Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Who Championed the 06?

"One of the first, and certainly the most publicized, sporting use of the .30-06 was on Theodore Roosevelt�s safari in 1909...It was the 1909-1910 Roosevelt safari that clinched the historical record of the .30-06."

Craig Boddington

THE .30-06 � Still America�s Best!

Stewart Edward White, T. R., E. C. Crossman and Paul Curtis

This is slightly off topic.
If the U S Army had adopted the 7x57mm instead of scaling that cartridge up to 7.62x63mm, would we be extolling the virtues of the 7x57?
What say you?

mart,

One possible reason Elmer Keith didn't like the .30-06 and Townsend Whelen did was Keith's tendency to taking raking shots on various big game animals, often right up the wazoo.

Even then, Elmer might have revised his opinion of the .30-06 if he'd actually grasped the virtues of Nosler Partitions when they became available. But appatrently he just didn't get it, since he kept using cup-and-cores for most of his hunting, even when many performed very poorly.

I sure could be wrong but it seems to me that Elmer had his mind made up about the standard types of rounds b4 he did much with a Noz Part etc.

Guess I'm wondering out loud what his thoughts would of been had he used an 06 with a 200 Noz Pt @ 2650-2700?

Oops...sorry just caught JB's post up above.

Dober

US Govt, simple economics, and actual field performance.

By the time WW1 was over, the abilities of the '06 was so ingrained that it became, as one writer said, the cartridge against which all others are compared. As posted, tens of thousands of returning GI's and, of course, the sell off of surplus 03's for a few dollars each didn't hurt things.

I know you are/were looking for A person or persons who promoted the 06 B U T...

I don't think any ONE person could do as much as Uncle Sam.

In one of JOCs books he mentions that if he could only use
one rifle for everything it would be the 30-06.

Kinda off topic but if y'all haven't read up on the Battle of Belleau Wood then you are missing out. Miracle at Belleau Wood by Alan Axelrod is a good one.

CT, according to Axelrod, the Marines didn't crawl through that field, but marched in ranks. They actually developed a tactic that involved them walking and shooting at heinies from the hip as they approached their objective.

I guess that's right. I cut my teeth on old Cactus Jack's writings. I lived for the mailman in those days to bring another Outdoor Life. I've got an old copy of his guns for big game edition,and his opinions of the 06. He really did have a lot of good to say about it. The 270 just overshadowed it in his experiances. In fact all the scribes of the day took a crack at it. A love/hate relationship for sure. My father-in-law did a stint with it in the service. Coming home with the same opinion as every other enlisted man. He still has the 721 30/06 he bought as soon as they hit the hardware store shelf. $90.00 with 3 boxes of ammo I believe. Maybe it was $75.00. At any rate you couldn't sell him on ANY other round. He allows the 270 is pretty good deer medicine,but no ought six. And so it went for millions of young men. Enough money for A deer rifle. ONE! Can't imagine it,lol. They just spent a hitch in Europe or who knows where. Carrying a 30/06 and seeing first hand how effective it was. Most of these boys came from families where there might have been an old lever action of some sort. Or nothing at all. It's no wonder they fell in love with the round. Rightly so. I was curious if there was any one person that could be called the O'connor of the 06.

John,

I noticed the same from Elmer's writings. Elmer spoke highly of some of the bullets of the era, like the Peters Belted Bullet in 30 caliber, especially the 225 grain. It would be interesting to get the opinions of the writers of old on the premium bullets we have today.

I suspect Elmer would have still loved his big bores. Some of us just do, even though outstanding bullets are available for every caliber.

Mart

Who was that fellow who shot all of his North American game and then wrote a book on it? He started with 3 bullet weights and ended with two, I believe?
He might have confirmed the "one man one rifle" theory.

It was J.Y. Jones "One Man, One Rifle, One Land" he used an old Remington 700 ADL for everything in North America.

And before him, Grantzel Fitz.Not sure he wrote a book on it though.

Old Grancel wrote a great book called "North American Head Hunting" which details some of his exploits with the 30-06; an oldy but a goody.

Roosevelt and Stewart E. White were probably the first celebrity hunters to wax poetic on the 30-06. Curtis, Whelen, and O'Connor followed.

Powder technology wouldn't allow for a bigger cartridge. The dirty 30's slowed things down by a bunch as well. I don't know how many H&H magnums Winchester made before WW2, but I bet the majority were sold to fairly affluent men. After the War, there was IMR 4350, H 4831, a reloading industry, and magnum cases to play with. We have it pretty good.

ULA: Uh....yes! Bad memory

ME! Every chance I get.