Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30-06 for plains game

The 200 gr. Nosler do work well, but you won't be able to tell any difference in them and the 180 gr. Nosler...In the 30-06 I use the 180 gr. Nosler exclusively and in my 300 H&H loaded to the gills I use the 200 gr. Nosler.

The Win. pre 64, in 30-06, filled with 180 Noslers needs no help from anyone, it has been proving its validity for decades and anyone thats used it knows its still king of the hill.

BTW it also kills Lion and buffalo pretty darn well, and with a solid about every PH I know began his dangerous game career as a youth with the 30-06 killing his first elephant, buffalo or Lion with it....

A few years ago Jim Carmichael with Outdoor Life had an article in that magazine about the 30-06 for african plains game. It was a very positive critique of his use of the 30-06 on a variety of animals.

When it's plains game and you can't do it with a
.30-06....then you wasn't going to do it with anything else either.....

Let's face it, most of us are remarkably comfortable with the 20 pounds of recoil that the .30-'06 produces in the average 8-9 pound rifle. The recoil is quite manageable, so we shoot it well.

Good shooting and being totally comfortable with a rifle absolutely trumps anything else.

Ray is right, in talking to the professional hunters I've hunted with over the years, literally every one cut their teeth on dangerous game with either the .308 or the .30-'06.

Hey, the .30-'06 simply works.

The '06 user has the the added advantage that if your ammo is lost twixt home and Africa, you can generally buy an adequate supply of .30-'06 ammo in any medium-sized town. Try that with the WSMs or RCMs and you'll end up using the guide's .30-'06.

Being universal, common and time-tested is not a bad thing. That rule applies to a whole lot of things in our lives.

Steve

Here's a link to that article:

The .30/06 in Africa
For plains game of any size, not many calibers beat the '06.
Article by Jim Carmichel. Uploaded on September 18, 2007
http://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/gear/2007/09/3006-africa

And here's one by Craig Boddington from Sports Afield:

Craig Boddington's Adventure Blog
The .30-06 in my 2006
The hundred-year-old caliber got a round-the-world workout on my hunts this year.
http://www.sportsafield.com/FAQ/Boddingtonblog.htm


Donna Boddington with Wildebeest she took using a .30-06.

Cheers!
-Bob F.

Osa Johnson pictured in the Serengeti with her new Springfield rifle, 1928.
http://www.safarimuseum.com/



Ernest Hemingway in 1933 with his Springfield sporter in .30-06 and Cape Buffalo
http://amsaw.org/amsaw-ithappenedinhistory-072104-hemingway.html


This Waterbuck was one of the excellent trophies that Robert Ruark [R] collected with Harry Selby [L] on his first safari to Tanganyika in 1951. This safari resulted in Ruark's book, 'Horn of the Hunter'.
[I believe this rifle is Ruark's Remington Model 721(?) in .30-06 Springfield. -Bob]
Gail Selby Wentink's web site: http://gabrimaun.tripod.com/

Cheers!
-Bob F.

I thought some here might like to see these photos. (Not my photos.)

Theodore Roosevelt's Springfield sporter that he used in Africa (and elsewhere). Serial Number 6000. It was actually chambered for the .30-03 cartridge but it could, of course, also fire .30-06 ammunition.









Cheers!
-Bob F.

Great pics people, keep 'em comin'. '06 180 NP

Ur bushbuck photo is outstanding...

Here is a decent kudu bull I killed. Northern Transvaal, just south of the Limpopo River.

The cartridge was obviously the .30-'06 and I placed a 180 Hornady SPBT Interlocked under his chin at 100 yards. Dead right there.



And half a world away, here is a photo of me makin' meat in Oregon's Hell's Canyon with a .30-'06. Cow elk; placed a 180 Hornady 180 SPBT Interlocked under her chin at 100 yards. Dead right there.

Steve

Thanks Rasty! That Bushbuck is one of my favorite trophies.

Cheers!
-Bob F.

Love all the pics, especially the old ones!! Long live the '06!

Smallest I have taken with an 06 was a Klipspringer. Largest was a Wildebeest. And actually everything in between,Sable,Oribi,Kudu,Impala,Bushbuck,Reedbuck,etc,etc. All were taken with a Nosler 220gr partition. They shoot beautifully in my custom Model 70. I would feel quite comfortable on everything up to Buffalo and would even take one of them if required. I actually carry some old 220gr Barnes solids for it.

That's why I like the 30-06.

And too think some people think you need a .300 Win Mag to shoot southern whitetail deer!

here's a waterbuck, shot about a mile south of the Limpopo:




zebra...., from the Waterberg Mountains, good shot of the old fwt.,





and a kudu, which really shouldn't be here because I shot him with a .375, but I still like to look at him, so here he is:

I think you got your answer..... Guys keep trying to persuade him with more stories and oh yes PICTURES !!..... ....

Well, since you insist on more pictures!!!







northern Limpopo Province in South Africa back in 2002
Ruger M77 MkII in .30-06
Handload: 220 gr Woodleigh RN at 2460 fps

BTW: For anyone that thinks that old fashioned, high sectional density 220 gr round nose at such a "slow" velocity won't do much damage, especially on the smaller animals, here's a photo of that Warthog's heart back at the skinning shed.



Cheers!
-Bob F.

Dogzapper,
Boy, you sure do pick a nice spot to shoot elk, now the work begins..My dad always told me that hunting elk was the closest thing to masterbation, once you pull the trigger you have a terrible mess on your hands, and that picture brought that to mind!

I have been swearing for a decade or so to get me one of those beautiful old slim trim sexy Springfields of yesteryear or to buy an action and make my self one..I would get a twist to shoot only 220 and 240 gr. RN bullets...I gotta do that!

Did someone say "More Pictures"?



...and back to, "it's O.K. on deer also".