Has anyone ever run into a situation where a larger caliber, faster bullet, or some other combination was required to kill an animal – that a properly loaded 30-06 couldn’t handle?
There are times when killing isn't enough--you actually have to anchor an animal on the spot, and not just to stop a charge.
I was on a control hunt for feral cattle on a small coffee farm on the Big Island of Hawai'i a few years ago. The farm is about 800 yards long by 500 yards wide. It's surrounded by thick brush, and you hunt the edges as the game comes out of the brush and into the orchard at dusk. The upshot is that you're always near the edge of the property and anything that isn't anchored stands a good chance of getting into nasty brush on someone else's place. Hawaiian land ownership issues and local politics being what they are, that can make meat recovery (among other things) a monumental headache involving police, attorneys, and bad feelings that persist for years.
These cattle went about 700 lbs on the hoof. In three days, I got nine of then, killing about as many with a 9.3x62 as I killed with a 30/06. Nothing I hit with a 270- or 286-grain 9.3mm bullet went more than about 20 yards. The ones that I hit with the 30/06 (180-grain Swift A-Frame or 220-grain CoreLokt) went farther. One big bull made it into the woods with a 180-grain A-Frame through his lungs. About an hour later I got to listen to him scream as a herd of wild hogs pulled him down. Judging by the noise, they didn't wait for him to die before they started eating him.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm talking about one experience with only nine animals, but if I had to make that hunt again, I'd choose a 9.3x62 with 286-grain Partitions loaded to 2,350 fps over a 30/06 HANDS DOWN. The 45/70 with 405-grain factory loads might be even better. Neither of those cartridges kicks harder than the 30/06 with those loads, so they're just as easy to handle and to shoot well at speed. That matters because several of the animals that I shot were within 25 yards, and I was able to hit more than one in the herd at a time--those shots came about as fast as wing shots on doves or quail.
But short of a highly specialized situation like that or stopping a charge, the 30/06 is enough for anything.
Okie John
