I love taking my 50 year old Winchester 70 to the dear woods. But more and more I'm seeing less and less of them carried by others. I for one have no immediate wishes nor plans to stop using my 30-06. The only other gun I carry from time to time is the tried & true 30-30. I know how these rounds shoot out of my guns and they do their assigned jobs perfectly. 99% of the time it's one-shot-one-kill. I love my cheap t/c compass in. 223 for fox, hog & coyotes. I guess I'm just stuck in my ways but it's a good kinda stuck. You know what I mean?

I mean if it ain't broke then why fix it? Just my 2¢

In my world the .30-06 is not now nor will it ever be a dead round. The fact that it's not at all scarce does not detract from it's incredible versatility.

keep taking it, it’s an excellent choice.

If you're seeing less and less of them, perhaps you've fallen in with the wrong crowd?

Lots of newer choices out there for gun writers, soft shoulders and women. They cam drown out the tried and true with magazine noise and hype.

I like it

It's an awesome round, but you do have lots of other choices that will do the job very well. It's only dead right now for most who don't reload for it or use it beyond the few rounds to sight in for a season. But that's true of most ammo by the looks of the shelves right now. As long as you have it to use it'll be around.

The 30-06 is like the great ol' USA, been great for so long that it's seriously under-appreciated. Just can't find much fault with mine.

If I could only have one, it would be a 30-06.

This could be true🤔

The '06 is one of the most common hunting calibers of all time for a reason - it works on everything. A guy with an '06 is armed for every big game animal in the lower 48 and most of rest of the world, too. Gun makers have to develop new calibers or their new gun market would dry up. Any decent gun will last 50 years or more with care. You can't make money selling each hunter only 1 gun. You have to convince him that he NEEDS something else. It's usually not true, but that's salesmanship.
For the record, this past hunting season I pulled the trigger on my '06 only twice, and brought home my deer and my elk.

I'm with on this👍👊

Only use I ever had for it was the parent case for .270, .338-06, & .35 Whelen.

Wouldn't mind a Springfield to slum it in.


Mike

I had never hunted with one until 2017 with a trip to Namibia. I took a factory FN Supreme 30-06 bought twenty years prior using the 168 gr TSX. A little heavier weight rifle than my norm but it worked just fine.

Nice, what's the average price for one of those hunts?

"Dead round"? Ha ha... You gots to be trolin....

Ir's always been a favorite of mine and I've owned and hunted with several over the years. The only fault it has is it won't fit in a Marlin 336 or Winchester 94.

Great cartridge, there are many better, but that does not make it a great cartridge.

Be satisfied.

I think it is and probably always will be the greatest caliber ever invented. There are other calibers with better balistics, but it's hard to beat the versatility of the 30.06 along with its manageable recoil for such a powerful weapon...My 15 year old son used his Tikka t3x lite 30.06 to take a muley buck and a cow elk this past season. I think he is hooked like I was after shooting my first elk with one almost 30 years ago...

Great cartridge, there are many better, but that does not make it a great cartridge.

Be satisfied.

Very much alive and well with me and my wife both.

I used one just a few months ago to kill a buck antelope at 220 +yards . One shot as he faced me through the heart , and get out the knife.


M1 2020 Buck 2 by .com/photos/156296479@N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep]

Very nice. I've hunted with a Garand but never shot anything with it.

Great old cartridge. Some better. Lots not. Don't currently have one. Probably should have.

It's dead for me. Only 30-06 I have is a TC Encore that kicks a bit to much for my taste, plus I ruined my reloading die on a stuck case. I have a 308 that shoots 5 shot sub MOA groups all day, so I really have no use for a 06.

Very versatile. Everyone ought to have an aught.

Just bought another one, a Husqvarna Model 3000.

How many is too much?

Ted

I’ve still got two and the wife hunts with one. I traded a late 70s 700 adl that I used to kill a lot of animal and kicked myself in the ass every since. Last year I found a gem identical to it and the serial numbers was within a thousand for a steal so I righted a wrong. I’ve got rifles that are more fun but IMO everyone should have one very versatile

You, sir, are a concert violinist..

