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

No argument here. Arguably the most sensible cartridge for a Mainah to use on large whitetail, moose, and black bear in cover and/or to reasonable distances.

Hmm. Lots of qualifiers there!

Suffice it to say that, for those of us that don't live in elk/bear/moose country, and for whom the opportunity to hunt any of the above incurs a significant financial commitment (out-of-state license fees, travel expenses, +/- guide and lodging expenses, time off work), barrel life and recoil are likely not foremost on our minds [and rifle weight is, likewise, of minimal concern, and, of course, varies widely]. Given even the remote possibility of having to take a quartering shot at 300 yards or more at a 400 class bull elk (yep, I know, dreaming!), versus maybe passing on the shot and hoping for a better angle, I can easily think of a half dozen or more .30 cal-plus rifles I'd rather be toting.

Similarly, for hunting the much smaller-bodied pronghorn antelope, or south Texas white tail, or even Axis, deer (yep, we have them here), for which a projectile weighing over about 140 grains is, in my estimation, wholly unnecessary, I can think of a number of rifle cartridges that are better suited. YMMV.

Punching holes in paper at 100 yards, or ringing gongs at 1000 yards? I'm pretty sure the 30-06 doesn't win any popularity contests there either. There are better choices.

Isn't your name really Pabst ?


Jerry

f**king A and if you asked one, he'd say, he sure would like too. I have 1st year 700 ADL and M110 Savage, 8 Springfields 03 & 03 A3 like them all even the 2 made into a 300 Win Mag and the other a 308 Norma Mag and a lone 1917 Eddystone. They work every time on everything. The magazine on 03's are the tits, they flawlessly will feed even empty cases. 2, 4,5 grooves don't make a damn they shoot. The best part is all you gotta do is hang out at your favorite gun shop and some damn fool will bring one in to trade for some wonder rifle and you get his Springfield that his grandpa or someone else sporterized for only a couple of hundred bucks. I rate a 30-06 right up there with mom ,apple pie, the girl next door and just looking at Old Glory flapping in the breeze. I've got Hunter and H4350 165 gr bullets as well as a pile of 200 gr NPT's and RL-19 & 22. Don't need to wonder about it JB and Phil S. all ready done the ground work on this. MB

Ha!

Nope, I was actually a Lone Star guy, back in the day. Nowadays, Shiner Bock.

[quote=szihn]So you think the 308 will fire 180 190 200 and 220 grain bullets "just as good" as the 30-06?
Please show me how.

In my 50+ years of being a gunsmith and a hunter, a shooter, I have never seen one 308 I would rate as "better" then a 30-06 of equal quality workmanship. Not one.

I do not say the 308 is not an excellent shell. It is---------- and I have owned and used many of them. I have killed game with them from squirrels to elk and use the round in military designation to fight with. I agree the 308 is extremely good.

But the 308 are absolutely not better, and neither is a short action. Short actions are not in any way "better" ----unless it's an auto, pump or lever action and in some cases not even then. As good in the best cases---- but never better.

Besides, the post is about cartridges specifically. Not guns.
As an example an FN-FAL is a better rifle to fight with as compared to a Ruger #1 in 30-06 ----but that is NOT an argument of one cartridge over another. That's more about tactics which can be employed with one type of rifle that can't be used with the other. the cartridge is not really central to that comparison.
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That's something else I like about you !!

The 308 is NOT as good as 30-06 !

308 is a 30-06 WANNABE !!

Jerry

I don't remember who said this " everything you need, nothing you don't ". Maybe Bill Jordan about the S&W K- frame. I think it applies to the .30-06 also, it's been getting it done for 114 years.
By the way, without the .30-06 there would not be a .270.

30-06 > 308

YES it is Mike.


Jerry

OR 308.


Jerry

Just as good = second best. Shorter action, having trouble puling back that last 3/8th of an inch? or the extra 1/4 # of weight hard to carry?

....................I for one will never try and talk someone out of a 30-06. And the reason is, is because there is no need to. It has always done what has been needed within most hunting ranges.

Offers a great selection of bullet weights for any occasion, 110 gr up to 220s and even a little heavier which are available. Nothing to complain about.

