ORIGINAL: Pavomesa
One of my shooting buddies had an 06 opened out to the Ackley Improved. Waste of time and money for the most part. The Gibbs would be a waste of time and money on steroids. Anyone with a 30/06 and they feel they just gotta have more power, the simple, straight forward solution is to pick up whatever 30 cal magnum turns you on.
P.O. Ackley was famous for a lot of things. One of his claims to fame was always telling the truth about cartridges. P.O. said the majority of "improved designs" were worthless or very near to it........and he included many of his own in this category as well.
The 30/06AI was one of the few he said a shooter did gain a little extra for their investment....but only with the heavier bullets. I wouldn't consider ANY 'improved" cartridge that I couldn't build my cases by simply fire forming them.
If you consider playing with cartridges and loads, and fooling around with such things to determine what's possible and to learn something new to be a waste of time, then you are correct. It sure is much simpler to just buy whatever the factories want to offer.
BUT that sure ain't near as much fun! For example, I use a double rifle in 8X60 RS caliber. Since this cartridge has been off the market ever since the end of WWII, I have to make my own. I use the 7X65R case, and it is even more of a pain to make into 8X60RS cases than to make an '06 into a .30 Gibbs. But to me, it is fun! Partricularly when I can fire six rounds at 100 metersinto a 2.5" group, R-L, R-L, R-L with 200-grain Nosler Partition bullets at 2620 FPS from a rifle that was made before 1912.......