Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 30-06: Overstated versatility?

They don't affect the versatility of the 30-06 at all.

They simply make it untrue to call it the "most versatile" IF they are capable of taking all of the same game that it can, in the same situation. As stated in the original post:



The same way the performance of my car is not changed by anthing else on the road from a Yugo to a Porsche, but I cannot accurate call it the fastest, or best handling, or the most efficient in terms of MPG or....most versatile.

In short, I saw a lot of people complaining about overhyping a new cartridge while overhyping an old one and getting no pushback for it. So this seemed like an amusing thought exercise.

I kind of lost track of the original question there for a bit... but of course there are lots of cartridges at least as versatile as the old 30-06, but I doubt very much they would eclipse it in terms of animals taken with it over the years by the average hunters and number of rounds sent down range with them each year.
We have so many choices these days of excellent cartridges we could ask this same question about just about any of them and someone would come up with a reason this one is better than that one and then the arguments would start. I have said many times that if I was anywhere in the world with a 30-06 I wouldn't feel undergunned. I'm sure that would also apply to a lot of other cartridges also, but I would be willing to bet you could find ammo for a 30-06 just about anywhere also..

When I was hunting Africa with a group from this site with Jim Hackiewiscz , one of the guys who came along and ended up being my hunting partner for the 10 days had a Browning 338, which he broke shooting at a rabbit of all things. His trigger guard and trigger sheared clean off when he used the truck's roll bar for a rest and the recoil did the rest. He brought a 30-06 for back up and promptly took all the animals in our bag the rest of the time with that just fine- including the biggest Kudu of the group that trip .

It is easy to write off the 30-06 as being mundane, old, or just not up to parr with the new cartridges but it still does everything it ever did very well and you don't hear many complaints about how it goes about its business along with a very manageable level of recoil, choice of bullets , rifles it is chambered in, a variety of rifles it is chambered in.

Aye, its easy to lose track of a thesis statement amidst all the gun gack haha


Holy cow! The things that happen in the bush....Did he get the rabbit? And did it make Rowland Ward?



For sure! And that is an accomplishment...although I wonder if it isn't by virtue of just having been America's service cartridge through so much and for so long?

If, let's say, the US had just taken the 8mm Mauser while doing the whole "change the name and a few small details and hand in your homework as mine" job on the Mauser 98 rifle...would we not be saying the exact same thing of "32-06", and would any of those animals have died of old age? Or was it all based on the merits of the cartridge? Both?

Stir that pot!

IMO, probably a little bit of both. I'm sure the many thousands of GIs who used the 1903 and it's variants and the Garand in battle were quite enamored of it. The vast amounts of surplus ammo made it and easy choice to shoot cheaply over the years, and the effectiveness on game as soldiers came home and had families to feed all made it very popular at a time when there was a relative scarcity of adequate cartridges. All those other cartridges were very good designs, but were relatively uncommon on these shores for quite some time and the ammo was harder to find in hunting variations I believe. After WWII, literally tons of Mausers were imported for sporting use and they became slightly more common but I think the 30-06- being developed around 1903 and adopted by the Army in 1906 had a huge head start on them.

There is some small debate of whether the 30-06 cartridge was a direct design on the 8MM or the .303 , or was a new design based on some of the early lever action cartridges already in use in the late 1800s. It is quite obvious a lot of the bolt action rifles during that period were using the excellent features of the Mauser 98 rifles, which were a huge step up from the 96 Mausers and similar rifles of the time. In any case, as is usual in military procurement the powers that be wanted a proprietary design for whatever reason they felt was necessary.

Seems like a lot of people having a good time discussing something they find relevant to me, but ok I'll try harder.

I seem to remember reading something about it being inspired by 7x57 Mauser after the Spanish/American war, if not actually just a lengthened 7x57mm case. And in 30 cal because the US was already using 30 cal as its service projectile. But not confident enough to say that I think its true.

Makes sense, considering the investment in the 30 cal bullet for 30-40 Krag, and the dimensions of the Mauser round otherwise being similar. .473" case head, etc.

Every country was certainly looking to use some of the features of a Mauser, but except for a couple steps backwards like the magazine cutoff and the two piece safety, the 1903 Springfield was enough of a Mauser 98 clone that there was a copyright infringement complaint sustained, right? Not that the Brits didn't copy it as well, but with a bit more changes like cock on closing, etc.

Perhaps if the 8x57 had just been straight copied, a 270x57mm could have been made for Western hunters in the 1920s

I hunted with a 30/06 for over 25 years. I shot deer and hogs walking , running, limping, laying down, jumping , breeding swimming, sleeping, eating , drinking , pissing and probably a couple ways I done forgot. I'd say there's some versatility there somewhere. LOL.

