Options with my Tikka 30-06

[bcolvin]

Hi All,
I am fairly new to hunting and firearms for that matter. I have been hunting for the past 5 or 6 seasons with reasonable success here in Colorado. I have taken some elk, pronghorn, and mule deer with a Tikka forest rifle in 30-06. I typically shoot nosler partitions in 180 grain and have been happy with the performance. I try and keep my shots under 300 yards as I feel the most confident at those yardages.

Recently, I have been wanting to make the switch to copper or mono bullets with hopes of getting away from lead. So far I have not had much success in getting my rifle to shoot well with copper. After reading up, mostly here, my rifle with a 1:11, I believe, will have a hard time stabilizing these longer rounds.

At this point what are my options? My hopes are to keep my Western hunting to a single caliber if possible. I would be up for a different caliber. If so what would be a comparable caliber that would handle copper well? I am newish to shooting and would love to not go crazy on recoil. I spend a fair amount of time at the range but I am sure I could always use more in order to become more tolerant of recoil. Also, could I rebarrell the 30-06 with a faster twist as I don't mind the 30-06 other than the copper issue for my purposes.

Thanks a bunch for any of your insight as I appreciate all of the advice on this forum.

 

[Gorp2007]

What bullets have you tried? I had good luck with the 168 TTSX and would be willing to send you a few for testing.

 

[ShootOkHuntWorse]

Just curious but why are you trying to get away from lead?

 

[bcolvin]

My family primarily eats wild game since I have been hunting. Since I butcher my own animals and I am particular on as many details as I can be I would like to get away from lead. I did not like seeing the images of the kaibab deer gut piles. I am sure others have different concerns about it but I am hoping to see what my options are of avoiding.

 

[bcolvin]

What bullets have you tried? I had good luck with the 168 TTSX and would be willing to send you a few for testing.

That is awesome and kind. I don't mind picking up a box. You have been getting good results with that same barrel setup? Again, I really appreciate the offer and even more the option on the ammo. The bullets I have tried have been the hornady cx in 165 and 180.

 

[Gorp2007]

That is awesome and kind. I don't mind picking up a box. You have been getting good results with that same barrel setup? Again, I really appreciate the offer and even more the option on the ammo. The bullets I have tried have been the hornady cx in 165 and 180.

Yep, factory barrel and had good luck loaded over RL17.

 

[180ls1]

That is awesome and kind. I don't mind picking up a box. You have been getting good results with that same barrel setup? Again, I really appreciate the offer and even more the option on the ammo. The bullets I have tried have been the hornady cx in 165 and 180.

Try the 150's. At 300 yards and in I would completely forget about weight/BC and push that copper as fast as you can.

 

[ReddingArcher]

I'd try something in the 150 grain weight class. Both Hornady and Barnes have 150 grain loads I'd try.

 

[Tmac]

I’ve had a few rifles that did not shoot copper bullets worth a darn until I cleaned them well, including use of a copper rated solvent after use of a regular solvent. I’ve had some rifles that I could not find a copper bullet they shot well. I’ve got a couple rifles that don’t need to be clean and shoot copper bullets very well.

It not about what cartridge will shoot copper bullets well, it’s about finding a rifle that will. Anymore most rifles seem to shoot copper bullets that have a couple relief grooves well. I‘d try a good cleaning and different bullet weights before a new barrel. Stick to the lighter mono bullets, they perform better with speed.

 

[leachguy]

I have a Sako 85 30-06, same barrels as Tikkas. It shoots all Barnes TTSX bullets that I've tried up to 168's well and I have also used Hammer Hunter 160's and Hammer Absolute 151's with excellent accuracy. Bull in my thumbnail pic was taken with the Hammer Hunter 160 last season.

 

[LeftyWilbury]

i'll definitely second the good cleaning before embarking on testing out copper bullets. clean down to bare steel. and then it's just finding something your rifle shoots well.

my 30-06 1:10 savage loved 180 gr barnes. i'd aim for lighter. you want faster speeds not heavier bullets for copper to perform. sig 150 grain copper HT shot well out of a friend's marlin X7 30-06. i shoot 139/140 gr barnes out of my 7 mag. 130 gr barnes out of my 308. takes some time shooting to figure out what's going to work.

 

[z987k]

Hi All,
I am fairly new to hunting and firearms for that matter. I have been hunting for the past 5 or 6 seasons with reasonable success here in Colorado. I have taken some elk, pronghorn, and mule deer with a Tikka forest rifle in 30-06. I typically shoot nosler partitions in 180 grain and have been happy with the performance. I try and keep my shots under 300 yards as I feel the most confident at those yardages.

