Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 30-06 survey - Too much gun?

As I said in another thread, if I was reduced to hunting everything in North America with just one cartridge/rifle/scope combination, the rifle would be chambered for the .30-06. I have used it on coyotes, Texas whitetails (that wouldn't break 100 lbs live-weight), pronghorns, elk and bison. It always worked, and worked well.

Good points by all.

I think it's more than is needed but there's a bigger picture associated with this cartridge...and that's it's availability. It's available in a large variety of power levels, reloading components, rifles that chamber it, etc. 30-06 is to hunting rifles, what the 9mm is to pistols.

I owned more rifles in 30-06 than any other cartridge. I don't care for the recoil but if I want a particular rifle, chances are I'm getting it in 30-06. I just bought a Husqvarna 1640 and my options were the 9.3 or 30-06...I bought the 30-06.

Stop screwing around with the 30-06. For whitetails on down a I'd recommend a 204 Ruger, and for elk on up a 458 Lott is more prudent.

The 30-06 has a bad enough reputation for killing things it's pointed at, stop using it and go hug something that really needs more love in this world, like an abused southern pine tree or a poor, innocent porcupine.

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says it all. Good book by the way.


says it all. Good book by the way.

I've bought 8 .30-06's over the years. Still own 3 of them. 'Nough said.

I like the 06, it is or can be loaded up, down, heavy or light to make it suitable for heavy to light game animals and to manage recoil.

In regard to recoil it's been my experience that within the mid range non magnum .277-.30 caliber cartridges how the rifle is stocked and how it fits an individual has about as much to do with recoil as what it's chambered in.

The 30-06 is a good choice for an individual who is a hunter rather than a hunter/firearms enthusiast like most of us.

I have 2 30-06 rifles. One is sighted in for 150 gr. bullets and I use it for deer and antelope with perfect results. Timber load goes 2700 fps and the open country load gets 3000 fps. The other is sighted in for 180 gr. Nosler Partitions pushed near 2800 fps. It is my general purpose elk rifle. To say recoil is an issue is foolish. You can buy over the counter light recoil loads. You can load 110 gr. Speer Varminters to 1500 fps for a fine practice load, many variations of cast bullets, many varmint weight bullets on up. There are many bullets well suited to loading the 30-06 to more mild power levels with proper bullet expansion. We would have been wise to have our hunting population to stick to this round instead of the many different cartridges that may be hard to get ammo for in a crunch. The 30-06 gives up nothing to the 270 concerning trajectory.

You have to realize that when this round was first introduced we didn't have the bullets that we have today. Sure with premiums like NP and TSX you can use smaller calibers on large game but until 40 years ago, you needed bullets with more weight in order to assure adequate penetration even on deer. Thus the -06 with 180's was the gold standard on deer and everything else.
Is it "needed" today? Not really. But with bullets from 100 to 220gr you can load it to do anything you want.

I have shot more game from 5 continents with a .270 Winchester using mainly 130 grain bullets a few 140's and a handful of 150s.
These animals generally weigh between 30 and 700 pounds. Sometimes you use what you have in your hand regardless of preferences. That said; IF I was limited to just one rifle for hunting I'd go with a middle weight .30-06, scoped with mid-range variable, a variety of factory loads in several weights and never worry about too much gun or too little. I am not so limited and I prefer to hand load so while I believe in the "all-around" capabilities of the .30-06 I don't use mine as much as I could because I have other choices.
A well constructed premium .270 bullet will often suffice but the edge for me has to go to the '06 simply because within normal hunting distances I can tackle a pronghorn, a deer, a coyote or a big bull elk or moose on a single hunt and I know I can break big bones if the need arises. Better a tad bigger than I need seems to have worked well for me rather than wish I had more gun to take the shot. m2cts

It's more than I generally use if I'm only after caribou - though certainly not too much there- but it's where I like to start as a baseline for moose, because I have used less.

What Lars68, Palidun and others said. As a "deer rifle" and up it's got a lot of versatility. Mine shoots everything from 110s to 180s well. If you handload you can pretty much dial up a combination of bullet weight and velocity in a recoil range that most shooters can handle. Even if you don't handload there's a good range of commercial loads.

I like the 30-06 as there is a lot of versatality and ammo availability.

That having been said I like the 270 Winchester better for my purposes (deer hunting)as it has less recoil and still kills our deer 150-250 pounds just as well if not better than the 06.

And if I decide to go Elk hunting I believe the 270 Winchester with either the Barnes 130 Grain TTSX,winchester 140 grain Accubond or the Federal premium with the 150 grain Partition would do just fine.

I dont think the 06 is too much gun but if the 270 Winchester will work just fine why put up with the extra recoil from the 30-06

So for me its not a matter of the 30-06 being too much gun its a matter of the 270 Winchester being better !!

