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

I have been cogitating this a while. I've killed deer with 243s/6mms (223s were not legal for WT when I had one) --
and many cartridges up thru 8mm RM, or 35 Whelen depending on how you consider 'bigger or larger'.

I cleaned/dressed virtually ALL the deer I've killed + some others have.

FROM my personal observation -- the 8mm RM did NOT do noticeably any more physical damage than a 270 - 308 -
7mm RM - OR 30-06. That's probably because of bullet construction. I have made NO secret that I'm not particularly
a fan of Speer bullets for deer hunting.

AFTER killing WT with the 8, I read that Speer designed that 200 Spitzer for Elk. I'd say they did a good job.

HONESTLY - I can NOT say that the 30-06 is excessively destructive > with proper bullets <. NOTE I have never shot a WT with a N P (Nosler Partition) or other premium bullets >. IM estimation, 99 % of the bullets I've used have been
Hornady I Ls.

I have another question: Why would we seek to find the cartridge that does the 'minimum' fatal damage ?

That would lead us to be absolutely certain of only shooting under ideal circumstances.
I'm not being sarcastic nor facetious, Can we kill them TOO dead ?

I choose to be overgunned. I read that somewhere? lol

Jerry

I very rarely hunt with anything bigger than a 22-250 or a 243, we just don't need em around here, but if I had to get rid of all my rifles but one, the 30-06 would stay.

Dead is dead. While we can’t kill them “too dead”, the bullets we use can cause unnecessary and unwanted destruction of meat. Judicious selection of the bullets used and impact velocities can pretty well eliminate that problem.

I loaded up some A-MAX for a SIL to use at the range, along with some TTSX for hunting. Unbeknownst to me, he loaded the AMAX for antelope. It was bad choice that caused extensive destruction and meat loss. Same rifle, a .30-06, works fine on antelope with TTSX, as we've proven multiple times.

Totally Agree


Jerry

Great cartridge? Yep.

Just not mine. Owned several and primarily hunt with a 7-08 these days.

Someone once said that if I need more than an 06, legitimately? You're in 375/416 territory, sorry 300wm and 338...

I just don't see me needing more than my 7-08 right now and if I did need more, I doubt the 06 is far enough of a step in that same regard.

I'll likely never hunt big bears with Phil or anyone else so that doesn't factor for me.

That might be more of a case for the .358 Win., no pun intended.
Paul B.

Dead is dead. While we can’t kill them “too dead”, the bullets we use can cause unnecessary and unwanted destruction of meat. Judicious selection of the bullets used and impact velocities can pretty well eliminate that problem.

I loaded up some A-MAX for a SIL to use at the range, along with some TTSX for hunting. Unbeknownst to me, he loaded the AMAX for antelope. It was bad choice that caused extensive destruction and meat loss. Same rifle, a .30-06, works fine on antelope with TTSX, as we've proven multiple times.
————————————

Again I agree. As you ‘ NO ‘, we can use wrong bullets in other cartridges too.

Yrs. ago I killed deer w/H 150 sp and they did well. I shot ribs/lungs so....

Quite a while back I switched to the 165 HBTSP primarily for the advantages of
the BT and retained vel / E.

I haven’t kept a record of deer killed but it’s a fair no. I’m completely satisfied w/the
performance of the 165 BTSP.

Jerry

Nearly every hunting cartridge is always compared to the 30.06. That should tell you something right there.

I've shot everything from rock chucks, coyotes, mule deer, elk up to a Shiras moose. Bullets have ranged from 110gr to 220gr and all shot admirably. I have pretty much settled on 150gr Interlocks for mule deer and 180gr Interlocks when I have an elk tag in my pocket. Never felt under gunned.

FWIW: My rifle is over 80 years old and still humming along just fine.

I made my longest shot with a Ruger 77R .30/06 at roughly 400 yards (one quarter-section fenceline to another), using Federal Premium 165 Sierras. I got a deal on some water-damaged ammo (just discoloration) and bought 100 rounds. Seemed like it took forever to shoot it all up). That Ruger had an old K-4 Weaver on it. I should have kept that rifle......................

Have had and still have a lot of rifles in various calibers, but still favor the good old 30-06 for the most part. Recently acquired this J C Higgins (Husqvarna) in 30-06. I mounted a 2x7 Leupold. Rifle as pictured weighs in at 6 pounds, 8 ounces . Loaded up a couple different loads last week to sight in, and was very happy with the results. My best was a 3 shot (100 yds) 7/8". Was using some older stock Nosler 180 gr Partitions, with 57 grains of R-22,cci 250 primers. Really looking forward to hunting this rifle!

