Hornady 220 gr Round Nose bullet in the 30-06 actual hunting experience?

Most folks have never witnessed the devastation a 30 cal, 200-220 grain bullet will do when shot from a 30-06 Springfield chambered rifle.

Slow, heavy for caliber, bullets kill very quickly when they're placed well.

Back in the day, hunters understood the value of a heavy bullet when it came to breaking and penetrating big, heavy bones, or just knocking them down.

Folks shooting Black Powder rifles don't need to be convinced, and neither do folks shooting large bore rifles.

Most folks today are velocity fanatics, and especially with monolithic bullets, it also works well.

My stash of 220 grain round nose, .308 diameter is just about depleted. I doubt I will look for or need more.

The thing is, if you have these bullets, don't be shy about using them, they may be old school tech, but they still work very well.

In good strong, rifles, there is no reason they can't be loaded to 60,000 psi and increase velocities by appx 100 fps from a 24 in bbl.

I have a 98 Mauser, with a 24 inch bbl, sighted in for 220 Hornady RN bullets. It shoots them at 2670 fps, with a load you'll likely never find in any load manuals, and its recoil is definitely noticeable, but you just can't ignore the results on a big game animal out to 300yds.

Like the OP, I sight it in 3 inches high at 100 yds, and it's pretty much zeroed at 200 yds, and about 9 inches low at 300yds.
 
bearhunter said:
Most folks have never witnessed the devastation a 30 cal, 200-220 grain bullet will do when shot from a 30-06 Springfield chambered rifle.

Slow, heavy for caliber, bullets kill very quickly when they're placed well.

Back in the day, hunters understood the value of a heavy bullet when it came to breaking and penetrating big, heavy bones, or just knocking them down.

Folks shooting Black Powder rifles don't need to be convinced, and neither do folks shooting large bore rifles.

Most folks today are velocity fanatics, and especially with monolithic bullets, it also works well.

My stash of 220 grain round nose, .308 diameter is just about depleted. I doubt I will look for or need more.

The thing is, if you have these bullets, don't be shy about using them, they may be old school tech, but they still work very well.

In good strong, rifles, there is no reason they can't be loaded to 60,000 psi and increase velocities by appx 100 fps from a 24 in bbl.

I have a 98 Mauser, with a 24 inch bbl, sighted in for 220 Hornady RN bullets. It shoots them at 2670 fps, with a load you'll likely never find in any load manuals, and its recoil is definitely noticeable, but you just can't ignore the results on a big game animal out to 300yds.

Like the OP, I sight it in 3 inches high at 100 yds, and it's pretty much zeroed at 200 yds, and about 9 inches low at 300yds.
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That is the reason the 286gn bullets out of the 9.3x62 does so well on all those points, great penetration, great knockdown ability, very little meat lost.
 
DGY said:
I’ve used them in 8-06 got a small black bear did really well!
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Same here. Have used them in the 8x57 at 2540fps. Good bullet. 70+% weight retention.

Also have used them in a 30-06 M70 alaskan with a 25" barrel. IMR 4350. 2670 fps with 3/4" was the norm. Never did shoot game with that rifle though. I've heard good reports from a couple guys that had first hand experience with them in 300 win's.
 
SuperCub said:
Anyone ever use the Speer 200gr 30cal. Hot Core?

I always thought that might be a good bullet in a 30/06 for larger game.
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I’ve shot them into FIR wood and they didn’t penetrate well and ripped apart -there a Cheaply made bullet
The Gran Slam is MUCH better . JMO
 
SuperCub said:
Anyone ever use the Speer 200gr 30cal. Hot Core?

I always thought that might be a good bullet in a 30/06 for larger game.
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It's an excellent bullet for cartridges such as the 30-06.

I still have a couple of boxes of 50 Speer Hot Core 200 grain, Hot Core, fbspt bullets on the shelf.

They were intended for magnum cartridges, such as the 300 H&H, and developed for African and Alaskan hunting requirements.

They can easily be loaded to 2800fps, safely, for use in a strong action.

They hold together, and even after breaking large shoulder bones will often penetrate all the way through, or if they hit the opposing shoulder joint, break it as well. or get stuck in it.

I shot a Mule Deer buck with one of those bullets at appx 225 yds. It smashed both shoulders and exited the far side.

I remember that kill because of the damage to the meat on the far shoulder. There was hardly any damage, other than bits of bone and some bits of the bullet. The buck was expired by the time I got to it.

It fell down instantly, but thrashed around for a bit, and lodged itself under a dead tree, which it blended with almost perfectly.

I thought I had lost it, but there was blood splattered all over the ground in a line, leading to the deadfall.
 
SuperCub said:
Anyone ever use the Speer 200gr 30cal. Hot Core?

I always thought that might be a good bullet in a 30/06 for larger game.
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I've used them and seen them used on game, many times, deer and bears, for moose I tend to use a bonded bullets, traditionally Partitions. They work perfectly on game. For baited bears with a .308 or .30-06, I still prefer the 220 RN... add distances over 100 yards and I would switch that up to the 200 HC. In almost every caliber and every weight, the HC has an "almost" identical POI as the Partition, which helps with budget friendly load development and scope zeroing... at least it works for all of the combos I have tried. Just be sure to confirm POI with the Partitions before hunting.
 
hoytcanon said:
I've used them and seen them used on game, many times, deer and bears, for moose I tend to use a bonded bullets, traditionally Partitions. They work perfectly on game. For baited bears with a .308 or .30-06, I still prefer the 220 RN... add distances over 100 yards and I would switch that up to the 200 HC. In almost every caliber and every weight, the HC has an "almost" identical POI as the Partition, which helps with budget friendly load development and scope zeroing... at least it works for all of the combos I have tried. Just be sure to confirm POI with the Partitions before hunting.
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P.S - I have used the 180 HC's in my 7.62X57 rifles for a few years now and they have cleanly killed everything I put them through, a couple whitetail bucks, several big bears and then a couple moose with the 180 Partitions, one of the moose at 350 yards. This is the rifle and bullet combo I carry most when just perambulating with a couple tags in my pocket.
 
remington jim said:
remington jim said:
I’ve shot them into FIR wood and they didn’t penetrate well and ripped apart -there a Cheaply made bullet
The Gran Slam is MUCH better . JMO
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They're old tech RJ, what you witnessed is what they were designed to do. I replied with my field experience with those bullets, but you can't compare them to Nosler partitions for penetration. I know you didn't do that.
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I've never been able to recover one from an animal I've shot with one. So they hold together well enough.

They were designed long before "H" mantle style bullets came out. They aren't as tough, but there aren't a lot of circumstances where it won't do the job well.
 
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