Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I'm sick and tired of hearing about the 30-06

30-06, from apes to Zeros (Mitsubishi Zero)

Don’t know about the tired part but you are indeed sick !
Grins

When I was first getting into shooting, I was hanging with a bunch of old farts. One was an outdoor mag editor. One was an ex-Marine armorer. One was a veteran of The Bulge.

When it came time to pick a first rifle, the vote was unanimous for a 30-06. That was back in Regan's 1st term. It's been 40 years now, and in some ways I regret the advice.

For the next couple of decades, I'd ask about getting a new rifle, and my buddy Bob would say, "OK. let's figure this out. What does that rifle do that your 30-06 doesn't?"

I never had a really good answer. Mind you, all of us were rifle addicts. Bob died last year with a couple bedrooms filled with firearms. I finally had to dedicate a room for mine. However, we were trying to keep each other's addiction in check.

It took me a good two decades to break. I bought a 223. I'd been able to get by for 20 years shooting groundhogs with 30-06 Accelerator. That's the big problem with 30-06 as I see it. If you start with it, you really don't need another rifle, at least if you're hunting CONUS and staying away from large bears. I doubled my mistake and my second rifle was a Winchester 70 bolt gun. There really isn't anything beyond that.

I'm pretty much of a hunting shut-in anymore. I stay at my 200 acre farm and hunt deer. I have a room full of deer rifles. This year I deliberately kept the 30-06 as a backup. This became my first deer season in 40 years where the 30-06 never made it out of the case.


BTW: John, my buddy who fought a little north of Bastogne, gave me the following advice regarding 30-06:

1) Aim for the center of whatever you can see.
2) Don't stop firing until you know he's dead. (He was most emphatic about this one.)
3) Save one of the enblocs and ping it off your helmet. The Kraut will try and rush you and you can waste him
4) Don't use a rubber over the muzzle. It'll rust your barrel. Use electrical tape.
5) Put a wet handkerchief or rag over your muzzle, and they can't see the muzzle flash in the snow.
6) M1 Carbine is crap. It does not kill germans in winter gear. Ditch it as soon as you can and pick up a Garand.

LOL ........ That one will stick.

One other thing about the 30-06:

When they designed the 30-06, they were trying to come up with a system that could be used by an average American guy carrying and shooting a day's worth of ammo-- roughly there about. Granted, if you've ever schlepped an M1 Garand and 128 rounds worth of enblocs, it's a bit of a chore. I'd much prefer something lighter, but it works. If you shoot a Garand all day, you feel it, but you can still get up the next morning.

I got to thinking about this when Mooseboy got past his early Yute experiences and was looking for the next step up in deer hardware. He was a big 12 yr old. He was well past the minimums for WWII infantry, so I gave him the Garand. He shot a nice tight 50 yard group offhand on his first attempt. I knew it was a match made in heaven. He schlepped that rifle for the next 5 years and got his deer every time. When it came time to buy him his adult deer rifle, I didn't even think twice: 30-06.

My mod70 ot6 aint seen the woodline in 3 yrs.
My Sako customized 98K 8x 57 is across my lap right now.
Weighs 7pds 10 oz scoped with 5 rds


Both calibers got a shared history.

Thats how I roll....

1 sexy beast....

Like to find a Marlin Xs7 north haven accutrigger .308.

Then I could take a pic of all 3 and call em.
The beastie boys!!!

LOL!!!

Well you can't kill elephants and ducks very well with the Crudmore either.

The reason some think the 30-06 is boring is that it does everything so well that those who own one don't see any reason to fool around with trying to find something better. It just works.

With a 30-06 and a .375 you're set for any big game anywhere in the world. For 100 years they've been trying to beat them. Most attempts turned out to be planned obsolescence.

If that's not a sarcstic post, the reason you can't shoot a 30-06 is because your rifle doesn't fit, your scope is mounted wrong, you don't hold the rifle right, or you plain don't know how to shoot.

It took me 40 years to kill a deer with a .30-06, but I got it done yesterday. (mainly because I never owned one until last year, and shot my deer with a muzzleloader last fall). No, he isn't a monster, but I don't know what else could take down a buck at 15 yards than a .30-06 shooting 165 grain Partitions.

I've never specifically wanted a 30-06, just happened to buy one. If that makes sense. IOW - 30-06 wasn't the reason I spent the money - it was the rifle.

It's okay - does what it needs to but I'm firmly in 7-08 camp right now as that too, does what it needs to.

I know how you feel. Thats exactly how I feel.

About the 6.5 Creed

Long after the 6.5 GayMoor fad is over, people with rainbow colored hair wearing purple underwear and mounting pink scopes on their rifles will pause a moment and realize how versatile the old 30-06 is. The 6.5 GayMoor will be long forgotten and the 30-06 will still be rolling along cleanly taking game like it always has.

You don't need a fancy scope or stock when you have a 06, it's a no BS man's cartridge.

Mine is the new Model 70. Stamped 30Gov't06 on the barrel. Grandpa won it in a big buck contest in 1937. I still hunt with it.

I'm bored too with the old, yawn, '06....I'm building a wildcat based on the .30-06 as a parent case, going to neck it up to .308, see what kind of performance I get. I think NV Hunter will approve.

You're speaking to the deaf, here - 6 ought 6's here.
2 commercial, and 4 military.
That said, for the last several years, I've hunted big game mostly with a 30 govt, and a 30-30.
The 243 was a bit hard on the last buck - @ 7 yards - measured!

No. The 30-06 hunts with Chuck Norris.

The thread should have stopped there...

3 M1 Garands and a 1903A3. I have enough 30-06 ammo for the rest of my life but I can't use it for hunting in Iowa except for coyote. It's a bruiser of a caliber and so many Nazi's and North Koreans found out the hard way.

kwg

30-06, too small for elephant, too big for ducks (ducks?)
Just right for everything in between
Always was, always will be