I’ve had 4 JC Higgins model 50’s and they all shot well. Great guns. Made my best shot ever on a 3 x 4 Mule Deer with one in 30-06.

And where did I use the word or imply it was negative? "Overpower" and "negative" are not interchangeable.

The 358 looks interesting. Anytime I start thinking above 35 I default to the 45-70.

I'm not going to knock either. However, I do have some experience with both-- well, sort of. Two of my favorite deer rifles of all time are a Savage 99 in 308 WIN that I downloaded to 300 Savage levels and a Rem 7600 that I downloaded to 358 Win levels. The latter one was my top deer killer for about a decade.


What I can tell you is that the Whelenizer did not kill any better than the Savage. In fact, I had better DRT-type performance out of the Savage. The Whelenizer made a bigger noise, created more recoil, and didn't go losing any deer, but whitetail deer ran further with the Whelenizer than the Savage.

I use a 165 grain bullet in the Savage, and a 200 grainer out of the Whelenizer. I used H4895 for both.

I use the Savage as my Opening Day GOTO rifle. I've been hunting the same stand for the Opener since 2003. Shots are normally inside 80 yards. Some are inside 5. The Whelenizer did most of its work on the ground at distances out to 150 yards.

This all may sound counter-intuitive, but the way I see it, the 30-something rounds tend to open up better inside a deer's innards. Normally my shots are aimed to take out both lungs and the top of the heart. An 06 or a 308 or a 300 Savage will turn the chest cavity into jelly. The bigger 200 grain .358 tends to just poke big holes. After I retired the Whelenizer in 2014, I started using a 30-06 bolt gun again I've seen more poleaxings.

Inside 80 yards, I'd say a 300 Savage-type round is the best mix of power versus recoil. Beyond that, I favor a 30-06.

While I don't have a dog in this fight, I will make the observation that, from my experience, 'overpowered' and 'underpowered' are generally adjectives, as was the usage under discussion, denoting less than desirable attributes to the object they modify.

I agree that 'overpowered' and 'negative' are not interchangeable, but it is common to see people denigrate a cartridge as "overpowered' for a particular usage. In that manner, even a .22 Short can be called 'overpowered' for some applications. (I prefer one pump on my BB gun for mice.)

I personally don't consider a .30-06 to be 'overpowered' for any North American big game - there are simply too many off-the-shelf loads to make such a statement, from .22 sabots to subsonic and reduced recoil to 'standard' big game loads and 240g behemoths Handloaders have, of course, many orders of magnitude more options.

A lot of elk have been taken with a .243 Win and bullets 105g and under. Does that mean a .30-06 and 180g or heavier bullets are 'overpowered'? No. If a .30-06 is a good choice for elk, does that mean a .243 Win is 'underpowered'?

How about antelope? A .243 Win is considered a good cartridge for antelope. So is a .25-06, and .270 Win and a bunch of other cartridges in .308" and smaller., including a .308 Win. If a .308 Win is considered a good choice for antelope, how would one decide a .30-06, shooting the same bullets at essentially the same velocities, is not?

Case in point. Barnes lists 130g TTSX loads for the .308 Win going up to 3248fps using a 24" barrel. I load that same bullet to 3045fps in Daughter's .30-06. Daughter has used that .308 Win load to take a number of antelope. Barnes specifically recommends that bullet for antelope, for both cartridges. If the .30-06 is 'overpowered', then a .308 Win is equally 'overpowered' for antelope. How about a 7mm-08 with a 120g TTSX @ 3198fps? Or a .270 Win with a 130g TTSX @ 3173fps? A .260 Rem with a 120g TTSX @ 3027fps?
A .257 Roberts with a 100g TTSX @ 3152fps? a .243 Win with an 80g TTSX @ 3451fps? Or a .22-250 with a 77g LRX @ 3396fps?

Just where does 'overpowered', or 'underpowered' for that matter, kick in?

I’m excited to get my hands on some of the Barnes TTSX in 130gr and play around with them in my 06 ... I sure hope it likes them because it seems like lots of folks prefer them!

I always heard the 30-06 was our military's copy of the 8mm Mauser, any truth to it?

No, contrary to some here.

You CAN make an 8X57 from the 30-06...

You Can NOT make a 30-06 from an 8X57

And the 30-03 developed 3 yrs. earlier was even longer than the 30-06 so...
30-03 > 30-06 > 8 X 57

8mm WAS .318 changed to .323

30 cal IS, & WAS .308


Jerry

Anybody ever load and shoot 250 grainers in the 06? Might try some out tomorrow.

Thanks for the story. My late hunting buddy loved his Savage 300. I agree with the comments about the 30 cal bullet performance. They start and end in the sweet spot.