30-06 Field Work

[jmm]

I just got back from a culling trip with my '06. This year the theme is 165ish grain bullets. I shot 8 deer with the Hornady 165 grain Interlock and 168 grain Combined Technologies Ballistic Tip.

1. Hornady. 8 point buck with undesirable antler growth. Large bodied deer. 95 yard shot. Entered just behind the shoulder and exited just behind opposite shoulder. Ran 30 yards.

2. Hornady. Mature doe. 130 yards. Entered behind shoulder and exited behind shoulder. Ran 150 yards.

3. Hornady. Yearling doe. 110 yards. Entered front shoulder and exited behind the shoulder. Ran 100 yards on 3 legs.

4. CTBT. Yearling doe. 125 yards. Entered behind shoulder and exited opposite shoulder. DRT.

5. CTBT. Mature doe. 150 yards. Entered behind shoulder and exited behind shoulder. Ran 25 yards.

6. CTBT. Mature doe. 225 yards. Entered shoulder and exited behind shoulder. Ran 10 yards.

7. CTBT. Mature doe. 250 yards. Hit a little far back, entered rear lungs, destroyed liver and exited. Ran straight down hill 50 yards and expired.

8. Hornady. Young, large buck with undesirable horns. Quartering away at 175 yards, entered near back rib and exited in front of opposite shoulder. Ran 100 yards before expiring. This was by far the most disappointing shot. I had it lined up where I thought the bullet path would do the most damage and was expecting a DRT.

All 8 deer died, so I think most would say the bullets did their job. I was disappointed in the Hornady bullets. They appeared to be "too hard" with little hydraulic or hydrostatic shock. The deer seemed to be less impacted and ran further. The largest deer had the best bullet performance. While they killed every deer, I am used to better performance. The CTBT did their job. There was noticeable more effect from the bullet and the terminal performance was better. I am putting the Hornadys up for the year. I have plenty of other bullets that are proven performers.

 

[Guy Miner]

Good report, thanks! The 165/168 bullets are my favorite for the 30-06 and deer sized game. I'm a huge fan of the 165 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, which I believe is identical to the 165 CTBT except for the black coating.

Accurate. Fast opening, yet that thick base retains a lot of mass for good penetration. You just shot about 6-8 years worth of deer compared to me. :grin:

The Hornady Interlock has a good reputation, but I have to admit, I haven't used many of them.

Thanks! Guy

 

[SJB358]

Great report, thank you for sharing the results..

 

[6mm Remington]

Great report. 165 gr. Accubonds and Partitions are all I have ever used in my 30-06. That bullet weight for the 30-06 seems to be a winner.

 

[Gunner46]

Waaaayyyy back in my day I used Hornady interlocks exclusively, because Nosler only had 2 offerings. It was a Partion, or a Solid, period. (seriously showing my age here) At that point in my life I could not convince my new wife I 'Had" to have the Noslers at the price point. Just wasn't worth the fight, nor the lack of ensuing night time festivities. Still, I managed a couple of noteworthy hunts. But, the Hornady just never did what I was expecting, although I never lost an animal I took a shot at.

THEN the Nosler Solid Base came to market and my world changed. Next came the Ballistic Tip, and then the AccuBond. That started what, 30 yrs ago?

I've never used anything since and never looked back.

 

[jmm]

Update:

I just finished culling for a ranch in West Texas. For this trip I took the 150 grain Sierra Pro Hunter backed by 52.1 grains of IMR 4064 and 110 grain Barnes TTSX over 53.0 grains of RL 10X. The results are as follows:

1. Sierra. Large spike with 10" horns at 135 yards. Slight quarter to me. Entered in front of the shoulder and exited behind opposite shoulder. DRT.

2. Sierra. Large spike at 115 yards. Broadside. Entered behind shoulder and exited behind opposite shoulder. Ran 50 yards.

