I'm putting this post in reloading because the critical question for me was how would copper bullets work on a deer. I made the switch this year to copper bullets. I was naturally a little nervous: Would they expand well, would the deer go down quickly, etc...?

I didn't want a real hot load. I have had some surprising signs of pressure in this gun with bullets having a long bearing surface, I suspect the bore is a little tight. I used a medium load of H4350, 58 grains under 150 grain federal copper bullets. Very accurate. From load data, probably going 27-2800fps. No signs of pressure.

A nice chunky 8 point buck poked his head up over the weeds tonight at about 100 yards, requiring a neck shot. DRT. The bullet missed the spine but made a nice wide exit wound and a good wide wound channel. Here's a couple pics for your education and enjoyment.

More data is needed. But the wound channel was encouraging.

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"Free dirt, you dig."

I like the all copper bullets and have moved to them for most of my big game hunting.

That is a nice buck - great job!

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Regards,

Tom

Nice buck. Good shot.

The future of hunting, shooting, and reloading ammunition will be much different than my experiences over the past 49 years. New innovations, new products, new laws to contend with.

Since the late 1980s I have moved almost entirely to home-cast bullets, including most hunting uses. But I live in Colorado with lawmakers intent upon outdoing anything the California crowd can do. How much longer will lead-alloy bullets be allowed?

When I started in 1972 a box of .30-06 hunting ammo was about $4.00 or $5.00 at a retail store (about 20-25 cents per round), and I was reloading to save money! When .38 Special factory ammo was $5.00 or $6.00 per box (10-12 cents per round) I was reloading with cast bullets for $0.68 per box (1.4 cents per round).

It is a whole new world. I suppose we will all have to adjust and learn how to deal with it.

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Life of the party until 8:00PM

Good job. 4350 is one of my favorite powders for 30-06. Glad to hear you found a good load that works with copper bullets. I am in this boat myself but I have not made a whole lot of progress working up a load so far. I hunt with my dad in CA most years and it's copper only over there.

A neck shot works........

even better if the deer is looking back or in a position with the muscles with tension on them
the impact of the bullet will act like a Karate chop and usually dispatch the deer in it's tracks.

I made a neck shot on a small buck that was looking behind him when I shot.
My shot just broke the skin & hide of the neck, 6" below it's jaw and
on the side of the neck.
There was only a teaspoonof meat removed from the animal.

Lots of luck.......... but it worked.

Nice Buck. I have been using all copper bullets for Deer and Elk for 25-26 years. Many one shot, dead in their tracks with Barnes TTS and TTSX bullets. We shoot them in 6mm, 257, 270 and 7 mm guns. I have used the 120 and 140 gr 7mm TTSX for decaded in a 284 Winchester. I will not shoot at big game with any other bullet. I have been reloading for deer since 1965 when I started reloading for deer for my hunting group, and have looked at 1000s of deer after they were skined and inspected the damage created by different chambers and bullets. I have decided that the old 30-06 with copper bullets is a little overkill on Deer size game.

I believe that, although I wasn't so sure about a mild or medium load with copper, expansion being my concern.

I have a couple 7x57s which do a great job too with less powder and less BOOM. 175 grain bullets at moderate speed seems like a perfect deer medicine at medium and short distance. It works from any angle, through shoulder bones, any vital organ shot works, and if they don't drop on the spot there's a good exit wound and a good blood trail. 7x57 with 175 would be my top deer woods load.

But... I love my 30-06 rifle. It's an old BSA lightweight. It's 7# loaded and scoped. It's very handy in the brush. It's beautiful and sleek looking. It has a really effective muzzle break, it kicks like a .243, no fooling. So aa neck shot was a good test for those bullets, especially missing the bone. I was quite impressed by the big ol wound channel under the skin. The hole through the skin was smaller, nickel sized, but the hole through the muscle was more than an inch across, maybe 1.5".

Here's the BSA 30-06.

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"Free dirt, you dig."

4350 is also my go to powder for all my 30-06 ammo except for use in the M1 Garand. Of course that gets 4895.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Yes, the slower powders are Taboo for use in the M1 due to possible oprod damage. Those in the 3031-4895 range are best.

I've shot a lot of Maine deer with a 30-06 since 1980. Most with 165 or 150 grain bullets. All hand loads. I've never hunted with a factory loaded round. The worst experience I ever had was with a Nosler Ballistic Tip. It was when they first came out, about 1987. I had a big deer step out into a field I was watching about 125 yards away. I hit him dead square in the chest, right in the middle of the white patch. He kind of stepped back a little and then turned sideways and I put one through his lungs. I found him about 100 yards away. I had hit him right in the breast bone but the bullet blew up and did not penetrate through the bone. I never used those bullets for hunting again. I have hunted with Partitions since and have never had to shoot a deer twice. It sound like the copper bullets are doing well in the field but I still think they are a solution looking for a problem. I know they're coming but I think I'm going to stick with the traditional, copper jacketed lead until I don't have a choice.

cmj8591, I used the Nosler Ballistic tip when they first were introduced. It was a 7mm bullet in my 7x57. I shot a hog in Ca. and the pig kept coming at me, a full five placed shots to put him down. All the bullets blew up short of penetrating. The pig weighed 425lbs. and stopped about thirty feet from me. I later talked to John Nosler at the Nosler store in Bend, Or. a few years later and he told me that they did three variations of the bullet until they were satisfied with the results. I will admit the bullet was very accurate at the range, but have switched to the Nosler Partition eve since.

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Kevin in Oregon

I really like the Nosler Partition but even though the price was always high for that bullet it is now prohibitive. IMO the Nosler AccuBond is also a very good bullet, almost as good as the Partition but at a better price.