Nope still love and use my JERay special.

Here’s a fun one that I have:



An H&K SLB 2000 -w- a 10 round magazine.

The only one I shoot anymore is my Garand. However, I always buy my grandkid's first hunting rifle (seven of them now) and it's always a 30-06. I can load reduced loads and get them started right. I don't pack one up here, too many critters that bite. I carry a .375 Ruger but carried a .338 Win Mag in my younger days.

.30-06 ----- it just works and works damned good. Yeah, I confess that I do have and enjoy my 7mm-08 also, but my pride and joy is a .30-06. Ain't gonna change that.

The problem with the 30-06 is will over penetrate. 😁

I recently traded into 1952 Model 70 in 30-06 that wore a Lyman All American with the #4 reticle. The bore is great but the chamber has some minor rust. I’m waiting on a different scope to show up. Actually it was a heads up from a fellow campfire member for the Burris on sale at Cabelas that made me think I’ll go with an all new to me a scope and caliber. I’ve owned a lot of 30-06’s but never set one up to hunt.

I originally planned to send it to JES and have it re-chambered and rebored to .35 Whelen, cut to 21” but on the advice of a few members here.....(paraphrasing) “don’t be a dumbass and just shoot it”. 😁. So I am.....Shooting it, not being a dumbass.

If it doesn’t shoot to my standards then I’ll rebore it and mess around. I’m sure I’ll eventually tinker with it. 😉

I personally sold all my 30.06s. I have a 30-30 and a 308win. And a 270. I wouldn't have the 270 if it wasn't my Sons rifle. There's not really much that the 06 can do that the 308 or 708 can't do other than launch a 220gr Boulder at something. The development of the Mono bullets have gave the smaller bullets a big boost in penetration and the ability to be used in situations that 20+ years ago would not have been a good choice

That round is over 100 years old and still going strong, I also have one chambered in a Serengeti version and that really tighted the groups up. 30-06, 30-30, 45ACP, 9mm, 50BMG have all been around for that long they only other rounds I can see maybe making it that long are 308 ,556 good luck buying Creedmoor or _______ new round du jour years down the road.

Dean

Never felt the need for a 30-06 when the .270 always worked.

Great cartridge. Although I have had them in the past, I no longer own one. My favorite cartridges, .280 Rem and .280ai are based of the '06 case though.
In reality, 100% of us could own one rifle for all of our N. America big game hunting and be fine, the 30-06. But we are a spoiled and diverse lot... and to think of the ammo shortage if we all shot the '06! 😁

A&8, I don’t think I would alter an older m70 unless it won’t shoot well. If you decide to rebore to .35 Whelen, I’d not go shorter than 22 or 23 inches. Happy Trails

I believe the 270 parent case is the 30-03, not the 30-06.

+1

IIRC, the 30-03 was the parent case for the .270 and the 30-06.

I have 4 of them. I like them a lot!!

they bought all 1500 rds of 06 brass i had to sell at the gunshow last saturday. someone is still shooting it

I have had 5 of them, just sold the last one in Nov. I am without one for the first time in almost 30 years. I dont know that I will own one again. Nothing wrong with the ought six, just lots of other choices.

30-06 ammo is everywhere. Eh, well......it used to be. There seems to be a reddit squeeze going on with ‘06 ammo.

I got a couple, a BLR and a Korean War commemorative M1 Garand. I’ve been lusting for an 1895 for years. ....

Mine is an AI.

Yep this ^



If you have to ask...

No

1895’s are ok........

i love my 06 and if i had to pick only one out of my many deer guns, it would probably be it. cheap, plentiful ammo with many choices and many uses. not hard on the shoulder either.

No. You can kill just about anything with it and the recoil is negligible...

The 30-06 is still a good round, but there are lots of better cartridges available now-a-days.

