.30-06
-Additional recoil of the .300 Win Mag not worth it for the slightly increased velocity.
-If you reload: Less powder, cheaper brass for the '06.
-If you don't reload: Much greater selection of factory ammo.
-If you don't reload: Factory ammo is cheaper.
-Regardless if you reload: If you ever need a box of factory ammo, every store that sells ammo will have '06 bullets.
-No belt on the '06.
-Sight in at 200yds and the .300 Win Mag will drop about 40" at 500 yds, and the .30-06 will drop about 47". So the magnum isn't significantly "flatter."
For me it isn�t so much the increase in velocity, its what that extra velocity does. The .300 WM can add about 125-150 yards to what the .30-06 can do in terms of retained velocity and energy. In other words, at 500 yards the .300 WM will do what the .30-06 will do at 350-375 yards.
Additional recoil? Yes, but still far less than other rifles I own. When I really want to reach out and thump something I grab the .300 WM, not one of my two .30-06�s.
Less powder? Frankly, I don�t care. My .300 WM hunting loads burn about 10.5g to 14.5g more than my .30-06 loads. At worst I�m looking at 482 rounds fired to burn a pound of powder. Since I have other rifles to play with, at the current rate of .300 WM consumption that�s probably about 5-6 years � figure less than $5 per year, nothing I�m going to give a second thought to. Especially since I ***LIKE*** shooting and hunting with the .300WM.
Factory ammo? I ran a couple boxes of Winchester through the rifle when I first got it and didn�t have the dies yet. Don�t really care what the factories offer.
Cheaper factory ammo? As a handloader I don�t care. Apparently a lot of non-handloaders don�t care, either, based on the number that own .300 WM rifles...
Around here (Colorado), any place that has .30-06 hunting ammo is likely to have .300 WM hunting ammo as well.
Never understood the belt thing, although it offends my aesthetic senses. Started reloading for my 7mm RM in 1982 and have never had a problem with the belt.
Like velocity, it isn�t about the drop � its about the extra 125-150 yards you get for a specified level of retained energy or velocity.
As a shooter of a .30-30, .308 Win, two .30-06 and a .300 WM, I recognize they all have their advantages. I shoot steel and clay pigeons at 400, 500 and 600 yards with the everything but the .30-30, and would happily take an antelope at 600 even with the .308 Win. For elk at 600 I�ll take the .300 WM every time.
