Bullet selection

[Biggun4214]

I'm buying a Bergara 30-06 and I'm gonna shoot factory load Barnes bullets. My question is which would be better, the 175 LRX or 180 TTSX? I'm hopefully going elk hunting this fall.
Twist rate is 1/10 with a 22 inch barrel.
Until recently I shot Winchester Supreme 165 and probably never shot 100 yards at a deer.

 

[TNRifleman]

Any specific reason you're wanting to shot a monolithic bullet? I have not shot any Barnes from my Bergara 30-06's but 180 gr Norma Bondstrikes and 180 gr. Accubonds have shot great.

 

[hunter0925]

If I was going mono in a 30-06 it would be lighter than a 180. 165 would have more speed which is what a mono needs for expansion. I shoot a lot of mono bullets but they are all hand loads.

 

[Jcalder]

Copper bullets do best when you can keep velocities up. I'd probably stay with the supremes if you can find them

 

[Biggun4214]

Copper bullets do best when you can keep velocities up. I'd probably stay with the supremes if you can find them

I haven't found supremes in 3 years. I started shooting Remington and less than impressed.
I figured I needed a little heavier bullet for elk.

 

[Biggun4214]

Any specific reason you're wanting to shot a monolithic bullet? I have not shot any Barnes from my Bergara 30-06's but 180 gr Norma Bondstrikes and 180 gr. Accubonds have shot great.

From everything I've been reading the monolithic bullets hold together and have better weight retention.
Bergara also suggests Barnes and Hornady ELD for accuracy.
Apparently the ELD are bad to fragment and have fewer pass throughs.

 

[Jcalder]

I haven't found supremes in 3 years. I started shooting Remington and less than impressed.
I figured I needed a little heavier bullet for elk.

I would look elsewhere than a mono, but the supremes may have been discontinued or rebranded.

 

[Remi]

If a mono I'd be looking 130gr-168gr. They need speed and you ain't getting that from a 30-06 and 180's


I carried 140 Accubonds in my 708. A guy on our trip had 2 pass throughs with 150gr blue box Federal soft points from a .308 on a bull.

 

[TNRifleman]

From everything I've been reading the monolithic bullets hold together and have better weight retention.
Bergara also suggests Barnes and Hornady ELD for accuracy.
Apparently the ELD are bad to fragment and have fewer pass throughs.

I have shot accubonds (handloads), Bondstrikes (180 gr.) and Terminal Ascents (175 gr) from bergara 30-06's and all have shot really well. Any of those three would be my choice for elk over a monolithic but that's just my preference. I've also had great luck with 168 gr. Berger Hybrid Hunters but prefer those for whitetails

 

[jlanecr500]

I shoot the 165 partition in the 30-06 and 180 partition in the 300wm

 

[Redfox]

I'm no fan of the mono's outside of a muzzleloader. I'm with jlanecr500 if I were going to carry an 06. I have only ever had 1 30-06 that liked factory loads over 168 grains, but your mileage may vary.

 

[Billboy]

I have taken deer and elk with my 300 Win using 180 Accubonds and 168 TTSX. For a 30-06, I would go with a 165 or 180 Partition or Accubond. If I were going with copper, the 165 or 168 TTSX or LRX would be my choice.

 

[EastTNHunter]

If you go mono then I'd go somewhere around 150gr. I used a 165 TTSX on an elk a few years back, but it was up close and velocity was not an issue. The monos are harder and need more speed to open up.

 

[DaveB]

Killed a 5x5 bull in NW Colorado with a 300 WinMag pushing 180 partitions at 3,000 PS. IIRC it was 120 yards or so....Hole was so big you could see Wyoming through it. Unreal blood trail, about 30 feet.

Old story, I hit a big big big bull at about 100+ yards and he went to his knees, got up and ran out of sight, right into a hunter with a 7Mag. My rifle at the time was a 30/06 A-Bolt pushing 150 partitions at 3000 FPS. To me, the 180 is the lightest medicine you should carry in Elk Country. And unless forced to do so I would not use monolithic because as noted, they need velocity to open and you may get a shot at 400-500 yards and don;t want to sweat FPS.

 

[Biggun4214]

From the research I've been doing the Barnes LRX bullets open at 1600fps. The 175's supposedly are still traveling over 1800fps at 700 yards. I'm not sure I would want to shoot that far anyway.

Deer will not be a problem. My average shot is 50 yards or less.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Jcalder]

From the research I've been doing the Barnes LRX bullets open at 1600fps. The 175's supposedly are still traveling over 1800fps at 700 yards. I'm not sure I would want to shoot that far anyway.

Deer will not be a problem. My average shot is 50 yards or less.

Thanks for the input.

Where did you get that number for the 175s? That's carrying way out there, just curious

 

[Biggun4214]

Where did you get that number for the 175s? That's carrying way out there, just curious

That's what the ballistic chart on the ammo box shows.
Several discussions online talk about the LRX bullets opening at 1600 fps.

 

[Jcalder]

That's what the ballistic chart on the ammo box shows.
Several discussions online talk about the LRX bullets opening at 1600 fps.

I'm not disputing that, the 1800fps at 800 was my question. The lrx is a long range bullet, so I'm sure it's made of an alloy that allows it to open to lower velocities than standard tsx or ttsx

 

[ScLowCountry]

Heavy for caliber in cup and core, light for monolithic. All in the vitals will kill an elk easy. Just do your job with placement

 

[tellico4x4]

Whatever the rifle shoots best.