That explanation was handed to me by a Marine armorer that was answering my question as to why the 30-06 was the way it was.
Jerry was my best friend at the time. That was about 1982 or 83. I'd ask him for clarification, but he died in 1992. Any mistakes or ommissions are the result of time and age.
At the time, we had my other buddies, Bob the outdoor writer and John, the infantryman in attendance. The main issue that night was powder. The trigger for the conversation was that I'd picked up a round of 30-40 Krag brass at the range.
John had mentioned that the reason he'd been given for the difference between the 8mm and the '06 was that it kept the other side from using your ammo, but he'd never bought that. John said that he'd encountered strange stuff being shot by Germans in Belgium in 1944-45. He'd heard rumors of wooden bullets being used. These he'd never seen. However, he did encounter ammunition that, when you banged the bullet out, held long little sticks. He also had seen stuff with what looked like the paper you wrap chocolates in. They kept a few rounds of this stuff in the pocket of their overcoats, because you could supposedly use it as an emergency fire starter. John was a wonderful source of G.I. Apocrypha.
Yes, the bullet made a huge difference. What's more, shortly after selling the license to us, Germany decided to switch to a smaller, spire-pointed bullet in 1903. We followed suit in 1906.
I'm not going to defend my explanation much more than that. Suffice it to say that the 30-06 was our own creation, but it borrowed heavily from German ideas at the time. I had not had much exposure to 8X57 until I acquired The Mauser from Hell, my K98 project rifle. Up against a round of 30-06, there are visceral similarities.
