.30-06 or .308 For Big Game Hunting?
 

What do you all think?

define your definition of big game. Seeing those 2 are the only choices, Black bear, deer, caribou, even elk in the junipers I would use a 308, something where a heavier bullet is needed the 06

North American game, such as whitetail deer, boar, elk, black bear, etc

Do bears **** in the woods? Get real

Polar bears don't.

AS for the original question, the dead animal will never know the difference between the two.

Got me on that one. lol

Unless a lightweight rifle is a top priority I would go with the 06. Ammo cost is the same on average and the 06 offers an advantage in terminal performance. The ammo gets alot more expensive once you get above the 06 case into the magnums.

If you compare cost the 06 is priced with the 243, 308,270 etc but outperforms them all as far as kinetic energy goes. More bang for the buck. Pun intended.

Either will do, I prefer long actions myself though. Bullet selection is more important than debating between similar cartridges.

You can get cheap .308 bulk ammo for plinking at the range, so the .308 will be cheaper to practice with. The 06 has slightly better ballistics. Either one will work just fine though.

Do you prefer blondes or brunettes ?


I'll take one of each, please ! :-)

No gingers Sheridan??

Podunk,

You're right..............as long as I'm wishing.

Two of each !!!

Minimal difference IMO, but I go with 30.06

+1 30-06 you wont regret it.

308 or 30-06
 

well seeing as how both of em use the same exact bullit 3.07 thous or 7.62mm for those of you in the metric world,,the only differance is velosity..the 30-06 holds alittle better hitting power down range..and dont drop off as fast as the 08,,but the 08 dont kick as hard,,,i dont believe there is much either of em will not dispatch quickly,in the north america's except for grizzley...might wanna go with 06 for moose also,,,by the way i shoot a 06,,,,
HERES SOME INFO:30-06 w/150grn pspat 2910fps drops 13.57 inchs at 300yards when zero at 100 yards..remaining velosity 2083,and 1445ft pounds of energy left..
308 w/same bullit is 2820 and drops 14.69 inches at 300 w/100 yard zero,,with 1344ft pounds energy left.,so you see apples and oranges gentalmen

I would go with .06 myself for the simple reason that around here you can shop any wallyworld & find at least 4 - if not 6 - different kinds of ammo for .06. Go to a gun/sporting goods store & find several others as well. 308 has only one or two choices. That was the main reason I ordered my Marlin XL7 in .06 - greater variety of cartridge over any other round. If .308 (or .270 for that matter) was more common than .06, I would have bought that instead. Yes I know that there's a great variety of .308 on the internet, but that's not the point. I want to be able to walk into any store that sells even a small amount of ammo & walk away with the load that shoots right in MY gun.

There used to be a ton of surplus .308/7.62x51mm ammo out there. If you didn't reload, you could save a ton of money with surplus machine gun ammo. Now, that has mostly dried up.

If I were picking, for just deer at common local distances....308 and handload. More than enough for mule deer, overkill for whitetail. If I had any inkling of hunting elk, I'd pick .30-06. Anything bigger than that, I'd consider something with more powder.

OP,
The .308 is just the 30-06 case shortened down to use faster burning powders. They both do the same velocity with max pressures when you use the same bullets. There is not really much difference here.
If you buy off the shelf ammo then the 30-06 might take it since its been said even the farthest north out fitters keep some instock just in case a hunter needs some ammo's.
308 is said to have less recoil and then their is the mill surp ammo for cheap practice ammo. It is shorter so you get to chose between lighter guns.
It should work better from shorter barrels because of the faster burning powder the .308 uses. 30-06 is stuck using Long cut which is the slowest burning thing out there. The .300 win mag was designed to take Long cut powder when it was state of the art powder.
Now things have progressed and we have new better powders and subsequently the short mag's.
Take your pick. Personally I would take the .308 because I like auto loader rifles and it just shines in auto loaders until you look at the .300 WSM.


That is my 2 cents, thanks for lookin!

Don't forget about factory 30.06 light mag ammo. That bumps things up a little closer to the 300 mag and gives the 06's a little more versatility. I haven't had a need for that yet, but it's available if I ever need a little more punch out the 06, but for now the standard 150 grn 30.06 has performed exceptionally on deer and boar.

Either or. Shooting 180 gr. bullets or lower in grain weight I would choose the 308. If you intend to go with heavier bullets, the 30:06 would be my choice. They both have a great selection of factory ammo available. My favorite is the 308.

Agree, add shot placement and you have a winner.

Based on all NA game the 3006 because of its ability to handle or shoot heavier for grain caliber bullets. However if it were me and i wanted a 30 cal do all for NA I'd step up to a 300...same premise:)

They should pay just ONE guy to lay in wait and kill redundant, stupid, pointless posts like this, before anyone has a chance to humor the trolls.