Your favorite factory 180 gr .30-06 load

[Slick13]

Will be hunting bear on private property this coming Monday. Had planned on using my reloads with 165 gr. Game Kings for bear and deer this fall. Talking today with the friend I'll be hunting with, he said the people who own the property we'll be hunting have been seeing bear regularly, in the 150 to 300 lb range. The 165s should be absolutely fine for that size. They also said there's one that they believe is over 500 lbs. I doubt it's that big, but who knows. Now, I'm thinking "If I run into a 500 pound bear, I want a heavier bullet!" Will be stopping at the local Gander Mountain this evening. I doubt they'll have 180 gr. bullets on hand, so I'm going to pick up a box of factory ammo. Anyone have any advice on which to go with? I see Federal has several loads with Barnes and Nosler bullets.

Thanks,

~Michael

[dr walker]

I have never used the premium bullet loads in .30-06. The only factory load I have used is Remington 180gr. Cor-lokt. I have taken maybe 5 deer with it and would have no reservation about using it on Black Bear. I understand it is not extensive experience, but that load penetrated the full length of a 165# (field dressed weight) deer and blew a fist sized chunk out its back door. The internal damage was extensive.

[tman]

+1 for the rem corelocks. either 150 or 180 grs. should take anything in north america. you can pay more, you can go biggere, but dead is dead. good luck on the hunt

[gunslinger598]

FWIW ... way back when I bought my 30.06 after several years of being "gunless" I was shooting the Rem. 180 they did fine.

Some time went by & I decided it was time to reload.

I settled on 165 gr. Hornady' s ( I can't recall exactly which one now) I had read it was potentially the most accurate bullet available for 30 cal. (remember at the time I was just starting to reload.) actually I still have some of those loads from 16 years ago. They shoot excellent.

What I'm working up to here is that On a deer hunt I did more damage with that 165 gr. than the factory load seemed to have done in 4 deer I had previously killed.

[Lastmohecken]

My favorite factory load is the Winchester Slivertip. It has always worked well for me, under all conditions. I don't like the 180gr Remington Corelock, because I have had it fail to open up, on deer, and this has happened several times to me and a couple of relatives. I won't use any more. I think it is designed for heavier game then deer, maybe the 150gr loading will work better for deer.

I witnessed my Cousin shoot a nice buck with the 180gr corelock, range about 200yds, and the bullet passed lengthwise through the deer, and ended up in the hind quarter, breaking a leg bone. It was retrieved and I swear it could have been loaded again and shot. It never opened up at all.

I also shot a buck broadside, and thought I had missed, I killed in on second shot, with a neck shot, because that is all I could see. The first shot left no evidence of an entrance wound or exit wound, and I couldn't even tell until I skinned it out, and found the tiny pencil wound, a clear pass through. I guess it did make the deer sick, though, which gave me time to get in the neck shot.

[CEMENTHEAD]

Federal Premium 180 grain Nosler Partition, # P3006F, regular velocity, not the High Energy stuff, no need for it. I've seen moose to mice fall to it, great load, if I could only have one. Thanks, Tom

[Slick13]

Federal Premium 180 grain Nosler Partition, # P3006F, regular velocity, not the High Energy stuff, no need for it. I've seen moose to mice fall to it, great load, if I could only have one. Thanks, Tom

I left for town before any of these posts were made, so I didn't have the chance to read anyone's opinion beforehand. The above load is what I decided to go with, and was in stock, at $50 a box! 180 gr. Suprisingly 180 gr. Nosler Partitions were also in stock, at $50 a box! 20 loaded cartridges for $50, or 50 bullets for $50? I went with the bullets, and figured I can load up some ammo tonight, test it Saturday and Sunday, make any adjustments needed to my scope, and be ready for Monday.

Thanks,

~Michael

[AndyM]

$50 Bucks for a box of 20 loaded shells!!! Boy, am I ever glad I reload my own...

I also seen very good results with the Rem 180 Corelocks for whitetails. My dad shoots these and usually gets his deer. I would not hesitate to use them on deer or blackbears. Me - I have become a fan of Hornady Interlocks for my standard (non-premium) bullets

[Doc Hudson]

I don't have a .30-'06, for some reason the cartridge has just never interested me. But I have a friend who is a dedicated deer hunter and a .30-'06 Fanatic. He is also, unfortunately, totally opposed to handloads, he saw a few blowups attributed to handloads. Since the 1950's he has used one and only one factory load, the Remington 180 grain Core-Loktd. Since Moose has taken over 100 deer with that load, it must be a pretty darned good one.