Recently, I have been wanting to make the switch to copper or mono bullets with hopes of getting away from lead. So far I have not had much success in getting my rifle to shoot well with copper. After reading up, mostly here, my rifle with a 1:11, I believe, will have a hard time stabilizing these longer rounds.

At this point what are my options? My hopes are to keep my Western hunting to a single caliber if possible. I would be up for a different caliber. If so what would be a comparable caliber that would handle copper well? I am newish to shooting and would love to not go crazy on recoil. I spend a fair amount of time at the range but I am sure I could always use more in order to become more tolerant of recoil. Also, could I rebarrell the 30-06 with a faster twist as I don't mind the 30-06 other than the copper issue for my purposes.

Thanks a bunch for any of your insight as I appreciate all of the advice on this forum.

The Barnes 175LRX stabilizes in a 1:11, even here at sea level. And not just, shoots fine on paper, but for real stabilizes per the math. I'm pretty sure they factory load that.
It's what's loaded up for my tikka in 30-06 right now.

If you hand load check out the 175 terminal shock from DRT, the 150 BD-2 from Badlands or the 153gr afterburner from Apex. All of them good in a 1:11.

The best for copper is a custom barrel that is twisted real fast and that you have custom throated to seat the bullet out real long. To do that in a tikka magazine, you need to have a short action cartridge but with the long action bolt stop and long action magazine. Basically the short magnums. 6.5,7&30 Saum, 6.5PRC, 6.8W, 284win, 6.5-284, 270,7&30wsm. Tikkas were basically built for this, at least as donor actions.

But if you don't want to spend money and don't hand load, see if you can find the 175LRX in 30-06, you can hunt everything in NA with that at some pretty good distances.

 

[180ls1]

I have a Sako 85 30-06, same barrels as Tikkas. It shoots all Barnes TTSX bullets that I've tried up to 168's well and I have also used Hammer Hunter 160's and Hammer Absolute 151's with excellent accuracy. Bull in my thumbnail pic was taken with the Hammer Hunter 160 last season.

Have you hunted with the absolutes? Were they that much more tricky to load than the hunters?

 

[leachguy]

I haven't hunted with them. I wasn't able to squeeze out much more velocity than the 160 in my gun with the powders I had, so I just stuck with the 160.

 

[DKennedy951]

Another vote for the Barnes TTSX in 168gr. I didn't care for the results of the 150s, but the 168s shot very well.

 

[Andouille]

1:11 twist is a non-issue for 30-06 shooting mono bullets because you'll want to stick to lighter bullets to get maximum expansion as others indicated above. 165-168 gr mono bullets, and maybe even the 175 LRX are your sweet spot to maintain ~2200 fps or greater at ranges up to about 400 yds. 150 gr and lighter have a noticeable BC reduction that would be detrimental at ranges >300 yds with any wind. I was getting an impressive ~2,820 FPS and ~1" 3-round group with factory loaded LRX and my 22" barrel, and the LRX reputedly opens at a lower velocity than the TTSX (I've read 1,800 fps min, call it 2,000 to be safe).

I hunted with my X-bolt 30-06 last year and determined my maximum distances of 400 yds for 168 TTSX and 300 yds for 180gr TTSX based on calculated downrange velocity. I only shot 180's because I have a stash from the last couple years when I couldn't find 168s. The greater expansion of a lighter vs. heavier mono bullet makes up for the potentially reduced downrange energy (depends on distance). If I was to buy factory ammo today for a factory length 30-06 barrel, I'd go with the 175 LRX which are readily available online for $45-50/box.

Check out the "Frontline Rejects" youtube channel for 100-500 yd expansion tests for mono bullets out of a 30-06, I believe they tested TTSX and maybe CX bullets.

 

[black dawg]

300 and in, 130 barnes is impressive

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Where in CO are you? Do you reload or just factory ammo?

 

[01Foreman400]

I shoot 130 gr. Barnes TTSX out of mine for whitetails.

 

[bcolvin]

Guys, this is awesome. This gives me a great place to put my efforts. I will get that barrel all cleaned out and pick up a box of the Barnes TTSX in 168. I live in Steamboat, which is pretty fantastic for the outdoors.

I started out as entirely a fly fisherman. My fishing buddy, who is much more well rounded than myself, had his hunting partner move away. At that point he told me I was his new hunting partner... although I never owned a rifle or shot one for that matter. Now, the fly rods collect dust in the fall and I hunt much more than my buddy.

My next steps are to learn to reload, as this seems like the best way to get the most of a rifle and ammo. I really like the idea of those hammer bullets. Once I get that box of ammo in, I will post an update. Again, thanks.