Calibers for Beginners: The Legendary .30-06

1. Yup. Why mess with success?

   • 30-06 and .270 are two great old rounds. Load the 30-06 with 180 gr. and the .270 with 130 gr. and you are good to go. Either rifle will do it all (with the 30-06 probably being a bit better overall) but it is nice to have both. I’ve got the .270, but sadly still lack the 30-06.

     • Just more gun than you need most of the time,which explains the .270. I’d hunt everything on the continent except brown bear with a .270 with a second thought.

       • Perhaps you intended to say “without” a second thought.

       • The idea of the .270 was to get a flatter-shooting round with a heavier bullet.

         Post-WWI, there was a great deal of furious wildcatting in the American shooting world, trying to get a hunting cartridge that launched bullets at 3,000+ fps. It was partly marketing, partly wildcatters & gunsmiths driving this.

         The .250-3000 Savage (aka .250 Savage) was one of the first, launching a 87-grain bullet at just over 3,000 fps. The .257 Roberts was another round designed in that timeframe, launching a 100-gr pill at just about 3,000 fps. The .257 Roberts was based off the 7×57 Mauser.

         The .270 Winchester, using 130-grain bullets, was able to achieve a solid 3,000+ fps performance. The 130gr bullet was now heavy enough to take on larger game responsibly.

         In all three cases, the new high velocities exceeded the bullet technology of the day; hunting bullets of the day tended to explode/shatter on impact at closer ranges at these velocities. This was the impetus of the start of the “premium” bullet market – starting with the Nosler Partition in the post-WWII era. John Nosler had hunting bullets explode on him (ie, bullet failure to penetrate) and he started the American premium hunting bullet market with the idea of a bullet that would retain a large portion of its original mass to maximize the chance of deep penetration.

     • agree

2. Why mess with .30-06 when we have .308/7.62?

   • 30-06 is more versatile… if you won’t use the added case capacity and neck length then stay with 308… if you want more options, 30-06 can’t be beat.

   • why mess with .308 if you have grand dads beautiful, straight shooting ’06? ballistics are barely worth mentioning, bullet drop in an ethical hunting shot are hardly different, both are abundant in ammo, pretty much everywhere, and while everyone else is buying up .308, my 30.06 ammo goes on sale, sometimes as low as .40/per in brass cased reloadable ammo, for a rifle that does pretty much the same damn thing. not to mention every .308 I’ve ever fired bit harder in the shoulder than my 03-a3, even the ones with “good” recoil pads, ill pass on .308, just like .40.

   • +1

     Nothing against the ’06, but besides the smaller package, the .308 offers significantly less rec oil at a loss of a mere 100fps. The deer ain’t gonna know the difference. And for targ et work, the paper will have even less of a clue than the deer, although that’s where the various 6.5s are taking over.

     • The .308 is a decent round. But if you handload the 06 has an edge. If you use the heavier bullets the 06 has an edge. Case length matters in this.

       If all you’re doing is tagging a deer every season, the .243 beats both.

       • The .30-06 has the edge in every aspect of ballistic performance. But it comes with 15% more rec oil energy and only nets 6.5% more muzzle energy. Of course that logic can be taken right through the 6.5s down to the .243, but at that point I’m thinking the deer at 350 yards might actually notice the difference between .30-06 and .243.

       • 6.5 CM does not approve you using its name in your percentages. 6.5 CM says that 6.499% would be acceptable.

       • Otherwise, 6.5 CM attorneys are gonna get involved, and nobody wants that kinda trouble.

   • During the ammo drought of 2013, when you couldn’t sniff a box of .308/7.62, or .223/5.56, I was able to find .30-06 anywhere. Everyone owns a rifle that’s clambered for it but nobody seems to shoot it anymore.

     • Here in the rural west, if you forgot your ammo at home, you can always find two rounds in every gas station, hardware store, etc (ie, not the “gun” shop, but a shop that deals in “some gun stuff”):

       1. .30-06
       2. .270 Winchester

   • The .30-06 gives you the last measure of versatility in the heaviest .30 cal bullets.

     There’s nothing wrong with the .308. The standard length action in bolt-action rifles in the US is the length of the .30-06 loaded round – assuming a cartridge 3.340″ long. The .308 uses a “short” action.

