I know you are looking at the 2 standards, but What about the 30-tc? does everything the -06 does in a short action. the -06 outshines the 308 at long ranges with heavier bullets. [/align][/align]The .30 Shrinks Again[/align]T/C's first-ever proprietary round delivers big power from a small case.[/align]By Craig Boddington[/align][/align]

In 1903, the United States military adopted a rimless bottleneck cartridge for use in the new 1903 Springfield rifle. It featured a 220-grain round-nose bullet at 2,300 fps--fast for the day--but three years later, this round--our beloved .30-06--switched to a 150-grain spitzer bullet at 2,700 fps. That was real speed back then.





The first deer to fall to the .30 TC, which is shorter than the .308 but with punch equal to the .30-06.[/align]

Over time, though, engineers realized that, with different propellants and advancements in case design technology, the .30-06's 2.494-inch case was longer than it needed to be--a realization that eventually culminated in the development of the .308 Winchester, which produced 2,750 fps in a 2.015-inch case.


Today we have even more and even better propellants, and we know a lot more about how case design influences cartridge performance. Enter the .30 Thompson/Center, which is headstamped and will probably always be known as the .30 TC. The .308 Winchester is essentially a shortened .30-06 case; the .30 TC, in turn, is essentially a shortened .308 Winchester case. It uses the same .473-inch rim and case-head diameter, with minimal taper and similar shoulder angle. The primary difference is a case shortened to 1.920 inches. This makes it relatively short and fat for its length, which, as we now know, considerably enhances ignition and burning efficiency.

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A joint development between Thompson/Center and Hornady, the .30 TC is the first commercial centerfire cartridge to bear the TC headstamp. As of this writing, the cartridge is still in its infancy, and designers are still working to finalize all the exact dimensions. I had a chance to use the initial run of ammo in T/C Pro Hunter rifles, both on the range at the T/C factory and on the range and in the field on a Kentucky whitetail hunt. This still-experimental ammo featured a 150-grain Hornady SST bullet at 2,950 fps--whopping velocity from such a short case.


At the T/C factory, accuracy was astounding. In Kentucky, with just one .30 TC Pro-Hunter available (and just one load to try), accuracy was modest. This doesn't worry me. We know that burning efficiency is conducive to good accuracy. As production ammo rolls out of Grand Island, Nebraska, I assume that, in good barrels, the .30 TC will prove to be an extremely accurate cartridge.


There are, of course, other super-accurate .30-caliber cartridges (like the .308 Winchester), so what does the .30 TC offer? First, it's a new cartridge design. We Americans love our .30 calibers, and we know what .30-06-like performance can accomplish, so I assume the .30 TC will be successful. I also assume its very short case will almost immediately be necked this way and that. In time there will be other cartridges based on this case, and some may be better and more popular than the original.


Second, this level of performance from such a short case means that .30-06-like capabilities can be housed in extra-short actions. Hunters will look at it as a superb mountain cartridge to chamber in an ultra-light rifle. It has the potential to find favor with benchrest shooters as well.