Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30-06 vs 300 H&H

Square jaw; chiseled features - Marlboro Man. Those gemsbok are really good table fare aren't they.

To the OP, I worked with the 300 Win Mag a lot in the eighties. Enough to decide I was going to by-pass the 300s completely and go right to the 338/340s and never regretted that.

My over/ under is a 375 and a 30/06.

I've owned several turdy aught six's over my not so many years in various versions; Bolt actions, semi-autos, & pump actions but only hunted with one. Yup an old Remington pump that was handed down from my uncle. It shot a � MOA of a house but did manage to maim & mutilate my first deer in the North woods of Maine at the age of 16. But somewhere a long the way, probably after fulfilling my military contract with the US Marine Corps, I decided I no longer liked cartridges that were/are designed by people to kill other people. If you total up how many people have been killed by the 30-06 & how many animals have been killed with the same cartridge it might be a push these days. So the history of the 06 is something that I prefer not to be associated with unless I decide I'm tired of all the stupid people in the world and it becomes legal to hunt said folks.
Now on the other hand you have a 375 H&H that was design to be used in double rifles & bolt action rifles for killing game animals. Then around 1924 or so the Holland and Holland company neck the 375 cartridge down to .30 caliber & produced the 300 H&H, for hunting/killing game.
To my knowledge at no time was the H&H cartridges designed to kill people, never been put in a machine gun etcetera. It's whole concept was and has been to produce a excellent HUNTING cartridge. And I personally think that Holland & Holland did a fine job in doing so.

If this means I also need to purchase tweed so be it. But my choice is for the 300H&H. It will do everything better than the 06, period.

I sold all my 338-06's and was going to build another but decided to go with a 30 caliber of some type.

I had it narrowed dowan to 30-06, 300 Win Mag, and 300 H&H. I certainly could have thrown all three in a hat, picked one, and be satisfied.

Action was/is a 70 classic, so it can easily handle all three.

I chose the 300 H&H. Why?

I plan on loading 200gr bullets to replace my 338-06's. The extra powder capacity certainly isn't going to hurt. If I do not like the 200's, I am certain a 180gr of some flavor will work.

If I want a 30-06, I am sure I can dump a little less powder in the case to achieve said ballistics.

Whatever happened to old "Meat in the Pot"?

Funny considering France wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the '06 (a least in part).

Every firearm in existence owes that existence to military purpose. To later claim some calibers are 'military' and others are 'sporting' is silly to me. It is the user that determines the purpose of his tool. Not all guns are weapons, just as not all rocks are weapons. Some rocks are put into walls with mortar and become houses. Some cartridges built nations through bloodshed. Still, it is the nut behind the bolt, not the headstamp on the cartridge, that creates purpose.

I just returned from an elk hunt and took two guns with me.......a M-70 in .30-06 and a M-721 in .300 H&H.

The .300 H&H stayed in the cabin all season as a back up....it's extra velocity wasn't enough to overcome the weight difference of the M-70 featherweight.

300 H&H ammo comes with little white flags you hand out to the game so they can just surrender when they see what you are using

Midway sell the white flags? Mine only comes with modern bullets and powder and is comparable to any 300 mag in production today performance wise. No tweed no excuses. LOL

Don't need any "white flags" with an ought six.

Give me one example where a double rifle was used by any countries military?

I don't have one, WBill. I was referring to gun powder propelling a projectile. And then putting the powder and bullet into a case that has priming. The whole progression and evolution of firearms has been for military purpose first, if in idea inception if not in practice. I don't know of any examples, but I am sure that a double rifle has been used to military purpose at some point in history.

Is a double somehow untainted? Are there cartridges that are untainted, while others are bathed in the blood of millions? Firearms are tools. Their first use was military in nature. As I said, the distinction lies within the individual holding the gun, not the inherent nature of the gun. That is all propaganda, like the term 'assault rifle'. Only humans have motives. Tools are just collections of atoms.

My 06's have no white flags either.

That is because the 30-06 is so anemic that it gives the animals a fair chance. The H&H is so potent that they know they can't get away and just have to surrender

Sounds more like the H&H needs a gimmicky white flag.

The .30 Holland is neither terribly efficient nor overly potent.
It is a cool old cartridge that was designed to give good game performance and maintain low chamber pressures and slick operation in about any conditions.

It succeeded...

With the use of smokeless powder it became something more, and thus started the era of high performance magnum rifles. With todays rifles and cartridges, it is easy to better the performance of the H&H cartridge.
But that don't make it a bad choice...

Rifle shooting on game has evolved until many question the need for pushing heavy bullets at high speed. So be it.
Some will always appreciate the capability to do so...

Think i'll go load up some 194 Matrix and see what the old new super thirty will do tomorrow. Throw in some 208 A-Max's and Berger 210 vlds while at the bench. I'll leave the tweed at home.

The more I read your notes, the more I like your responses. Nothing like a dude who has been there and done that. Nice post.

I've been playing with 180 BTs in mine...