Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Is the the 30-06 still the king of whitetail cartridges?

Battue: How's that for a first buck!


I got to watch the show from a distance,and pull the truck around to gather in all the perps....but also got to pose for the hero shot per order of his Dad who is an old buddy from Wyoming...pretty good, huh?

Good show, Bob!

I just bought another 30-06 last weekend. It is one that I have wanted to own for some time but it just never came together. It is a Ruger M77 MkII. Yes, it's about as "plain vanilla" and "unexciting" to a rifle loony as they get, but it is wonderful to me! That CRF action feeds those unbelted rounds up into the chamber slick as greasy sausages. I still need to work on the trigger to bring out the best in my ability, but it shoots really well. It wears a Bushnell Elite 3200 3-9x40 in low Ruger rings. I would prefer an American-made Leupold scope on it but that Bushnell Elite was available and is a pretty dang good scope for a foreign job. For deer I'll shoot my 180 grain SSTs until they run out. If I ever draw an elk tag I'll switch to Hornady 220 RNs. I really didn't need another rifle but my daughter stold my Weatherby and the 03-A3 is an open-sight gun. I just wanted this rifle. Now I have it. Life is good. I thank God.

...or the 270 shooting a 110 TTSX at 3400; or a 280 shooting a 120TTSX at 3250....ad nauseum... ad infinitum......that all sounds pretty "25/06-ish" to me

Like I been sayin' there is more that's similar about them than there is different....it's all in the projectiles,not the launching pad......

stubblejumper I am about to conclude that you just don't like the 270,since you seem drawn to everything around it that all does the same stuff....and of course vice versa!

30-06? I thought the 7x64 Brenneke was king of the whitetail cartridges. Anybody else heard different?

Well it is a great Buck no matter the sequence and pretty good is putting it mildly. My first I missed and while it was not that big, it was a dandy mountain Buck.

He tried to give himself to me. I was 12, by myself-Dad had let me do a little circle on my own-and couldn't pull it off. I can still see him standing there while I emptied and old open sight 8mm. Finally I got close enough that he said goodbye.

Give the young man a well done hug when you have the chance.

With a lot of us older hunters the 30-06 and the 270 will always be our choice of calibers. We grew up with them, took deer with them and could go into any store and fine ammo for them. You also have a good choice of loads to hunt with. I'll stay with my Remington 30-06 Mountain rifle. There are a lot of great calibers out there it's a personal choice.

Naturally there are more 30-06 rifles than anything else but what is meant by "still the king of whitetail rounds"?
As compared to a 270 or 7 mag at the longer ranges, a 30-06 drops more and drifts more, but do these qualities make it king? I dunno.....

The '06 was my first. I prefer its little brother (308 Win.) now.

100% agree!~

..same here. I was skinny 16 year old kid with a 700 BDL that kicked the snot out of me...it was a big mistake. Guess I've had an aversion to the 06 since then...

Probably the bigger reason I don't shoot/hunt with 06 is I like short actions and short barrels. The Remington 600, SEVEN and 700 Short action with 18-20" barrels are my favorites...

So the only 06 that has been in the safe in the last 40 years since the 700 was traded for a 7x57mm is an 1903 Springfield...

Bob

Battue, he got that and a hearty congrats all around! He was also told what a lucky young man he was to have killed such a buck.....many hunt for a few years and never get one as good....the young fellow is a perfect gentleman and thanked us all for helping.....the father is a hell of a guy and good hunter.The boy has been brought up correctly.