Your favorite cartridge based off .30-06?

[greenejc]

35 Whelen.

Yes sir. I own two. The .35 Whelen is an incredible killer out to about 700 yards, and farther with the right bullet. It's also a really accurate round. But I also like the 25-06. I have both.

 

[greenejc]

I've built two rifles off the 30-06. A 280AI and a 35 Whelen. While the 280AI shot great I prefer the 35 Whelen for elk and since I only hunt elk anymore I'm selling the 280AI.

The .35 Whelen is my go to elk rifle, too. My back up rifles are 300 Win Mags. I get 2750fps with the Speer 250 HotCor with my 26" barrel, and 2680fps with my 24" barrel. But I still love the 30-06, especially in my -03-a3. I also have four M1's, including a shorty, and two Rugers in the 30-06, so you know I love the round. But the .35 is the -06 on serious steroids.

 

[huntinghuasna]

Love the 30-06 and 25-06. Killed my first several deer with 30-06 then many more with 25-06. I plan on owning a 280AI soon...

 

[greenejc]

Impressive!

First time I've heard anyone mention the Hawk line of cartridges here. I'd love to have one of the Top Hat take down 1895's with barrels for the 06, Whelen, and 358 Hawk. I think he made a 375 Hawk and a .411 Hawk, too, in that rifle. You'd have your own battery with just one or two actions.

 

[greenejc]

I've built a .270 Ackley Improved, a 30-06, and a 35 Whelen. All three rifles are Ruger 77s. I built the .270 Ackley because of the recoil and because it is a flat shooting cartridge. I built a 30-06 because the round is so versatile and I can use it as a backup rifle for the .270 AI for whitetail deer and also as a backup rifle for black bear hunting. And....last but not least is the 35 Whelen, because it gets the job done on black bear. And.....out to 300 yards I would not hesitate to use it on any of the game that I hunt. At one of the last black bear outfitters where we hunted, our guide asked us what we were hunting with (the outfitter was cartridge specific) and we said "35 Whelens" ; and.. he smiled. I then asked him the reason for the smile and he said, "Because with the Whelen we don't have to track them." With the .270 Ackley Improved build (3-4 years ago) I use a 26 inch Lilja 1:10 twist barrel. However with the heavier bullets that are available today, I might consider building the same system only with a 1:8 twist for the heavier bullets. The 30-06 that I had put together also has a 26 inch, 1:10 twist Lilja barrel, and the 35 Whelen is the factory 22 inch barrel that is a JES rebore 1:14. For me personally all of the bases for anything I want to have are all covered. The .270 Ackley Improved is one of the most underrated cartridges on the market today. P.O. Ackley did this cartridge a huge disservice when he wrote that it was already a too overbored cartridge and not worth improving. Well that was like 60 years ago when the powder selections were limited. With the new powders today, comparing the .270 AI against the new "hot rod" cartridges there's not enough difference in ballistics to warrant building a hot rod. If one has to eek out every single "foot-per-second" then "yes" that's the way to go, however just honestly put in all of the variables when comparing the hot-rod to the .270 Ackley. And......with this statement, this probably is where the fight begins

Not with me. My friend William Trotter shoots a 30-06 AI and gets nearly 3,000fps from 190 grain loads in a 26" tube. His wife shoots a 280AI. But with Superformance powder, I can get 180 grain bullets into the low to medium 2800's from a 24" barrel in an ordinary 30-06. I just loaded 200 -06 rounds for testing this Thursday in an M1. I tried the Superformance with 168 grain Hornadays and it shot really good at one charge and I'm going to try 1/2 grain more with this next batch, to see how they shoot. I'll use my 1903-A3 as the control. I went up on the charge because it was just barely ejecting the brass at the initial charge.

 

[greenejc]

6.5x280AI and 375-06 RCBS(30° shoulder as opposed to 40° shoulder of an Ackley Improved).

Ed

What bullet weights and velocities do you get from the .375?

 

[Blue Ridge Rifleman]

I'm shooting and reloading 25-06, 6.5-06, .270, 280 AI, 30-06, and 35 Whelen. My current favorite is 280 AI, but maybe because it is my newest and lightest rifle. I still have a spot in the safe for a .338-06, but then what would I do with my .338 Win Mag?

 

[greenejc]

I own a 30-06 and 270 Win. I'd like to take a stab at 280 Remington and a 30-06 with a 26-28" barrel.

Remington makes a long range M700 with a light varmint weight 26" barrel in 30-06. It should be just what you want.

 

[greenejc]

Thumbhole stock here, as well. Gun began life as a 700 ADL, but is now set up with BDL bottom metal and a 26" Shilen light varmint weight barrel. All that happened in '83. I used to form brass from .270 and .06 brass, but .25-06 brass is easy to find now. Still a death ray for whitetail.

My 25-06 is a Ruger No1 Varmint. Its 0.5" at 100 yards, and I make my brass from .270 Win brass. It likes pretty much any Speer or Sierra bullet.

 

[greenejc]

The only reason to A.I. anything is for reduced case stretch, change pressures, al making the case more efficient. Velocity gains are just a bonus

That's true.

 

[greenejc]

R-p brass is 72 to the neck, 78 full
Winchester Nickel is 77 full.
Fire form load is 66gr r22 with 168amax for just over 2900fps. Most of the groundhogs In the pics were fireforming shots.



My favorite standard cartridge on 06 case is probably 270. To me it's got a bit of reverence that most dont have. Like the 375 h&h, 470ne, and 222rem, theres a nostalgic appreciation that goes with the name. Growing up, most of the professional hunters and gun writers seemed to love the 270 and that stuck with me.

Is that a picture of a .475 Linebaugh? I grew up on Jack O'Connor and Elmer keith.

 

[greenejc]

I bought my first new rifle in 1977, I was 16 at the time, a model 70 in 30-06. I still have it; it's killed everything from crows to deer. I loaded 110 grain bullets for groundhogs and used federal 150gr soft points for deer, it's a hammer. If I hadn't had shoulder surgery requiring a lighter recoiling caliber it would still be my go-to rifle.

My nephew brought a 280 by for me to shoot many years ago, that was one of the hardest recoiling rifles I've ever shot.

I put a muzzle brake on my 24" Whelen. You might do that to the -06. It really helps.

 

[biff's reloading]

My .30 Gibbs has 75.80g full. It currently propels the 190 Berger VLD at 2806 FPS using RL17 with more powder room.

I like the Gibbs cartridges. He was a little nuts but it takes pioneers to tame the unknown. He pushed the limits and charted a bit of territory for us.

Is that a picture of a .475 Linebaugh? I grew up on Jack O'Connor and Elmer keith.

Same thing. Ruger sbh bisley 480. I cut the chambers to linebaugh length but I still use 480 brass for most loads, including the 530gr cast in the pic.

And the same bullet in my 475rum.
500gr TSX, 530gr BFH, 400gr lee cast

 

[338 dude]

I'm curious what everyone's favorite cartridge is that's based off the .30-06? But more importantly, why is that your favorite? Is it the .280 Rem? 338-06 because you hunt elk? .30-06 because that's what you learned with? Just a friendly discussion that just might influence someone's future build.

My favorite cartridge based off of the 30 06 is the 30 06 !