Recent price for the .308" Partition bullet from the Nosler site is $59 to $64.
Recent price for the .308" AccuBond bullet from the Nosler site is $51 to $57.
When I can't find the Partition bullet I will buy the AccuBond bullet.

For Whitetail I will use a 165gr Sierra Gameking bullet because I can load a 168gr Matchking bullet for practice. There is no need to change the charge weight between the two because they are so similar and the scope settings are also the same.

In reality there are MANY good hunting and match bullets being manufactured these days. Many will perform extremely well and get the job done. Find the one that shoots best in your rifle and then go out and fill the freezer.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

They are expensive for sure but I think they are well worth it. What I do is use a regular JSP to shoot through the summer. I then load 20 fresh rounds with the partitions for the hunting season. Just before it starts, I take the box from last season and use it to make sure my scope is sighted properly. I go through a 50 count box of bullets about every two years. When I factor it into what I am spending to hunt, it works out to pennies. There are lots of great hunting bullets on the market now for sure but I have tended to stick with what I know. I've also shot deer with the 150 grain Hornady Interlock and they have worked very well also. When I hunt in Mass., where I live, I am restricted to a shotgun so it's a 12ga with a Brenneke slug.

Re: Op. Beautiful buck! Glad the copper bullets have worked so well for you.

Way back in the dark ages of $7.00/box Speer bullets, I got used to handloading 130 gr. JHP's (locally made) and 150 gr. Spire Points for shooting at the range and later hunting in Louisiana and Middle/South Georgia. Have used some factory loads of the same 150 gr weight. First deer was shot w/ a 165 gr. in a swamp w/ a .30-06 handload that was probably way out in the atomic scale. I was young ... and ignorant. Since then I have used nothing but the 150's in various US surplus rifles ... Model 1917, 1903-A3 or the wonderful M-1 Garand. Never have had to shoot anything more than once. Everything has dropped at the shot. None ever had to be tracked. All shots were 200 yds. or less, most within 150 yds. All but one was with iron sights. Last one was w/ a little 2.5x Weaver scope on a 03-A4 replica as I can no longer hunt humanely w/ iron sights. I have helped track a goodly number of deer shot with various rifles. Standard or magnum calibers ... not the issue. Always ... bullet placement. Very seldom have seen the problem to be bullets that failed. Light for caliber or marginal calibers ... have not seen such stuff being used in my area. This year ... will use the 03-A4 replica w/ some nice 150's. Fully expect to fire and then of course reload ... but not need the round. One day in my dreams ... would love to go out west and hunt some really big stuff. Not likely to ever happen. For my part, in the southeast United States, have not found any deer or hogs that have needed more than a .30 caliber 150 gr. pointed soft-point at any kind of decent speed. YMMV. Sincerely. bruce.

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The monolithic bullets work well, no longer a question there. I have a partial box of . 30 cal TTSXs I'm going to load for my son's . 30-06. I'm pretty stuck on 150 and 165 grain partition Noslers in my . 308s, and probably have a lifetime supply.

I joined the copper bullet crowd a few years back. Using the Barnes TTSX in 110 grains in the .270 with Reloader 16 powder. Good speed, great accuracy (under 1 MOA). Given the weight retention and penetration of the all copper bullets, I have moved down one bullet weight for medium sized game loads (deer).

Have been shooting the Nosler ballistic tips since they first came out. Tended to blow up rather easily and not penetrate but are super accurate. Have since moved to the Accubond as the game bullet in 130 grain, again with Reloader 16 powder. Get great accuracy (under 1 MOA) with a little more speed than I did with the IMR 4350, going just about grain-for-grain with the 4350 loads.

The ballistic tips were too lightly jacketed early on. I had a .30 165 gr. fail to penetrate on an average size whitetail on a raking shot. Found the deer but he traveled about 300 yards. I think Nosler has remedied the problem since then.

I have shot the Nosler Partition and the AccuBond and they both worked so well in the 30 cal. rifles, that I bought a box of 140 gr for my 270.

Only problem with that is, my JSP design bullets that I now shoot, usually only take one well placed shot
to the large Nevada deer and I don't think that I will ever get to load them.
Maybe if I ever get an Elk tag ?

Lead is still ok in Nevada.

The all copper bullets work & expand fine, as long as used as intended. They can still adjust the design so they expand in a certain FPS range. If you sniff around the manufacturer’s site the info is usually somewhere.

I’ve had great experiences with the Barnes bullets & more recently some of the Lehigh Defense offerings. Here’s a picture of a 195 grain Barnes bullet, started at just over 2200 FPS in my 45 cal Knight. The shot angled from the side, ended up in the neck.

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O.P. - Thank you for the Field Report and Pictures.

Currently I use nothing but Hornady Interlock Bullets
because their Accurate and I noticed Deer and Elk
don’t use body armor.

Hornady came out with the new CX (Copper Expanding)
bullet, so I’m going to try them when I can get them.

I to have been researching the CNC turned monolith
bullets. Very interesting. Going to be new territory
for me.

Thanks again.

300 Winchester Short Magnum on Deck.

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SD social distanc'n since 1889

I will use conventional bullets as long as I am allowed, but intend to explore the copper solid territory soon, as living in NYS it can't be long off.

Since this has turned into a bit of a bull session regarding everyone's favorite '06 loading I will share one of my own.
My all time favorite combo was the 165gr Grand Slam over 57gr of IMR 4350. I don't even know if they make these bullets anymore. At the rate I shoot them I have enough for the next 20+ years.
I bought a bunch of Hornady GMX's to jump into the all copper game but then someone pointed out that they are designed to expand at 2700fps. That's about as fast as they are leaving the barrel in '06 so obviously this was a poor choice.