Where does the .30-06 fit into the LRH Pantheon of cartridges?

[Don A Parsons]

2 other good performers are the Speer 190 GS and the triple x...

Both of them work good on thick and thin skin critters .

I've had good experiences with the Hornady 150gr interlocks and a veriaty of 165/ 168 gr'ers.

The 178's are still my all time favs ,,, about 2820 ft-per seconds out of the pipe. Ha.

The old school Ought-6 is easy to load for.

 

[Don A Parsons]

I was starting to plan for another rifle, something in 300 or 7mm Mag,,, my noodle wanted another 300 ft-per seconds of extra power down range,,, then I realized that the majority of my big game harvest were in the 70 to 140 yard range. That's pretty good odds over 42 years. This distance was exceed only 3 or 4 times over the harvest.

Something else that came up that I wasn't planning,,, the accuracy of the 8 and 10 lb 30/06 units I own.

My best game critter gett'er is a Remmy 30/06 Long Range with a Jewel trigger and Vortex 3-15x50 with a built in retrical distance compansater. My normal off season shooting is from 400 to 900 meters,,, once in a blue moon I take it out on the 1700 meter shoots to Southern BC

Yes I know,,, that's pushing the maximum limits of the Berger 187 Juggernauts or the Hornady 178 ELD-X and M's.

I guess I don't need any thing better than this,,, the recoil is manageable, fairy frugal on powder,,, and the Lapua brass is fairly priced here in Canada.

What's not to like about the Ought-6 cartrage.

My plan is to incorporate the pipe into the Wild-Cat composite stock for easier packing and set the barrel length at 24" for easier manoveriblity in the bush.

Kinda like both worlds,,, hunting in the tight quarters or out in the opens if it happens.

Yuppers,,, Old school 30/06 ain't the sharpest pencil in the pack,,, nor is it the weakest.

Good times fore sure

Cheers from North of the 49th

 

[Don A Parsons]

Just rapped up a 700 meter shoot with the old Ought-6,,, Five sets of 5,,, things are working out good.

She was a bit Nippy at -36c,,, about -40 with the wind. Ha ,,, dam cold up here above the 49th parallel. Hopefully it won't be long before the warm weather roles in.

168gr'ers @ 2600 ft-per seconds,,, the bullets needed a 20 MOA hold to get into the pie plate,,, good thing for the rangg-ing reticle. Took a couple warm up shots to get onto target,,, other than that,,, the old Remmy held its own.

Can't wait to get back at it in the am,,, no Wolves today,,, but there are lots of tracks.

Don

 

[HARPERC]

I don't know much C temperatures, but read once -43F, and -43C is where the 2 intersect. MY bones have been rebelling at just below freezing this year.

 

[Greyfox]

I spent my early years shooting and hunting with the 30-06 Pre-64 Model 70. 300 yards was LR for me back then and it served me very well. It would be a solid choice for mid range hunting.
As a contemporary LR Shooter. the 30-06 can certainly be made to work, but IMO, there are far better choices for LR that are more efficient, and ballistically superior, placing the '06 pretty far down on my list for this application.

 

[HARPERC]

........As a contemporary LR Shooter. the 30-06 can certainly be made to work, but IMO, there are far better choices for LR that are more efficient, and ballistically superior, placing the '06 pretty far down on my list for this application...........

As nearly as I can tell, my LRH stops about half way from where I believe yours to be, and so far cartridge choice hasn't proved to be the limiting factor here!

That's in spite of what I've learned from you, and others here.

 

[SAM55]

After shooting under an ostrich at about 600 yards with my beloved 30-06 a few years ago, I've moved on to a .300 WSM and a 6.5 CM. My next build will probably be in the middle - 28 Nosler. Maybe I've just gotten lazy, but I really love the higher velocity, flatter shooting bullets. My trusty 30-06 is resting comfortably near the back of the safe after a distinguished hunting career.

 

[HARPERC]

......My trusty 30-06 is resting comfortably near the back of the safe after a distinguished hunting career.....