   • Danny:

     In answer to your question, personal preference is one aspect. Another or the other is the following. I was never a hunter, not opposed to hunting, just not interested. I was a competitive rifle shooter, 200 out to and including 1000 yards. Various .308 caliber target rifles shot very nicely out to 600 yards, meaning that I could do well with them. At 1000 yards, for me to shoot a .308 caliber rifle was an exercise in futility. Entirely different story with a 30-06 Target Rifle., including both the Garand and Model 70 Winchester.

3. That was so patriotic. MURICA!!!

4. I was probably overly influenced by USA hunting magazines, (not many Australian ones then) in school library, when I bought my first 30-06 when I was a teenager in the 1970’s. But I can’t complain everything I’ve shot has stayed down. I have two still a Remington 760 and Thompson Centre dimension.

   The range of projectiles to load or buy now is amazing. These days I load threes main loads 110 grain Sierra Game King for goats and pigs at almost .223 speeds. 150 grain Hornady as general deer load and 240 grain Woodliegh for water buffalo / wild cattle, usually very close.

5. The 1906 vintage .30-06 Springfield directly or indirectly sired three classic American calibers: .270 Winchester (1925), .300 Savage (1920), and .308 Winchester (1952). The latter was designated 7.62mm NATO and were chambered to both the M-14 rifle and M-60 machine gun in 1957, the year they were officially adopted by the U.S. Army, for military use. Later the Marine Corp would adopt and utilize them, especially during the Vietnam War (1961-1975). The .30-06 in turn was inspired by the 7mm Mauser or 7×57
   and .30-40 Krag; both these historical military calibers date back to 1892. I always
   considered a modern bolt action sporting rifle chambered in 7mm Mauser (7×57),
   .270, or .30-06, especially when mounted with a quality 4x scope and carry sling, the
   closest firearm to being an ideal “deer/elk” hunting rifle. Remember proper shot
   placement and accuracy is the key to putting fresh venison or elk meat in the freezer,
   or even caribou and moose meat for that matter. With modern powders and bullets
   available all rifle calibers have been drastically improved ballistic-ally, and offer superior
   shock and killing power on big game.

   • On a not entirely unrelated note….

     Old hands here will know the “Springfield ’03 was modeled on the Mauser of the time, with a near-total infringement of the Mauser patent for the fire control system. Folks new to the blog might want to do a little digging into that, just to round off a rifle education.

     (I once saw for sale a mint ’03 still in packing paper and cosmoline(?). Price was $3k+. Just couldn’t convince the CFO that we needed the rifle to initiate our firearms museum.

     • Again, as in many things, reading Hatcher’s Notebook should be required for serious gun buffs.

       There’s a wealth of history as well as technical information therein.

   • I think the .270 Winchester was parented off the .30-03. The .270 Win case is longer than the .30-06 by (if my memory serves, so don’t hold me to this exact number) 0.046″. My memory is that the .30-06 case length is 2.494 (of that, I’m pretty certain – it’s a number I see quite a bit) vs. 2.54″ for the .30-03 (if my memory serves, forgive me for not looking it up just now – I know the .270 Winchester is 2.540″ long, so that’s where I’m pulling that number from).

     The .30-06 was a dramatic re-work of the .30-03, which wanted to launch a 220 grain round nose plated (copper/nickel) pill at 2300+ fps. Army Ordnance woke up from the 19th century, noticed that spitzer bullets were indeed the future, and went with a 150-grain jacketed spitzer pill instead of the round-nosed pill.

     The .30-03 tended to have throat erosion problems from blow-by in the throat; they were trying to stoke the pressures pretty high to get 2300 to 2400 fps out of that 220gr pill.

     One of the reasons for the shortening the .30-06 from the .30-03 was the rework of 1903 Springfield rifles. They wanted to be sure that you couldn’t stuff a .30-03 cartridge into a .30-06 chamber; by making the ’06 case shorter, you couldn’t close the bolt on a re-worked 1903 rifle on an old cartridge. I seem to recall that there were less than 100K 1903 rifles already made that needed re-work, and some escaped the -06 rework. The rework required that the barrel be pulled off, set back by a turn and an -06 reamer applied.

