Good ammo suggestions for hunting

T

TMUSCLE1

New member
Hey guys...I hunt with a 30-06.(Usually, sometimes my 12 ga.) My question is what ammo to you guys use? I'm not realoading yet as I'm still saving for everything, so if you use factory ammo what is decent stuff?

I've heard a mixed reception about Remington Core Lokt. Also, I can't be spending $60-$70 dollars on a box. My limit is between $35-$45.

Hornady? Federal?

Thanks in advance.

Oh, I shoot 150grains in my 30-06.
 
For the most part it really doesn't matter. Find something your gun likes, and go with it.

Obviously what and where you hunt might factor in, but not really.
 
In it's time, corelokt was considered the top brand for controlled expansion. They are accurate and will still give good controlled expansion. They will kill a deer. They don't cost $50 a box. What is wrong with that?

Use any of the major brands in their basic configurations, in 30-06 on deer, and you will kill every one that you hit in the heart lung area, probably with only a single shot.

nearly a century of research has gone into making sure that the market leader 30-06 ammunition will kill a dear in the 1-200 yard range, and any failure is going to have been a matter of chance, and not a flaw in the ammunition design.

Try not to get too wrapped up in perfection, because it can't exist, and unless you have faith in yourself and your gear, well, you're ruining your hunt.

I remember when the Fail safe came out from winchester. Walmart got hold of millions of boxes of fail safe, and promoted the hell out of them here in the land of 80 pound whitetail. Is a belted magnum in fail safe proper for a deer the size of labrador? hardly, but for a few years, that was all you heard about. During those years, thousands of deer were turned into cheeseburgers with plane jane ammunition.

My neighbor took his 30-30 out, using cast lead 180 grain bullets that I had loaded for him, and brought home a deer.
 
I have shot deer with Federal Fusions and whichever Federal comes in a 165 grain Nosler Partition. It has been a while since I bought factory loads so I can't remember exactly. Both worked well. I have also seen many animals killed with core lokt bullets. I shot an elk with one and it worked good but it was a crappy shot so I can't recomend them based on that experience. I know guys that swear by the core lokt bullet but as the previous post stated, find what shoots well in your gun.

Good Luck

GAR
 
In both my 30-06's, my 300 Win Mag and my single shot break open 30-30 I use Speer 165 Gr Boatails, loaded to a few grains under max in my loading manuals.

I use to buy Win factory 30-06 ammo 150 Gr and took my first deer with those.

I also bought one box of 20 of the 220 Gr round nose 30-06 ammo for the year I bought a bear tag, never did fire any of them.

Michael Grace
 
If you are going to stick to factory ammunition and don't want to break the bank. Just buy the cheap 180 ammunition offerd by Winchester, Remington, or Federal. 180's are not moving fast enough out of a .30-06 to have one fail. They will work on everything that walks the lower 48, the only problem is they will have more felt recoil and not shoot as flat as your 150's.
 
Core Lokt ammo will do every thing you want it or need it to do. I had great success using that ammo. Never lost a animal, never botched a shot and never tracked one more than 100 yards.

Core Lokt has lost some of it's flavor, but just because it isn't the newest and best pushed ammo out there doesn't mean it won't work well for you.

Now, I will tell you I've since switched from Core Lokt to Winchester Ballastic Tips ammo. The reason? Winchester is a cleaner shooting ammo than those Core Lokts. Other than that, the critter you are hunting won't be able to tell any difference if you place the shot where it needs to be.

Remember, high priced ammo won't correct a poor shot.
 
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Thanks, I understand all of that. I was just making sure that I was making the best choice in regards to reliable ammo. We have all heard the saying, "You get what you pay for." I was just wanted to make sure my choice of the Core Lokts was okay.
 
I use winchester silver tips in my 30-06, seems to work. Not too expensive either.

There is a guy loads and sells his ammo. It is very high quality and I belive 20 rds go for like 30.00. I have used this and sent rounds thru the same hole in the target. Look around and see if there isnt someone doing this close to you.
 