Yep , always had a few . There has been a vast array of bullets made for it over the years . It, as said , will get it done as good as any . M1 was a favorite , had one that was in very good condition and shot most stuff at two inches give or take .
Wish I had went ahead and sprung the money for Ohio Ordance BAR years ago . Can't afford that sucker now .
Kenneth

Over the years (1976-date) I have owned/hunted with a few 30-06s (Pre64 Mod 70, Win 70A, Ruger 77RS, Ruger 1A). Surprisingly I liked the fit of the Model 70A. Like many here I have one wife; met her in 78 but have had many "love" affairs with rifles. Rifles/hunting/reloading/talking about them are cathartic. If I start to get "bored" with a particular rifle and I have my eye on another platform/chambering and the sale of one can quickly promote the aquisition...done. 30-06 is never a wrong choice. Well maybe for prairie dogs. I bet I could have fun loading the Barnes 110gr TTSX for it...

I have an extensive collection of M1's. I fire many rounds of 30-06 a year at CMP matches and just plain steel banging out to 1000 yards. The most fun is banging the steel bison on the hill beyond the high power silhouette range at the Wittington Center, Raton NM. It is 1025 meters out (1143yards). Shooting M2 ball I have to come up 50 minutes and 46 minutes for the 173 grain National Match ammo. From the bench you rarely miss and about 75 percent off hand. Great fun I have spent hours there. The 06 will still be around when most of the people using this site have passed on.

Depends on your definition of “better”, and that’s where the rabbit hole starts....

I have a Remington 742 and an old JC Higgins but don’t use them much. For hunting in Florida swamps and thickets, I like a .44 Mag lever gun better.

love both of mine!

I have loaded for 46 different cartridges over the years (including the '06) but have never owned one!

I might have to correct that before I check out. It is clearly one of the very best "all around" cartridges for NA hunting.

Very efficient, minimal fuss, gobs of utility.

No, it's not dead to me, I have 3 of them. It's a very versatile caliber there is nothing in the lower 48 that you can't hunt with it and if I got the chance to hunt bear in Alaska I'd load up with 180gr or 200gr Swift A-Frames and it would probably work well for that too.

I have owned several over the years. Down to 2 now. Im a sucker to buy a 06. My go to’s are 243, 30-06, 45/70 and 375 H&H. But if i could only have one it would be the 06

So versitile range of projectiles 110-220. Before all this BS I regularly saw 125-200 factory ammo on the shelf. 165-180 in lots of bullet choices. Never let me down.

The only thing I would consider to replace it is .308 simply for semi auto use.

It says allot when the 30-06 is what most other rounds are compared to. What a void in life without it!

I have purchased (12) 30-06 rifles.
I never shot at an animal with one.
I never got a 1" group with one.

I have rebarrelled them to 25-06, 6.5-06, 270, and 280AI.
Those cartridges have all killed animals for me and got 1" groups.

My youngest brother has killed a lot of animals with a 30-06, but since has abandoned it for the 7mmRM.

I've killed stuff with my 30-06, but haven't used it like that for maybe four years now. Maybe I should try it again...could be it doesn't work anymore.

There are only 6 rifles in our safe that are .30-06. When I offered my son a good .308 Winchester for a gift for graduation he insisted on a .30-06. I told him the .308 would work just as well for deer hunting but he would not hear of it. So the .30-06 is not just for the older folks. I know several younger men that use .30-06. For me it is a caliber I have faith in and know what to expect from it, so that is what I use unless we are dealing with night time hog shooting. For that it is time for an AR15 with low recoil and lots of bullets going downrange.

I only have one 30-06, it is my go to rifle most days. It's a husqvarna, lightweight, and shoots a 1" group. The 30-06 is great for deer enough gun to help you out in a jamb with Bears, Black or Grizzly, and I just like the cartridge.
Lots of components available when they are in stock.

First CF was a sporterized 03-A3 I bought when I was 16. Lost it at 19 to a guy who borrowed it and never brought it back...he did pay for it, but I’d rather have had my rifle. That was 54 years ago and I haven’t had one since. There are a few rifles I have that, if they were ‘06’s I would have, in other words, I bought the rifles, not the cartridge, but I don’t ever see myself going out and buying an ‘06 for the sake of acquiring an ‘06. Too late in the game for that. I’ve got more than enough hunting rifles for the opportunities I have to hunt now. Flash the right handgun or shotgun in front of me however...

