Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 30-06 didn't impress me.

Dre I hear you...I just get tired of the "no one can shoot magnums" stuff on here. So I sympathize with the 300 hunters who get indirectly maligned, and constantly reminded how poorly they shoot.

Personally I have not used one in years.This does not mean I can't.....

Good to remember that bullets slow down. Much as I like the 30/06, a couple decades of killing animals with 300 magnums remind me they hold an undeniable edge at distance.

We'll never know what it was. But I have to be honest.
I missed my first elk ever about the 60 yards with 30/06.

It is indeed undeniable, but it has also been said that the 30-06 can kill further out than most of us are capable of shooting.. I also get tired of hearing people can't shoot "magnums" accurately. It is true for some, maybe quite a few, but not all... Little hint for the naysayers...

Details man, we need details.

I am gonna sight in my 3003 1895 takedown with the climbing Lyman today! None of that new fangled 30 government stuff going on around here today. However there is this pesky 308 Norma 1903 with an fx-3 on it......

Roulon Jones' place:
Idaho Broadmouth Canyon Ranch

It's always fun to AGONIZE as to rifle/caliber/bullet combo. The 300 weatherby is a 1957 vintage Weatherby on an early FN Mauser action, 24" barrel and 180 TTSXs@3240 fps. I also have a Model (pre-war) 70 in 300 H&H that loves the same bullet (3000 fps) but especially the 200 gr Partition, (2820 fps)although not as flat shooting as the 180 . The OTHER rifle is a Model 70 338 w 210 TTSXs@2900 fps that is also very accurate. I always take two rifles, so probably both 300s.

I agree. We should start a new thread describing how our buddies have missed shots at 50 yards. I have one buddy in particular that used to get buck fever so bad that I saw him miss a nice buck at 50 yards. He Fumbled around managed to fire off 5 shots and not even a bullet scrape on the lucky buck. He was using a .223 rem. Hardly a magnum cartridge huh...

Another buddy that I've hunted with since I was 10 years old was quite comical one day. We were hunting jackrabbits in Nevada and using pistols. I had my Smith 29-2 and he was using a borrowed colt python. Hey we were kids and passing the time away in a fun manner. Anyway, we busted a few jacks and they flew out in front of us. We were in full pursuit. My buddy with the python raised above his head, running full speed to my left. And I mean full speed, we both ran the 100 in about 11 seconds flat back in those days. He trips over a big sage, fires the pistol straight in the air and yells, "I got him!!". I slowed down to watch, so I saw everything that happened and later asked, how did you get him if you fired straight in the air?? But since this is an elk forum, I can almost relate to Dre's buddy missing an elk at 50 yards. I said almost. This is because your first one is always different:

I remember my "first". I heard a loud commotion in the manzanita to my right. Sounded like small saplings being snapped in half, so I wait patiently (more like shaking in my boots) to see if this big creature was going to come out. I stood there next to a big fir tree and waited. All of a sudden, I hear this loud snort, and a big crash. Out comes this horse with long spikes. He ran for the first 30 yards and then stops and turns back to look at me. As if he's saying ok, this is your chance, I'm not going to be here all day! I raised my rifle and fired 1 shot. At the shot he dropped, but I hit him high in the shoulder. A couple things I learned that day: Elk are big animals, my rifle didn't need to be sighted in 3" high at 100 yards, and the mighty 338 thumps the hell out of elk. One thing that didn't come to mind was: Hell I could have been more accurate with a 308. That's bullschidt, horeseschidt, and otherwise overplayed here at the fire. The one thought that did come to mind was, "hell, I could have killed that sucker with a 308". No need for a magnum at 80 yards, but it for damn sure wasn't a detriment to my shooting, accuracy or the placement of the bullet.

The 30-06 may not be all that impressive today but if you can shoot it still kills everything you shoot at as good as the 30 cal magnums without haveing to pack a heavy rifle all over the mountains.

Details man, we need details.

200 gr Partition makes the 30-06 kill like the 338 magnums

LOL, BTDT BSA, I'll admit to shaking so hard early bow hunting that I shook an arrow out of the rest, that sombitch had to have hit every step of my lean to stand on the way down, never seen a doe leave so hard and fast.

Another time was when a buck deer at best, was a little over a hundred yards away, he quickly appeared in a finger line of trees above me, he had to be atleast a tall 10 pt, a truly large buck, I was so excited firing from a sitting position off my left knee I held on his back and proceeded to shoot right over him, knowing full well my 7 mag was dead on 3"s high at 100 yards.

I'll have to tell you about the time a bear cub was backing down an aspen tree at dark thirty daybreak out west bowhunting elk one year.

A full on young man adrenaline dump, coupled with highly excitable loads of testosterone, plus, slap full of piss and vinegar, has caused me to make a complete fool of myself in the woods early on. lol