I was just wanted to make sure my choice of the Core Lokts was okay.
Click to expand...

In a rather narrowly defined way, you could not have done better. Your core lokt will hit and kill deer under ordinary field conditions at reasonable ranges, just like the $5 a round bullets will do. Is it possible that a marginal hit might let one to walk away? sure. Any brand will allow that to happen.

I really do hate to see people sucked into the hype at times, the best and newest are still going to do the same thing the old and reliable ones do. Maybe a little better, sometimes not.
 
Remington Core Lokt 30/06 150 Grain is $16 to $18 a box here. You can’t go wrong with them. I reload but most of the gang I hunt with use Core Lokt with great success. Years ago when in the USMC, with no place to reload, I used Winchester Silver Tip, nothing wrong with them either. Todays Super Duper stuff is just hype.
 
I reload but I shoot CoreLokt 130 gr out of my Model 70 in .270 Win. It shoots quarter size groups at 100 yards. I have taken a pig the last two years with one shot kills...
 
Big fan of yellow and green boxes with 165's but recently had a bad primer while using them as a "control" in ammo testing. Happens to the best, trust me. Take a hard look at the Hornady loads, they are very close to my handloads and the bullet performs well also.
+1 on what your rifle likes, I've always felt Core-Lokt was pretty hard to beat and performs well in most rifles. If someone tells me his rifle is acting up, I tell him to buy the ammo in a yellow and green box. Works more often than not. First MOA group I ever fired was with a factory Core-Lokt hunting load, was a long time until my handloads did better.
Hard to beat RP for the price, maybe even well over the price. Harder still to beat them on the range or in the field.
 
Since you're not reloading, you'll have to try a box of as many brands as you can to find the ammo your rifle shoots best. Think 165 grain bullets for a .30-06 though. They'll kill any game you care to hunt.
Remington Cor-Lokts run around $20 per 20 from Midway. Cor-Lokts have been a standard for eons.
 
I personally use bullets that mushroom really good. I don't like spitzer bullets. They penetrate and leave the animal. Or at least that's what my dad taught me.
 
Most rifle bullets on the market today are spitzer bullets. The exceptions are very heavy for caliber bullets, some bullets for very large, dangerous game and bullets intended for lever action rifles.

You can get spitzer bullets that are designed to expand/mushroom (the Core-Lokt is one example out of many) as well as spitzer bullets that are designed for match use or practice use where expansion is not a design criteria.
 
I load and use Nosler Ballistic tips in 150 grain for deer here in the Arkansas Ozarks. They expand and retain very well. But, originally, I choose them simply because the tips don't get messed up in the magazine or from handling. I used to load down but since we got a black bear season they are now loaded to near max. I believe 150 grain is sufficient for black bear. I know that is arguable but many bears are killed in this state with 30-30s so I'll use that as a guide.
 
The only thing I really have to add to this conversation is that nearly any bullet made now for the 30 caliber and not specifically meant for magnum use will give good controlled expansion and most of them will offer excellent weight retention. Almost all of them use tapered jackets now, some mechanical core retainer, skived tips, many are bonded, you have dozens that use expansion initiator plugs, and so forth. You could pick 50 or more appropriate reloading bullets among the lower price range that would perform quite well terminally at the 2.5 to 3K fps range.

As has been said, test your remingtons for acceptable accuracy, and if they aren't up to what you need, you can still feel confident when you move on to the next brand, say federal, winchester, or even up or down in bullet weight from the 150 to 165 or 180.


In the last 40 years, machine technology and computer power have allowed a much more affluent industry to create incredible shooting supplies.

Try to ignore the fact that it has also created some enormous piles of hype. :rolleyes:
 
Like GAR700 said I would give the Nosler 165 grain a try. Not sure how they will work for you, but they are worth a try. I reload and use them in my 06.
 
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