Classic round!

That is way cool.

Someone....get a rope!!


🤪

Is 30-06 a dead round for you & if so why?

No, it is not a dead round to me. In fact, I tend to use it more each year rather than less. It kills very wel from large elk down to ground squirrels.

I have three at the moment and most of my sons and grandsons have at least one if old enough to hunt. The exception is the lone southpaw that got my dad's pre-64 M88 Winchester.

Most of my friends have them as well.

I shoot lots of other cartridges too. A couple I use regularly.. i.e. my .338 goes for elk if I get a branch bull tag and the .223 does most of the varmint work. .

I am down to only four 30-06s-a Tikka, Kimber and two model 70s.

The 06 is kinda like a good 4-wheel drive pick-up. It may not be the best fit for any given task, but you can make it work for virtually all of your needs.

Yes, the '06 is a dead round. Dead deer, dead elk, dead, bears, dead whatever you want dead. Others are better? How can you get better than all those dead animals?

If I had a dollar for every time this subject has come up here, I could buy another one....

I had one built a few years ago. I seem to grab it more than any of the others. It's been lots of places and I have never wished for anything different.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

This make me want another!!

Relax, Slum.

Doc Encore is only talking about the 30-06 Improved here.

It’s okay.

The 30-06 is a Deadly round for me...........

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.

It's not dead in the macro sense. Good cartridge but I'll never buy one for me.

Just don't have a hole in the arsenal it would fill. If I "need" more than my 7-08, I likely need A LOT more which would be beyond the 30-06.

I own 7 of them at the moment and have a Dillon 550 set up to feed them.

One of mine gets 1" groups at 300 yards.

It appears to be alive and exceptionally well.

I don't give a crap what anyone else shoots.

Winchester just introduced a thing called the "Winchester XPR Renegade Long Range SR."

It's only offered in .243, 6.5 Crud-more, 7-08, .308, .270, .300 WSM, and .300 PRC.

Winchester is stupid.

Makes a lot of sense. And I could write the same thing and swap places with the calibers. I have a .30-06 and can't justify a 7mm//08.

Don’t forget the 6.8 Left Coast Special. The 1:10 twist on the 243 is a good way to roll! I don’t know which is more annoying, the long range crap or the 6.5 Flatbrim.

If I lived somewhere I could hunt elk and/or moose from home, that is, without going on a trip somewhere, I'd probably get one. Currently my .30 caliber rifles include .300 WSM, .308, .303 Savage and .30 carbine. The .300 WSM or .308 would be more than adequate for elk or moose (as would some other rifles I have) but if one and/or the other were on my regular annual agenda I would prefer to have a .30-06 over anything else.I'm not claiming it's the best or anything, just what I would prefer to have.

Shot my first Pronghorn with a 'used' Western Field 30-06 ($100 pawn shop)....fitted with a 3-9 Bushnell Sportview and a Harris bipod.

1980.....a rather addictive and costly trip, big panoramic picture.

Any western big game hunt since, is compared to that one.

There is nothing wrong with the 30-06. But I will readily admit I have never owned one and doubt if I ever will. Grew up shooting a 7mm Mag and it has done everything I needed a big game rifle to do and if I need to step up from the 7mm to a bigger caliber I'm going to either my 9.3x62 or my 375 H&H. Just not enough difference between 7mm and 30 cal.

I've had several over the years and liked everyone of them. I seem to sell or trade them off because I have that lefty 300 H&H and the 30-06 just duplicates it, not that that's a bad thing. Were I to have to start over again and choose one rifle, knowing what I know today, it would most likely be a 30-06 with 200 grain Partitions and would not feel under gunned or over gunned, except maybe for fur hunting. I regret parting with a fine old 721 that liked to think it was a varmint rifle. It liked to shoot tiny little clusters with just about every bullet I tried.

I have a couple 06, and enough bullets, powder, primers to feed them for my lifetime. Like the 30-30, it will live on forever.

Not if they want to sell a bunch of guns.

