Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Remington 760's: .308 vs. 30-06?

I would pick the 308.

In that case I'd get the .308 if the prices are the same.

The rattles won't bother anything but you. When you carry it the rattle is gone. Add a 1/2-1" decelerator on the butt stock and kill the heck out of stuff.

Good Morning, Oregon45,

I like nearly all hunting calibers. I do have healthy respect for the .30-06. It is excellent for all North American big game. But then again, so is the .303 British, which was used extensively in Canada for everything including grizzly.

When I was neophyte I used to buy into magnum mania. So I bought a 7MM Rem Mag, which is an excellent western states big game rifle. But it's a damned heavy rifle albeit accurate. It will take big game with complete reliability.

My focus soon shifted to a light mountain rifle. By then I was slightly more wise. I did research. I learned how mammals die. I came to figure out that it wasn't so much caliber that fells big game. It's all about shot placement. Whether .243 Win or .375 H&H, no animal will live very long with its heart and/or lungs destroyed. This fact helped me narrow down my choice for mountain rifle, which I use for backpack hunting.

The benefit of the '06 is 220 grain bullets. The irony is I have never run across anyone who hunts with an '06 who has ever used 220 grain bullets. So I eliminated that from my essential criteria. A .308 Win with stout bullets will penetrate identically to an '06 with same bullet weights & design. In fact, a .308 Win will penetrate through-and-though the front of a car including V-8 engine block.

Truncating this treatise, I bought a .308 Win. I was surprised by its actual chrono'd ballistics. I found that my .308 Win gives up nothing in terms of ballistics to the venerable '06, and it does so in a smaller action. Moreover, it is far more accurate that I had anticipated.

There are few guarantees in life, but I will guarantee that no mammal will live very long without its heart and/or lungs. It doesn't matter what caliber bullet destroys these vital organs. With correctly constructed bullet, a .308 Win will penetrate heavy bone every bit as well as an '06.

Except for shooting 220 grain bullets, the .308 Win will do everything the '06 will in a short action and probably with better accuracy.

My advice is to buy the caliber with which you're most comfortable. It terms of efficacy, there is no difference in caliber unless you're planning on hunting Kodiak bears a lot with 220 grain bullets.

While I have and will hunt where griz lives, were I to buy a rifle not a .308 Win, I'd buy a .270 Win or .280 Rem. While the recoil of my .308 is manageable, I do not like being recoiled back to the Dark Ages by monster magnums that will fell big game no better than a .308 Win.


Best of luck to you, Oregon45,

R

If the pump rattles it just needs the rubber o-ring replaced. It takes about half an hour to replace it.

Does my 1956 model have a rubber o-ring? or is that only on later models?

You have the slide bar if I'm correct and then no there is no rubber o-ring. The older models with the slide bar just always rattle.

Chiming in.
I'd go 308. Less powder and recoil for almost the same performance as an -06.
When frantically pumping it if additional shots are needed , we'll never notice how long the stroke is.
You can always shorten the barrel with a less loss of velocity compared to the -06.

Thanks for the recognition !

The classic Amish Machine Gun is in .30-'06. Factory free-floated barrel