Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Effective range of 30-06?

Hi all. I'm not a long range hunter, the farthest I've ever taken a whitetail is 247 yards with a 30-06. The deer was DRT. I just finished an article in the March/April edition of Rifle Shooter magazine written by Craig Boddington. It was an article on the .308 with the comparison to the 30-06. In the article he wrote that there is very little difference in trajectory at 300 yards and that "Neither cartridge is a particular good choice for much longer shooting". I find it hard to believe that I had only 50 more yards or so of effective range with my 30-06. I'm in a hunting club that has a pipeline and I am thinking about doing some hunting there next year. Will I really be limited to 300 yards with my 30-06?
Thanks

short answer is no....just learn your trajectory and shoot for practice to make sure you know the drops

Agreed. Either cartridge is "effective" at distances further than most shooters can hit. The lowly .243 Win is a sure thing on whitetails at 300 yards...

practice, practice, practice. A drop chart taped to the side of your stock, nor a mil-dot scope with big knobs, nor a magic bullet can take its place.
All that said, I've shot exactly one head of BG beyond 300 yards.

A good knowledge of the trajectory of your load/rifle combo will extend the range out to at least 450 yards. Most people never practice at that range, but practice is what it will take to seal the deal. Wind is way more of a factor past 300 yards, so being able to read the wind is a must if you intend to have any sort of consistency. There are several books that can help you out, but practice makes perfect.

I just joined a shooting range that I can shoot out to 500 yards. I'm going to shoot as often as possible but if im not confident in my ability by next season, then i'll stick to the food plots. I was just curious of the cartridges ability, I know mine is pretty limited

Bro in law used his Model 70 Featherweight .30-06 to take his cow elk this year, one shot through the lungs, pass thru shot, 514 yards I believe is what he said he lasered it at. DRT.

IMO yes. Until you have a range finder and know the exact range and have practiced at those ranges and have bullets that are efficient at those ranges, going beyond 300 yards is not a good idea. Drop and wind can be huge influences.

A 30-06 can in the right hands and when loaded with the right ammo handle well in excess of 300 yards. Without meeting those prerequisites, at best it's a waste of time and ammo, at worst you wound an animal.

You do understand that 300 yards is a long ways off don't you

................No! You will not be limited out to 300 yards with your 30-06. Sure! There are better long ranged 30 cal rounds (beyond 300 yards) than the 30-06.

But imo for Boddington to state that,,,,"neither the 308 or 30-06 is a particularly good choice for much longer shooting",,,,is a stretch and is also a very debatable statement.

Then according to Boddington, I may have been borderline in his opinion. I took a big bull elk @ 328 yards with one shot (and DRT) using a 190 gr Berger hunting VLD with a MV of about 2830 (w/RL17 only) using a 300 WSM Ruger Frontier compact, which basically give or take a few fps, is ballistically a shorter barreled version of a 24"-26" barreled 30-06.

Based on the massive amount internal damage, I can assure you that had that elk been 400 yards away, 450 yards away or even 500 yards away, the same result would have occurred given the same VLD bullet placement.

And the Boddington article you mention was only talking
about whitetails??

Have fun with your 30-06. And if you happen to range a whitetail
at 400-500 yards, and with prior practice you are confident with the shot,,,then go for it.

I don't see anywhere that Craig was only talking about whitetails.

On the other hand, I've seen many discussions of magazine articles started on the Campfire where the original poster got a lot of details wrong.

I know Craig has taken a big bull elk with one shot at over 400 yards with a .270 Winchester, and has also killed a LOT of big game with the .30-06, so kind of doubt he said anything about a 300-yard limit. But would freely admit I;m wrong if somebody could show me otherwise.

Perosnally, I've seen the .30-06 work great well past 300. The last was a 6x6 bull elk a companion killed with one shot at 365 yards last November. I've personally used it out to 450 on animals larger than deer, and it worked fine.

300 yards is a long way but the 30.06 is not limited to that range. Maximum range is limited by your ability as a shooter. Carlos Hathcock used a 30.06 and his effective range was much farther. He was an exceptional marksman.

The Boddington article didn't mention whitetails in particular, just that neither cartridge was a particular good cartridge for much further than that.

tedthorn, Yeah, I do know that 300 yards is " a long ways off". Just wondering about something mentioned in an article

...........Whoops!.....Because you mentioned WTs in your original post, I assumed with a question mark in my last post, that Boddington may have mentioned WTs in his article regarding his 300 yard assessment.

In any event, I`ll still disagree with Boddington regarding his beyond 300 yard opinion.

What does 30/06 AI mean?

.............Look it up..........

I'd think that the effective range of an '06 is about 200 yards...farther than the average hunter can accurately shoot.

It's Latin for catapult.

Make that further than the average southern California liberal might be able to shoot accurately...

there are lot of politically incorrect conservatives out there that shoot little sage rats and prairie dogs much further than 200 yds... in fact 200 yds is considered a chip shot by most of them...

No, you won't be limited to 300 yards with a .30-06 - nor are you with a .308 Win for that matter.

Boddington never thought much of the .270 either, although he seems to have moderated some since he killed an elk at 400 yards with one.

The main thing is being able to place the bullet. A well placed bullet from a .30-06 is much better than a poorly placed one from a .300 Earschplittenloudenboomer.

There are many ways to compare cartridges but for now let's compare a .30-06 pushing a 168g TTSX to 2900fps versus a .300WM pushing the same bullet to 3150fps. Using Barnes published BC of .470 and zeroing both for Maximum Point Blank Range for a 6" diameter target (maximum deviation from line of sight = +3" and -3"), they look something like this:

Zero
.30-06 =247 yards
.300WM = 265 yards

MPBR
.30-06 = 290 yards
.300WM = 312 yards

300 Yards
.30-06 = -3.9", 2352fps, 2063fpe
.300WM = -2.2", 2572fps, 2467fpe

400 yards
.30-06 = -16.30", 2184fps, 1779fpe
.300WM = -12.0", 2395fps, 2139fpe

500 yards
.30-06 = -35.9", 2022fps, 1525fpe
.300WM = -28.0", 2225fps, 1847fpe

Wind deflection
.30-06 = 17.9" @ 500 yards
.300WM = 16.0" @ 500 yards

In other words, the .30-06 with that load is, at 500 yards, virtually identical to a .30-30 at 50 yards if loaded with a 170g Partition RN running 2150fps at the muzzle.

Losing any sleep over the difference yet? Me neither.

For myself, I wouldn't hesitate using my .30-06's at 500 yards on elk. For mule deer I'd easily go to 600 if using a bullet that would expand reliably at whatever the remaining velocity was (likely around 1850fps).

I like my .30-06s, all three of them, and my .300WM. None are going anywhere. Of the last 5 elk I've taken, 3 were with a .30-06, one with a .300WM and one with a .338WM. Which ones hit the ground the fastest? The three taken with the .30-06s.