     • Yes, DG is correct, the .30-03 (back then, some called it the .30-45 because it used 45 grains of powder) is the parent case of the .270 Winchester and the .280 Remington. The case length is 2.54 inches.

       The .30-06 is the parent case of some neat cartridges, such as .35 Whelen, .338-06, .25-06, and others.

6. Was just looking through available rifles chambered in aught-six the other day. I want one to spite all the whizbang new cartridge shooters. Good essay.

7. If the .30-06 don’t have it, you don’t want it. It’s been over 100 years since this cartridge was adopted by soldiers and hunters and it has yet to be surpassed.

   And in the name of all that’s holy, please don’t call it the “thirty odd six.” You will sound like an ignorant muzhik. It’s thirty AUGHT six. Or OUGHT if you must (get it?). It means 0.

   • Agreed, the .30-06 is the King of All Hunting Rounds in my book. It’s all I wanted when I was a kid and has never let me down in many decades in the woods. I like to hunt with different cartridges, including .44, .308 in black, 300 WinMag and even the 300 WSM mentioned in the article (an impulse purchase I wouldn’t repeat). Plus bow and muzzle. But when I’m DEAD serious and it’s do or die for a Whitetail, and the opportunity could range from 30 to 300-plus yards, it’s always ought six. Opening Day of rifle, I’m grabbing the Browning Medallion .30-06 EVERY year till I’m gone. It just works.

     • bow and muzzle sounds interesting. compound shooting suppressed?

8. The only -06 I want is a Garand. Scratch that, a Garand and an ‘03. I’ve got a WWI helmet that belonged to my grandfather’s father (great grand dad I know, but it was through marriage), so I need a bandolier and an ‘03 to go with it. I wouldn’t feel under-gunned with a Garand, though it probably wouldn’t be my first choice.

   • Amen. Ordered and received my first CMP Garand last month and now that I’ve shot it a few times I have an order form for a higher grade one sitting in front of me right now.

     • I wouldn’t be too concerned with the grade if I were to order, so long as it’s not completely thrashed, and it still runs well. I’m going to shoot the ever living hell out of it, so if it’s pristine, I’m gonna feel bad.

       • My first one is a field grade, $650 with free shipping and a really quite nice case is a hard deal to beat. It needed a smidge of rehab but the bones were great, and it shipped the very same day they got all my ordering info.

         If you’re in a state without UBC they’ll even ship it to your doorstep if you prefer (you have to be there to sign obviously).

   • I found an estate sale a few years ago for a guy that loved Garands. Had 20 or so Garands and a bunch of other guns and ammo. I picked up a post WW2 H&R that looked like it had never been shot for $575 + auction fees. He put a new stock on it and a ‘guns save lives’ sticker, so maybe not very collectible, but I’m still grateful to own it. I still shoot his .38 reloads I picked up when I take my J frame to the range.

   • The Garand may be the only reason to want 30-06 but it’s reason enough.

9. The ought-6 was my first cartridge of choice for hand reloading back `bout 35 years ago.

   I still have the dies, but have not procured a firearm to fire it since getting orders overseas and selling the one and only Garand I ever owned.

   I keep saying, “one of these days,” and meaning it, but so many other flavors of the moment have popped up.

   Yup, another is on my future, I’m sure of it…

10. There are very few things a man can’t put straight with a coupla’ hundred dollars and a .308. con safos. 30

11. My daddy uses 30-06, my granddaddy used 30-06, my great grandaddy used 30-06, and my great grand uncle died at Normandy with a Garand in his hands fighting with the 82nd Airborne.

    If it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for me.

    • Nice lineage.

    • My respects, Suvivordude. As a former paratrooper I assure you, your uncle walks the halls of Valhalla.

    • Amen. And God Bless.

12. Heresy! Why he blasphemed the hallowed Creedmoor at least 3 times! Burn him!
    /sarc

    • +1 BURN THE WITCH!!

