30-06 bullet weight

Neo said:
168 grain TSX has been my go-to bullet in the '06 for a mighty long time. I've never had one fail to open up properly out to 400 yards and that's a hard range limit for me when it comes to shooting things that live and breathe.
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Same, 168 ttsx bullets loaded with 57.0 grs of IMR 4350 has been my 3006 recipe for almost 20 years. Performed very well for me so long as I do my part!
 
I always used Sierra 180gr Pro Hunter in my '06 and to be honest I never shot a moose with them but they worked fine on paper. They are now discontinued for some reason but a few years ago I found a dealer who had 500 on the shelf so I said send them to me and now in my aging years I have a life time supply. However my son bought a 300WSM and we used some to work up loads for it. He wanted to use a premium bullet so we bought some 180 gr Partition PP's. Using the Sierra recipe there was very little difference on paper with the Partitions. we twigged it a bit but no real difference was achieved. So I loaded up some of the Partitions using my Sierra recipe for my '06 and again they matched the Sierra groups. So as of yet I have not tried them on a moose but my son has put down two bulls with the WSM. Maybe someday it will happen for me but if it doesn't then when I am gone he can take the '06 (700 BDL) out for old time sake with some old ammo and try it on a moose with his WSM as backup.
 
As a couple of other posters have mentioned the "sweet spot" for any rifle will vary for a number of reasons, a key one being barrel twist rate and the type of bullet you are using.

In general a 1 in 10 twist in a 3006 rifle should make a 165 to 180 grain bullet perform well - or if the bullet is made of copper a slightly lighter bullet.

My 3006's all like 180 grain cup and core style bullets, your friend should try a box or two of the weights in the ranges discussed and see what shoots best in his rifle.
 
I've always found in the 30-06 the 165 SGKBT work the absolute best for accuracy with a factory load. A very close 2nd are the Winchester 168 Ballistic Silvertips. If I use a 180 it's in the 300WSM.
 
Quote from Suther>>>>>I'm surprised there is not more love for the classic 180gr. I don't hunt with a 30-06 but 3 of my hunting buddies do, and they all use 180gr. I feel like 180gr is a bit heavy for 308win, but 30-06 is a big enough case to push the 180gr fast enough for my liking.<<<<<ENDQUOTE

Perhaps I read too much Bob Hagel back in my youth, but other than the 220 gr. [thanks Elmer], that is the weight I mostly use in my various & sundry "Aught-Six" chambered rifles. Those old-school Cup & Core bullets, like the R-P 180 gr. PSPCL & SPCL-RN, as well as Hornady's 180 gr. SP-IL & RNSP-IL, are all I use in them. I save the 165's for use in my .308 W.C.F. rifles, while the new-fangled Barnes & Nosler mono-bullets feed my .308 Norma Magnum.
 
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In many ways, I am probably similar in what I do as jamesharrison in Post #27 - 180's for 30-06, 165 grain for 308 Win and 200 grain or better for 308 Norma Mag or 300 H&H. No doubt I would use 200 grain in 300 Win Mag - there are several boxes of Woodleigh Weldcore PP SN here - labeled "300 Win Mag. .308" 200 gr." but I have never fired a 300 Win Mag - yet! I just built one, though, on a Zastava action using an unfired Zastava 300 Win Mag barrel that I got from the previously mentioned jamesharrison.
 
Longstud said:
I would pay more attention to what shoots the best out of the gun. The weight suggested by Struff is my preference as well in the 06.
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big game accuracy if you could put 3 shots in a 3 " circle at 100yds then you are good to go accuracy with a non hunting bullet is of no use
besides accubonds will shoot know matter what calibre
 
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Potashminer said:
In many ways, I am probably similar in what I do as jamesharrison in Post #27 - 180's for 30-06, 165 grain for 308 Win and 200 grain or better for 308 Norma Mag or 300 H&H. No doubt I would use 200 grain in 300 Win Mag - there are several boxes of Woodleigh Weldcore PP SN here - labeled "300 Win Mag. .308" 200 gr." but I have never fired a 300 Win Mag - yet! I just built one, though, on a Zastava action using an unfired Zastava 300 Win Mag barrel that I got from the previously mentioned jamesharrison.
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The 180 weldcore's/ 200 partitions are what I use in my .300 magnum as well, 180 speer grand slam's in my 06 and 160 grand slams in my 7 magnum (all T3x's)
 
My freinds Tikka doesn't like heavy bullets due to the 1:11 twist.
My 06 likes 165 or 168 best as it's a 1:10 but isn't bad with 150s or 180s.
Typically faster twists will shoot heavier bullets better but as others have mentioned, it really depends on the rifle.
 
I tried to get my Sako 85 to shoot high quality 180s. It was okay but the 165s are much more accurate. I blame it on the 1:11 twist as well but there may be a combo that will work.

On a side note, another 85 in 308 shoots the 150s more accurately than 165s but with a fairly small sample size. I want to shoot 150s in it so I only tried a few heavier.

Cheap factory Hornady Custom or American Whitetail shoot excellent in both Sakos

I have/had a few Remingtons in 06 and always shot 180s extremely well. The cheap Federal Power-shok blue box were as far as I ever looked for factory ammunition.

Thinking the grass was greener, my son tried numerous premium factory offerings in his 700 06 but ended up back with 180 Federal blue box or Fusion shooting equally well, many hundreds of dollars later.
 
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Suther said:
Man I'm surprised there is not more love for the classic 180gr. I don't hunt with a 30-06 but 3 of my hunting buddies do, and they all use 180gr.
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That's too olde skool FUDD for anyone but the boomers. :)

My 30-06 moose load is 180gr Speer GSs. Now all I need is a moose tag.
 
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For many years, my Dad used 150 grain for deer and 180 grain for anything bigger - always the cheapest shells he could find to buy - so what he intended, did not always work out to plan. At the end, he was using 165 grain for everything - although his rifle was most definitely "Fudd" - a P17 that he "sporterized" in 1948 - but I suppose that was a big step up from the 38-40 and 44-40 that he used to use, prior to that 30-06 - he passed on in 2011 - he still used that same 30-06 rifle, though - but I had installed a scope on it some years earlier - Dad said he could no longer see the iron sights that he had made for it.
 
When I was a kid everybody knew that you used 150s on deer and 180s on moose and elk. By the time I was. my teens the 165 for everything idea was getting some traction, Now at retirement age and you don’t even want to know how many animals with the 30-06 I’m not convinced that they didn’t have it right in the first place.
In the spirit of being wishy washy; about all the Superformance you can get in the case under a 165 for 3180 fps is sort of further confusing the issue. Maybe it’s not really a 30-06 anymore. 26” barrel tbough.
 
Eagleye said:
I have a Remington 700 "Classic" chambered in 30-06. It shoots both the 165 grain Accubond and the 180
grain Partition equally well, so I shoot the 165 most often, but will switch if I am hunting where I might
have to dissuade a Big bear from eating me. :)
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That is exactly why my father switched to 180s 40+ years ago. I grew up hunting on the barrens and it always made sense to me to use the 180gr Partition, just in case.
 
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