Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Is 30-06 a dead round for you & if so why?

Done a lot of guiding in my life and that round has served me well. I had a shoulder torn away then re built so recoil is a factor. Muzzle brakes solved that no problem.
It’s a fine caliber.

Osky

30-06, I crown thee KING VERSATILITY!

2 years ago I dug my dad's old 721 '06 and killed a 1 shot elk with it. He bought it in about '52 or '53. Still dead accurate although it's pretty beat up.
It won't shoot 1" groups? A lot of 1000 yard shooters like it.

I have 3.. One never fired./ It was my father in laws.. He fired it but I never have.. My model 54 got lots of use and a 700 adl is my current toy..

No, and it never will be for me.. My favorite cartridge of all time!

There ain't much a man can't fix,
with a pickup truck and a 30-06.

Ive only owned one 3006 and that was for a short while and only because it was in a collector grade Rem 725. I started out serious game hunting 50+ yrs ago with a Win94/3030, then got a Win 270 Rem 700, then when 7mm08 came out had a Rem722 chambered for it and have used it since the early 80's.

But ALAS.....All these rounds have been so overshadowed by the 6.5 gaymore that I just dont think ammo companies are going to continue to produce them anymore. Especially when that 6.5 can shoot to the moon without hardly any holdover and never misses it target. In fact Ive heard the 6.5 is the answer to global warming.

To those infatuated with the Creedmore and Grendel rounds the .30-06 may be dead but not to serious riflemen. Harvested my last two whitetails with the venerable round, it worked very well. They'll always be a place in my battery for an '06 !

Not so much now, but few years back you could buy 30.06 ammo at most any gas station or C store in West Texas. 30-30 was same. I’ll stop hunting before I stop hunting with mine. YMMV.

If you cant get it done with a .30-06, you have no business trying to do it.

Someone made a comment that the 06' is a great rifle for the "lower 48"
Phil S. would feel slighted that Alaska was left out.

The 06' loaded with 200 grain partitions at 2,650 fps is pretty formidable for anything in the US of A.

Love that gun...it's a keeper.

LOL, it's a fantastic and legendary caliber. It's the Gibson Les Paul of rifle calibers. It's just not trendy. It's fashionable for internet gun geeks to slag on the 30-06 and the 270.

Have you noticed that since they 'civilized' the Jeep, they just keep hanging on? Since WWII, they've modernized, upgraded, and customized the Jeep and it's still one of the most popular 4x4's out there. All the newer stuff still has to live with both old and new ol' timers on the road. Same with the '06.

my latest 06 is remington 721

Yes, I am done with the '06. I shot everything from 110 round nose and 110 Speer Varminter up to 220 Sierra MK with everything from 4198 and SR 4759 to H870 in it. I even ran an '06 AI for a couple years. There simply is nothing more for me to learn from the '06.


When I owned one rifle, it was an '06, twice. I have harvested more meat and varmints with an '06 than all my other rifles put together..

But I traded MY last '06 for a longer, more effective arrow. 7MM STW

The safe contains 22-243AI, a couple 243, 6mm-284, 25-06, three 260, 264 Win mag, 7mm-08, and the 7 STW. I do not have any use for an '06.

Yes, there are also a couple '06 in there. A 760 which was Dad's, and an 03 which was my Father in Law's. Both desperately need new barrels. But no one wants to shoot them enough to be worth while to spend the money. If I rebarrel the 760, it would become a 6.5-06.

IF, I could only own one rifle again, an '06 would work. But so would the 264, or the 7-08, or a 270, or 280, or 7 mag of any flavor, and even any one of the 30 cal mags.

To the contrary, with better bullet construction the ‘06 is going through a renaissance period imo.


As one poster stated above, “ if you can’t get it done with the 30-06 .........”


I’ve never owned one myself, but when my now 27 year old son, got his first bolt action at 16, he picked the rifle out of the half dozen brands he shouldered & worked the action, I picked the caliber.

He’s driving an ‘06 Tikka that shot better right outa the box than any rifle I’ve owned w no tweaking. I thought sure he was gonna want the Kimber, which was almost $400 higher.

Kinda kick myself for not buying the lh version of the same rifle they had there for a bit. But I’ve already got 3 rifles that make it hard as to which get hunted & which stays home.

My 30-06 ain't dead, just resting up for big game season.

Has the gun industry ever introduced a bolt action model that wasn’t chambered in 30-06?

I used to be the guy that argued in favor of the 270 Win against the '06 or whatever..I have a Pre '64 Mod 70 Super Grade in 270..Then I got a deal on a Weatherby 30-06 I couldn't pass up..This is by far my favorite rifle now over my Winchesters/Rugers or Marlins..It is my go too rifle for everything..I luv's my Weatherby VG and even the caliber 30-06..LOL

If I had to pick between the Pre 64 Mod 70 Super grade and the Weatherby '06,the Weatherby would be my keeper even though it is an '06..But I don't have to choose between them...LOL


Jayco

I was a .308 guy for years and then I bought an all weather Ruger in 30-06 and loaded some 200 grain Partitions for pig hunting. 30-06 is now my go to gun.