What rifle ammo are you using for taking deer?

EMTDAD

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got a weeklong deer hunt planned with my buddies in Vermont in November. Picked up a bolt-action rifle in 30-06. I've got a bunch of Garand-safe ammo, but was wondering if something better on the shelf existed for taking deer.

what are you all using? Pros/cons?
 
The ammo should/must be soft point. F&G laws? Jack.

Doesn't always have to be soft point - in NH, for example, hunting ammo can be anything except FMJ:

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https://www.eregulations.com/assets/docs/guides/21NHHD.pdf

There's expanding ballistic tips, hollowpoints for handguns, cast bullets, etc. Point is: ALWAYS READ THE REGULATIONS MANUAL.

This year, I'll be using PPU 123gr protected soft point 7.62x39. Next year, I'm going to develop my own 8x57 hunting loads.
 
Every ammo company has cartridges designed for taking specific-sized animals, .30-06 being one of the most popular. If you can find a few different brands with a deer on the label (good luck), see how they hit the target at the range. Many of the ammo producers are loading premium bullets from Sierra, Speer, Nosler, etc. They cost more than the old cup-and-core CoreLokt style, but they simply work better in most cases. As Jack correctly points out, you shouldn't use target ammo on game. Good luck, be safe and enjoy.
 
yes.. good point on the bullet type... my Garand reloads use Hornady 150gr Interlock SP so those should be ok

I was asking if there was something off the shelf that you all prefer.. lots of different brands/types
 
yes.. good point on the bullet type... my Garand reloads use Hornady 150gr Interlock SP so those should be ok

I was asking if there was something off the shelf that you all prefer.. lots of different brands/types

Depends on a lot.

Where are you hunting in Vermont? Deer generally get bigger the further north you go.
Are you using a semi-auto or bolt action or something else? Not all bullets work with every gun chambered in that cartridge; there's a lot of bullet profiles out there.
What's the barrel's twist rate? Some guys love 200gr or 220gr bullets in .30-06. Others are happy with 150gr. Twist rate impacts how a gun "likes" different bullet weights.
How are you hunting? From a tree stand at 30 yards? Tracking in snow? Longer range? The bullet profile for a big, heavy, close range bullet is different from a long range hunting bullet.
How do you define "off the shelf"? Where are you buying ammo? If you're trying to buy ammo right now from local gun stores, what they have is what you get. If you're shopping online, you have more options, but have to factor in delays in getting the ammo - hunting season is a little over a month away, that's not a lot of time to zero a rifle.
What brands do you already like? If you like Hornady, go with Hornady.
How much are you willing to spend per round?
 
got a weeklong deer hunt planned with my buddies in Vermont in November. Picked up a bolt-action rifle in 30-06. I've got a bunch of Garand-safe ammo, but was wondering if something better on the shelf existed for taking deer.

what are you all using? Pros/cons?

The ammo should/must be soft point. F&G laws? Jack.

You should ask Jack if you could borrow a .35 Remington. He said in another thread that it always worked well for him.
 
Assuming you are hunting woods where shots will be 100 yards and closer…..

I prefer round nose soft point bullets leaning towards heavier bullet weights. Remington core lokt a good choice if you can get them. Make sure it’s a hunting bullet not a target bullet.

here me out on the logic here. I’m a really good tracker and often recover deer that others couldn’t track. I’ve also killed a lot of deer, including the last three with Barnes TTSX or Hornady ELDX in .243 or 6.5 CM. Small pointed bullets will kill them ok, but often they will go 80 or 100 yards and leave little or no blood trail. I believe the smaller pointed bullets stretch the skin on entrance which then retracts and essentially closes off entry hole. My ELDX killed from two years expanded beautifully and was just under the skin on far side. Lungs full of blood and there was hair on ground where I hit him but no blood trail. First blood was 75 yards later where he stopped running and dropped dead.

so first I am a fan of 30 caliber or bigger for deer for the bigger entry hole. But one more story. My brother shot a buck at 40 yards with a 308 150 spire point. Double lung hit. If it hadn’t been for an early fresh snow we might not have found him. He only went 60 yards or so (seemed like more through thick brush) but deer got into a thicket of short pines and had immediately doubled back from direction he had run off . Deer bled out internally. Even with snow no blood trail. That was 35 years ago and he went to round nose soft points and never looked back.

