Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Any love for the 30/06

Been a while since I used one, but generally have one around. The one I have now likely will stay, an FN in a nice piece of uncheckered walnut with a Lyman 57FN, made the year I was born. The ‘06 is really a bit overkill for our skinny whitetails, but certainly works. These days I load some of the small pile of 150gr NPs to .308 power levels. That has shot well in everything I tried it in, and killed the one deer I shot with it very dead indeed. Previously I killed a few with the notorious 165gr Sierra GKHP, which grinds your burger for you….

People don’t talk much about the ‘06, they just use it…..

I have had a few. Killed some deer with em but they're a bit overkill for our Midwest deer that aren't nearly as hard to kill as deer in the rest of the nation.

Doesn't take that much power to kill a 200# animal.

Well I’m a sucker for no.1’s and look at this 30/06 beauty!
https://www.gunbroker.com/Item/1044175193

I believe you are right!!!!

My latest 30/06! One of my Grail Rifles! Model 1950 Mannlicher-Schoenauer. 2.3x7 Kahles scope. #4 reticle. Want to plan an outing for axis deer now! Or a fallow. I like me some 30/06.

Now that is a beautiful rifle. 👍👍

Awesome photos! Great, looking, rifle set up!

I don't think it's dying or if it is, it's at a pace that's hard to notice.

Just looked up some rifles.

It's listed in the new M700 ADL, BDL, CDL, Long range hunter, SPS.

M70 Supergrade, Extreme, Featherweight, Alaskan.

Ruger Hawkeye Hunter, and Guide gun. Ruger American in Standard, Ranch, I-M camo brush gun.

Sauer, Sako, Tikka, Howa, they're all there.

No. To believe otherwise would be akin to saying 36-24-36 is going out of style.

OMG, the 30-06 is the "do it all" cartridge. I shoot an M1 Garand and use the service loads with 165 bullets. In a hunting gun, it is still a good load although it can certainly be loaded to higher velocity. My first couple of deer were kiled with 30-06 and the old 180 grain Bornze Point bullets. But then I became a fan of lever guns.
For someone who doesn't reload, it is probably the easiest cartridge to find ammo. Anywhere.
if you reload you can go from a 125 grain bullet up to a 220 RN. Stay away from the 220 grain though. I tried them and the recoil was severe. The lighter bullets loaded to lower than max velocities areOK for deer and recoil is light making it a good option for those who don't like, or can't handle, recoil.
Many newer cartridges have come and gone. Most of the new cartridges are trying to sell the guns to shoot them.
The 270 is a necked down 30-06 while the 35 Whelen is a necked up 30-06, much as the several cartridges based on the 308 Winchester.

Been shooting deer, antelope and elk along with assorted varmints with this 30-06 since 1976.

To me, the M2 ball round, 150 gr. at 2800 fps, is the perfect field performance cartridge.

Shoot lots of it from the M1 rifle.

For hunting, if one takes that performance, and adds to it the sectional density and ballistic coefficient of a 180 gr. .30 cal bullet?

You get the .270 WCF.


Don't think there's anything in N/A that a 168 gr. TSX at 2800 fps .30-06 won't take nicely.




GR

Yes

It's not slowly dying, it's fading fast. There are way too many rifles out there already for ammo to dry up anytime soon, but sales of new rifles in 30-06 and 270 for that matter have fallen dramatically in the last 10 years. Everybody that wants one already has 1 or 3 and the few people who don't have one can easily find a used one. Some manufacturers don't even offer either 30-06 or 270 as options.

That is what I used most of my hunting career, but it's just more gun than I, or 90% of shooters need. I still have a couple but can't remember the last time I hunted with either of them. If I lived where larger game like elk, moose, or grizzly were commonly hunted then 30-06 would probably still be my preferred cartridge.