Mine's found a seat near the fire more often these days.

 

[Don A Parsons]

I hear yha, yes... There are lots of betters in life,,, if hunting distance played a role in my hunting needs,,, I'd deffinatly switch calibers... But my old school cartridge fills my needs.

Yes,,, its a pretty boring cartrage compared to what's out there now days,,, but it seems to hold its own,,, for some of us that is. Perhaps it's just enough to get by.

My long time friend harvested many a critters up here in Canada, from Moose in Labrador to Elk in the Pink Mt Region,,, endless amounts of Deer,,, we team up in the off season for predator control,,, the 130gr full metal jacket boolitz work wonders on Coyotes,,, Wolves,,, and winter Badgers,,, Ha .we called it the 1 stop shopping.

I'll give credit to Hornady and Berger,,, they make some awesome boolitz for the old girl. 150 to 180 grain'ers shine like diamonds when they clear the muzzle end.

Of course the Magnums flatten things out when it really counts.

Oh,,, and yes,,, -40c and F are even on the scale,,, that's pretty cold fore sure. Ha. Dress warm and eat lots. Burning calories is key on temps like that ,,, I just rapped up 3 days experimenting with the 168's,,, the rifle shoots 178's better. Mostly due to the little bit heavier and a fraction more of stability out past the 700 meter mark.

Good times on the frugal budget.

 

[Don A Parsons]

I started off with a 303 British,,, I up graded to the 30/06 four years after that,,, it was a loooooong time ago looking back at...

Lots of rifles have come and gone,,, 6mm's,,, countless 270's, 308's,,, 7mm's,,, then the magnum category came into play ... Oh Boy,,, countless amounts of them showed up at my door step.

300 Mags along with 338's, on up to the 375's,,, that was the top of my list back then,,, the 300's and 338's became my go to firearms fir sure,,, lots of critters fell pray to those magnum rifles,,, but it was the matter of time that life changes happen.

The 1 Gun idea finally hit home, I had to much going on in multiple directions in the shooting sports,,, from big game hunting,,, predator control,,, general plinking along with long distance shooting.

A 308 Winchester F Class rifle showed up 2 years ago,,, of course this is just a fun hobby for a short stint.

Even today I think about the 300 magnum units I had back then,,, all of them were shooters so it was kind of odd that I sold them off,,, that's not saying that my other rifles didn't fit the categories of good times either.

Purhaps one of the many reasons for the 1 Gun idea came from with in,,, the lesser of recoil ,,, purhaps the ability to shoot all weekend long with the heavy barrel rifle,,, lots of powder and buckets full of brass... I shouldn't forget the the shelves were full of 10's of thousands of 30 caliber boolitz.

Yuppers,,, the one old rifle that stood on in the mix of 17 rifles was a Ruger M-77 30/06,,, I ran that rifle for 3 years,,, one day and sale popped up so I up-graded the old pipe with a new unit... Another heavy weigth 30/06 in the Remington line up,,, it came in at 13 ish lbs all rigged up with optic, bypod ammo and extra ammo pouch. It was the first out of box rifle to get me onto the 7" gong at 600 meters.

The next following week it showed awesome groups at 1000 ,,, 1200,,, then the 1 mile... 10 shoot 17" group low and left of the V ring... 12 power optic lens if I recall.
The rifle went in for a work over since I knew it had potential,,, goosh,,, lucky I took the gamble on this unit...

A Jewel trigger,,, a form fitted bedding job,,, trued bolt and fitted scope bases,,, Henery Remple rest along with the solid bunny ear bang turned this unit into a consistant tack-driver...

A added 2 extra stocks to this rifle which allows for different selections of firearm sports.

Most of the time it stays in the heavy classy for plinking and predator control ,,, In the fall I fit it into the lite weigth stock for hunting,,, 8 3/4 lbs all in,,, yes,,, I realize that a 8 + lb rifle is heavy for hunting,,, but it doesn't matter to me as I pack it roughly 200 kms a year in the foot-hills,,, 600 ish kms so far,,,, not bad for 3 Elk and 5 awesome bucks.

