It is hard to do justice to this round, so if I find exactly what I am looking for, I will post a new topic. As far as I can tell, the "Springfield" designation calls back to its armory of origin, Springfield, Massachuesetts. At what point the "Cartridge, 30 06" became known nationwide as the 30 06 Springfield is not clear to me, but I may find out as I dig more. Springfield Armory (SA) started out as a major arsenal for George Washington, perhaps the first in our history, and built muskets. SA also parented the Springfield and Garand rifles. The 03 springfield cartridge originally started out, I understand, in a slightly longer case pushing a 220 grain bullet! That was short lived and they went to a slightly shorter case with a 150 grain bullet. I have never seen an original 03 round. The round went some through some later revision when we went to the M1 Garand. I think that is when we went to M2 ball ammo, as opposed to M1 ball. Powder developement over the decades in the 3006 is equally as exciting as anything about this round.... with modern materials it just keeps getting better and better. WWII ammo was produced in many, many factories around the nation. The 03 Springfield rifle was still on military property books into the 70's, but not now in any modern units that I know of. We went modern on sniper rifles in Viet Nam and went to the 7.62 Nato. Well, the 3006 is simply the way America hunts. I think it is just perfect to call it the "Springfield," and this is an especially good time to honor it. The original Springfield Armroy is now in the National Park Service, has an arms collection and can be visited by the public! They have a website for details. :-)

Some things just keep gettin' better!