Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why Do Folks Call the 30/06 Boring?

Probably because when you point it correctly, animals always fall down. No excitement there.

LOL, if 'they' want to call 200gr Partitions or Accubonds at an accurate 2700-2800 fps 'boring' more power to 'em, a good douching along with a fresh baby powdering and a clean pair of pantys would probably help them feel a little better.

That load has just enough recoil to unwind a manbun, that's why.

Yep it’s boring because once you have one you can’t ever really say you “need” another CF.

That’s boring... boringly effective...

Because, everybody has one and we think we're cool when we shoot something else, esp if it is a bit obscure.

I could trade my 257Roberts, 275Rigby, 280 Remington, 308, 300H&H all for a 30-06 and not want for anything more.

I’ll tell all of you why its boring......cause some hillbilly years ago said “Load a 30-06 with Partitions. Shut up and go hunting !”
Charlie

And then there was this Alaskan type hillbilly who said :” Anyone who thinks a 30-06 isn’t adequate for big bears is unwittingly commenting on their marksmanship !”.
Charlie

I shot an 03A3 on the rifle team in the service 50 years ago but never owned one until I won a Ruger American in 30-06 on a raffle ticket I had bought. I already had a 308 and I hated the black plastic stock. Just because I had it, I had to shoot it. Loaded up some Hornady 180 grain SST bullets and after zeroing the scope the first group out of that rifle was covered with a quarter. Well that tore it! I had to do something about that damn black stock!!!! Had it dipped in a burl wood pattern. Not wood but more palatable. Put a galco ching sling on it and took it deer hunting. Shot a doe off hand through the hardwoods 178 yards through the heart. Boring? Yep boringly effective. Guess I will keep it. Just call me boring deer slayer.

30 CreedMOST

Yeah you caught what I was trying to say, DG, not BG. The '06 handles BG routinely without issues.

It could handle DG in a pinch, maybe not a 1st choice. But never count it out. With heavy solids, it could kill about anything with a well placed shot.

IIRC, the 220 NPT was a leading performer in penetration tests, including a number of bigger rounds.

DF

I have a lovely custom stocked BRNO ZKK 600 that I got off a mate who is now deceased so I will never sell it. But I haven't hunted with it for about 10 years. I hunt deer (fallow, reds and a chital stag), pigs, the odd feral goat for meat, foxes and the odd feral cat and find that I usually grab a .257, .264 or .284 calibre rifle. I have 11 rifles covering those three calibres so plenty of choices to choose from. For bigger game like sambar deer I have a .35 Whelen and 9.3x62 so the .30-06 sort of sits in a gap. My .308, 8x57 and .303 are the same. Absolutely nothing wrong with the .30-06 but for the game I hunt a smaller cartridge seems to kill as well with less recoil. For pigs out west my Ruger Ultralight in .308 does the job very nicely. The short 20 inch barrel is handy for in the thick stuff and the pigs are shot under 100m so no real need for a 24 inch .30-06.

On the other hand my brother has a .30-06 and shoots everything with it from foxes up to red stag and wapiti in New Zealand. It's his do everything round.

Mule Deer has written that older hunters tend to gravitate to smaller less recoiling rounds as they get older. I never really thought this applied to me but I have definately used smaller cartridges the last few years. I never made a conscious decision to but maybe I did it subconsciously. My .30-06 has a very trim little stock with a 1/2 inch recoil pad and recoil with a 180gn bullet at 2875 fps is quite noticeable.

Boring? Meh, what do they know? Evidently not much and anyone spouting that kind of baloney in my presence would get tuned out while I daydream of all the game I've whacked with one.

What turned me into a .30-06 fanboy was my first '03 Springfield 50-couple years ago (an original M1903 Mark I). That rifle taught me more about marksmanship than the other rifles I owned up until then. It might explain why I have ten '06's in my possession at the moment- mostly original '03 service rifles, target guns, and NRA Sporter, with a couple interlopers like a 1954 Model 70, M1, and a Mauser sporter. On my ammo shelves I have loads from cast bullet plinker/small game stuff, to midrange cast and jacketed stuff, to Molly-bar-the-door stuff. Do I have a fondness for other chamberings? Indeed, around 50 or so others which includes a 6.5x55 Ruger #1A which has become my go-to hunting gun. But if push came to shove.....

Could not have said it better.
Wish I had sooner.

Jerry

The older I get, the more I like boring.

What’s that saying?
All of them do something better than the 30-06, but none of them do everything as well.

Ive only used one a few times as a kid but lately im reintroducing myself to the 30-06. Ive no real use with running it with lighter bullets as ive already got a 308win, 270, and 280 to do such duty. To me i want to make the 30-06 my one and done 200gr Partition launcher for elk. Its fairly thick where im at compared to the rest of the intermountain west and why not have a bit more horsepower and good penetration when at times you run into elk at essentially archery distances. Theres also more of Montana's grizzly bears showing up here and if your seeing 5 of them in a day then its time to step up the jorsepower and pack the heat so to speak. I have a couple 45-70 leverguns but im now exploring bolt actions. Ive also got my favorite rifle in the form of Ruger's compact rifle 338RCM. Its the best ive had in a bolt gun but i wanted a really common case component and caliber as an elk rifle and ibhope that 30-06 is the ticket.

If this site was slightly like Facebook (and am glad it isn't) this would get a "like."

I understand yall’s reasoning but I’m wondering....

I’m now 71 yo and in the past 2-3 years have developed loads and hunted
& killed deer with 6.5x55 and 284 Win but also hunted a new TO ME
Tikka T3X SS Lite 7 RM.

My query is: are these rounds ‘boring’ OR

Am I not as old as you guys? LOL

Jerry

I guess because it works too well and is so versatile. It is like a Toyota Camry......boring because it works great and does what it's supposed to every time, day in and day out.........even so, there are people that crave exotic sports cars that are insanely expensive and require extensive maintenance year after year......I just don't get it either.