[Modoc ED]

Remington Express 180gr Core-Lokt

[Adobe Walls]

Howdy

I can't argue with 180 Partitions OR 180 RN Corelokts for any size black bear. WOW! $50.00 a box for Federal Premiums with Partitions! I guess that all those that I bought on closeout a few years ago for $7.00 a box were a real good investment!AW

[new pig hunter]

out here in Kali, due to the no-lead ammo requirement, I use Federal Vital Shok with the 180-gr Barnes TSX bullet for all my pig hunting adventures.

Cheers,

Carl

[Pisgah]

I've had very good luck through the years with the Remington Corelokt 180 gr. load. I have two rifles that love them -- an ironsighted 1939-vintage Mauser sporter that will shoot them into under 2" at 100 yards, and a 1952 Remington 721 that is a MOA rifle with either the 150 or 180 gr. loads. Super premium loads may do some things better, but the accuracy is there, the price is right, and the bullet performance has never given me any nasty surprises.

[Jaguarundi]

Boar,Deer and Moose under 200 yards Remington Corelokt 180 gr. load are the deadliest Mushroom in the woods !

[Mike D.]

I don't know, I've never used factory ammo. I do have a box of 200 grain Remington RNs around here that came from a garage sale, though. Never fired any of 'em, maybe never will.

[Old Savage]

Probably 180 gr Win PP for what you are talking about.

[Slick13]

Scrambeled yesterday and today getting a load together, making three trips to the range. Fed Brass, Fed Match LR Primer, 54 gr. H4350 and 180 gr. Nosler. May not be the best load for the rifle, and may be a little on the hot side, but looks good enough (shooting into roughly an inch at 100 yards). Now my buddy calls me and tells me that the guy who owns the property we are planning on hunting on tomorrow went out today looking for signs of bear and couldn't find any (after they've been hanging around his house for months). We've had some heavy snow the past few days (got about a foot Thursday night into Friday morning), and there's still a lot of snow on the ground. I've seen lots of deer tracks behind my hosue, I assume the cold and snow has got them moving. Would snow have the opposite effect on black bear, and they'd hunker down?

Thanks,

~Michael

[Slick13]

Scrambeled yesterday and today getting a load together, making three trips to the range. Fed Brass, Fed Match LR Primer, 54 gr. H4350 and 180 gr. Nosler. May not be the best load for the rifle, and may be a little on the hot side, but looks good enough (shooting into roughly an inch at 100 yards). Now my buddy calls me and tells me that the guy who owns the property we are planning on hunting on tomorrow went out today looking for signs of bear and couldn't find any (after they've been hanging around his house for months). We've had some heavy snow the past few days (got about a foot Thursday night into Friday morning), and there's still a lot of snow on the ground. I've seen lots of deer tracks behind my hosue, I assume the cold and snow has got them moving. Would snow have the opposite effect on black bear, and they'd hunker down?

Thanks,

~Michael

Looks like I had no reason to worry about the snow. My buddy and I tracked three bear in the morning, but they crossed the main highway near where we were hunting, and went into posted property. Found the tracks of another bear that came near the shanty/blind we were using while we were out tracking the other bear. Spent the after noon sitting in the shanty staying out the rain hoping something would wander into the field we were sitting along the edge of. Just after 4 as we're sitting there BSing, my buddy jumps up, grabs his rifle, and busts out the door the shanty. "What the hell is he doing now?" Then I saw the bear come cruising outta the woods to the left of us. He shot, and I knew he hit it, but I wasn't sure were. It didn't slow down a lick. Went down into a swale and we couldn't see it. By now I was out of the shanty ready to shoot if need be. It came into view 75 yards away, and did a 180 and looked like it was trying to bite it's butt. My thought was my buddy hit in the rear somewhere. He and I both shot just as the bear dropped where it did it's turn. I thought I was dead on on the middle of it's chest when I pulled the trigger and that it was going to be mangled from three hits, but it looks like we both missed on those last two shot. We think both of those shots went over it as it dropped. His first shot hit the bear, on the run, at about 60 yards, went in low right behind the right front leg, put a hole in the heart, destroyed one of the lungs, and came out high on the left, mid back near the spine. Ran 75 yards with that wound.... Unbelievable! My buddy was shooting a Savage 16 in .300 WSM, loaded with 180 gr Sierra Game Kings at around 2900 fps. Bear was a 3 1/2 year old male, weighed in at 202 lbs field dressed, was estimated 240 lbs live weight. My buddy couldn't be more pleased. Will post photos when copies make their way to me.

~Michael

[buckeyeshooter]

I use varget under a barnes 180 grain xlc at the moment. 2700fps and great bullet performance.

[O.S.O.K.]

You could go with what the old timers did - 220 grain softnosed bullet at 2500 fps. That'll do it and then some. Hornady interlocks would be my pick.

I am sure though that your 180 grain Nosler loads will do the trick!

Good hunting and be sure and post the post hunt pics!!