So as some of you may have heard on here my wife finally got a hunting rifle. It is a 30-06 and I am looking at gathering up the stuff to reload for her. I found a great deal on some Speer 130gr hp and was curious if that would be okay for deer hunting. I am trying to load something that will keep the recoil down to a much more managable range for her. I know remington makes a 125gr managed recoil round that is suggested for deer and I know that anything you can load an 06 with will drop a deer if need be but I would like to know anyones openion on this load for deer hunting. I am probably going to load up something in the 160 range for her for elk hunting. Anyhow she sighted it in with 150 gr rounds and handled it okay but I think it doesn't hurt to load something up for her that will be a little easier on her. Any info would be appriciated.

Speer classifies that as a varmint bullet so personally I'd be wary of using it on deer. They do make a 130 grain FN bullet designed for the .30-30 that seems like it would be a better choice for deer.

TLO...a little food for thought mate...how many rounds do you expect SWMBO to be firing when out hunting mate? From experience, I would suggest that you would be hard pressed to fire anymore than three or four over a couple of days.

I would go for a heavier bullet mate. You say she had no problems with the 150gn bullets when sighting in...I'd stick with them. If you want a "range" round, then by all means load up some 130gn bullets for her for plinking. Just make sure that she is aware of the different POI between the two bullets for when you guys go hunting.

Cheers, Vince

The 130 grain Speer hollow points are excelent on deer sized game only when using head and neck shots exclusively. It will wound an animal without killing humanely if shot into the shoulder or if the vitals are not directly hit from the side. The penetration of that bullet is very limited and the expansion at 3006 velocities is explosive.

thanks all, I will look into a different bullet then.

my big brother uses them on smaller deer fallow/sika/reds outside of the rut. they are simply put dynamite. he shot a red hind from above and had lung come out the back. great on goats and very accurate, he has a BLR .they should be fine but..... I always carry a heavier load for when in the scrub and shooting during the rut. the thought of a big stag behind light cover doesnt worry me that way. I would say go for it but carry a secound heavier load aswell.

I'll side with Vince on this one.
If she handles 150 grn rds while sighting in she'll handle the 3 to 6 rounds she'll fire during a hunt.
One round, one point of impact, less chance of confusion, proven penetration with the heavier projectile.
Just dont use the "toughen up princess dry your eyes" line if she doesnt like the heavier loads.........

Maybe a nice stylish shooting vest with a recoil pad pocket. A lady at the club had a Browning model with a gel pad. She was shooting trap and skeet and seemed happy. Keeping them that way is definitely preferable :-).

yep, what vince said.

I come down on the side of the heavier bullets. As Vince said, if the 130-grain bullets are a good buy, use them for practice after determining where they impact with the gun sighted for your actual hunting load and allow for the difference in point of impact during practice sessions. Get her used to the rifle and when it comes to the actual shot on game she won't really feel it anyway.

You mentioned a padded vest; PAST makes a recoil pad specifically for women that is available through most suppliers (Midway and etc.) and requires no special clothing. It attaches to the bra strap and provides a lot of protection. My wife uses one on the rare occasions when she shoots anything with real recoil. Here's the link to the product: www.battenfeldtechnolo...-for-women

She is okay with the 150s so thats what I will be loading for her most likely. Her gun has a decelerator recoil pad on it and it works quite well however I will mention the PAST recoil pad for ladies to her because she may be interested in that if she wants to shoot my Mag or my 12 gauge.

Does anyone have an openion on hornadys 150gr SST for 06?