Well, we can safely say it kills deer and hogs anyway lol

Maybe it's because the majority of hunters will never hunt a moose of Grizzly Bear or even the great bears of Alaska. Many may dream of one of those hunts or maybe even Africa but the plain God's truth is those hunts hunts are and have always been way too expensive for the average hunter. Just ask me how I know.
Life just gets in the way and then, all of a sudden you're too old and busted up to go. Africa was my dream and life just got in the way too damn many times. But one thing you could bet your bottom dollar on was one of the rifles that went with me would have been a beat up battle scarred FN Mauser in 30-06.

A better question to ask is how many here have more 30-06 rifles in their safes than any other cartridge? I know I do, because it is what I grew up with and know the "versatility" of the cartridge. And yes, I've shot everything from lizards to elk with it..

I just read a 4 May 2022 article by LJBonham stating the 30-06 is the most popular hunting cartridge world wide. It can’t be the most popular without being versatile. I guess that settles it. The good old 0-6 is king. NEXT!

Well, if some guy wrote an article that says its the most popular, that clearly means its doing things other cartridges just can't do.

I bet if it was never invented (which seems unlikely since humanity invents the same cartridge time and again to sell more of them) the most popular would be any of the others that can do everything the 30-06 does with the same level of recoil, etc. And we'd say "Well, its the most popular, so it MUST be the most versatile!" even though there are others that do the same jobs and many explanations of why it is so popular that have nothing to do with the performance.

But King of Popularity IS still a crown.




No lizards have ever pissed me off that much yet, but there aren't many up this way! Happy you used enough gun.

I've had a fair few in the safe at any given point myself. Went from 3 to 0 in the last year, actually. Hope I can manage somehow. Eh, I'll probably end up with another one before long.

Does it seem like there was an attempt made to say that it isn't versatile? Or not good, or anything of the like? Or anything other than "its arguable that it is the MOST versatile, despite that being stated a lot"? Because it seems like a lot of the replies are defenses of a sort unrelated to that. Spirited assertions that it can kill deer and peccaries and pigs, and elk, and African plains game...which was never actually in doubt.

More than a little irrational, but then we are rifle loonies I guess.

Yes, we are rifle loonies. The reason most of us are here. Also, we've all heard the saying that the 30-06 isn't the best choice for anything, but it works well for everything. Or something to that effect. I've used one forever, so there is some security in that. Knowing the ballistics and the habits of the old war horse sure does help a lot. When I look across a canyon and see elk in the tree line at 700 yards, I look down at my 30-06 and think to myself I sure wish they were 250 yards closer. Or when hunting in a place where you come across some huge bear tracks, you look down at the old 30-06 and think, "damn I wish I had my 338".. Or when a yote runs out from the high grass on to a clear field and you say, damn I wish I had my 223, but you plug him right behind the ear and it works without fail. With that being said, I have no qualms hunting rabbits with the old 30-06. I've done it so many times I can't even count. Running jacks with a 30-06 is a blast. Is it the best choice? No, but it works..

I've owned a bunch of 30-06 rifles and 308 winchester rifles.

I feel the 308 winchester beats out the 30-06 in the "versatility" department every day of the week.

Might be because the 7.62 nato cartridge I am most familiar with in military service.

Was blessed with a new 240l machine gun on my third and final Iraq tour, after clunky 50 cals for two deployments.

You'll find the 308 winchester in far more youth rifles than the 30-06. In that platform, it's much better.

You'll find the 308 winchester in many more mountain rifles than the 30-06. In that platform it's much better.

The types of powder used in the 308 winchester work more efficiently in 16-20 inch carbine barrels.

Regarding the heaviest of bullets, the high energy, dense ball powders like 2000 Mr, CFE 223 and leverevolution propel 200 grain and 220 grain bullets just as good as the 30-06.

100 fps over the 308 winchester, certainly doesn't make it more versatile.

Chances are @ near 71 I'll prolly never go to Africa,considering what one has to do to get there if he is not acquiescent and has a hard time with BS.
However, in the last couple years I've acquired 3 double rifles, one being a 30-06.
Yowsir!

GWB

I dont think so, the old Warhorse has a very rich history, 110's for vermin if one chooses, to 210-220gr solids for any other creature that's ever walked the face of the earth.

Ignoring the availability of the heavier bullets (I question the need, but okay it is more versatile by that metric) what is it doing that a 100gr or 110 gr in 270 or a 7mm cartridge cannot do...same for 160 or 175gr?

Is there an animal/presentation it can take there that the others can't? They wouldn't be equally overkill or marginal (to say the least) for any animal walking the planet?

At that point i have to go with massive availability of bullets and brass cases for the '06, as well as a ka-zillion mil surp loads already loaded and available, there has never been anything wrong with having arms that fire your enemies ammunition, it may do nothing specifically better than those listed, but does everything very well, as did the 7x57 in Bell's hands on bull Elephant ; ]

Gee,I guess that makes you the Grand Poobah of Versatility. Have fun.

I'm sorry I responded.