I have a Savage 30.06 and love the gun. I always wear hearing protection while at the range, but hunting, no I don't.

Like others, I wear protection while testing loads and doing target practice, but when I'm hunting I don't. My .300 Wby is pretty loud, but I really don't notice it while hunting.

I never bothered wearing hearing protection while hunting but after the results of my last hearing test I may start. I have some hearing loss in me left ear and shoot right handed. May be coincidence but I seriously doubt it.

99% of your shooting is at a range at targets.....wear hearing protection. While hunting the (usually) single shot you take will not even be noticed without hearing protection. Better to hear what's happening around you than to wear muffs for that one shot.

I think most of the damage to my hearing was probably in the dove fields.

I need an argument settled. I own a remington 742 Woodsmaster chambered in 30.06 Springfield. A guy I know from Alabama owns a Winchester 30.06. I say the Springfield rounds are higher velocity and shoot flatter. My friend says that ain't so.
Am I right about this or not?

It is very important to wear hearing protection at the range, or when engaged in hunting where more then one round is likely to be fired, as in dove shoots or prairie dog shoots. I am 62 and wear hearing aids in both ears. They compensate well, but not like having one's own good hearing. Wearing hearing aids makes a person very aware of needing to protect what hearing is left. A good idea is to get molds made by an audiologist. These fit the ear and seal out sound. Then also wear a good pair of ear muffs to really deaden the crack of your rifle or shotgun. Take it from a half deaf hunter, keeping and protecting your hearing is well worth the effort.

These days a 30-06 is a 30-06, no mater what gun the round is chambered in. Shoot the same ammo in yours or his, and you will have about the same velocity out of either assumeing the bbl length is close to the same length in both rifles.

Drilling Man

For Steven Ashe, the Reloading Bench website has an interesting piece of history on the grand 30 06. (Biscuit salutes.) But it doesn't address powder development or discrepancies in production runs shipped to depots over the decades. Yes, I think I heard somewhere along the line that pre-1950 springfield ball ammo was hot. Stories start for a reason. But I bet it was manufacturing variance. I would stick to modern rounds in modern rilfes, though. We have better bullets and powders these days. Maybe someone else is a stronger history buff on the .06.

As a supply officer attached to the 3rd Bn 9th Marines in 1975, my battalion was the first to ship without 03 springfield extractors and ejectors in our parts inventory. Tradition dies hard.

You wont notice any noise or recoil when your shooting an 06 at game, unless its ported or something. Noise seems to be more related to the gun than the caliber, the loudest non-ported rifle I have is a 6mm rem, and its louder than my 300win mag by far.