Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 30-06: Overstated versatility?

The widest selection of bullet weights is a good point. It may well have. I question whether they do anything other cartridges can't, but definitely see what you mean.

About your experience with the cartridge, that's awesome! And by no means am I trying to say its not an excellent choice. I have quite a bit of affection for it too.

.................Well if one were to choose to have only one rifle, then a 30-06 makes an excellent all around choice from deer up to and including elk, moose and the big bears (with the right bullets). So who on this forum has only one rifle? More than likely none at all. That one rifle only analogy imo justifies the ownership of a 30-06 better than any other reason. Because if I were to hunt say the big bears, then my 375 Ruger would get that nod. And I would not care how many more big bears were killed using the 30-06 (so they say) vs a 375. The 375 is clearly the better choice for the big bears or moose as would be my 338-378 Bee.

Smaller game like elk on down? Well my 28 Nosler in terms of retained down range energy, trajectories and overall ballistics out performs the good 'ol 30-06. That's not to say that the 30-06 cannot kill such game as some might suggest that I'm implying.

Imo, the 30-06 as excellent as it is, as versatile as it is and lesser expensive compared to others to use as it is,,,, regardless it is clearly outdated.

Think I'd rather shoot the big bear with your 28 Nosler and a good monometal than with any 30-06 load...but yeah.

I mean, just like no one really only has a 30-06, how many people will really take one after grizz (not having another more suitable rifle)? Must be a pretty small percentage. It just doesn't seem to be something I'd want to do on purpose.

But if it needed doing, not convinced there aren't calibers in its class that can't do it as well. Whether or not one considers that well enough in the first place.

It is....

..............Yep! One rifle only? Then a 30-06 is a great choice and it will get the job done.

Imo it is too generic and is well outdated in lieu of many other newer or more modern cartridge choices.

What a beautiful rifle. I love to look at a rifle like that and imagine all of the adventures and stories behind it. That ol’ Wildebeest, between the scars and busted horn looks like it would have had some stories to tell too.

The entertainment goes on.

As if any 140 gr .284 pill is better than a 250 gr .308 Woodleigh.

My wife ( smaller pic) took a good full bag of plains game with that rifle and I did a little culling with it in Africa.
She has also used it in a number of deer, including this nice Mule Deer ....

The 30-06 is like the Nosler partition bullet .Everything else is compared to it. Some are better, some not so much

Someone in this thread said that a 140gr .284 cal bullet compares to a 250gr 308 cal Woodleigh? Where?

Good thing you set them straight! Everyone else complaining about the thread will agree with you, no doubt.

Oh, wait, you're the only person who mentioned any of that or bitched about the thread. But I find it interesting that you have a bias for the 30 cals, feel the need to state it, while at the same time calling the thread silly

BTW I am not seeing a 250gr 308 cal Woodleigh bullet in their current lineup on the site. Perhaps I missed it. But what real world application does it matter? What will a 308 cal 250 (or any weight you want) Woodleigh kill that a 175gr .284gr Woodleigh NOT kill?



As far as "what all the others are judged by"...definitely deserving of that!

Great pics, ingwe. Looks like some amazing hunts there.

I don't think it would be an overstatement to say that I have more rifles chambered for the 30-06 Springfield cartridge than any other except possibly the 7mm-08 Remington, with another (30-06) coming in next week!

BTW, I try not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good!

ya!

GWB

Hey, no need to fix what certainly ain't broken!

Thinking about the avanced by absolutely no one argument of 140gr .284 bullet vs heavy 308 cal Woodleigh....I'd love to see where a 140gr .284" TTSX stops ethically killing big game animals that the Woodleigh still kills. IF it does.

Then try a 150, etc.

The 30-06 chambering is for when you arrive at your small 'launching off' town in XXX and finally learn your checked approved ammo container is nesting in some far more exotic airport at YYY and... Seized! There will almost surely be a local Walmart in your locale! And... you will have your 30-06 unless none to be had anywhere! You will then likely achieve happy ZZZs secure in the knowledge that 'nothing else can go wrong!

My take!
John

I’ve killed a fare share of white tails with numerous calibers a 30-06 kills with authority unlike others

When I first got my 300WM my first handloads for it were 308 Win equivalents. Next I did 30-06 level loads. Did not have either one at the time. Now I have three 30-06, two 308 and only one of everything else. I prefer the 30-06 over the magnums for practical reasons - less powder required to do the job, less recoil, lower cost brass, etc. Not that I don't like my 300WM - it hunts elk more than my three 30-06 put together.



Love my 280 Rem and do hunt everything with it that I also hunt with my 300WM, 338WM, 30-06 and 7mm RM, etc. Bought a 270 Win for Daughter #1 and load it with 150g Nosler ABLR for elk. Prefer the heavier 30-06 bullets for elk, but the 270 will do. That said, since getting 30 cal rifles of various types I have dropped from 160g in my 7mm RM to 140-155g and use a 150g ABLR in my 280 Rem. Have also taken elk with a 150g AB in a 30-06. For the first 20+ years my only "elk" rifle was my 7mm RM. Used it on prairie dogs, coyotes, antelope, mule deer and elk with the same 160g Speer Grand Slam load. Killed my last elk with that load (my buddy's handload and rifle). Still, I give the versatility title to the 30-06, knowing not everyone will agree. Son-in-laws got rifles for wedding presents. Two got a 30-06, the other had a 300 WSM and wanted and got a 7mm RM.

Oh yeah? Same placement, I've never really noticed any diff between 30-06, 308, 7x57, 8x57. The fastest I've seen an adult deer drop when it wasn't a CNS hit was a 6.5mm 120gr ballistic tip, two hops and down, but that was a one off. Honestly, can't say the cartridge has mattered any. CNS, they fold. Through the ribs, they run a ways then plunk.

Been there, done that.

Heading to my deer lease a couple years ago. Realized I'd left my ammo at home. Stopped in at Wal-mart and they had just what I had been shooting, 180gr. Cor-lokts.

ya!

GWB

That is a lot of great hunting and a lot of great rifles. With family too? Awesome.

Definitely can't say your opinions are not from experience lol.

I moved from the 300 WM to 30-06 as well. No complaints about the WM, just wasn't needed for my situation.

Probably a more compelling argument that the 30-06 provides unnecessary versatility. I should think that many who participate here have rifle collections with such wide ranging capabilities that they don't need versatility.

In 2022 you can buy factory loads almost 400 fps faster than WW-1 era loads. And for most of the last 100 years most factory loads published speeds were optimistic. But it still proved to be pretty versatile. Today, with modern loads it is IMO more gun than most of us need. And I hunted almost exclusively with one for about 40 years.