Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Hornady 220 gr RN in the 30-06, actual hunting experience??

Cascade;
Good morning Guy, I see you don't sleep in much either, but hope you had a good rest and the world looks as right as it can be just south of us.

As I mentioned to hillbillyjake, we'd shot a whole bunch of deer with Hornady bullets and were happy with them to say the least.

I was standing beside a fellow who shot a smallish local black bear with a 160gr RN out of a 6.5-06 and it did strange things in the bear too. It was earlier than the moose too Guy, likely the late '80's.

Back when the moose episode took place I'd been considering heading to the Kootenays on a grizzly hunt as it was still doable here then, so part of my reason for the heavier bullets than I'd been using on local whitetail and mulie bucks was to test out some bear bullets.

The hunt never materialized and even though were swimming in grizzlies to the east of us, the brain trust in Victoria still haven't allowed any hunting for them since shutting it down. They admitted there was no scientific cause either Guy, it was just a nod to the support from the Greens. Wonderful, no?

As mentioned after that I tested out some 200gr Partitions, one of which shot through almost the entire length of a first rack whitetail.

After that I switched to the 168gr TSX which I still use today. I've only recovered one of them, which hit a 2nd or 3rd rack whitetail trotting towards me at about 200yds. It broke two neck vertebrae, clipped a rib after taking out the upper left lungs, wandered back through a full grass bag and lodged on it's left rear ham just under the hide.



It is the one on the right and weighs 167.7gr by the way.

Anyways my friend, thanks for reading and adding to the thread, I always appreciate hearing from you.

All the best to you and your fine family this year.

Dwayne

I have used them from a 30-06 to kill elk, but the loads used were mild. I used 3031 powder to keep the pressure down near the muzzle (In an M1 Garand) to prevent any bending of the op-rod. So my muzzle velocity was about 200-250 FPS less then what most folks would load their ammo to.

All kills were at closer ranges, from around 20 yards to maybe 40 at the outside. All gave me excellent results.

I should have kept better notes, but I can't give good details today because this was all being done in the 70s and early 80s and I swapped the 220 grain Sierra and the 220 grain Hornady back and forth, but didn't write the details down that would differentiate one for the other. Every kill on elk was quartering away to some degree or another except 1, and all were hit through the chest. I do not recall any of them hitting a large bone, but most hits ribs going in or coming out. The one that was not quartering away was quartering towards me, but the results were the same.

I also killed 2 bears with that rifle and 220 grain bullets and I had exits on them too. But thinking back to those 2 bear kills I don't know if the bullets were Sierra or Hornady.

Today if I were to do it all again I'd get some 220 grain Nosler Partitions, owing to the fact that is seems all 220 grain 30 cal bullets are hard to find today and the Sierra and Hornady are made on a very limited production schedule. The 220 grain Partition is easier to get today than either the Hornady or the Sierra, and I am pretty sure it would not be in any way inferior to the Sierra or the Horandy but likely better in every way. That's saying something because the bullets I used bought back in the late 70s seems to work well enough.

I like 220s I truly liked the old 220 grain Core Lokts made in the 70s, and Remington would sell them as components back then. I think those are gone forever.

My uncle used 220 grain Winchesters, but I don't remember what he told me about them, other than the fact he loved them enough to zero one of his 30-06 rifles for them if he's use them on everything from deer to moose and a few horses and cattle on the ranch. He had a stack of ammo he got in Alaska in the late 1940s and was still using it in the 1960s and 70s.

I bought a couple boxes of 220 grain Hornady maybe 2 years ago. I was I not satisfied with the accuracy. I tried them in a 300 H&H, a 300 Win Mag, a 300 Weatherby, a 30-06, & a 30-40 Krag.

I got better accuracy with 220 grain partitions, though I only shot those partitions in the 300’s mentioned above.

My question is, that with the quality spitzer-type bullets available, why would one use these pumpkins for anything? It has been proven many times that round-nosed bullets do not penetrate, nor kill any better than pointy ones.

Rose colored lenses maybe.

It has also been proven that big and slow out penetrates light and fast if you are talking C&C type bullets. About every elk I have killed with those 'Punpkins" I have found the bullet under the hide on the far side. Regular BT spitzers, I usually find the core and bit of the jacket.

Thank you, BC30cal.