      6.5 CM’s BC is so good and its overall case length is so close to .308 Win, that it’s more of a weapon of mass destruction than a hunting/fighting round….. Did they drop 30-’06 on Hiroshima and Nagisaki?!? No!!!…. they dropped prototype 6.5 CM rounds. What you see in the pictures (Fat Man & Little Boy) was just a protective case to shield the crew from 6.5 CM’s awesomness. Delivery systems for 6.5 CM (B-36 Peacemaker, B-52 Statofortress, etc) kept getting bigger and bigger until 1952 when the overall cartridge length for .308 Win was finalized… Ever since then 6.5 CM delivery systems got smaller and smaller, until we arrived at the single man portable systems we see today. “Should citizens have nuclear weapons?” they ask…. I say, “Who cares?!? We have 6.5 CM!!!” …… stupid anti-gun people never know what to say to that.

13. Hornady, Nosler and others are making bullets for 30 cal that have those BC’s up in the .6 and .7 range. Hand load some of them and you would have the Creedmore of rifle cartridges.

    • We already have a 6.5 Creedmoor of rifle cartridges.
      It’s called 6.5 Creedmoor.

14. Been shooting 30.06 for 60 years, can’t beat it.
    Yes, I have other cartridges but the Garand is my favorite.

15. I have owned a 30-06 in one form, or another since I was seventeen. That, gentlemen, was a long time ago. Can’t imagine my safe without one in it.

16. Calibers for beginners….30-06? Huh? Hardly!

    • When people ask me to recommend a rifle/cartridge for “hunting any large game” (from moose to pronghorn) here in the west, and they don’t want to handload, I recommend the .30-06.

      In that way, it is a cartridge for beginners. Launch a 150gr to 180gr pill out of a .30-06 onto any large game in North America, and do it competently, and your job as a hunter is done. It is the round for people who consider themselves hunters first, rifle nerds second (eg, like those who come to rifle hunting from bow hunting).

      Couple this with being able to find premium, pre-loaded ammo literally everywhere, with almost every bullet configuration imaginable – and, yes, it is a round for beginners.

      • Agree. And why do people keep bringing up recoil here? Never heard so much recoil whining. No one in my circle ever mentions it, about any weapon.
        Non-factor, especially in .30-06.

    • Put on your big boy pants! When I bought my first ’06 I weighed 150 soaking wet with rocks in my pockets. I zeroed it with Remington 150 gr. Core Lokt ammo and hit the woods. Whitetail and wild hogs had a bounty on my head. Too many of the new generation of shooters were raised on a varmint round. Most of my uncles carried an M-1 rifle all over North Africa and Europe. They never complained about recoil. Damned if I’ll say I’m less of a man than them.

17. Its only 322 days until Creedmas 2019!

18. Both my grandpas used the 30-06 in wwII.
    I’m just a young whupersnapper of 37 years, but my Savage 30-06 did the job on 3 cow Elk filling the freezer for my family with 3 growing boys.

19. 30-06 is a real mans round. That’s how grandpa did it, that’s how dad did it, and goddamnit that’s how America does it, and it worked out pretty well so far. I personally have a 30-06 AR from Noreen in my future.

20. Great article thx!

21. I do like my 300 WSM. Same bullet, different brass. Then again, I like all guns. I’m not going to knock a 6.5 Creedmoor, 7-08, or any of the more modern cartridges. A 30-06 with a 24+ inch barrel is hard to beat. If you want a short carbine, then you want something with less case capacity though. A 7-08 with a 20 inch barrel is better than a 30-06 with a 20 inch barrel. It all depends on what you’re hunting, where you’re hunting, and what distances you plan on shooting. I don’t discriminate, I pretty much like all guns.

22. I love the 30-06. 24 years ago I scraped enough money together to buy my first bolt action rifle. I chose 30-06 because I wanted a rifle that I could buy ammo for in any gas station in WV (my home state). It is a Ruger 77mkII All Weather. I still have, and hunt with, that rifle. It has never failed me. I have never had to shoot game twice. Before I fired the first round I had a gunsmith do the following: glass bedding, free float barrel, true bolt face, 2.5lb trigger. I tested several factory rounds and it liked Federal Classic in 150 grain. I bought a case of it. Still shooting that ammo. Easily shoots sub 1 inch groups at 100 yards. Love the rifle, love the cartridge. You don’t need more for North America in my opinion.

