Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30-06 inherent accuracy

cool and i bet it is accurate enough too . i think i will black bear hunt this year with my old model 70 ,this model 70 was from a dear old friend no longer with us .

I already made that point.

I've got nothing to add to this except that my Remington 700 30/06 is MOA elk. Elk don't care if it's the top of heart, dead center or bottom of the heart. They just know they are going to be right next to the mashed potatoes & gravy.

I like the way you think.

'06 in inherently accurate in a Tikka T3

Yep--and also in my Ultra Light Arms Model 24 (which I pointed out before in this thread) which weighs less than 7 pounds with scope--and will still consistently group three shots in half an inch even with almost 1000 rounds through the barrel, which shows obvious wear in a bore-scope. But that's partly because it's so accurate and light that I've used it a LOT to test scopes over the past 20+ years.

But I also have also owned several ULAs and NULAs (as has Eileen), and the .30-06 is NOT the most accurate of all of them. Right now am preparing to start testing a 6.5-.284 Model 20 which was unfired except for Melvin's testing when I purchased it a couple months ago.....

Last NULA off Melvins bench? Pretty heartless to just casually mention an unfired 6.5-.284 around here right now

If 30-06 and .308 were both legal in palma , 30-06 would hold every record.

I am curious if there are others in this thread that have Cooper Rifles, specifically the early Model 52s and 22s that were made early on in 30/06 and in 308 Winchester. I am wondering if they used a tight match reamer and minimized freebore in their actions. They are tight actions and shoot extremely tight groups in 270 Winchester and 30/06. Strangely some people complain about the accuracy of 7 Rem Mag Coopers. They say that they are accurate but not dead nuts accurate.

It is also interesting to me that the 222 would be considered very inherently accurate when it is a complete mini-me copy of the 30/06.

It was made in 2014 for Tom McIntyre, the well-known hunting writer. He died suddenly a couple months ago, and when I called his wife Elaine the next day (as soon as I heard) she said people were already calling, and even stopping by, to try to buy his guns. She also suspected--with good reason--that they were offering less money than the guns were worth.

I'd known known Tom and Elaine a LONG time, so I volunteered to drive to Sheridan and help sort things out--which would get the "vultures" off her back. Spent two days there sorting through everything, which was helped considerably by their son Bryan, who drove up from his home in Colorado.

Among the other firearms, there were three Ultra Lights. One was a .30-06, which Tom bought used in the mid 1990s, and first hunted with during a mule deer hunt with me in the Missouri Breaks in 1996. Another was a .243 WSSM, which Melvin built on a shortened Model 28 action, and had been shot some. (Eileen bought it.) The third was the 6.5-.284, which apparently Tom never had time to use much. (He was a rifle loony, but not like most of the rest of us.)

I called Melvin, and he remembered making the rifle, but neither he nor I remembered Tom ever writing about it. It looked unfired, both with my Hawkeye bore-scope and otherwise. So I bought it, but also haven't had time (or weather) to shoot the rifle, though did buy dies and brass, and mounted one of the 3-dozen scopes he had on hand, which I also purchased.

Actually, the case dimensions of the .222 are closer to the 7x57 Mauser than the .30-06--and the 7x57 has never been never noted as a particularly accurate round, primarily due to the throat dimensions, which were typical "military" for the day--a long taper.

Have owned a number of 7x57s, including one chambered with a PT&G "American Target" reamer. The most accurate, however, was a custom built on a VZ-24 military action with a Shilen pre-chambered barrel from Brownells. It would regularly put three 140-grain Nosler Partitions into 1/2" or less. Why? I dunno, but have never owned another 7x57 as accurate (or "precise")--and have had 2-3 other customs, including a NULA.

Not so sure about that. Local shooter Oliver Milanovic holds the National 1000 yard long range (prone/sling) record of 200-19x. He actually shares it with another shooter, who used an any/any rifle, but to Oliver's credit he shot it with his .308 Palma rifle and iron sights. I have also seen him tie it while shooting next to him at one of our 1000 yard practices, but that wasn't an official sanctioned match.

A lot of less informed posters are not comparing apple to apple.

SAMMI spec factory chamber shooting SAMMI spec factory ammo.

The 30-06 is fine for most hunting but compared to other better designed rounds it fall a bit short for accuracy.

A non SAMMI spec throat/chamber and quality handloads will do wonders for the 06 but then it's really not a 30-06 but a wildcat.

SAMMI spec factory rifles in 6.5mm CM shooting factory ammo will be much more inherenty accurate than the 30-06 in SAMMI spec.

By a lot.

But for most hunters it would not matter.

Well, it found a good home. And, good on you keeping the vultures at bay. I had a similar experience at my grandfather's funeral. It's almost unbelievable - the lack of class, lack of respect for grief, and greed you can encounter.