I used to hunt with a 300 WSM. After killing a bunch of elk over the years, I realized that not a single one of them couldn't have been shot just as easy with a 30-06 that weighs a lb. less. I'm to the age where that lb. makes a difference on a hunt in steep country so I switched back and am still killing elk.

I just checked for you. RWS offers 15 cartridges, LVE 3 cartridges, Denel PMP 3 cartridges,......That is on three different continents. I did not check USA because you can probably buy ammo for that caliber in hardware stores or farm supply stores. This is one of the most popular hunting cartridges in the world.
Nothing to worry about.

After playing with a whole bunch of oddball calibers, and super mags ect.. I figured a .223, 6.5cm, and a 30-06 pretty much cover almost 98% of everything that I have used a hunting rifle for. Now do I have those, kinda. But its what I end up buying for my Sons, to use. Later if they become a rifle loony they can get others.

Talking with some guys about what they started with most of them were .270, 7mm RM and 30-06 as teenagers. We probably would have done much better with anything between a .243 and 7mm-08. Quite the flinch gets developed when from we were raised on.

That being said I will always have a 30-06, and one is set as a backup rifle, with Win factory180g loads at all times.

I think as long as we are firing brass cased ammunition the 30-06 will never fall into obscurity.

The 30-06 will never be dead to me but I won't use it after my Moose hunt in 2022.

You can add the potbelly wuss wannabes with techlights, atomic glasses & wizzbang 223 black rifles.

I can see younger people, small framed women and the disabled having trouble with a 30-06. Average size I'd say no if it was worked up to. Average size woman really does have a handicap, too long stocks. Of course we tend to give these people featherweight rifles. I had a Winchester 70 featherweight in 30-06. It shot 180's well. You just lost interest in standing behind it for very long.

My first centerfire rifle was a Savage 111 Chieftain 30-06 with a detachable magazine I bought in 1975 after high school graduation. It had high gloss, checkered walnut and bright blued steel. I've since bought and later sold rifles in just about EVERY caliber/cartridge from 223 to 45-70, but have never been without a 30-06. There are other cartridges that I now prefer, 7X57 being my favorite, but I will never be without a 30-06 and currently shoot a late 1970s push feed Model 70 with an early 1980s vintage Redfield 3-9 scope on it. It's one of those gun/scope combos that just "looks" right and shoots just about any 180 grain bullet into 1".

You want to have some fun. Load up some 125g bullets. The 30-06 is so much fun with the 125. It DRT on deer.

Still a good cartridge but have relegated it to the "fun only" category - for the purpose of noise and flash out of my 16 inch carbine. My 308 does what I need to do for most of my hunting, but I get bored with it too.

I dislike the '06 SO MUCH -
I only have 6 of them!
1903
1903-A3
1917
M1 Garand
Ruger #1A
Custom Mauser

Can't stand the durn things!

Not nearly dead, I have two J.C. Higgins Model 50 Mausers in 30-06, one sighted for 150 grain Power Points for deer and pigs and one sighted for 180 grain Partitions for bigger things. I do like a bit lighter rifle for most hunting, so I use my Kimber in 308 more these days.

Nope. I have had at least one 30-06 in my safe most of my adult life and have taken a lot of deer with that caliber.

Nah, I have a 30-06,an old 760 gamemaster. It belonged to my grandfather. I have killed a ton of game and varmints with it since I started using it at age 13. My boy uses it now.

Really nice rifle. See em in 308 but not too mamny 30.06.

125 gr Speer TNT over SR 4759 or Trail Boss at 30-30 velocities in the middle of a gopher field makes fun shooting for boys or girls, young or old.

I don’t know why anyone uses one. It will never catch on.

......Not a dead round, but instead a boring and too generic a round. Many rounds out there that surpass the 30-06 ballistically in every category. So if one can comfortably handle more recoil and a few extra dollars in factory ammo and/or reloading expense, rifle expense etc, then that is one's choice.....

Now for potentially longer ranged open country hunting for elk on down, what would be the better choice? A 30-06 or my 28 Nosler? A 30-06 or 300 Win? A 30-06 or 30 Nosler? A 30-06 or 300 PRC? A 30-06 or 7 RUM or Remmy? A 30-06 or 300 Wby? And on down the list.

