Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game "The 30-06 is obsolete!"

For years, I've believed that you could get decent 30-06 ammo almost anywhere that people hunt, which makes the 30-06 a morally superior choice. Then I ran into a situation that made me question that belief.

On the way to a pig hunt in northern California, I stopped at the In-and-Out Market in Palo Cedro, CA, to buy a hunting license. I always check ammo in little roadside stores. They had plenty of service pistol ammo, rimfire, 7.62x36, 5.56 NATO, and assorted 12-gauge but only ONE, count ‘em ONE box of 30-06. To add insult to injury, this box was American Eagle 147-grain FMJ. THERE WAS NOT ONE SOFTPOINT 30-06 cartridge in the place, and everything else was easily the weirdest agglomeration of ammo that I’ve ever seen in one place, to wit:

1 box of 225 Winchester (never seen this in the wild)
1 box of S&B 5.6x52R (Euro name for the 22 Savage Hi-Power, had to Google it)
6 boxes of fresh Federal 25-06
6-8 boxes of Federal 7x57 Mauser 175 RN
10 boxes of fresh Federal 7mm Winchester Short Magnum
6-8 boxes of fresh Federal 7mm Remington Magnum
6-8 boxes of fresh Federal & Fiocchi 308 Winchester
3 boxes of fresh PPU 303 British
1 box of Hornady 32 Special
2 boxes of Federal 338 Winchester Magnum 250-grain Woodleigh
1 box of 358 Winchester 200-grain PPT
2 boxes of 375 RUM
3 boxes of Hornady 450 Marlin

My guide later told me that this place used to have an FFL but gave it up after state laws became too onerous, which explains a lot. As noted, some of the ammo was fresh so that's probably what people use most of the time. The rest must have been NOS. In this area, that makes a certain amount of sense given that you’re probably either shooting pigs inside of 150 yards or blacktail-mule-deer hybrids at fairly long range, but it’s still jarring to see the 30-06 so under-represented. Seems almost unpatriotic...


Okie John