Topgun 3006

I'm not going to touch this thread with a ten foot pole, LOL!

salukipv1

What can't you kill with a .30-06 within 200-300 yards? particularly in North America?
110-220gr bullets.

I would bet if you grew up with a .30-06, you love it, or it's sentimental, and no reason to get rid of it.

Also .30+ Magnums aside, what would you want to use on something big, heavy, or even dangerous?

I would bet as many of us age or get sick of being kicked around by magnums, going from a .300mag down to a .30-06 would be a small step down for much less kick.

I bet it's in the top 10 selling cartridges in America until everyone is shooting lazer guns... and probably even then it'll still be in the top 10.

maybe a better question is why shouldn't it be in the top 10?

I wonder how many people in this country have been passed down a rifle, and the only rifle they own is their dad's or grandpa's .30-06? they buy a box of rounds and shoot it once every year or 2 at the range.

tankerchief

I'm just going to echo what a lot of other have already said: It works. No need for "new and improved." If I was specialty hunting I might consider another cartridge but the 30/06 does fine with everything I want to hunt.

jerry d

Some good post fellas, gives you good insight into the "ole 06".

Now I'm far from a ballistic authority but I'm also told that the 30-06 has more potential if youre a handloader. Getting even closer to the ballistics of the 300WM. Im told the factory 30-06 is download incase someone has an old springfeild that the ammo finds its way into......Any truth to it?

Nomercy448

I don't believe this to be true, but I can understand how a rumor like that would proliferate through the shooting world. It stands to reason that the 30-06 is a turn of the century cartridge (the last one, of course), so surely handloaders can do a lot more with modern bullets and powder than it was originally designed to do. Combine that with the receiver-failure history of the 1903 Springfield rifle, which had some forging issues in early runs, followed up by soldiers accidentally feeding it the wrong cartridge with a slightly over-sized bullet, and poor cartridge brass quality in those early days, and you get a rumor like this.

But unlike many of the "turn of the century" cartridges before it, the 30-06 was never designed around black powder, and frankly, it ran almost as hard on day 1 in 1906 as it does today, almost 110yrs later. The 1903 springfield was actually designed as a solution to the Krag rifle that was unable to sustain high pressure cartridges.

And of course, when someone hears that "cartridges have to be down-loaded in deference to the old SPRINGFIELD RIFLES," their brain can easily forget that the cartridge in question is the 45-70, and the "springfield rifle" in question is the Trapdoor, not the 1903. A simple case of mistaken identity here.

Then I suppose you can throw in the fact that there were 2 revisions made after the original M1906 cartridge was released, one of which was made to reduce the recoil!! The original M1906 bullet was a 150grn pill, that was eventually replaced by a 173grn bullet in the M1 cartridge (not to be confused with the rifle). After repeated soldier complaints, the 150grn bullet was brought back over a new powder, designated the M2. This reduction in bullet weight is sometimes argued to be an indicator that the 1903 rifles were weak-by-design, so some might confuse that this change was made because of the RIFLE's durability, but it was actually driven by SOLDIER durability instead.

So it's understandable that folks that never handled a 1903 Springfield or a 1917 Enfield and that don't understand the histoy of these rifles might confuse themselves about the 30-06's cartridge potential and its history.

In my personal experience with the two, a reloader can "speed up" a 30-06 a bit and almost reach 300win mag levels (about 100fps over factory), but it's not worth much, and equally, a reloader can "speed up" a 300win mag about the same, so the net gap between the two stays about the same.

One can argue that since the 30-06 is chambered in the same model with the same diameter dimensions for barrel and action as the 308winchester - which is the same diameter cartridge with a higher pressure standard, AND that the 30-06 is chambered in the same rifle dimensions as the 300win mag - which is a larger diameter cartridge, meaning a thinner sidewall as well as a higher pressure, that the 30-06 should be able to be operated at ~62-64kpsi safely. The idea here being that you're exerting the same resultant force on the action as what these other cartridges would, with the 308 action having the same hoop strength, and the 300win mag action having LESS hoop strength. Structurally, as an engineer, I can't argue with the logic, other than to point out that, as a shooter, I haven't found that the 300win mag can do anything that a 30-06 cannot do with SAAMI level rounds in 150-180grn bullets.

Frankly, there's no real world advantage for the 300win mag over the .30-06 anyway, unless you're hunting "too big for 30cal" game and shooting rather heavy bullets where extra case capacity really starts to reveal itself. So emulating the 300wm with a 3006 just doesn't make much sense anyway.

flags

Because it works very well on the game that most people will hunt on a regular basis. There is a very good range of bullet weights and quality ammo is made by everyone that makes ammo. It is easy to handload for and if you don't handload you can get ammo just about anywhere. I've seen 30-06 ammo on the shelves in Cameroon, Zimbabwe and South Africa and I can't say that for the various short mags.

I'd happily hunt 99% of the game in the world with a 30-06. The only game I'd hesitate to go after is the really big stuff like elephant, rhino and cape buffalo and if the 30-06 was all I had and I could get quality 220 gr FMJ's I'd hunt them as well with the 30-06. The only cartridges I can think of that is better for all around hunting than the 30-06 are the 9.3x62 Mauser and the 375 H&H Mag. One thing all 3 calibers have in common is they are all over 100 years old and they are all commonly used. I'll admit the 9.3x62 isn't that common in North America but it is very popular in Europe and Africa.

Remember, the game itself hasn't changed. What worked well 100 years ago will still work today. That being said, I personally don't have a 30-06 since I prefer the 7mm Mag due to the fact I normally hunt wide open spaces. But if I was only going to have 1 gun to hunt with, I'd look long and hard at the 30-06.

JagMagMan

30-06, jack of all trades, master of none! There is no doubt the '06 is a great cartridge or else it would not be around anymore. However, I have never owned an '06 and probably never will! For a "one gun" person the 30-06 is a great choice, shoots everything from the accelerator on up. I just prefer the short action .308 and it's off-spring!

jerry d

Nomercy, Very imformative post. I didn't think that it would be all that down loaded. Thanks for education.

Flags that's saying quite a bit for the 06 from a man that's hunted all over the world!!

Omega218er

Very interesting read and great info. I however feel it has stuck around simply because 30.06 is just so much fun to say!

Seriously though I have owned one and its a great cartridge.

Savage_99

The 30-06 is famous because there have been only two world wars and the 30-06 Springfield was used by the greatest country on earth to win those wars!

Some other cartridge might fill and fit where the 30-06 is now however the facts above make it real.

Some say the 30-06 is too small for this and too big for that! Of course that can be said of any other cartridge as well!