I hated the 30-06 for the first 30 years of my life. It did nothing well - my 7 RM shot flatter, my 338 hit harder, my 45-70 was my hammer. In my 30's I started hunting more states and areas. I retained my bias and disdain for the 06 - till I started seeing it in action by the old grizzled guys that kept showing up with them. My grandfathers 06 has that blue-all-worn-off, white look. He probably only killed about 10,000 deer and bears with it over its 40+ year lifetime. My dad's used one for most of his adult life, my uncle - you get the picture.

I didn't own one till I was likely late 30's and it was a TC Encore pistol. I thought that about the right weapon for a 30-06. I killed deer with it with aplomb (a bullet really, plumbs are too soft in hunting season LOL). As I matured as a hunter - and tried out a bunch of different cartridges - I came to see the balance of killing power, tolerable recoil, and actual effect on game of a wide variety of calibers/cartridges/bullet combos. It was a hard day when I realized my Dad, uncles, and grandfather had it right all along. I still struggle with accepting the ole 06, mainly because it is vanilla ice cream.

I did come around to a 30-06 about 6-7 years ago when I was looking for a SS Ruger UL in 308. I couldn't find one but did find a smoking deal on a 30-06. I reasoned I could get 'full' 308 vels from my 20" barrel 30-06 UL using 150 to 180 grain bullets. I bought it and it has become one of my favorite guns, mostly due to the Ruger UL package. I did develop some 180 gr Horn IL loads for it and keep threatening to take it elk hunting. I get almost 2700 ft/sec from the 180's using H4350. The only thing keeping it home is my M70 300 WSM, my second favorite rifle. I'm thinking about the UL again because I'm doing a backpack hunt. A short 7.5 lb scoped 30-06 flinging 180's is dang handy. I'll likely use my go-to elk gun - M70 300 WSM.

In the end, I don't see how a 30-06 is ever a wrong choice in NA except for the large carnivores. Phil S says its enough and I believe him. I'd likely drag my 35 whelen along for the ride if after big bitey things. A 250 Partition has a way of settling things down.

Anyone who hunts all of North America travels by air. At some point, an airline will lose his gear, so he’ll need to buy ammo. For that reason alone, I choose the 30/06 above all others. The one thing it does better than any other cartridge is to be in stock on the shelves of places that aren’t really gun shops, like gas stations and hardware stores, all over rural America.


Okie John

I think the difference in most if not all of the cartridges created to mimic 30-06 performance is minimal and mostly all in our heads based on what we read or have been told over our lifetimes.....in other words, a bunch of bs. What one will do another will do. They are all deadly as hell if their bullets are put into vital spots. So I agree with going where your post wants to lead me.

My only thing is that I have never gotten the idea that a .308 or .270 is a pussy cat to shoot and a 30-06 is a monster. Load a 150 in all of them and I can't tell the difference. Actual recoil in all of them is negligible to me.....it is the muzzle blast that gets me flinchy if I don't concentrate and they are all plenty loud. Point being if you are getting beaten down by a 30-06, you might be disappointed if you get a .270, .280, .308 win or anything else that shoots a similar weight bullet at a similar speed in an effort to escape recoil. It may be the noise (even wearing ear muffs) that bugs you or maybe not shooting enough. That said, I realize recoil is subjective and people react to it differently and there are people who evidently see a great difference.

Worst thing I ever shot was a 12 gauge shotgun with a 3 and a half turkey load. That SOB hurt and left a mark....nothing subjective about it!

^ Agreed. On all accounts, especially 3 1/2's in a lightweight pump...NO THANKS!

^^^This!

For deer sized game I think that the 30-06 with 150gr bullets at 2910 fps is just right. Of course a 280 with 140gr bullets at 3000 fps and a 270 with 130gr bullets at 3060 fps are just right too.

I can tell the difference between a 130 Grain 270 factory load and the same brand ,shooting the same brand/type of rifle 30-06 150 or 165 grain at the bench or practicing offhand ,kneeling etc.

Yet the 270 130 grain seems to kill deer Just as well as the 06 with 150 or 165 grain.


It should as the Ballistic coefficient of say Sierra Boat tail bullets are listed as

.277 SBT
BC-.436
SD-.242

.308 150 grain SBT
BC-.380
SD-.226

.308 165 Grain SBT
BC-.404
SD-.248

Using the data here it can be seen that the 270 Winchester .277 130 grain bullet better compares with a 165 grain bullet .308 bullet.
A bit flatter trajectory,a bit less wind drift ,a bit higher velocity,Quite a bit less recoil using the 30-06 165 grain as a baseline.

30-06 is a great round and I have killed more deer with it than any other round
BUT for deer size game the
270 Winchester is a BIT better.

I really wouldn,t feel under gunned shooting the 30-06 compared to the 270 .

Wll,maybe a bit !! LOL