Check out 200 gr. and 220 gr. NPT penetration tests at '06 velocities.

Pretty impressive.

DF

Any li ks to this information? Or estimates on muzzle velocity? Thanks.

Sbhooper

Perhaps the round nose buggers fit a magazine for smoother cycles.

Then you got the tube fed rigs.

I’d have to Google it. But info is out there.

DF

I called Hornady about this, and spoke to one of their tech people. He listened, was quite helpful, and told me the newest bullet, #3090, is designed to expand and penetrate to twelve inches in ballistic gelatin.

That doesn’t sound like much, but perhaps someone can fill us in on the density of that stuff.

Ted

Be nice to know what some of the other, lighter 30cal bullets were designed to penetrate to for comparison.

They should publish that info.

SuperCub;
Good morning my old friend, I hope that you and your fine family are well.

While this isn't a .308" bullet test, this is our own Cascade along with Gavin on the video testing all copper bullets from Hornady.



In past discussions about ballistic gel tests, if I'm remembering correctly - John Barness outlined some of the standard ways of making sure the gel test will be uniform. Again if I'm remembering correctly, he didn't feel that gel tests mirrored results on game all that well.

It's interesting to me that the Hornady rep told Ted that the 220gr is good for 12" of penetration as it wasn't much more than that I got from the moose and whitetail buck test. Granted I shot through moose hide and bone with the moose and the whitetail had some bone as well.

Still and all, when I initially switched to 200gr Partitions, in the very same place on the mountain where the moose and the whitetail died - I am one to haunt areas that produce for me SuperCub - I came upon another young whitetail buck who was headed away from me but slightly quartering to the right. It looked back over it's right shoulder at me and I thought to myself "here's a good bullet test" so I slid said 200gr Partition just across the right hip, one of the few times I've ever done a rear facing shot on an unwounded buck.

The buck collapsed immediately and after I got it home and all apart my notes indicate that two ribs were broken, the right scapula was shattered and the bullet exited out the throat making for 36" of penetration.

For sure it's an example of one and for sure as well one moose and one whitetail don't make an exhaustive test of the 200gr RN either.

For what it's worth we've been using Hornady GMX and Barnes TSX and TTSX for years now and have yet to see any meaningful difference in how the bullets perform on game.

Hopefully that useful to you or someone out there.

All the best to you and your family this year SuperCub.

Dwayne

Thanks Dwayne ..... We are all well (& blessed) here for 2023.

That's a great field report. The only premium bullets I've used on game is the old NPs. They've always worked well and to honest are all I have right now with the shortages. I've never been one for premiums for deer hunting as all my chamberings offer moderate velocity. The plain old C&Cs work fine for m here. I like to keep the NPs for the occasional moose tag if I get drawn. The last moose I shot was broadside with a 275Rigby and 160gr NPs at about 250yds. Moose died. Never did see that bullet again.

I've shot several , probably 5, deer, an elk and a black bear with corelokt 220s out of a .30-06... Not what you asked I know.

I haven't recovered one yet. Critters have died quickly and I like using them.

-Jake

That seems horrifically lame for a big game bullet, especially a .308 220. I mean, that's a bullet we all expect to penetrate well. For reference, modern handgun ammo for law enforcement is designed to expand and penetrate no less than 12" and no more than 18" in bare ballistic gel and gel covered by fabric, glass, metal, etc. So basically, Hornady has designed the 220 to penetrate to the minimum acceptable depth of defensive handgun ammo.

I understand the magazine thing on some cartridges, but not the -06. I know of zero tube-fed -06s.

I don’t buy it. If they are coming apart, then you used weak spitzers. Bullets of like construction will perform similarly and also be very capable on long shots, if they are a spitzer design.

Use what you want, but the pumpkins belong in the tube-fed rifles.

Not even close. A spitzer bullet is not constructed like a typical RN especially BT's. Look at the Sierra Game king vs the Prohunter. Both spitzers, but both behave differently. I think those who say the RN pumpkins only belong in a tube may have not shot enough elk with them out of a bolt gun to come to that conclusion. I have a few elk kills from 350-400 yards and in the neighborhood of 30-35 kills a lot closer with RN alone. Most of them were found under the hide on the far side. How much more penetration is needed? Will other bullets do the same? Sure and I have used them. I'm not trying to convince you to use RN, only saying you are just wrong in what you post