150 gr. .30-06 Underperformance?

Your track record appears to be in good order, why change bullets? This year I'm hunting deer with my 30-06 accompanied with 125 grain Nosler Accubond. I'm most confident that they will kill a big buck, if I find one.
Best of luck this season my friend. I’m sure it will perform great for you. If you don’t mind me asking what range do you anticipate your shots to be in? Long open field shots or clearings in brush type?
 
Best of luck this season my friend. I’m sure it will perform great for you. If you don’t mind me asking what range do you anticipate your shots to be in? Long open field shots or clearings in brush type?
All of my big game rifles are set on bullseye, at 300 yards; with the exception of my side-by-side double rifle. Alberta has a diverse landscape, from the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains, therefore; I'm set to kill from 25 to 350 yards, point blank, regardless of terrain. Best of luck to you as well.
 
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All of my big game rifles are set on bullseye, at 300 yards; with the exception of my side-by-side double rifle. Alberta has a diverse landscape, from the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains, therefore; I'm set to kill from 25 to 350 yards, point blank, regardless of terrain. Best of luck to you as well.
Right on. I’m from Alberta myself, I certainly understand what you mean. Thank you.
 
I took my last years mule buck at only 168 yards. Clean shot just below the shoulder. Couldn’t find an exit wound on the shot. While skinning, the round fell out and onto the floor. It was sandwiched just between the meat and the hide. I have used those 150 grains on many whitetail and muley and have never seen that before. Nice older buck. I would post a picture of the lead but can’t figure out how haha.

The 150 shook my faith a bit. Should I go for a heavier grain this season? Typical range shots in my area are 2-300 yards + for game.

If the deer survived, I’d be concerned. It sounds like your load performed perfectly. Exits are just wasted energy and potential work most of the time.

Sending a good chunk of the energy you paid for in powder and recoil out the other side into a tree doesn’t strike me as ideal anymore.
 
If the deer survived, I’d be concerned. It sounds like your load performed perfectly. Exits are just wasted energy and potential work most of the time.

Sending a good chunk of the energy you paid for in powder and recoil out the other side into a tree doesn’t strike me as ideal anymore.
This is a great comment. Thanks you!
 
Skin has a hell of high tensile strength apparently, and the action of lifting and separating it from the silver skin seems to absorb a lot of energy, and it catches many a bullet on the far side.

That’s quite typical of fast loads and malleable bullets that dump a lot of energy through the center of the animal. I wouldn’t be at all concerned with that load on deer out to your maximum ethical shot.
 
I took my last years mule buck at only 168 yards. Clean shot just below the shoulder. Couldn’t find an exit wound on the shot. While skinning, the round fell out and onto the floor. It was sandwiched just between the meat and the hide. I have used those 150 grains on many whitetail and muley and have never seen that before. Nice older buck. I would post a picture of the lead but can’t figure out how haha.

The 150 shook my faith a bit. Should I go for a heavier grain this season? Typical range shots in my area are 2-300 yards + for game.
The deer was dead when shot. All of the power was released inside, none wasted in a pass through.

I don’t see a problem!
 
Skin has a hell of high tensile strength apparently, and the action of lifting and separating it from the silver skin seems to absorb a lot of energy, and it catches many a bullet on the far side.

That’s quite typical of fast loads and malleable bullets that dump a lot of energy through the center of the animal. I wouldn’t be at all concerned with that load on deer out to your maximum ethical shot.
This is an excellent comment. Thank you for your feedback!
 
Nothing Wrong with using a 150 gr in a 30-06 for killing Deer .and Elk Moose too ! HELL ! the 270 Winny guys have being killing deer and bigger animals such as elk and moose with 130 grers for a 100 years now . Because it’s MORE about shot PLACEMENT than bullets and calibers ! Probably 1000 s of deer shot and killed with one shot every year from a 243 100 grer ! RJ
 
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If the deer survived, I’d be concerned. It sounds like your load performed perfectly. Exits are just wasted energy and potential work most of the time.

Sending a good chunk of the energy you paid for in powder and recoil out the other side into a tree doesn’t strike me as ideal anymore.
Who knew you'd want the bullet to dump its energy in the animal ;)
 
I did a bunch of load development for a friend who only uses a 30-06 for all his hunting. Originally I used 150 gr Nosler BT's, which were amazingly accurate from a Win 70 Ranger. Right around 3000 fps if memory serves. Worked quite well on boiler room shots, but he hit a mule deer in the spine, and it got back up. So I switched to Barnes X, the original. Once those were no longer available I used the triple band version. Accuracy was not as good as the Noslers, but still under MOA, and he's killed everything he's shot at with them. - dan
 
Nothing Wrong with using a 150 gr in a 30-06 for killing Deer .and Elk Moose too ! HELL ! the 270 Winny guys have being killing deer and bigger animals such as elk and moose with 130 grers for a 100 years now . Because it’s MORE about shot PLACEMENT than bullets and calibers ! Probably 1000 s of deer shot and killed with one shot every year from a 243 100 grer ! RJ
You’re spot on! thank you for commenting. Lol yes you are right, I can personally attest to the viability of both the .243 and .270. That really puts it into perspective. Thanks again.
 
I thought we had
I did a bunch of load development for a friend who only uses a 30-06 for all his hunting. Originally I used 150 gr Nosler BT's, which were amazingly accurate from a Win 70 Ranger. Right around 3000 fps if memory serves. Worked quite well on boiler room shots, but he hit a mule deer in the spine, and it got back up. So I switched to Barnes X, the original. Once those were no longer available I used the triple band version. Accuracy was not as good as the Noslers, but still under MOA, and he's killed everything he's shot at with them. - dan
I’ve shot a lot of game with 150 TSX’s in the 30-06. Zero problems. It’s a fantastic combination.
 
Skin has a hell of high tensile strength apparently, and the action of lifting and separating it from the silver skin seems to absorb a lot of energy, and it catches many a bullet on the far side.

That’s quite typical of fast loads and malleable bullets that dump a lot of energy through the center of the animal. I wouldn’t be at all concerned with that load on deer out to your maximum ethical shot.
This is excellent thank you! Until the feedback explaining this phenomenon, I have never once considered it. I didn’t know the skin and internal hide were so elastic.
Thank you very much for the education!
 
I did a bunch of load development for a friend who only uses a 30-06 for all his hunting. Originally I used 150 gr Nosler BT's, which were amazingly accurate from a Win 70 Ranger. Right around 3000 fps if memory serves. Worked quite well on boiler room shots, but he hit a mule deer in the spine, and it got back up. So I switched to Barnes X, the original. Once those were no longer available I used the triple band version. Accuracy was not as good as the Noslers, but still under MOA, and he's killed everything he's shot at with them. - dan
That’s really interesting, I really want to play around with my own load developments I should hav gotten into it a long time ago!
 
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