Lots of sitting time fore sure.

Yuppers,,, I still dream about the magnum days,,, it was great ,,, guess I need to plan my shoots wizer now days. So far so good.

 

[Don A Parsons]

Part #1

Where does the 30/06 fit into Long Range Shooting and Hunting. That's the question asked by millions of shooters around the world,,, one can only guess on how many of them are spread out around the globe.

Some estimates say that there are ruffly 100 to 150 million of them in the hands of the general public,,, that's not saying that there isn't less of them or even more since there's no tracking record kept to determine this.

Another saying is that they rank second world wide as the most rifles out there,,, the good old 22 caliber rimfire holds the number one spot as the most owned and used world wide.

Don't get me right or wrong as I'm only a messenger of un-known facts that could be squed by the data that might be out there. Purhaps there is other information out there that could narrow this down.

Any Who ,,, the age old cartrage is very capable as a long ranger,,, of course there are factors that play into this just like other cartrages on the market today,,, things that all of us know is that the 30/06 has harvested alot of critters over the years ,,, most with good results ,,, some times not so much,,, the flip side to this is the long range target shooting category. We don't see alot of them in the TR,,, Full Bore,,, Bench Rest,,, FTR,,, they are very rare now days since there are better cartridges that squeeze past them with less recoil or better applied ballistics,,, other factors come into play I'm sure,,, funny thing is that very few people have taken the opertunity to push the limits of this cartridge over the last 40 ish +++ years,,, I was in route to take this on my self in the Open F Class shooting sports,,, but it would of been a struggle staying in the top 10 Provincially or better known in the USA,,, "State" wide...

Whens the last time anyone has heard of a 30/06 rifle making it to the National Finals,,, again don't get me R or W,,, it could happen,,, but it would take a well devoted and driven person to pull this off.

I'm in my mid years,,, I dream about this once in a while,,, its fairly close to the good old 308,,, the nice thing about a Ought-6 is that the bullets can seated long to the lands which is a plus,,, most bottom feed actions can handle them,,, another + is that the 30/06 cases have a loooooong neck that would support long seated boolitz.

A person also has the option to load the bullets hot or tame depending on what the shooter chooses,,, tap them back fir Competion,,, or power it up as a critter getter.

If I was to do this which I'm seriously considering,,, I'd build a action with barrel for both worlds,,, then use 2 of my rifle stocks to allow for the different shooting activities... 1 for competion,,, the other for hunting. Weight adjustment stock for targets.

Being that I'm a odd ball I'd run a 25" fluted #3 mid weight Contour barrel,,, inter-change-ible muzzle break,,, on/off.

The trick for all shooting rifles is getting them planted,,, once they are planted like a land cannon,,, anything is possible,,, the most important thing that makes it happen is the shooter behind the iron and glass.

I see the push from the left and right as very few humans focus on the middle grounds,,, purhaps the time has come for someone to take the plung. Ha.

I know one thing,,, if I took this on,,, I'd most likely be the only person in Western Canada to do so,,, strange that something like this would fit into my 1 gun shooting hobby.

Maybe that is !!!

 

[HARPERC]

.....I'm in my mid years......................

 

[Greyfox]

It surely had its day.......

 

[Capt RB]

I had to develop loads for 2 300win mags last winter. I got 2850 with the 208 amax/eld before it went to crap in 1 and 2880 in the other with the same 208 amax/eld. If your able to run the 06 at 2800 that would be a no brainer to me.
I would think if you ran the new 200 grain smk with it's .715 G1 and short baring surface you would have a serious deer thumper. I say that having seen what the 183smk does to deer vs the old smk's. At 2875 in a 7mag it crushed a 190# whitetail for my mom's neighbor. That's the second deer he has killed with it and it has created a through and through with a tennis ball sized exit and a 2.5" exit. One was through the shoulders the other went through angling ahead from the crease.