3. Barnes. Yearling doe at 250 yards. Quartering away. Bullet entered last rib and exited the opposite shoulder. DRT.

4. Barnes. Mature doe at 200 yards. Broadside. Entered shoulder and exited behind opposite shoulder. DRT.

5. Barnes. Mature doe at 125 yards. Broadside. Entered behind shoulder and exited behind opposite shoulder. Ran 100 yards.

6. Barnes. Mature doe at 165 yards. Entered behind shoulder and exited behind opposite shoulder. Ran 10 yards.

7. Sierra. Large mature 6 point. 90 yards quartering to me. Entered just in front of shoulder and penetrated to the rear intestines. Bullet did not exit. Bowed up and ran 50 yards.

8. Sierra. Mature doe. Below me down a hill at 80 yards. Entered just beside top spine and exited behind shoulder. DRT.

These bullets have worked well for me before and performed perfectly again.

 

[SJB358]

Great update. Thank you.

 

[Billyram]

I tried the 150gr AB for deer and they worked fine but not any better than the 165gr BT. I'm going back to the 165gr BT. I can't find H-4350 and don't like the the new IMR-4350 so I found a good substitute. I have gotten just as good accuracy with Vihtavuori N-550 with a bit more velocity. I verified that today with .534" and .595" 5 shot groups under not so good shooting conditions. Back in May. 1st I'm showing right at 1/2" and under groups @ 2887 fps. This powder is easy to clean and I don't see any copper fouling. I've just had too good of luck with the 165gr. BT in my 30-06 to change. I know when I put a 165gr BT in a deer's rib cage there's going to be meat on the ground.
Billy

 

[jmm]

Final cull hunt of the year:

1. 180 grain Partition at 135 yards. Entered behind shoulder and exited behind opposite shoulder. Doe ran 150 yards. Very small exit hole. My only explanation is that it was a pretty small doe and it did not provide much resistance.

2. 150 grain Winchester Power Point. 3050 fps. 75 yards. Entered behind shoulder and exited behind opposite shoulder. Doe ran 100 yards with great blood trail. Smallish exit hole.

3. 150 grain Winchester Power Point at 150 yards. Entered behind shoulder and exited behind opposite shoulder. Doe ran 150 yards with very little blood trail.

4. 150 grain Swift Scirocco at 130 yards. 3009 fps. Quartering away. Entered behind shoulder and exited in front of opposite shoulder. Golf ball sized exit and doe went 10 yards hemorrhaging blood.

20 deer culled for the season with 06. To recap, the 110 grain Barnes, 168 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips and 150 grain Sciroccos worked perfectly. The Hornadys and Winchesters killed, but not as efficiently as the others.

 

[SJB358]

Final cull hunt of the year:

1. 180 grain Partition at 135 yards. Entered behind shoulder and exited behind opposite shoulder. Doe ran 150 yards. Very small exit hole. My only explanation is that it was a pretty small doe and it did not provide much resistance.

2. 150 grain Winchester Power Point. 3050 fps. 75 yards. Entered behind shoulder and exited behind opposite shoulder. Doe ran 100 yards with great blood trail. Smallish exit hole.

3. 150 grain Winchester Power Point at 150 yards. Entered behind shoulder and exited behind opposite shoulder. Doe ran 150 yards with very little blood trail.

4. 150 grain Swift Scirocco at 130 yards. 3009 fps. Quartering away. Entered behind shoulder and exited in front of opposite shoulder. Golf ball sized exit and doe went 10 yards hemorrhaging blood.

20 deer culled for the season with 06. To recap, the 110 grain Barnes, 168 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips and 150 grain Sciroccos worked perfectly. The Hornadys and Winchesters killed, but not as efficiently as the others.

Great report. Big fan of the Scirocco here as well. Opens up like a devil but blows thru like a boat propeller.

 

[gerry]

Great data here, thanks for posting your results.

 

[jmm]

Time for a 2018 update. So far this season, I have culled 20 doe/crappy horn bucks. All with the 30-06.