BUT!....It is bland, it is generic and imo and if me, not the likeliest candidate for either extended range hunting, extended range steel boink 'n or paper punch 'n .........

If one like me can handle increased recoil, and strictly from a ballistic and trajectory standpoint, I would take a 30 Nosler, a 300 PRC, a 300 Win, a 300 WSM or a 300 Wby vs the good 'ol 30-06.

Yeah I know! You can walk into any ma and pa gun store, into any gun store and get 30-06 ammo.

Too common. Too generic. Too bland. Too boring..........."Whatcha shoot 'n there?" A 30-06!.....Oh ok...........YAWN!.................lol

I get a kick out of guys who call whatever cartridge "boring". Critters don't know or give a damn what cartridge you use to kill them. Dead critters on the ground ain't boring and the '06 will put them there about as regularly as can be.

Me too. Found a pic of my most boring combination, which made me anything but bored. 1957 Rem 721 in .06, an old Loopy 3-9, green box 165s.
Not boring!

shinbone,

Evidently you missed 458Win's signature line: "Anyone who claims the 30-06 is not effective has either not used one, or else is unwittingly commenting on their marksmanship."

You may not know who 458Win is. If you don't, I can fill you in--but for now will just say that he's an Alaskan Master Guide who has used more than one .30-06 to stop charging brown bears. Is it is his favorite cartridge for the the job? No, that's the .458 Winchester. But he is quite happy to guide brown bear clients (and he has regularly been getting them BIG bears for decades) who choose to bring a .30-06. That's because, based on long experience, he's pretty sure they'll shoot well--unlike some of the clients he's guided who bring rifles in more "appropriate" cartridges.

30-06 is a great round. I have killed a pile of critters with it and the 165 NBT. But, IMO, bullets have gotten better and its really not needed anymore for deer size critters. I havent shot anything with a 30-06 in about 15 years. Still have one, just dont hunt with it anymore. I will probably never be without one, but never say never.

..................................Well I am thrilled that ya got a kick from my last post....Well of course critters do not give a damn what cartridge is used to kill them as you say.....My post mentioned nothing about CRITTERS or turning living things into dead things!

Us rifle/cartridge geeks, as you obviously are referring to me, prefer flatter shooting rounds with better downrange velocities and energies. Does that offend you? OH WELL!

As far as the boring, bland, generic and common part? In terms of conversation,,,,, IT IS!

And don't tell me that I care more about making a fashion statement than I do about dead critters.......Any of my preferred (fashion statement) cartridges will work just as good and better than the 'ol 30-06 for taking care of the CRITTERS!!!!........The term "fashion statement" YOU COINED in this case..... NOT ME!

However, you are entitled to your knee jerk and wrong opinions.

"As with boring old fixed-power scope, rifle loonies these days often think nit-picky details about cartridges, rifles and scopes make far more difference than they actually do."

Oh, WTH do you know?

Until I got on these kind of forums maybe 20 years ago, had no idea so many hunters looked down their noses at the Ought Six.

Years ago I acquired a minty US Remington 1903 sporter for cheap. Liked how it looked and handled, beautiful walnut stock, decent job of redoing it. Figure that had taken place back in the 1950s?

Put a 60s vintage K4 Weaver on it and killed some deer. Seldom use it these days, but two grandsons have borrowed it at various times. Both have killed deer with it. One is primarily a bow hunter and keeps telling me he is getting his own rifle. But each fall he'll call and want to know if I still have that old 30-06 and can he still borrow it in rifle season? Yep and yep.

In the thirty years I've had it and the boys have used it, every deer that ever came up in them skinny cross hairs, died when the trigger was squeezed. Killed my heaviest buck ever with it back in '93. One shot, drama over. I favor other cartridges, but there ain't a thing wrong with that cartridge. Given the price of more modern ammo, one can still pick up a box of 150gr soft points for less than $16 and have a pretty good chance of taking game with them.

Amazing to me, that a nearly perfect big game cartridge was designed for other purposes 117 years ago and is still going strong.

Amen! The 30-06 can always get it done...