I’ve gone back and forth. Ive always gotten a good blood trail with 30 cal round nose soft points. I usually get an ok blood trail with 30 cal spire points or .243 or 6.5 CM. But occasionally not.

I should point out I am a meat hunter so go for double lung shots, and have never tried the high shoulder shot to anchor them.

myself this year I’m heading out with 45 70 Flat nose for close work or the 308 with spire point for longer range 150 to 250 yards field hunting.

so long as it’s a hunting bullet in the 06 you will be fine
 
You should ask Jack if you could borrow a .35 Remington. He said in another thread that it always worked well for him.
Except for the time that I took a nice 10 pointer with a borrowed lever gun in .32 spl in Maine 'cause I forgot to put the .35 in the truck. LOL. Jack.
 
I used to go with rem 180 soft point boattail or 220 core lokt. Find an accurate round for your gun and send it. Keep in mind, bear would probably not go far with the 220. But then again, 9mm seems to work too.
 
Depends on a lot.

Where are you hunting in Vermont? Deer generally get bigger the further north you go.
Are you using a semi-auto or bolt action or something else? Not all bullets work with every gun chambered in that cartridge; there's a lot of bullet profiles out there.
What's the barrel's twist rate? Some guys love 200gr or 220gr bullets in .30-06. Others are happy with 150gr. Twist rate impacts how a gun "likes" different bullet weights.
How are you hunting? From a tree stand at 30 yards? Tracking in snow? Longer range? The bullet profile for a big, heavy, close range bullet is different from a long range hunting bullet.
How do you define "off the shelf"? Where are you buying ammo? If you're trying to buy ammo right now from local gun stores, what they have is what you get. If you're shopping online, you have more options, but have to factor in delays in getting the ammo - hunting season is a little over a month away, that's not a lot of time to zero a rifle.
What brands do you already like? If you like Hornady, go with Hornady.
How much are you willing to spend per round?
wow..

Worcester, Vermont.. just north of Montpelier
Twist Rate, 1 in 9, bolt action.
Likely from a blind.. snow in mid-November, maybe.. Probably 50-100yds max shot range..
Probably buying at Bass Pro.. since I'm in there all the time. No loyalty to any one brand at this time.
$1-2 per round probably. I dunno.. maybe more if there's a good reason..

so many brands and bullet types.. just wondering if you had a preference..
 
Do NOT use ballistic tips. I hunt out west and the locals I hunt with all scolded me for shooting my whitetail with an ELDX. I shoot a 270 and I hammered my whitetail at 80 yards. The bullet completely fragmented and although it killed the deer, he still made it a little bit before folding up. From what I was told, the ELDX rounds shine at long distances and not short, but the soft points are good to all around, especially for deer. Im no reloader or precision shooter, and this is what I was told, but it all made sense to me once we went through it. I have a Browning X-Bolt, and found that the Federal Fusion 150s and the Federal PowerShok 150s work best for me. The Hornady rounds grouped very well but I wont shoot any more ballistic tips. Not sure if this helps too but the deer was quartering away and I put it behind the shoulder and hit the opposite shoulder when the bullet was nothing but fragments. It was a big bodied deer (South Dakota) and he dressed out to about 230lbs. I would stick with the soft points rounds designed for deer. Federal makes some good ones. Ive heard some bad reviews on the Core-Lokts but I dont have any experience with those. Good luck this year and I hope you punch your tag on a big one for the freezer.
 
wow..

Worcester, Vermont.. just north of Montpelier
Twist Rate, 1 in 9, bolt action.
Likely from a blind.. snow in mid-November, maybe.. Probably 50-100yds max shot range..
Probably buying at Bass Pro.. since I'm in there all the time. No loyalty to any one brand at this time.
$1-2 per round probably. I dunno.. maybe more if there's a good reason..

so many brands and bullet types.. just wondering if you had a preference..

If you're hunting within 100 yards and have a gun with a 1-in-9 twist rate, I'd try and focus on 180, 200, or 220gr bullets. The 200+ gr bullets are going to have ballistics like flying barns, so keep that in mind if you do need to shoot beyond 100. If you're buying locally, you should be able to find 180/200/220gr .30-06 pretty easily. You might want to check what BPS has in these flavors of .30-06 in case your particular rifle has issues with especially heavy bullets, but if it has a 1-in-9 twist, I would think not.

