111 30-06, hunting bullets for reloading?

I have a new-to-me Savage 111 in 30-06 and am going to start reloading. I'm gong to a buddies house who has some very nice reloading equipment and he's going to show me how to reload, and we're going to play with some powder loads.

I want to start with a nice hunting bullet. I planned on using the old standby Core-lokt, but my other hunting buddy says he's had these break apart in the animal and ruin some meat. I believe he uses an old discontinued Nosler bullet.

Can you recommend a good bullet that will spread a bit, not break apart in the animal, and be accurate?

Thanks for any input!

Barnes TSX or TTSX.

I've started reloading the TSX 180 gr with Hodgdon H4350 lit by Federal 210 primers.

Nosler Partition, Nosler Accubond, Sierra GameKing, Hornady Interlock, Hornady SST, Hornady Interbond. Lots of good deer bullets out there- these are just a few. Stay away from the Core-lokts; their quality control is poor in my experience; Sierra GameKing is a much better bullet for about the same price.

Lately, it seems like anything Remington produces is sub standard. I work part time in a gun and pawn. We recently got in two 1895 Marlins and the fit and finish since Remington took over is pure garbage.

Thanks, I'll think I'll try the Game Kings. Seem to be readily available too.

Can anyone recommend a powder to start with? Some relatively inexpensive stuff would be preferable. :)

Edit: I was thinking 4895 or 4350 with a 165 grain would be a good one to start with?

Very good choice. Varget, IMR 4064 both work well with 150gr bullets. Lots of good powder choices for the '06, it's generally not real particular. For hunting, you might want to try one of Hodgdon's Extreme series powders- they claim to be less temperature sensitive than others. Varget is an Extreme powder.

For 165's and heavier I'd try H4350. Make sure to stick with a load listed in a good manual, and start low and work up.

Excellent, thanks for the input!

If you'd like a great one-size-fits-all (hogs, deer, elk bullet) a good choice might be the Sierra 165 gr HPBT GameKing which is quite tough, but any of the old standard cup and core (guilding metal up with a lead core) bullets are going to give similar results to what your loading buddy laments.

Of course the same goes for my standard for the '06, the 165 gr Hornady Interlock w/ IMR-4350 or Ramshot Hunter. The former is great for accuracy, the latter for speed.

Additionally, Nosler Ballistic Tips have been built up in the jacket over the last decade or so and hold together better than they used to. If you want a high-BC performer the 168 gr NBT is a great one.

If you're looking to kill deer and nothing bigger, shoot whatever of the bullets your buddy has on hand that your rifle seems to like. It doesn't take a premium or ultra premium to kill a deer.

I have been working on 165 grain 30-06 loads with H4350 lately. My research suggested that in most guns, you should find a good load somewhere between 56 and 58 grains. My testing found most loads in this range to be acceptably accurate and I found the best results near the top of that range.

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Originally Posted by efw

If you'd like a great one-size-fits-all (hogs, deer, elk bullet) a good choice might be the Sierra 165 gr HPBT GameKing which is quite tough

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I have used these in 30-06-308--300 Weatherby and Win. and they always have performed good. One of them with IMR 4350 or 4831 and you have a winner.

I think you can't go wrong with any of the quality hunting bullets. SST's, Innerlock, NBT, GK, Accubond, I prefer the Barnes ttsx. Rl-15, RL-19, Imr4350, h4350, Big Game all shoot sub-moa in my wifes '06.

hard to beat the old 150gr speer spitzers with a healthy dose of 4064. Ive tried all the new fancy stuff but have never lost an animal yet with these. theyre relatively inexpensive, accurate, and easy to load for and have went in and out of every deer ive shot with them.

I have loaded many, many bullets in the 30-06 and one of my favorites because it is accurate, holds together well and is very reasonably priced is the 165 gr. Hornady Interlocks. In fact I have yet to find a caliber that will not shoot Interlocks well. You can find real deals on this bullet online too. Sure you could spend more money for the latest technologicaly advanced bullets, and I have. But I keep coming back to these for the reasons stated above.

God Luck.

Dave