30-06 Bullets for Deer and maybe a Moose

horseman2 said:
There are not many .30-06's that won't shoot a 180 grain bullet. Buying three boxes of factory ammo and testing them for accuracy is cheap insurance. Buying the best ammo for your hunting application is better.
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His gun has only ever shot 180gr and shoots it reasonably well for a hunting rifle with a 1.5-4x scope on it and never really shot from a bench, the pile of deer he has dropped makes up for that.

We will not be buying piles of factory ammo, sort of against the purpose of this operation, it is an early 1980s Remington 7600 that he bought new, just going to build up some solid hunting rounds.

He is not a guy that goes out and shoots a pile before the season but I hope having 100rds floating around will push him to take more than a few shots, although he needs no practice with the gun at this point, more so making sure nothing has happened to the scope and being confident in the shot.
 
Very, very hard to go wrong with a 180 Partition. This bullet will open, even in a relatively small deer, but will
usually get to the far side of a moose on a broadside shot.
Of all the Partitions I have shot at game, I have recovered about 20%, the rest have exited. No animal I have
shot with a Partition has escaped wounded, either. But that is more a matter of placement, of course. D
Picture of recovered Partitions. Since taken, I have 3 more. The three at the bottom are bonded bullets,
Right to left: an accubond, the arrows point to a Scirocco and the now obsolete Blue Point from Ontario.
j7muI6U.png
 
Just put a 100gr Partition through a meat WT buck this am from my .250-3000 Rem 700 Classic.Double lung with an exit hole.Harold
 
Eagleye said:
Very, very hard to go wrong with a 180 Partition. This bullet will open, even in a relatively small deer, but will
usually get to the far side of a moose on a broadside shot.
Of all the Partitions I have shot at game, I have recovered about 20%, the rest have exited. No animal I have
shot with a Partition has escaped wounded, either. But that is more a matter of placement, of course. D
Picture of recovered Partitions. Since taken, I have 3 more. The three at the bottom are bonded bullets,
Right to left: an accubond, the arrows point to a Scirocco and the now obsolete Blue Point from Ontario.
j7muI6U.png
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Well I have never recovered a Barnes X bullet as they all exited leaving a very good blood trail or dropped the animal immediately. The deer and moose I have taken with Barnes bullets also had large exit holes.
 
horseman2 said:
There are not many .30-06's that won't shoot a 180 grain bullet. Buying three boxes of factory ammo and testing them for accuracy is cheap insurance. Buying the best ammo for your hunting application is better.

A number of years ago, a man fired one shot with his 300 Winchester Magnum at 100 yards. I spotted for him and said he missed the target. He had to walk to the 100 yard line and check for himself. He fired a second shot, and it was one inch high. I then asked if he was going to shoot at 200 yards, and was informed, "This is the 300 Winchester Magnum, the flattest shooting gun ever. It is one inch high at 100, 1 inch high at 200 and dead on at 300. Last year I shot a deer in the head at 500 yards. I held on the tip of the nose, raised up to the top of his head, and fired".



Love the trajectory of the 300 Win Mag....so easy to sight in for long to short range. Just a minor adjustment in aiming from 50 to 300 yards.
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I found two in mule deer one shot length ways [Texas heart shot] found in the brisket. Running dead away at 100 yards ,I broke his tail.......instant kill.The other buck it failed to expand broadside except for a bent nose tumbled on impact and could be reloaded again.This was the early stage development of the x bullet and after a lengthy conversation with Randy Barnes he admitted they were having problems with the copper hardness.Many years ago.Harold
 
I have in my possession two Barnes TTSX bullets that failed to expand. One is a 338, 250 grainer, and the other a 30-06, 168 grainer.
Animals had to be shot again to anchor. Bullets were found sideways in the animals with little or no expansion. See pic.
Has made me slightly shy, although the 3 animals I have shot with the TTSX all died quickly with no bullet recovery. [passthroughs] D.
hmADgyn.jpg
 
I think it is settled, the Partition will open up just fine on a white tail, that was my main concern. For "Plinking" ammo I notice that the SST has almost the same BC as the Partition, may be worth loading up some of those, the tip itself will be a visual indicator of what is loaded, better than a standard soft point in that respect. He could use the SST on deer but it would keep him from bringing those up north on a moose hunt, if he ever goes.
 
I saw a Dall Sheep shot at 300 yards with the TTSX out of a 30-06. Went through the ribs and the exit hole looked exactly like the entry hole. No doubt the velocity dropped off and the bullet did not expand. Sheep are not tough and didn't go far.
 
Eagleye said:
I have in my possession two Barnes TTSX bullets that failed to expand. One is a 338, 250 grainer, and the other a 30-06, 168 grainer.
Animals had to be shot again to anchor. Bullets were found sideways in the animals with little or no expansion. See pic.
Has made me slightly shy, although the 3 animals I have shot with the TTSX all died quickly with no bullet recovery. [passthroughs] D.
hmADgyn.jpg
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I know a few guys that have had the same thing with Barnes bullets. Needless to say I won’t ever use them on anything I want to die where it’s been shot.
 
I'm a big believer in the 180gr Partition in the 30-06. In fact I just used it to drop a little whitetail buck last weekend. Sure, it's more bullet than you need for that job, but you\ll never go wrong with more bullet than you need, should a poor angle present itself.
 
I've shot a lot of game with the Partition. When they really pay off in when you make a marginal shot. I had a big whitetail buck stop behind a fallen tree. It was almost dark and I was above him. I tried to aim for above the log and still get high in the ribs. Anyway it ended up being pretty well a gut shot. He only went about 100 yards.
 
mbogo3 said:
I found two in mule deer one shot length ways [Texas heart shot] found in the brisket. Running dead away at 100 yards ,I broke his tail.......instant kill.The other buck it failed to expand broadside except for a bent nose tumbled on impact and could be reloaded again.This was the early stage development of the x bullet and after a lengthy conversation with Randy Barnes he admitted they were having problor my Sakoems with the copper hardness.Many years ago.Harold
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Well I will not argue you as you have experienced an issue with these bullets. All I can say is I have not and they were exceptionally accurate from My Sako...Have taken deer and dropped moose dead in their tracks. Like I said though.....a Moose is easier to drop when hit than a deer...
 
165 grain Sierra BT's have served me very well on deer and moose. I'd love to show some pics of recovered bullets, but these pills always seem to exit.
 
Ontariooutdoorsman; Most moose and deer are shot withing 100 yards in Ontario and 150 gr 30-30 will do the trick no problem. [/QUOTE said:
The distance you quote for shooting moose may be correct if you are hunting beaver ponds but not if you are hunting big lake areas. Since I began hunting the latter areas my shots have gone as high as 450 yards. Have seen moose at even greater distances but they have always been beyond distances that I am prepared to shoot.

While I don't hunt them I imagine anyone hunting clear cuts might very well be shooting well in excess of 100 yards.

Be very careful when you start talking in absolutes.

Jim
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Ontario moose.

Closest - 10 feet. On a trail, trotting towards me.

Farthest - 425 yards across a clear cut. My partner got it with a 308 with open sights. Hit twice through the lungs. 180 gr soft point. Bullets did not expand at all. Moose dropped within 25 feet. (I don't think it really "dropped". We were so far away it did not notice us. I think it laid down to think about the pain in the gut, and just bled out before we got to it.)
 
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