Ruger American 30-06, What is the best bullet?

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American 30-06

Bearcat
Joined
Sep 9, 2012
Messages
4
Good day

I bought an American in 30-06 about six month's ago. I have been testing different loads and bullets for a while now. One of the best performers so far was the 165gr Sierra Gameking with the hollow point loaded with 52gr of S355 equal to IMR4320. It grouped just under 1 MOA with three shots on a 100 meters.


Have anybody tried other bullets with different loads that gave better results?

Thank You

Frans

(South Africa)
 

pisgah

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 17, 2006
Messages
1,633
Location
Upstate SC
Sounds like you have found a good one. Through the years I have gotten good results from just about every sensible load that could be named. One load might be lousy in Rifle A but excellent in Rifle B. Even if I told you a few loads you'd still have to try them, and there's not a one you can't find in one manual or another.
 

DGW1949

Hunter
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Messages
3,916
Location
Texas
American 30-06 said:
Good day

I bought an American in 30-06 about six month's ago. I have been testing different loads and bullets for a while now. One of the best performers so far was the 165gr Sierra Gameking with the hollow point loaded with 52gr of S355 equal to IMR4320. It grouped just under 1 MOA with three shots on a 100 meters.


Have anybody tried other bullets with different loads that gave better results?

Thank You

Frans

(South Africa)

For an accurate hunting rifle, the bullet you name is excellent. For taking deer-sized game at long distance, I know of none better.
A step up in accuracy, might be the Sierra 168 Grn Matchking....but it is not always "more accurate" than the Gameking in all rifles, nor is it a hunting bullet.
My powder of choice for the 30-06 is IMR-4895 because it's burn-rate allows it be used in any action type. Varget also works very well for any application that an '06 would be put to.

Hope this helps.

DGW
 

LuckenbachTexas

Buckeye
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Messages
1,207
Location
Leaky, Texas
150gr Federal Blue Box will save you a bunch of money.

150 gr premium bullets are the new 30-06 standard, because of projectile construction & performance, coupled with the velocity, they will out perform any other weight 30-06 bar freekin NONE!

If you want to get one of the best performing 150gr bullets, Winchester XP3
 

TnTnTn

Single-Sixer
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
113
Location
TN
Hello Frans- I reckon the best bullet is the one best suited to the game you are hunting. For smaller to medium animals the 150g would work well. For medium to larger, tougher animals the 165, 180, or heavier would be better. Now I know as much about hunting in S. Africa as I know about opera but if you match your bullet to the game the '06 and Ruger American will work no doubt. You don't need sub moa accuracy to kill game efficiently and handily. Let us know how that American works out- I am pleased with mine so far.
 

soyarm

Bearcat
Joined
Jun 16, 2012
Messages
48
My Ruger is shooting everything I feed it as good as I would ever want or expect. I so love my American 30/06 so I just bought an American 308. Why??? cuz they 243 wasn't in stock yet
 
Joined
Mar 13, 2012
Messages
43
Location
Kelowna, B.C., Canada
:D A lot of veteran hunters say the 165/168 grain spitzer boat tail bullet is the best bullet ballistically for the 30.06. I use a Barnes ttsx 168 grain bullet for elk and moose, and none
of them have gone far when hit by that round. For deer I use my old tang safety Ruger M77 in .270 Win, and shoot 140 grain Nosler Accubonds out of it. They go through bone well if
necessary, expand well even out to 450 yards, and bring the bucks down quickly.
 

rangerbob

Buckeye
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
1,240
Frans, the 165 Sierra Gameking HP is probably one of the most accurate .30 caliber hunting bullets available for reloading. It works well not only in the 30-06, but the 308 or any of the 300 magnums. I started shooting 165 bullets in the late sixies, first in the 06 and then 308. Back then I used a heavy dose of IMR 4350 in my M70 winchester 30-06. The sierra is my go to bullet for accuracy evaluation. I've often stated that if one has a .30 rifle that wil not shoot the sierras, it's time for another rifle.Fortunately for us handloaders, the hills are full of great and useful bullets for the 06. I think you got it right! Bob1 :wink:
 

American 30-06

Bearcat
Joined
Sep 9, 2012
Messages
4
Hi Everyone

Thank you very much for all the info.

I agree with all of you that under 1 MOA is good enough for hunting.

The reason I would like it to group better:

One of my friends and I shoots as much as we possibly can, although I like hunting we can't do it every weekend.
We usually drive to my friends farm (about 100 miles) from where we live, to go and shoot. We shoot a target at about 100 m to see what are the best groupings we can get.

I am overall very satisfied with my American. Its a great rifle for an even better price.

I have bought 180gr Game Kings and Match Kings, I am also going to try another powder. I will post my results soon.

Thank you again

Frans
 

wwb

Hunter
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
2,867
Location
wisconsin
My old tang-safety M77 shoots the best groups (just over 3/4 inch) with 165 grain Sierra Game Kings over 57.5 grains of H4350. Unfortunately, on fairly large deer (around 200 lb dressed), they have fragmented badly if they encountered a bone.... too fragile for my taste. Switching to a Speer 165 grain soft point boattail, the best groups (just over an inch) were obtained with 56.0 grains of Reloder 17, and the bullet performance was much better; good expansion, and they passed through apparently still intact, with an impressive exit wound.
 

Nomosendero

Single-Sixer
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Messages
234
Location
Pocahontas, AR
wwb said:
My old tang-safety M77 shoots the best groups (just over 3/4 inch) with 165 grain Sierra Game Kings over 57.5 grains of H4350. Unfortunately, on fairly large deer (around 200 lb dressed), they have fragmented badly if they encountered a bone.... too fragile for my taste. Switching to a Speer 165 grain soft point boattail, the best groups (just over an inch) were obtained with 56.0 grains of Reloder 17, and the bullet performance was much better; good expansion, and they passed through apparently still intact, with an impressive exit wound.

The 165 Speer Boattail sure groups well in my 308 American. Bottom line though, there is no one bullet that will group best ia all rifles of a given caliber, you must find out what your rifle likes.
 

Ken S.

Bearcat
Joined
Aug 9, 2013
Messages
50
Location
Ambridge, PA
I agree. The rifle chooses the bullet.
Out of my Rem. 760 in 308 Win I shoot sub MOA with IMR 4064 and 162gr Hornady SST's
Out of my Rem Model Six in 30-06 I shoot sub MOA with IMR 4895 and 165gr Nosler Partitions.
My Sako A5LH Finbear in 7mm Rem Mag likes 150gr Nosler Ballistic silvertips packed with
IMR 4831.
In my opinion, its hard to get the best of both worlds with stopping power and match grade accuracy .
Barnes TXS
Nosler (partition)
Hornady SST series
all do well with stopping power

Sierra Blitzking
Sierra Match King
Hornady A-Max
Nosler Ballistip
All do well with accuracy, they aren't built to deliver any penetration power.
 

Ken S.

Bearcat
Joined
Aug 9, 2013
Messages
50
Location
Ambridge, PA
A Collet die and precision mic will do wonders to the size of your group. Correctly loaded a brand new rifle is easily capable of sub-MOA groups at 200m. Just takes practise
 
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