The first 15 were with the 150 grain Scirocco backed by 59.0 grains of H4350. I get 3009 fps out of my barrel. Only 1 deer took a step. Rest were DRT.

Next 5 were with Combined Technologies 150 grain(NBT) backed by 60.0 grains of H4350. I get 2996 fps from this load. All were DRT. Only 1 bullet recovered. Broke both shoulders of a large doe. Recovered bullet weighed 100 grains. It was in the far side skin and almost broke thru the skin.

 

[truck driver]

Great work and good bullet info.
My primary bullet for the 30-06 has always been the Hornady 165gr innerlock flat base and have had only one travel more then 10 yards and that was because I hit a twig that caused the bullet to tumble and never opened up. that bullet travel 3/4 the length of a big doe bouncing around inside here deflecting off ribs and ended up in a rear hind quarter on the same side the bullet entered the front shoulder.
My load has been 58grs of IMR 4350 until this year when I switched to R17 since I had ran out of IMR 4350 and had 4# of R17 on hand.
165gr PT 58.5 grs running 2885fps out of a 22" barrel.
I had also ran out of 165gr Hornady SPFB.
Had to use a drop tube to keep from compressing the charge but it shoots as good or better then my IMR load.

 

[Palouser]

Great report! I used to use a 100 gr BTSP out of a 243 and thought it was too tough of a bullet for deer. I shot several deer with it that were perfect lung shots; I could always tell I hit them because they buckled, but most ran 50-150 yards. I don't think the bullet opened up fast enough for instantaneous kills. All were dead with one shot so its hard to argue with that. I have since switched to 130 ballistic tips out of a 270 and have had better results. Great post.

 

[Brinky72]

I’m surprised by your results with the Hornady 165’s. I always had good luck with them and they never ran far. A lot of DRT’s with ballistic tips though. Favorite for deer were Speer 150gr. Mag Tips. Good bear bullet too.

 

[salmonchaser]

Outstanding report


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jmm]

i use the 06 for everything. Just got back from Africa doing a cull trip for a wildlife conservancy. Shot a lot of gemsbok, hartebeest, wildebeest, zebras, impala and warthogs. Terrible drought there. My operating instructions were to kill everything that had ribs or hip bones showing. Used Swift bullets exclusively. Started off with the 180 grain Scirocco and it killed everything. Most shots were 250 to 350 yards due to lack of foliage and terrible conditions that were not allowing close stalks. It was a challenge shooting off the sticks with gusting desert winds. I was not getting complete penetration at that distance with the Scirocco on the bigger animals and switched to the 180 grain A-frame. It killed better, had 100% penetrations and I finished up the trip using it exclusively. No trophies were taken and all of the meat was given to locals. The A-frame is a very good bullet. I have no issues with culling a buffalo, giraffe or other large game.

 

[lhsako]

Waaaayyyy back in my day I used Hornady interlocks exclusively, because Nosler only had 2 offerings. It was a Partion, or a Solid, period. (seriously showing my age here) At that point in my life I could not convince my new wife I 'Had" to have the Noslers at the price point. Just wasn't worth the fight, nor the lack of ensuing night time festivities. Still, I managed a couple of noteworthy hunts. But, the Hornady just never did what I was expecting, although I never lost an animal I took a shot at.

THEN the Nosler Solid Base came to market and my world changed. Next came the Ballistic Tip, and then the AccuBond. That started what, 30 yrs ago?

I've never used anything since and never looked back.

I hear you Gramps...lol. the interlock 140 in the .270 and 165 in the '06 killed MANY whitetails and a few mule deer. I took my first bull elk at timberline in WY with a .270 w/ 150 Barnes original. found the heel of the jacket under the hide on the exit side. No X bullets then.....I now return to the present

 

[boomer68]

Definitely impressed with the 165 BT in my '06. Going to be my deer bullet from now on.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

 

[lhsako]

Definitely impressed with the 165 BT in my '06. Going to be my deer bullet from now on.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

Absolutely! Enjoy the venison.