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180 grain 30-06 load for deer?

12 Mar 2025
@ 04:03 pm (GMT)

Bushleague slim

I know the typical advice for optimal 30-06/ deer performance is to use lighter bullets, but if staying with the 180 grain weight what bullet would you recommend?

I used the Coreloct PSP for a long time, simply because I also used it for elk and moose, and found its performance on deer to be underwhelming, even at the typically close ranges that I usually shoot. The last couple of seasons I've been using Interlocks, having killed plenty of deer and a couple moose with them, they definitely seem a bit softer and have been a pretty good general-purpose bullet for me. Performance on deer at close range is generally good, but at 100-150 yards energy transfer once again seems to be sub optimal.

Replies

08 Apr 2025
@ 05:01 am (GMT)

Quote this

Ed Sybert

Re: 180 grain 30-06 load for deer?

If you really want to stay with 180 grain bullets, you may want to consider the Sierra ProHunter RN, #2170. With a good amount of lead exposed at the tip, it may give better expansion on whitetail deer than the Hornady Interlock or the Remington Core-Lokt. If you try them, please let us know how they perform.