Hello dmyers,
For your hunting of presumably large (northern) whitetail deer, the Remington round nose 220 grainers, in your .30-06, aparently are about perfect so far.
I expect they will continue to remain so.
Likewise, for most African conditions (thorn forest and in a few places, very thick riverine forest) when using a .30-06, they are as close to perfect for antelope hunting as you could ask for as well IMO.
I’ve used 220 Hornady RNSP at approximately 2300 - 2400 fps, both in Africa and in Alaska, always with perfect results.
Up to about 30 years ago, the 220 grain load for .30-06 was very popular here in Alaska.
But now, many of us old buzzards are dying off and these kids up here all seem to only want the highest velocity possible, for any animal, even large animals in thick cover.
They usually don’t even want a .30-06 caliber rifle, and especially not loaded with heavy, blunt shaped projectiles.
Well any whoooo, my personal experiences with this load are that, when zeroed at 100 yards, it is still flying flat enough to hold only a tic above dead-on, out around 200 yards.
Somewhere out around 300, it is by then losing enough speed so that, one needs to hold about a foot and a half high.
But even with that, if one practices often, it’s still surprisingly easy to hit well with it that far down range.
Even at extremely close range, it is very easy on the meat (and skins for taxidermy) of smallish animals yet, is very capable of breaking the heavy shoulder bones of large antelopes and large N. American game, such as elk and moose.
I often say that the 180 grain is my personal minimum in the .30-06 for Africa but, the 220 grain is my favorite.
As for bullets, the Swift A-Frame, in my opinion is the best of the best in soft points, that are widely available today.
However, the Remington Core-Lokt at 2400 fps would be a very good choice for Africa’s so called “plains game” (again, in my opinion anyway).
All that being said, admittedly in wide open conditions, such as South Africa’s Eastern Cape and much of Namibia, a hunter would likely be better off with a 180 grain spitzer for large antelopes (and/or for North American elk, etc. in parts of the western states and parts of western Canada.)
NOTE:
Once again - only in my opinion, the .30-06 is a little on the light side for eland.
But, if for some reason I was to hunt them with that caliber, I’d load it with 220 grainers.
And as such, I’d bet a fair stack of cash that it would work, however not exactly perfect for eland that it might be.
Cheers,
Velo Dog.