Just curious here, but what does the 06 stand for in 30-06? Is this the same diameter bullet as a .30-30 and .30 M1 carbine?

Hi coolbrze0,

The " 06" stands for the year the .30-06 was adopted for military service, 1906. The caliber is actually .308 which is the same as a .30-30 and most other .30 calibers. (In .30-30 the first 30 stands for caliber, the second thirty represented the charge weight in black powder for the original load.....30 grains.)

By the Way....

Most American manufacturers name their cartridges with little rhyme or reason. They use such a variety of means to name their cartridges that there really is no " rule of thumb" . You simply just have to know.....if you want to.

Germans...and most other continental Europeans...use a somewhat simpler system. An example:

8X57 8mm' s is the caliber 57mm' s is the cartridge case length

9.3X62 9.3mm' s is the caliber 62mm' s is the cartridge case length

And so it goes.....

Good luck!

AK.....good reply.....

Cartridge designations are horribly difficult to understand unless you grew up with it.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the explanation! So in terms of a 9mm (9x19), 9mm is the caliber, 19 is the length of the cartridge case. Thanks again.

akbound certainly summed it up.

If only the United States would adopt the metric system. It is so much easier. I am completely American, through and through. COMPLETELY! But as a math teacher in a middle school, my opinion is that the metric system is 10 times better/easier.

Hi mainehunt,

But what fun would that be? (After all the time I spent learning to recognize at a glance that .375 is 3/8. Let' s not even talk about /32' s, /64' s, etc.)

Besides the eight years I spent living in Germany, (actually FRG), it always sounded so much more cool to say I' d spent the last couple of hours cruising the autobahn at 230kph...rather than 150mph.

In all seriousness though, after the trouble I see many of today' s youngsters have simply making change, without an electronic aid......I believe you to be right! But I don' t think we will overcome the " metric stigma" any time soon.

Just thought I' d chime in here, hearing my " name" being called and all.

I agree with mainehunt. We don' t need to hold onto the ENGLISH measurement system to be Americans. It would be nice to use a system that was created with some reason to it.

U.S. Rifle, Model of 1903, chambered for U.S. cartridge, caliber .30, Model of 1906......

ak, you are right about the nomenclature in which the last 30 stands for the weight of the powder, BUT the .30/30 was NEVER loaded with black powder. Neither was the .30/40 Krag, but the .303 British was!!