On another note and somewhat on topic, I got a box from Rifles and Recipes in the mail yesterday. Been sniping through some Gun Gack chapters and was laughing out loud over the B-29 incident. Maybe if Monica Lewinsky chambered a 3006 barrel it would be inherently accurate...

JB, did you have your ULA .30-06 built similar to the specifications of Tom's ULA? I seem to remember reading in one of your GG books you had your rifle built in 1996? Some other writers have even used your name when describing a ULA rifle with a Douglas #2 in 30-06!

I ordered my .30-06 ULA before I ever saw Tom's rifle, with a black stock and 24" #2 Douglas barrel. But Melvin was really busy at the time, and a year or so later called and asked if I'd "accept" an already-made rifle

He'd built two .30-06s to "my" specs for a gun store in Germany. They'd sold one, but the other kept hanging around, and they wondered if he'd take it back. He called me and asked if I'd take it, and I said sure--which is why I own one of the few ULAs in existence with German proof-marks stamped on the barrel, including the tiny red stag.

There's more to the story, but the very first 3-shot group I fired with the rifle--using a handload worked up for another .30-06--measured slightly over 1/2", and its grouped similarly with a number of different handloads ever since.

Edited to add: Tom's .30-06 had a 22" #1 contour barrel, and the early standard ULA "stripe" paint-job.

I used to belong to a large old time fly fishing club and there were a few vultures, one utterly shameless POS in particular, that would deliberately move in and start schmoozing old frail guys that had nice collections and try to get in good with their spouses. Before the body was cold he was in there trying to get his slimy mitts on everything he could. It was disgusting.

Inherently accurate or not, the .30-06 will always be my favorite .30 caliber, probably because of the guns I shoot it in and the fact that its been one of the few constants in my life for over half a century. Had Springfield opted for a .32 caliber, or a metric one, 120 years ago when the '03 Springfield was born I would probably be singing different praises.

Over the last twenty years or so, I have occasionally posted on threads like this and my opinion has not changed. The 30/06 is neither inherently accurate or inaccurate. In a purpose-built match rifle, it will perform quite well. However, it will not, with all else being equal, shoot as well as a 308. I have built rifles in 30/06, shot them, then set the barrel back and rechambered to the 308. Every time, the 308 shot better. I think it has more to do with case capacity than case shape, but there it is.
I was an avid benchrest shooter and gunsmith when the BR world was transitioning from the 222 and 6x47 to the 6PPC. I had started out shooting a 40XBR in 6x47 and had enjoyed considerable success with it. However, it was a little fussy and the best loads would loosen primer pockets enough to ruin the brass in a half dozen firings. Nonetheless, I won trophies, plaques, and even money with that rifle and shot many groups under .2 moa, in competition. This was in the late '70's and aggregates in the low .2's were remarkable.
In 1979, I built my first 6 PPC. My first group was under .2". I shot loads with 748, 322, and 4895. All shot so well, it was hard to choose a favorite.
I was still kind of fond of the 6x47 though, so I built a duplicate of my PPC, just to see. Same action type, same barrel maker, same stock, same methodology. It shot pretty good but it wasn't close to the PPC. A 223, on that same action, WAS very nearly as good as the PPC, and I shot some tiny groups with it; I could never shoot it as consistently though. I have to say, this might have been because I just couldn't shoot quite as well with the .22 cal bullet.
By the way, about this same time, I put together a 10 1/2 pound 308; I had a factory 308 which shot very well (sub 1/2) and I wondered what a real good one would do. It did pretty darned well. In the context of hunting, the 308, especially in a fairly heavy rifle, doesn't kick all that much, but in a BR match, after 30 shots or so, it starts to wear on you! So it was that at one match, I was shooting well under 1/4 moa until I blew up the last group with a 5/8 incher. Still, I shot an aggregate of around .2700 moa. The best group was a .108! I don't think I could have done this with any 30/06, no matter how I built it. I'm not really a masochist though, and didn't use it again. Since then, I have built a number of 308's which shot right round the 1/4 moa level. My best 30/06's would shoot under 1/2 but never 3/8 or better. In fairness, none of the 30/06's were built as short range BR rifles. Still, similar 308's would shoot 3/8.
Regarding throating: 40 years ago, I knew it all. A proper throat featured a parallel start, just over bullet diameter, and was long enough to allow the bullet to be seated just ahead of the neck/shoulder juncture (interestingly, 6x47's always shot best with a little longer throat than the 6PPC favoured. Possibly to yield similar capacity). This might be true for BR or "F" class rifles but the most accurate 30/06 hunting rifle I ever had featured the long, tapered European throat. Today, I accept that I may not know it all. By the way, the 7x57 American Target reamer, mentioned by MD, might be the one I spec'd to PTG, years ago, but I can't say for sure.
I could go on but I reckon the audience is sleepy enough already. GD

Well I stayed awake...and enjoyed it, thanks.