Yep! The 30-06 isn't broke and will never be. However if that be your 1st and best love, then go for it.

For my purposes there hasn't been anything more useful in the last 100 years. I'm still using the 7x57, 30 W. C. F., 303 Savage, 300 Savage, .30-'06, 32 Winchester Special, 8x57, and 35 Remington. I don't have a need that these don't cover. I do also hunt with a 350 Rem. Mag., but that isn't really needed.

Try to buy any of those at the LGS in Namibia after the airline loses your luggage.

And in 20 years you won't be able to buy 2/3 of them in the USA either, if the past is any guide.

There are a few things that a few rounds can do better than a 30-06 but not many rounds can beat the 30-06 in everything it does. Hint: The 6.5 Creedmoor can't do anything better than a 30-06, unless you include making the rifle 1/4 pound lighter for guys 30 pounds overweight to carry.

I asked one of the young hunters a thirty something, to help me drag my deer. He commented as if from vast experience "that he used to see more 30-06, but now days not so much" I just said "they seem to work real good" while we were dragging the deer.

........u bring up good points and none would pertain to me and maybe not to most...However, when it comes to making a cartridge choice, I'm not gonna base my decision on what may or may not happen 20 years in the future.

Every time I see one of these .30-06 "doubting Thomas" titled threads, it brings to memory this great article by our own John Barsness:

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR .30-06
by John Barsness

I don't feel handicapped at all hunting with a 30-06 out to 500yds. Between the extra muzzle blast and barrel length my 06 is a better hunting rifle than any of my 300 mags.

Yep, it’s got some dead, this year mine made dead two elk and one deer.

I just bought another 30-06. It's a ruger guide gun with the ugly laminate stock and open sights with an ugly muzzle brake. I put the threa protector on and I'm putting it in an old boat paddle stock. Should be useful, a stainless Hawkeye 30-06 with a short barrel and open sights.

Bb

I'm still in the 30-06 business.

This fat bastard for long range precision,



And this skinny one for going up the hill,

So Shane, do you prefer the '06 to the 308?

Nice weapons and beautiful scenery...per usual with you. lol

I shot 3 of them yesterday. And a 35-06.

That's a tough call for me.

I've got a couple of each in LH Rem 700. The way I load the the 308 with heavies and RL17, it is a great shooter out to 1500 yards or so here at 4000' elevation. I can appreciate that it does that with only 48gr of powder, propelling a 208 Amax to 2600 fps.

The 30-06 can launch the same bullet at 2750 fps without leaning on it, and that seems to make it to a just short of a mile with reasonable consistency.

In both cases, I'm shooting a 22" barrel.

For any kind of typical hunting scenario, say all distances inside 500 yards, I can't see where one has any real advantage over the other.

MontanaMarine - I'd probably stroke out before I made it to the top of one of those hills.
But I'd likely be carrying an '06 when I made the attempt. Or a light 7mm. They are both fine choices.

Probably where the 30-06 has useful advantage (in the Rem 700) is the 3.6" magazine. It is very generous in loading long bullets seated beyond SAAMI spec of 3.34"

My first centerfire rifle was a model 788 Remington in 308. IIRC I bought it at the local TG&Y for a little under $200 NIB with a 4x Tasco scope already mounted. I added studs, swivels and a Bauer Brothers sling. I took my first buck with it with 150 grain Noslers that I loaded myself with a pretty hot load. The only reason I didn't have that gun in 30-06 though, was because it didn't come in 30-06. A couple of years later I saw a 670 Winchester 30-06 with a factory installed 3-9x Weaver for around $300 at Otasco. I lamented not getting that for a long time. Just a couple of cheap guns, but ones that were really cool in my youth.

I saw the Winchester when I was in there buying a new FIE Rough Rider...the gun that is still made but is now a Heritage. It was less than $50 with tax, on sale.

Yep. I had a 788 in 308 along the way too, and a 670 Win in 243.

Wow, that's wild. lol