Its not legal in Alaska to hunt Bison with a rifle with performance under 30/06 with bullets 200 grains benchmark.
Just exactly how many hunters actually hunt bison. Or coastal brown bear. No one is saying the 30-06 doesn't work on those animals. Just that for at least 99% of us, if we are really honest with ourselves, we'll never need the power. And if we do need more power than rounds like 308, 7-08, 270 etc., then a 30-06 is only marginally better and we'd really be much better off with something a LOT bigger than 30-06.
I hunted with a 30-06 exclusively for almost 40 years, you'll never hear me say a bad thing about the round. But lately I've found a 308 just to work better for me, and I consider it to be bigger than really needed most of the time.
I'm shooting the same bullets 100-150 fps slower. (And modern 308 loads are 100-200 fps faster than 30-06 loads from the 1920's.) I figure all that does is force me to get 50-100 yards closer. And the 308 is still got enough pop to work on anything I'll ever hunt out to 300 yards. That is as far as I can shoot consistently anyway.
For giving up that 100-150 fps I get about 20-25% less recoil from rifles of the same weight. Or, I can carry my Kimber which is 1.5 lbs lighter and get about the same recoil as the heavier 30-06.
Most people don't really want the truth.
They just want constant reassurance that what they believe is the truth.
