I have ordered a new rifle in 30-06

I have used my 30-06 on 9 muntjac and 2 roe bucks and hopefully will bag a moose with it this Autumn, can't see it being a problem with a red.

I'm using a 200 grain Lapua Mega with a velocity of approx 790-800 m/s, the damage has been very little and the exit is about the size of a 50p piece.
 
30/06 and .308 are interchangable in performance of small and medium species, so to is the feedback. It will be good on all deer up to and past reds. i would stay with 150 and 165 gn projectiles in a standard SP style.
 
last year I was using it on some roe and on reds with 180g nosler partition. nothing ran, no massive damage, no bullets 'under-expanded'.
 
Although I own and "used" to shoot a 30-06 the only deer killed with it was a road casualty Fallow shot at point blank range. However I had used the .308 quite a bit.

IMHO the .308 works best with bullets up to and including 165 grains. Anything heavier becomes the 30-06 territory. The .308 lacks powder space to give the heavier bullets the velocity which of course the 30-06 has the powder capacity.

Yes I have shot Roe with 180 grain bullets out of the .308 and yes they work but as I got older and gained more experience it became clear to me at least that 165 grain weight is really the ceiling for the .308 weight wise. Those days I didn't have the 30-06 that only being obtained about 10-20 years ago. Nope then I was also shooting a Ruger No1B in 300 Win Mag. The 165 grain bullets were cracking in that cartridge :D.
 
In my opinion Brithunter has got it about right.
For all UK species of Deer the .308 with 150gn bullets or the 30-06 using 180gn bullets is about right.
I have seen Muntjac shot with 30-06 180gn bullets and the carcass has been acceptable and I have seen Roe shot with a .308 150gn bullets and not acceptable.
So in all cases both rifles with the suggested bullet weights are good but bullet placement makes all the difference !!
 
Bullet design is more important than bullet weight per se.

If you match the velocity to the bullet you will be fine whatever you choose.

A search on my profile will bring up some load data and observations on various bullets and loads in my 06.

I've settled on a 180grain Hornady BTSP interlock for pretty much everything from muntjac to moose, with everything in between.

Loaded to 2500-2700 fps they drop anything suitable with decent placement and meat damage on smaller species is perfectly acceptable, about like Jonher describes.

For show and extra peace of mind I play with things like 200 grain Accubonds, 180 grain partitions and 168gr TSX but although I admit they penetrate better, they don't seem to kill much better.

For the first two years in the UK I used a 150gr Speer BTSP at 2800 fps ( 308 velocity ) and it did fine from muntjac to big rutting fallow buck, more damage than the Hornady though.
 
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