23. yes, but can get a .30-06 in 6.5 Creedmore?

    • You have to have the shoulder thingy that goes up and the correct clipazine. But, yeah, they;re pretty much interchangeable.

24. Have to disagree on the point about recoil. Plain Jane .30-’06 hunting loads out of a bolt action (especially with no recoil pad) are not usually something smart to give to a child or any new shooter before they’ve accumulated substantial experience.

    Also worth keeping in mind that ubiquitous remarks about grandpappy’s M1 and its low recoil have a lot to do with it weighing 10 lbs, using a gas operated semi auto action, and firing military ball ammo that’s a bit tamer than many modern factory loads as I understand it.

25. Josh, if you meant to say that the .30-06 can serve as a genuine African game cartridge (though I wouldn’t recommend it for CXP4 dangerous game), then the proper term is “bona fide,” not “bonified,” which means to have converted something bad or evil into something good. Most African jurisdictions have a minimum requirement of 9.3×62 or .375 H&H Magnum for CXP4 dangerous game anyway.

26. Wow , this guy is as bad as the 308 guys . Doesn’t he understand that in 100 years the ONLY ammo you will be able to get is 6.5 creedmore? It’s perfect for everything from Iguanas to wooly mammoths. when people go out to the cloned dinosaur parks in the future to cull the excess T-rex population , they will get it done with a 6.5.

    • Actually, a 6.5 Creedmoor is too much firepower for a T-Rex. A .30-06 and careful shot placement might bring the big guy down.

27. You know, you guys really suck!!!

    First I had to get rid of my .308 for 6.5 Creedmoor, now I have to get rid of my 6.5 Creedmoor for a 30-06? Can we just get a cartridge ranking so I can skip right to the ultimate cartridge and not have to incur a financial loss from buying and selling at every step along the way?

28. Thanks Josh Wayner for the write up, I like the “Cartridge for beginners” series of articles, learn something every time. I have a old Savage .30-06, bought at a pawn shop 25 years ago, I’ll have to get it out and feed it. When growing up in Alaska, I remember that every hardware and grocery store had .30/30 and .30-06 on the shelf.

29. I can go along with nearly all of this article except the part about competition.
    The only rifle competitors who are shooting ’06 are the ones who are shooting classes that require ’06, like CMP Vintage and John C. Garand matches.

30. Anyone who has seen my comments here , knows I am an 06 guy .
    The 270 is great .
    The 308 is very good .
    The 6 mils are very goods also , just needs many years of barrel / receiver manufacturing to stand along side the 06
    The 06 is THE BEST hand loaders round ever made , if you consider it’s versatility .
    The long action requirements and it’s resultant weight and size , in field transport , are the only real negatives when considering an 06 as an all around , but with modern gas port technologies the semi auto challenges are old school arguments .
    Noreen firearms proved you could design an AR format rifle around the 06 a few years back and the BAR and similar types of rifles have always been dependable .
    I will stick to tried and proven while tinkering on the edges with the 6 mils and leave the 308’s to the younger generation , I ain’t got no problem with a battle buddy having my 6 with a G28 , but for hunting I just prefer to use my old tried and trues .
    For distance and penetration , I’ve seen and understand all the ballistics comparisons and I have to give the Creedmoor it’s due .

31. If I were collecting 30-06 rifles, I’d get
    – M1
    – Eddystone
    – Bannerman Mosin
    – Original 1895
    – FN-49
    – Vepr
    – Model 70
    – maaaaybe Noreen

    • For crying out loud , you got to throw in a BAR 06 and the Noreen >>> Go for it , shoulder it up & send $ 45.00 down range in 18 seconds . You only live once .

32. I have to admit my first deer and elk rifle was a Remington 722 in .300 Savage and I never felt under gunned. I did how ever buy a Browning 30-06 on my 18 birthday and have been hunting with it for the last 32 years. I have loaded everything from 110gr pills up to 220 depending on what I was hunting and have always been happy. Why change? I do still load and hunt deer with that old 1948 722 though.

33. bonified?? Do you mean “bona fide” or are you cleverly making up a word based on “bone” to convey the .30-06’s fatal impact on game animals?

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