Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What’s go to 30-06 rifle?

If you could only have a 30/06 rifle and needed it to function under the most harsh extreme and rough conditions, what 30/06 rifle would you choose? Iron sights preferred.

Most any stainless/synthetic rifle from a quality maker will be more durable than a hunter will. A stainless Tikka checks a lot of boxes. And good scopes are much tougher than might be imagined. It seems like open sights usually are an “add on” today”. I’m considering having them added to a Tikka. I think I worry too much. 🤔

Springfield 1903 In military dress

Winchester Model 70.

Maybe a Mauser or modem Mauser type action

Winchester model 70

Iron sights make it a bit difficult but a stainless classic M70 or a XCR Model 700, both restocked would be my choice. A stainless Ruger MK2 might have factory irons if you get lucky enough to find one with.

Pre 64 Win 70 Featherweight

Iron sights preferred , but would consider a durable scope and mounts

My Kimber Subalpine.

The old Ruger paddle stocks are pretty bomb-proof and can be found with sights but you pay a premium.

Model 70 Winchester in SS……produced in New Haven! memtb

Boat paddle Ruger w sights.

My New Haven made Win 70 Stainless Classic in 30/06 is pretty darn near perfect!

FN Mauser with simple open trigger. Laminated or good synthetic stock. Nitrided for weather resistance.

One of the Sears rifles is a strong choice with its chromed bore.

NECG makes a very serviceable aperture sight for the Ruger. It attaches to the rear integral scope base. I put one on a MK II all weather in 260. The only caveat is the aperture is a long distance above bore line. It requires a fairly tall front sight. I used a square blade on front, as on most military rifles. This caused a problem as the front blade drug severely on the interior of the saddle scabbard I was using.

This is the sight I chose.


This ghost ring is also available.


Yes, a Ruger SS synthetic in 30-06 with an aperture sight would serve for most hunting duties out to 400 yds.

Of course, nothing says bullet proof like an original 1903A3 (images from Gunbroker)

Yep,,,Cerecoat it and wipe ot down your good to go! You can omit the cerecoat too,,,,,,,,

The 30-06 is a great round. People don't talk about it because they are trying to boost some new cartridge.


Just my 2 cents.

This Sedgley Sporter was owned by William Boyden for whom the Boyden hills are named after. He guided with this rifle for over fifty years. This is on the north side of the Wrangells. He took it through some of the worst glacial country on the planet. There are several stories of him getting stuck in some extremely nasty mountain storms in the middle of winter in which his horses died. The rifle has a Lyman 48 site and a compass in the buttstock like a lot of the guns from the area do. The bore is decent and the rifle was very much kept up. It shoots 220 grain federal blue box better than it should.

No idea how many sheep, moose, bears, caribou and even goats this rifle has taken but it is a lot. I had two collectors confirm its owner and it was verified by Kirk Ellis who remembers the rifle as a kid. The fact that the gun never let the captain down and the captain was a guide, freighter and market hunter from the 1920s to the 1960s when he sold the lodge to Billy Ellis.

Sure you might have a tikka or a Kimber or even a winchester model 70 EW but I have dated the rifles manufacture to 1935 and it was in rough Alaskan country until the 1990s. I traded into it in 2012. I have many 06 rifles including fieldcrafts, coopers, mannlichers, Prewar Model 70s, mausers, huskies, remingtons, 1895 winchesters, and other various. I would argue that this rifle, although Sedgleys were seen to be possibly tempermental, has seen a lot of country and has had many a night under the stars in the mountains.

You could go three years later and go with this 1938 Prewar model 70 in 30 Govt. It shot pretty well with blue box 180 grain bullets.