Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Bigger than 30-06 on 30-06 Action

The older I get the more KISS principle I like. When I was younger my curiosity just about ran out of control the 35 whelen, 338-06, 338 win mag, 375h &h and a custom 9.3x62. The grass is allways greener on the other side of the fence even when it isn't. If that pre 64 stock isn't modified don't, find a lwt syn replacement. Get it bedded, don't bob the barrel, work up a 200 gr NPT load with RL-26. Switch scopes to the 2.5 x 8. It will do anything in the lower 48. At his point if you find it inadequate you can take it back to collector piece and do what ever with something else that probably won't work any better. I been busting my butt trying to find 9.3 x 62 brass, dies, and bullets not easy these days. 458 win says if you can' t get it done with a 30-06 "your unwittingly commenting on your marksmanship," he is right. If you can t handle a 24 " barrel in the woods, stay at home and do what your wife tells you too. Mb

To be honest I’ve never heard of that. I’m gonna have to research it now. How does it compare to the 30-06? Are reloading dies available for my RCBS Press?

Hook, line and sinker!

😂😂😂

I can see the wisdom in everything you wrote.

Except the last sentence because I still want a 22” barrel. I never intended to cut the barrel or damage the stock because I always wanted to be able to put it back together if need be. I am gonna re-barrel even if I decide to stick with the 30-06 and if I ever sell it the buyer will have both the synthetic stock/sporter barrel and the factory stock and barrel as a package.

At the range I am looking at for where I hunted and intend to hunt again (300 yards or less and most likely 150 yards or less) I won’t miss the FPS I lose w a 22” barrel. But the ounce savings and ease of getting through the thick stuff is real. I am 62 years old and live at 750 feet of elevation so when I get to 10,000 feet where I was hunting every ounce feels like a pound. Hence my desire to get on a synthetic stock, smaller more compact lighter scope and the shortest feasible barrel. Hell I’m even looking into fluted barrels to shave another once or two.

All this said, fate seems to have clubbed me upside the head and said “Listen to Magnum Bob except you get your 22” barrel”

Last night I was at my gun club and saw that a buddy of mine had posted a takeoff barrel for sale. He also had bought a pre-64 model 70 in 30-06. He put it in a custom laminated stock which he glass bedded and re-barreled to .35 Whelen. He was asking $50 bucks for the 30-06 barrel that was on the rifle. He didn’t feel the need to save it because it wasn’t the factory barrel. Someone had already re-barreled it and the stock was pretty beat up so he wasn’t really concerned about trying to preserve the collector value of the Stock and barrel that came with it because basically there was none.

So I went to his house and looked at the barrel. It was practically in mint condition, bore was great, was 22 inches long, was a thinner contour than the factory barrel but not super thin and was stamped “Skaggs Gunsmithing 2011” I didn’t know [bleep] about Skaggs Gunsmithing” but a quick search on my phone found a place by that name in Oregon. My friend got the gun from a guy in Idaho so that seemed to make sense. Skaggs Gunsmithing has a Facebook page that is kind of outdated (no recent post) but it all about competition shooting so I figured it was worth snagging at $50. I had two $20s in my wallet so I offered him the $40. He rolled his eyes but he took it LOL. 😂

So now I have a 22 inch barrel for a pre-64 model 70 in 30-06. I had been pricing out Krieger barrels and Douglas barrels in the $1000 range, so I figured WTF…For $40 it was worth seeing what this Skaggs Gunsmithing stamped barrel is all about. I doubt he actually made the barrel but more likely bought it from one of the barrel makers, installed it and maybe did some accuracy of work on it (lapping?) 🤷🏻‍♂️

So it looks like the plan for now is to swap that barrel onto my action, drop it in Brown Precision stock, have the action checked and if need be trued up and work up loads with 200 grain Nosler Partitions and Accubonds and see what I got

We will see if Fate knows what she’s talking about. Worst case I can always put a Krieger or Douglas barrel on it later and even change the caliber if I do but I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll be just fine with this 30-06 barrel if this Skaggs guy knows what he is doing

My M70 is off to JES as I write this to be transformed from 30-06 to 9.3x62. Good to here more positive feed back on this round. Looking to possibly "nine three a nilgai" soon.

I still have a 30-06, I'm not completely insane!

