I am looking at the winchester partition golds because that is the best all around ammo I can find without loading it myself. Do any of you have experience with the new federal Barnes ELS coated X bullet? It sounds sweet but I can't seem to find much info on it.

Thanks.

Other than these, what are your favorite 30-06 ammo for hunting elk?

 

.300 wsm all the way.

 

i use sierra bullets for everything. i used sierra gameking 150gr spbt. for my first elk hunt. i took a young 5x5 bull at around 150 yds. don't let people tell you that the /06 aint enough, it's plenty. i don't use 180 grain bullets & never will unless i hunt moose. you really need to start reloading. you will save money & shoot more.

 

oh yea, the barnes x is one of the best stopping bullets that money can buy. the nosler partition is one of the toughest ever. sierra is better known for accuracy, this is the single most important factor to me.

 

I’ve tried about every ammo brand there is but always seem to come back to Remington and Winchester for my centerfire high power stuff. Remington cor-lokt or scirocco would be pretty good bets. I’ve dropped deer instantly with Winchester failsafe loads and wouldn’t hesitate to use them or the nosler partition tipped rounds for elk. The Barnes X bullet is an outstanding bullet. I use these in a couple of handloads

I take a few boxes of each brand and loads to the range and shoot them for accuracy to see which my particular rifle likes best. One load that shoots great in one of my rifles doesn’t in another. The only 30/06 rifles I have currently are a Remington Model 7400 and an M-1 Garand. The Garand doesn’t get shot too much but it seems to like the Winchester 180 grain ballistic silvertips about as well as anything besides FMJ match ammo. The 7400 seems to shoot the best with the Remington 180 grain scirocco loads.

 

Remington and Winchester ammo has been around a long time and is inexpensive to shoot. What a lot of hunters are unaware of with all the advertisments in all the shooting and hunting mags showing Nosler is this Hornady is that, Barnes is great, Berger is better crap, after it is all said and done standard Win and Rem factory ammo will cleanly kill any big game animal just as dead, just as fast.

An expensive bullet will NOT make up for a bad shot placement.

My suggestion is test a couple of the factory loads and find which one will shoot the MOST CONSISTANT out of your rifle and go with that. Hunting elk I prefer at least 165 grain bullet and have put down two bull elk with one shot using 165 grain loads from a 30-06.

 

180 grain for moose? my father has shots moose (.308) with a 150gr, or 160gr. Works for him. A moose in the freezer every fall. I love the 30-06 savage I have. Model 1300C. I can load it up or down for whatever i want to shoot. Seems to be a great all around rifle.

 

Savage makes a damn good rifle.
I shot one of the new Savage models with their “accu-trigger” and it was an outstanding rifle. It had the best trigger I have ever seen out of the box. The thing can be adjusted to anywhere you would like between 1 ½ and 7 pounds simply by adjusting the trigger with a little supplied tool. The rifle (a 7mm rem mag) was extremely accurate too. We put a nice swarovski scope on it and it was a real tack driver. Combine that with a crisp light trigger and the thing shot like a dream.

The next centerfire rifle I buy will probably be a Savage with an accu-trigger. I have almost exclusively been a Remington and Winchester man when it comes to bolt action centerfire rifles but that Savage trigger is addictive. Remington and Winchester had better develop a similar system quick. Once shooters get a taste of a good out of the box trigger they will be flocking to the Savage. Plus the Savages are generally cheaper than Winchesters and Remingtons.

 

I have a Browning Boss '06 that shoots great, and it likes the Horn. Light Mag ammo. I've downed two elk without a problem but that was with both shots being double lung shots. I agree with shot placement being No. one consideration, but you don't want your bullet falling apart before it gets to the vitals either! All of the loads mentioned so far can to fine on elk, within their (and your) accuracy limits. Looks like I won't be chasing the elk this season, but the bucks better beware!
Good luck!!
Textrout

 

My buddy uses barnes-x on elk and loves them, I like hornady 190 bt, most accurate out of my gun 300 win mag abolt ss with boss. Also have A303 springfield 30-06 for deer, it also loves the horn 190bt, it blows nice holes in anything, I reload my own.