Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30-06 inherent accuracy

I'll agree with the concept of "inherent accuracy" being mainly an academic debate. If a guy wanted to determine said proficiency he would have to assemble a dizzying array of absolutely identical barrels made for the same action in the same stock, of the same steel and contour, and calibers and chamberings absolutely conforming to SAAMI specs, and thoroughly test them all with another dizzying array of loadings under exactly the same weather/wind conditions off the same bench at the the same time of day, ad nauseum. And what would all that prove? Nothing.

Anecdotally, I've owned a sh*tpile of .30-06's in my life, from early iterations of military rifles (Pre-WWI '03's) through modern commercial sporters, and everything in between. Yeah, I've been a .30-06 slut. Bore dimensions and throats have been all over the map, as well as barrel quality and stock fit. Pretty much what you can say about any other cartridge/chamberings in all the rifles we humans have employed over the last 100+ years. I'll only state what I've observed in my own experience: simply put, the .30-06 is A-ok. The most accurate? Maybe, maybe not. Versatile, especially if one has the good sense to handload for it with an amazing selection of bullets and powders? You damn betcha. More versatile than a bunch of other cartridges? Again, maybe, maybe not.

To debate the "inherent accuracy" (whateverinhell that is) of any one cartridge is akin to the old saints debating about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Especially when across the board accuracy of any given modern rifle cartridge is dependent upon how well it's configured to the codified specs set down for it and compared to how well other cartridges are likewise.