Thumbs up termin8r, It's you be gettner time. Whatever you sacrifice in velocity on the shorter barrel you will make up downrange with the bc's on the 200 NPT or 200 Accubonds. Mb

Termin8r, I like where you're going with this. Those 200 gr Partitions are no joke. I was really impressed with the accuracy I got with them. At least with my 30-06 rifle, the recoil seemed pretty gentle. I was running them at 2600 fps from a 24" barrel via H4350. Only shot two critters with them, a wolf and a grizzly both in Alaska. They expanded readily on the wolf, and penetrated deep on the grizzly. I'll admit that the grizzly sucked up several bullets, all at under 50 yards, before he was done.

BTW - nice score on what's probably a pretty sweet barrel! I hope it works out well for you.

Regards, Guy

The finest "Timber Elk" rifle I can think of would be a 30-06 stoked with 200 gr Partition's. Mine was an M70 with a 21" bbl and backup open sights:

Termin8r, sounds like you got real lucky on snagging the barrel. With the 200 g Accubonds or PTs, you're bound to find a load it likes and you won't be sorry once you put one in an elk at any range.

My son has been shooting my Pre 64 70 for several years for deer, so I usually load 150 Partitions for him and they shoot very well. Right around .75" at 100 yards from the bench. This year I loaded up what I had left of the Partitions since they are so hard to get and the rifle just flat refused to shoot them worth a darn. Must have got a bad batch as these would only shoot around 2 MOA with the same load I've been using... had some 150 Ballistic tip Hunting loaded so we tried those and the first group was a cloverleaf so that is what he hunted with this year. This and all my other Pre 64s have never been picky about bullets before, so I'm guessing it had to be the bullets this time around... so try several until you find one you like. A buddy shoots nothing but Barnes TTSX and loves them. His results are a good testament to the quality of those bullets also...

Another point, which you probably already know, if you're going from 750 ASL to 10K ASL, if you can squeeze it in try to get there a couple days early to acclimatize. Once you get a few days in the thin air there you will feel a lot better hiking through the woods/hills, etc.... I know my place is at about 200 ASL and we hunt around 7K ASL and it takes me a couple days to get my lungs and legs working right.... it doesn't really matter that I'm 68, it seems it always felt that way...

Bob

Yeah that’s the kind of stuff I was hunting and only half the trees were blown down. I spent more time going over and around tress than between them.

And there I was carrying my 24” Barrel 300 WBY with big optic ready to shoot elk at 400 yards 😂

So when I go back I’m gonna have a rifle that’s more suitable to the situation and 3+ lbs lighter

Great elk and great pic

Yea 4350 is my standard for the 06 and my .270s. I have that on my bench so it’ll be the first thing I try. Gonna try the RL-26 also whenever I can get my hands on some

Yeah, we will see on the barrel. It’s a great score if the barrel shoots good

Yeah I only had one day at 6800 feet before we went to 8500 feet for one day, then packed into our camp at 9600 feet on the 3rd day in Wyoming.

Next time I’m going to try and give it a little bit more time before heading to the remote camp. And hopefully continue to drop the pounds off me and my gear plus more time on a stair machine before I go

I may have to try the Barnes TTSX too. I’ve heard good things about them penetrating like crazy

Pretty cool story. If the gunsmith is/was located in Oregon, I bet its a Pacnor barrel. My old smith loved using Pacnor's because he said they were very good people to work with and the barrels were very accurate. Now when you get your Brown Precision stock you will be set. Do you have a good smith to re-barrel your rifle? My old smith would only charge me $40.00 to swap barrels. He was damn good at what he did.

I'd have a hard time not going 30-06 and loading it with some 165- 180 gr Barnes TSX /TTSX

Termin8r,

If you can find some RL-26 and use it with the 200gr. Partitions, you'll soon forget about the rebore! 200gr. bullets at 2700fps+ will do anything that needs to be done well from the muzzle out to 400yds!

Elk Country

That rifle is right up there with Old Ugly and Finn Aagaard’s Professional’s Rifle in terms of pure, unadulterated utility.


Okie John

Have to admit, my Pre 64 70 in 338 WM was a joy to carry in the woods with the 22" barrel... and shoots as well as just about any rifle I own.... but it has been semi-retired while I play with my new deer/elk/everything rifle- 26 Nosler custom on a RR Remington 700 action...

Bob

The first two I thought of were 338’06 and 35 whelen…… buuuuuut, I’m a rifle nut and I love 8mm and I love 180&200gr tsx and I once thought about an 8mm/06 but then knew I probably couldn’t take it to Africa and…. Yeah. A lot of ands…. I’d day 338’06 and 210TSX and live happily ever after.


But then there’s the short action option and 338 federal or 358! There I go again.


338’06. Final answer