Ammo brand and bullet type preferences are really subjective to the shooter. I really like foreign ammo brands like PPU, S&B, and Norma because they make good ammo for metric rifle cartridges and the first two are fairly inexpensive. My dad loves Remington Core-Lokt because they used to be some of the best heavy .30-06 loads around. Ideally, you'd want to spend time buying up different brands and bullet types to see what your gun likes, but you might not have enough time.

Remington Core-Lokt seems to be going for $2.25 p/round currently online:

.30-06 Ammo

Remington Ammunition R30065 Core-Lokt 30-06 Springfield 180 gr Core-Lokt Pointed Soft Point (PSPCL) 20 Bx/ 10 Cs

So, don't expect cheap ammo, and Core-Lokt is usually the least expensive quality hunting ammo on the market.
 
Your 150 grain SP loads should be fine. Lots of theories here, but there are only a couple of ways to drop a deer instantly regardless of caliber or bullet weight. Unless the spine or brain is hit, a shot that breaks both shoulders is about the only other instant stopper. Deer can run for a short time on three legs with heart and lungs shredded. When the brain runs out of oxygen they fall down. A guy I know has culled hundreds of deer on airport property. The most effective caliber, and they tried a bunch, is the .22-250. When fired into the chest, the little round going 3500 fps explodes, and the concussion apparently shuts down the central nervous system. Instant kill. Most states ban .22 calibers for deer, but a hot .243 often gives the same results, he said.
 
I agree with the above. Soft point = better expansion. I like Federal Power-Shok. Affordably priced (when theres not a dementia patient in the white house) and they always seem to kill deer quickly imho.

For deer I use:
45-70: Power-Shok 300gr
308: Power-Shok 150gr

Back in the early 2000s when I still had a 30-06, I took a big 8 point in West Virginia with 180gr Remington core-lokt at 150 yards on a right of way. He took 3 steps and it was game over. No longer have the gun but still have that half box of ammo somewhere in the garage.
 
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Except for the time that I took a nice 10 pointer with a borrowed lever gun in .32 spl in Maine 'cause I forgot to put the .35 in the truck. LOL. Jack.

Ive taken a few deer with 32 win special in my youth. Shot them with my grandfather's model 94 made in 1910. Original sights and still dead on over 100 years later. Grampy's gone now but I still take it out for deer season every now and then.
 
yes.. good point on the bullet type... my Garand reloads use Hornady 150gr Interlock SP so those should be ok

I was asking if there was something off the shelf that you all prefer.. lots of different brands/types
Hornady Interlocks are great hunting bullets for medium game, I've taken deer and black bear with that same bullet with great results. I've also used 180gr interlocks in .300 Win Mag with good results. I'd just run those if it's a load your familiar with. No need to run anything else.
 
Assuming you are hunting woods where shots will be 100 yards and closer…..

I prefer round nose soft point bullets leaning towards heavier bullet weights. Remington core lokt a good choice if you can get them. Make sure it’s a hunting bullet not a target bullet.

here me out on the logic here. I’m a really good tracker and often recover deer that others couldn’t track. I’ve also killed a lot of deer, including the last three with Barnes TTSX or Hornady ELDX in .243 or 6.5 CM. Small pointed bullets will kill them ok, but often they will go 80 or 100 yards and leave little or no blood trail. I believe the smaller pointed bullets stretch the skin on entrance which then retracts and essentially closes off entry hole. My ELDX killed from two years expanded beautifully and was just under the skin on far side. Lungs full of blood and there was hair on ground where I hit him but no blood trail. First blood was 75 yards later where he stopped running and dropped dead.

so first I am a fan of 30 caliber or bigger for deer for the bigger entry hole. But one more story. My brother shot a buck at 40 yards with a 308 150 spire point. Double lung hit. If it hadn’t been for an early fresh snow we might not have found him. He only went 60 yards or so (seemed like more through thick brush) but deer got into a thicket of short pines and had immediately doubled back from direction he had run off . Deer bled out internally. Even with snow no blood trail. That was 35 years ago and he went to round nose soft points and never looked back.

