Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game What's Wrong with the 30-06

I have a bunch of rifles that all embody what was my latest wild hair at the time. Some are heavy, some really light, some tight necked, etc. But when it came time to build a really simplified rifle, a 30-06 in a Winchester Model 70 seemed like most reliable and practical platform I could use.



And even through the odd twists of personal history mean that I have never poked a hole in a critter with an '06, it is coming to Africa with me this year on my first trip.

Yeah but that yours was built backwards! Are they cheaper for the defective units with the bolt on the wrong side?

Nice rig, Utah. Love the brown stock w/ red pad.

Utah: That's a nice rifle; very businesslike, no fluff

Those of you who think it is backwards are encouraged to mount the gun to the right shoulder as per your usual procedure, but with the scope under the barrel and pull the trigger with the pinky finger.

The 30-06 is a perfectly fuctional rifle that shoots very available and many times affordable ammunition.

It is accurate and it's far reaching bullets have and will continue to kill all types of big game.
It was my first deer hunting rifle which I shot my first two whitetails with.

But alas, rifle loonies like myself are fickle. There were all manners of different cartridges and rifles beckoning me that would accomplish the same thing as my comely 30-06. Some were lighter rifles, some had less recoil...and then the foreign numbers.

So I strayed and never went back to my '06. But sometimes when I'm feeling my age I reminece of my youthful days when deer hunting was all new and a 30-06 just felt so right cradeled in my arms...

Nothing wrong with her...uhh..I mean it..yeah the 30-06. Right.

Dan

I have killed ony one bull elk with my old 98 Mauser custom built 30-06, that an old family friend and gunsmith built for me in 1970. I used a 165 gr Nosler partition and at 325 lasered yards it worked great. My hunting buddy has a Mark X built by the same guy and uses the same bullet and as of last year has killed 25 bull elk and many many whitetail bucks with the same rifle. All these bulls and bucks are hunt on your own with no guides, and all on public ground. Hard to beat performance like that with any rifle bullet combination.

For somebody who just has to have a souped up .30, try the Weatherby .30/378. With a recoil like a 55 gallon drum of wet cement dropped out of the 30th story and a muzzle flash on the end of that 26 barrel like an orange weather balloon, it'll make a Christian out of ya.

3/8ths, nice description, if I close my eyes I can feel it!

LMAO. Love it. TFF.

Well, its already been said as well as it can be but I'll add my two cents anyway. There is the 30-06 and then everything else. Maybe exclusive of dangerous game but it has done that too. Its all 99% of us have ever NEEDED or ever will need. Given the versatility that modern components and loaded ammunition bring to the caliber it is better now than ever. I started hunting years ago with a 30-06 (at the time my only rifle) and may soon b e back where I started. I will, however, never be without a 30-06.

I grew up around 15 men who were members of a hunting club my dad was in. I started out with a Winchester 30-30 at age 11. Almost evey member of the club used a .30-06 and I kept asking my dad if I could save money to get another rifle. A few years passed before I had the money and he asked me what I wanted. I asked for a .300 Win. Mag. We attended a gun show and he found a great deal on an Interarms Mark X in 30-06. I pleaded for a .270, 7mm, and the .300, but he did not give. He bought the 30-06 for me and he put my money in savings. I wasn't happy, but he gave me an article to read that Bob Milek( sp?) wrote about using the .30-06 for plinking to hunting grizzly bear. The article changed my attitude and I carried the Interams for 10 years. I still have it and I plan to hand it down to my son. The 30-06 cartridge itself describes my dad's generation and values. It's not flashy and doesn't draw attention to itself, but it set the benchmark for all others.

I am down to six 30-06's at the moment; and they all speak to me about 03 Springfields on the Marne, Hemingway in Africa, O'Connor in Alaska, over the course at Camp Perry, Garands in Normandy, and my Elk in Colorado. If you don't care about history, memories, ballistic efficiency, practicality, or bullet selection I guess you can say the 30-06 is boring.

I was fondling my pre-Mark II Ruger 77 (.30-06) just this week. I'd had a Timney trigger installed last year and hadn't really had time to check it out. Turns out the safety was still hanging up a bit, so I found the offending place in the stock and relieved it. Got to admiring that faithful rifle, now with a wonderfully crisp trigger of appropriate hunting weight. I play/hunt with more rifles and cartriges than I need-some bigger, some smaller- because it's what I enjoy . Can't imagine that my '06 would fall short of any realistic hunting task I'd ever require in the lower 48. Newer powders and bullets have only increased the utility of this dependable work horse.

Nothing.

Could not say it better! The 30-06 will do anything on this continent and with proper bullets you can be confident of the result.

My father's first real deer rifle was a P17 Enfield he sporterized. Paid $7.50 for it in 1947.

Camp Perry? I made Master at age 16 with an 03-A3. paid $19.95 for it. The only modification was a Redfield aperture rear sight. In those days they gave you free ammo for high-power--provided your caliber was 30-06.

A friend of mine won the 100-yard iron sight national championship (Leech Cup) in the 1990s with a 30-06 at Camp Perry.

My first mule deer and pronghorn were taken with a little 22" barrel Husqvarna, with 150 grain bullets. One pronghorn was at 330 yards. That rifle consistently beat 1.0 MOA.

I've hunted woodchuck with the 110 grain Sierra hollow point.

There is absolutely nothing as versatile as the 30-06. It's the best, and the standard by which all others should be judged.

WOW, Rancho Loco: I'd tell you how sweet-lookin' your rifle is, but I've gotta go take a cold shower!

FC

Right.

The truth is that if you have a good 30-06, a 22 and a 12 gauge pump shotgun you have 90 percent of shooting covered. Add a 223 and a dangerous game gun and you have 99% covered. Everything else is fine tuning.