Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .30-06 or .308; any real reason to choose one over the other these days?

If you have a 30/06 load with mono bullets that you trust on elk, there's no reason to not use it on other game too. Now....if you want to buy another rifle, you don't need an excuse to justify it to the rest of us rifle loonies

I feel that in 1952 the US Army improved both the .300 Savage and the .30-06.

I'm actually thinking about this. Take my time and bed and free float the barrel on the .30-06.

I like the way you're thinking...keep the '06. If you want a short dumpy, cartridge, get a 6.5 Creed... ...or if you want to be cool, get a Bob...

Velocity wise if you are a handloader then a 30-06 could give you an edge, factory loads the 308 get as much or more with less recoil. I own both and prefer the 30-06 for irrational reasons. In reality a 20" 308 is very hard to beat.

Regards.

The 6.5 Creed is interesting, but I like the option of cheap, readily available ammo.

Save yourself some grief.... send the rifle to Redneck, have him re barrel with a Lilja in factory contour for your 30-06 and bed it... Problem solved.

Best use i ever saw for a 308 was buy cheap & put on a barrel for a caliber worth while!!!

I don't understand what this means...?

I'm interested in your take on my original post, Brad, as you've hunted a lot with both.

Meh. The .308 is a newfangled idea that'll never catch on. The utility of both the '06 and .308 pales in comparison to the .30-40 Krag, or even the upstart .30-30. I hear Charlie Newton is playing with a new .30 barnstormer, and Savage is rumored to be tinkering with their own .30 candidate. (And I hope Wilson keeps us out of that European War.)

Push a .30 bullet to 2500-3000fps and good things tend to happen. Doesn't matter much what the platform is. All I've heard so far is a lot of hair splitting, inconsequential differences in real world efficiency, irrational preference, and innuendo. If your goal is to pack 400 rounds of ammo in magazines for your weapon in addition to a full pack and other gear, then the .308 is your baby- save five pounds of weight over a load of '06's. Otherwise, close your eyes and pick one and go forth and kill stuff.

Perhaps the world is ready for a .30 Creedmoor...

Hair splitting is all the fun, gnoahhh! I've got the .30-30 and .300 Savage covered with a .303 British and a 7.62x39 thrown in! More hair splitting!

Of course they could have skipped the 30-40 Krag, 30-03, 30-06, and 308 if they had just opted for the 7.65x53 in 1892.

It's all good.

Be a rebel, get a 300 H&H

Whoa! Now you're talking! (But watch out- someone might come along with a .300 Winchester or Weatherby and take exception to that!)

Indeed, there is that. What the heck were those old guys thinking?!

Probably that home grown is better than foreign, but they were wrong. Of course, if they have gone with the 7.65x53 the military industrial complex would have missed multiple profit opportunities and all that tax money could have been spent on other useful things like education, health care, and infrastructure construction and maintenance.

You got to have both!!!

That was the .30 TC, absolute commercial flop and the rifle it rode in on (TC Icon).

Decent rifle, but the .30 TC solved a non-existent problem.

if we're voting .308 vs .30-06, I usually recommend a new hunter for his first or only Arizona hunting rifle get a .30-06. But when lead meets venison, it really doesn't matter much what the headstamp says.

Poole