I’ve gone back and forth. Ive always gotten a good blood trail with 30 cal round nose soft points. I usually get an ok blood trail with 30 cal spire points or .243 or 6.5 CM. But occasionally not.

I should point out I am a meat hunter so go for double lung shots, and have never tried the high shoulder shot to anchor them.

myself this year I’m heading out with 45 70 Flat nose for close work or the 308 with spire point for longer range 150 to 250 yards field hunting.

so long as it’s a hunting bullet in the 06 you will be fine
My experience and research has lead me to try like hell to put the bullet just behind where front leg meets the body but for a scooch lower. I dont have as many deer harvest under my belt as you obviously but the 3 I've hit there poured blood on the trail and they were down within 50 yards. I've hit a couple higher on the chest cavity and ended up with zero blood and a deer that ran almost 100 yards and no blood trail for the first 50 yards. My theory is the internal bleeding starts exiting the entrance wound as the blood fills the cavity....so lower entrance wounds start spilling blood faster than higher ones (unless you nail an artery then it's pumping put hard....seen one of mine Do that on a quartering shot where the exit was in the neck artery area up higher). I don't know maybe I'm way off base.....but the ones I've hit lower on the body started pouring blood much faster on the track than higher hits in my limited experience.
 
My experience and research has lead me to try like hell to put the bullet just behind where front leg meets the body but for a scooch lower. I dont have as many deer harvest under my belt as you obviously but the 3 I've hit there poured blood on the trail and they were down within 50 yards. I've hit a couple higher on the chest cavity and ended up with zero blood and a deer that ran almost 100 yards and no blood trail for the first 50 yards. My theory is the internal bleeding starts exiting the entrance wound as the blood fills the cavity....so lower entrance wounds start spilling blood faster than higher ones (unless you nail an artery then it's pumping put hard....seen one of mine Do that on a quartering shot where the exit was in the neck artery area up higher). I don't know maybe I'm way off base.....but the ones I've hit lower on the body started pouring blood much faster on the track than higher hits in my limited experience.
Were yours with shotgun or rifle?
 
Were yours with shotgun or rifle?
Muzzle loader. 50 cal sabots.....so a .430 projo

I've also anchored more deer than I've had to track......all of those were with shotgun slugs at close range......under 40 yards. I know this is off topic but imo for thick woods there is no better tool than shotgun with slugs.....they are devastating.
 
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I think you may be getting the answers you need, but a simple summary is 150 to 180 grain soft points or core lock etc. will do the job. If the ammo has a deer or antlers on the box, it should be GTG as long as not a long range version.

You have plenty time to sight in- all you really need is a quick trip to the range assuming your rifle is already in the ballpark. You can burn up a couple of your Garand loads to get close then try your commercial deer busters. If you zero at 100 yards, you will be ~2" low at 200 yards. If 200 yards is possible, you could sight in to be 1" high at 100, which will be ~1" low at 200.
 
If you zero at 100 yards, you will be ~2" low at 200 yards. If 200 yards is possible, you could sight in to be 1" high at 100, which will be ~1" low at 200.

MPBR, a must when hunting in the northeast. With all the thick woods and occasional meadows and powerlines you never know when or where a deer will show up. I always zero the .308 2.7 inches high at 100 yards. Keeps me in the kill zone without concern for holdover from 25 to 225 yards or so.

Below is a useful link that explains maximum point blank range in more detail. The table allows you to calculate your mpbr when zeroing given popular calibers and grain weights (including 30-06). Hope this helps your chances of success OP.

 
Definitely softpoints & I like Federal Power Shoks wheres my brother had killed more deer w/ Rem Core Locks.

But as others opined, avoid ballistic tips or other ‘too heavily’ constructed (partition?) bullets designed for heavier, elk or beer game. I’ve witneessed a few VT deer lost to 30-06s using too heavily (not in weight) constructed of a bullet design.
 
thanks again all.. lots of good info.. Club has a short 50yd rifle range, so we'll probably be sighting in at that distance. So, according to a shot calculator, my 150gr Garand loads sighted at 50 yds would be dead on at 50 yds and again at about 115 yds, with an apex height of about 0.5" at 85 yds dropping to -3" at 190 yds .

I don't foresee taking a shot at 190 yds, as I can barely see that far..
 
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