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

I have a SS Winchester 70 Classic 30-06 with some modifications that I consider the perfect all-around rifle. Someone had worked on the trigger before I bought it and it is a crisp 3 lb pull. It is in a McMillan Edge stock and I replaced the 2 piece steel bottom metal with aluminum from PTG. It has a 3-9X40 Zeiss Conquest in Talley lightweights on it. It shoots MOA or better for 3 shots and weighs under 7 1/2 lbs scoped.

I've been hunting for over 50 years and have had more iron sights fail than scopes. And the only scopes I've seen fail were cheap budget scopes. I've never seen a quality scope fail. I stopped worrying about back up irons years ago.

Both of my .30-06 rifles are Winchester M70's. one a pre-64, the second a 1968 vintage in a Mannlicher stock - factory, from Winchester. The 1968 is a shorter rifle, easy to carry, and surprisingly (to me) accurate.

Mike Holmes

My great grand uncle's 3-digit Winchester 70 with both a Lyman peep and an Alaskan 2.5 post-&-crosshair scope in a take-off G&H sidemount.
I've killed my biggest elk with it in the Montana mountains, and carried it for Brooks Range caribou in the harshest weather I've ever seen. Doesn't matter the weather, just wipe it with a light oiled cloth every night and stow it by the fire. It has been killing game since '37.

I already have one.a Winchester 70 classic stainless. However I believe Id go with either a husqvarna FN 98 or a military Mauser again made by FN in 3006, for several of the smaller European countries after ww ll . My old friends are nearly all deceased being 25 years older than me,but one who was there and a gunsmith, I asked this exact question to his response was if it had to be a 3006 take a Mauser as the Springfield had a habit of breaking firing pins. If it didn't have to be a 3006, take a lee enfield , a better battle rifle and more robust in rough hunting country. In spite of his comments I like my winchester pretty well.

Kimber Montana, just about the perfect carry anywhere do anything rifle(once you figure out how to shoot the lightweight little mule kicker)

MM

These days, I think a reasonable alternative backup for someone going off into the wild would be a lightweight reflex red dot like a Fastfire. They weigh next to nothing and can be kept stashed away safely until needed. Remove the defective scope, mount the pre-zeroed reflex, and soldier on. As you said, irons are vulnerable to field damage, and some of the new ones, especially fiber optic ones, are pretty fragile.

My backup sights these days are on one of the other rifles waiting for me at home, about 20 minutes away, if I feel like making the round trip. Most days, I’d just come back the next day……

I set up a couple of 10/22's with a rail that had a peep and replaced the front sight with a slightly taller fiber optic. Worked well and I enjoyed shooting them off hand in that config. Kept a scope mounted on one and the other without. Within a year, both of the front sights were broken just from range use and in/out of safe, neither were hunted. Kept the 6x SWFA on one and put a SWFA 1-4 on the one that didn't have a scope...it's a better mouse trap.

I have a 35 Rem 336 with a more substantial XS white stripe front site that's held up well. It's much more solid than the thin fiber optic sights I've used.

Mine is a stainless M700 SPS bedded into a Brown Precision topped with a VX3 3.5-10.

I'll take a spare scope in weavers instead of back-up sights.

I have a good old classic FN Browning Safari 30-06 born in 1963 that i should take out shooting. It will fit the bill.

I have a SS Ruger Hawkeye All-Weather that is about a rugged as they come. I’d also prefer a backup scope over Irons. If I couldn’t have that, then my Tikka T3 Lite SS would probably suffice.

Browning High Power Safari

Nah, get the standard weight. The featherweights had accuracy problems inherent with the design.

I have my three digit circa 1936 Mdl 70 '06 and love the gun, except for the weight, and the later pre-64 FWs were notoriously inaccurate.

My go-to 30-06 is a commercial FN 98 actioned with a LW barrel and a Pound'r stock. I wish it had irons, but I have a second scope sighted in for it in Weaver mounts, very repeatable and light weight. It has a 3-position safety and Timney trigger.

I've been hunting for 46 years, more of it with iron sighted rifles than 99% of the hunters alive today and never broke one. I don't know WTF some guys do with their rifles but I'm not a walk 100 yards and plop my ass in a stand type hunter and have followed coon hounds and tracked deer up and down mountains, through swamps etc. for hundreds if not thousands of miles with iron sighted rifles. One thing irons have going for them vs a scope is that you can tell by looking at them if they're broken or bent.

Some people could f.uc.k up an anvil in a sandbox.

Something worth considering about backup iron sights....not all of the current production stocks lend themselves well to using barrel mounted sights. A person's build and facial structure play into it, but most current production stocks are designed for use with a scope. A taller base mounted ghost ring/peep and taller front sight may work, but low, barrel mounted sights may run into problems with current stocks.

Why would you put a mod 70 or mauser in a synthetic stock??

The usual reasons.

I have a Remington 700 SS that I bought new in 1993. It’s been a great rifle that I have killed a pile of deer with, including my first mule deer high up on a mountain ahead of a snow storm in Wyoming. Good memories.

Agreed. I've probably always been 50/50 scope and irons and I never remember irons failing me. I have had some scopes puke on me