30cal bullet

[Rangerpants]

I'm of the opinion that deer don't require heavy bullets. I shoot 130 gr. TTSX bullets out of a .308 and have had consistent results on blacktails, mule deer, and pigs.

 

[voyageurpursuits]

I'm of the opinion that deer don't require heavy bullets. I shoot 130 gr. TTSX bullets out of a .308 and have had consistent results on blacktails, mule deer, and pigs.

Agree here. All this discussion is basically moot on whitetails at 200 yards and under. If you just want dead deer, and don't care about lead, there's no reason to handload 30-06 as any of the $15-20/box off the shelf stuff works fine.

However, I've moved to using nonlead for all my hunting (for various reasons, most importantly less meat loss, and not least importantly - future proofing against hunting in any states that ban lead bullets). The 130gr TTSX is deadly in a 30-06, and hits 3000fps with a mild charge.

IMO if you're bothering to handload for 30-06 it you might as well go non-lead.

 

[Crotalus]

150gr Nosler ballistic tip with H4350 is my go to for whitetail in the 30.06

 

[TNCAN]

Agree with the 150gr advice for expansion. If reloading, I like Sierra, and if retail, take the advice from an earlier post and find some Core-Lokt. Great stuff.

 

[Jpterry]

So many choices of factory ammo for 30/06, just find the weight of bullet your rifle shoots best and hunt. Whitetail are not hard to kill and any of the bullets mentioned above work fine. If you like more DRT then go with fast expansion like SST or BT. If you like assurance of two holes in deer then go with TTSX or ABs.