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

Very interesting Dirtfarmer!
I had a chance to shoot a Remington M40 a while back up here with the Redfield on it, but was not aware they used them on the M70's as well!
Cat

The 30/06 is awesome! Did you guys hear what Phil Shoemaker had to say about it on Ron Spomer's pod cast?

I’ve seen M-70’s set up like this and have seen M-40’s wearing that same scope. Not sure how long they used it, but must have been a while. Seems to have overlapped the M-70, M-40 transition.

Checked on line, seems that transition was around 1966, the .308 replacing the ‘06, probably due to NATO regs.

DF

In the late 60's or early 70's Bill Askins, Charly's son, wrote an article announcing the death of the 30/60. I guess you guys did not listen! I must not have either, I still have several including a Valmet O/U. It will still do everything it ever did and do it well.

.308 probably a more efficient military round, similar performance in a shorter case. Probably better for cycling in full auto weapons.

And with NATO going for weapon uniformity, the ‘06 just got bypassed.

DF

The 300H&H is a +P 30-06 which is not a bad place to be.

Steyr-Mannlicher Model M Professional with Kahles 6x42 scope with #4 reticle. Just about any 150-165gr factory loads seem to shoot extremely well in this gun

Several years ago, on a moose hunt in NE Manitoba, the "outfitter" I was hunting with claimed that the 30-06 was obsolete! Our opinions differ...

Guess it’s in the eye of the beholder.

Millennials would say us old farts are obsolete.

That makes me have an even closer affinity for the old round. And, as Col Whelen famously said, the 30-06 is never a mistake.

It ain’t a cool Creed but it kills stuff today just like it has for well over a century, 118 yrs to be exact.

DF

I meant my opinion differed from the "outfitter"! Just making sure...

I still use the 45-70 and 30-30 a lot. The 30-06 is what I grab when I want to go modern

I gotcha on that. We on the same page.

The ‘06 may not be uber cool, but to say it’s obsolete is absurd. Next they’ll say the .45-70 is obsolete. I have more of those than ‘06’s. They kill stuff with authority, far from being “over the hill”.

So, people saying that kinda stuff are just showing their ignorance. Hard to say it nicer. It is what it is.

DF

Oh, he turned red when I laughed at him...

There are plenty of '06's out there, so you can sometimes find a good deal. I bought a Ruger boat paddle '06 for $750, didn't like the stock, sold it on Ebay for around $350. I bought this Boyd Classic, cut off a bunch of wood, including the cheek piece, to save weight. Drilled out the butt stock to get the weight down not much heavier than a Hunter's Edge. Finished it with Custom Pro oil (tung oil/urethane) from Brownells, installed a Jard trigger. I like it.

DF

Edited to add, it also came with a set of SS 30mm rings which were also sold on eBay. So, the barreled action ultimately got pretty cheap. The Boyd stock wasn't that expensive and I work cheap. Jard trigger not that expensive and a big upgrade from factory, even after a trigger job.

Matt Roberts tells me my Fuddmobile is coming along nicely so hopefully will have some metal progress pics soon.

Look forward to seeing it.

DF

I bought this 30-06 FN (my first and only 30-06 until recently) from Carter's in Houston in 2003. A pretty high condition piece. It came with a 4-12X Redfield in Weaver rings/bases. I sold the scope and mounted the Leupold in SK rings/bases, sighted it in with 165 gr Hornady's then put it in the safe where it sat. In 2017 I headed to Namibia and thought I should finally hunt with the 30-06 so I worked up a load with the 168 gr TSX that shot well.



The first animal that was quite a hunt in the mountains.



The last animal that was a fairly long spot and stalk hunt.

A couple more .30-06's that'll stay put, I hope, unless the bug to splurge on something outside my reach prompts their dismissal. God I hope that doesn't happen!





[img]https://i.imgur.com/pjshYIhl.jpg?2[/img]

Pre-64 M70, after all every man should have a M70 '06 right, right? M1903 USMC Sniper for the Zombie invasion and/or whitetail kamakazi's at 300 meters. M1903 Style T target rifle re-barreled by John DuBiel in 1936, for when a fella needs to hit a nickel at 100 yards. Admittedly not exactly "deer rifles", but hey why not?

Who was it who said "There's nothing you can't fix with $700 and a .30-06."

If you ever dump that M70 your Fudd creds will be immediately revoked. Second on the motion?

Second.

DF