses.

His high year was 32 tagged bucks. Not all his tags, but all his kills. Those whiskey-drinkers and poker-players had something to take home and show Momma. He got invited to bunches of hunt camps on account of his "helpfulness".

So 150 grain in 30.06 is the military standard? Then what's the AVERAGE effective range of this 150 grain bullet vs. a 165 and 220 grain 30.06
(500 yards seems pretty far unless you are an expert or have top of the line equipment)?

 

[ojibweindian]

I use a 150 grain Core-Lokt in a 7mm Remington Magnum. So far, complete penetration and quick kills. I usually see a fairly good sized exit wound in the deer I've shot.

 

[Art Eatman]

Stinger, in the sixty years since I started messing with the '06, I never worried about anything beyond hitting my target, from somewhere between 20 or 30 yards on out to "wherever", which in my case was one kill at 450. Mostly, Dame Fortune offered me the very-common 100- to 200-yard shot. Bang-plop. Fun's over; work starts.

You get right down to it, I don't really know what "average effective range" means.

All I know is that were I going after elk, I'd go with a 180-grain bullet in the belief that it would give better penetration than the 150--and even that is from consideration that I might not get my favorite shot on the neck, or a cross-body shot into the heart-lung area. Odds are that I'd likely limit myself to around 300 yards on general principles. I've never been an elk hunter, so my notions are on the conservative side for ethics and clean kill and all that.

All that really matters in this beyond-300-yard stuff is the difficulty of assessing the range closely enough to not get a bad hit, and assessing the wind as well, for that same bad-hit problem. The bullet doesn't care. Into the neck or into the heart/lungs, Bambi's a goner. Bullet weight, SFAIK, is right at being the least important part of the whole deal.

 

[stinger 327]

Stinger, in the sixty years since I started messing with the '06, I never worried about anything beyond hitting my target, from somewhere between 20 or 30 yards on out to "wherever", which in my case was one kill at 450. Mostly, Dame Fortune offered me the very-common 100- to 200-yard shot. Bang-plop. Fun's over; work starts.

You get right down to it, I don't really know what "average effective range" means.

All I know is that were I going after elk, I'd go with a 180-grain bullet in the belief that it would give better penetration than the 150--and even that is from consideration that I might not get my favorite shot on the neck, or a cross-body shot into the heart-lung area. Odds are that I'd likely limit myself to around 300 yards on general principles. I've never been an elk hunter, so my notions are on the conservative side for ethics and clean kill and all that.

All that really matters in this beyond-300-yard stuff is the difficulty of assessing the range closely enough to not get a bad hit, and assessing the wind as well, for that same bad-hit problem. The bullet doesn't care. Into the neck or into the heart/lungs, Bambi's a goner. Bullet weight, SFAIK, is right at being the least important part of the whole deal.

So what did the US government criteria and what did they use and why as there are so many offerings in grain for this 30.06 caliber?

 

[ants]

For about 40 years, nearly all my deer/elk were taken with CoreLokt and Win PowerPoint.
Simply because that was readily available in small town America.
And both those bullets happen to work great.
Not one loss due to the bullet's inability to perform.





Here's my term paper on "Effective Range":

I would bet that 95% of all hunters possess good but limited skill.
Probably every bullet made, from 6mm to .338, will easily outperform the skills of 95% of all hunters.
The effective range of the bullet probably far exceeds your own 'range'.
But a bad shot is easily blamed on the bullet and/or gun.​

That's my term paper on the subject.