Pretty much true. I no longer use it for everything. Too many rifles just to use one. An old hunting partner of mine has only used his 30-06 and nothing else for the last 45 years. A Remington 742 topped with a 3-9 Leupold. He jives me about my closet full of rifles, how much money I could have spent on worthless women and whiskey. But he has racked up a considerable number of game animals with his old 742. I doubt he has 500 rounds through it. On my last lease three out of five members used the 30-06 mostly. One 270 and a 30-30 were what James and Tommy shot.

I actually have no love for the 30-06 and it pains me to admit that I have one as my backup rifle. My first as a Remington 78 with a Leupy 3X9, I found in the LGS about six years ago which my nephew took a hankering to when he started hunting with me. Thing shot lights out so I sold it to my nephew and he's done well with it over the years. I then found a Savage 111 in a pawn shop again,(looked like it had never been carried or shot). Mounted up a 6X SWFA and it too shoots lights out but will need trigger work to make me happy. Both were bought for less than $350.00 out the door so little pain on the pocket book. 150 grain Federal Fusions shoot quite well and the most painful aspect is that I've killed my last three deer with those rifles when I carried them in lieu of my main rifle. You can't argue with success, even though like I said, no fan.

How many cartridges have a MPBR north of 250 yds and enough killing power to take down Class 3 game out beyond that range? Not many.

What percentage of hunters have been on a single hunt where they planned on taking a 250+ yd shoot on Class 3 game?

Those are the people for whom the 30-06 and similar makes sense to me.

For me? Not so much.

Fudds love it.

Loonies prefer newer, sexier rounds.

The old ‘06 is just too boringly efficient.

As Col Whelen famously said, the ‘06 is never a mistake, or something to that effect.

So depends. Your President, when asked by a reporter if he wore briefs or boxers, paused a moment to think, then replied, “Just Depends”….

DF

When I was about 20 I had a 39-06, shot it two times and recoil was so bad I got rid of it and used a 308 as my primary cartridge for about 50 yrs. Picked up more rifles along the way and two bad recoiler's for me were a 7nn mag and a 338 Win Mag. But shot them a lot and learned to handle the recoil. But once they were gone I never shot another magnum of any kind. Then in 1995 a very close friend died and left me his Paul Jaeger 30-06 which was his getting out of the service present to himself in 1945. Shot it some with light loads early on and worked them up toward max down the road. About 2016 I took it elk hunting and got myself a nice cow. Used it a couple more years and age got me to quit elk hunting. I'm 78 yrs old and packing out an elk at my age could pose a problem! But I ended up getting three elk with that old Jaeger rifle before I hung it up! Recoil from it doesn't bother me either, kind of liked shooting it. I think that first 30-06 was a Rem maybe a 722. Had a steel butt plate and have never shot anything that bad before. So never had any kind of love for the 30-06 but love some of the cartridges made on it's case!

Something about cartridges today is there are a lot of cartridge's that will do all a 30-06 will do and with less recoil! Oh yea. Few years ago I did a super cleaning on the barrel and tried cast bullet's in it. Using 180 gr cast I was getting a bit over 1300fps and about 1 1/2" groups at 100yds. Beauty though was the recoil. It's about like shooting a 22 RF with cast loads!

I have owned four 30-06 rifles. The first was a Remington 760 pump that my mother purchased from my uncle when I was around 14yo. Like "DonFisher" said above those rifles in 30-06 with steel butt plates (plus we did not put a scope on it for many years so it was extra light) would sure get your attention, especially for a 14yo skinny boy.

A Cooper Excalibur, that I gave to my grandson, was a heavy rascal but would put five rounds into less than an inch with most factory ammo. A JC Higgins 50 and a 51 round out my 30-06 collection now.

I think the sales have slowed considerably for a 30-06 with so many modern (newer anyway) cartridges available today, and people have learned that you do not need all of that recoil to kill game.

If a Fudd lets you know his ‘06 kicks him, he’s probably getting up in age. But they do kick, but less than a big magnum.

I like 125-130 gr bullets at 3,100 fps. To me they smack’em hard and recoil, even for a seasoned Fudd, isn’t that bad.

I get good exits on WT’s and they do a job on hogs.

I shoot other rounds, do like my ‘06’s.

DF