Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 30-06 is still a great cartridge

I own eight '06's, from lightweight skinny 6½ pound Mauser sporter up to and including a 14 pound bull barrel Type-S Springfield target rifle, with stops along the way for pre-64 M70's and other products of the old Springfield Armory. I load everything from 150 grain cast plain based bullets at 1100fps up to full snort 220 jacketeds (on occasion, mainly for use in the bull gun) and everything in between. The loads match the rifle du jour and the purpose at hand. Pretty darn versatile, and good for anything from backyard tin cans through Cape Buffalo, as Mule Deer said (although there aren't many Cape Buffalos left in my neck of the woods). Like Mathman, I load the '06 down to heavy .30-30/light .300 Savage levels to tame the bite of the little Mauser-- its light weight+very narrow butt plate makes for harsh pain in my neck and shoulder when fired with factory-level stuff-- and the deer I've killed with it failed the breathing test when shot with it. What's not to like about the venerable .30-06??