bought a new rifle

[Texas by God]

The .308 was my go to deer rifle for years. Great cartridge. I've killed one elk wth a 30-06. Greater cartridge. The ought six can push heavy bullets faster because the boiler room is bigger. I own neither now, their job is filled by the 8x57 Mauser for me.

[murf205]

If you decide to load the heavy bullets or some long boolits in that '06, you'll be glad you bought the 06. My 22" barrel FN 06 shoots 220 gr Hornady RN into an inch @ 100yds and chronos 2450 fps without straining. You have made a very wise choice in this rifle, good luck with it and keep us posted as to how it shoots.

[tazman]

A friend of mine hunted deer with a 30-06 in Missouri for several years a couple of decades ago. He complained that the bullets he was using were not leaving a good blood trail and he was having trouble finding the deer he shot. He was getting shots angling from the front for the most part. The 150 grain ballistic tips he shot broke up inside the deer before they could exit. Lots of internal damage but no blood trail.
I talked him into taking some 220 grain round nose with him the next trip. They shot accurately in his rifle and the longest shot he ever needed to take was under 200 yards so there were no issues about range.
The first deer he shot died right on the spot without moving a step. The bullet didn't blow up like the lighter bullets he had been using and punched a nice hole clear through. He was sold on them from then on.
Over the next few years, that was all he used down there. He shot 5 other deer that I know of with that load and none of them went more than 50 feet according to the stories he told.
He never did recover any of the bullets. One of them was a shot through the deer end to end through the front shoulder and the rear hip. He said he didn't lose any bloodshot meat from that big bullet either.
He could have used something different if he had needed to shoot longer shots so this was kind of a special case. Nice to have choices with the 30-06 cartridge.
Apparently that load hits like a sledgehammer.

[JSnover]

I chose an '06 for the same reason.
As luck would have it I found several boxes of Herters 220gr SP and bunch of IMR 7828... good times!

[sharps4590]

I'm still trying to get my head around never owned a .30-06 or .308, how does that happen?

Because neither is any better than between 40 to 1,923 other cartridges and both have been so hyped I don't want either in my safe. Ain't sayin' they aren't good, they are and, I'll admit that in a heartbeat but, they're nothing special other than being popular.

[Scorpion8]

well I made the call today and got a 30-06 on the way for versatility of the cartridge being the deciding factor

Either choice would have been fine, and is really splitting hairs. My first rifle was a .30-06 and I still use it to this day, 35+ years later. But a nice Model 7 in .308 also makes a handy close-woods carbine.

[white eagle]

I haven't had a 30-06 in my safe because everybody has one
and I was never one to follow the crowd but I can come around
I have used a 280 Ackley for my primary big game gun for a long
time and I have a 358 win as my close woods carbine it's based on a
win model 70 compact the 280 Ackley is a 1980's model 70/starting to see a
pattern?
I can not believe the accuracy of this gun with factory ammo
took me 4 shots to zero rifle and I shot 14 more because I could
I had 1 ftf with Remington ammo and that is exactly why I never
rely on any factory to supply my ammo just had to this time because
of timing of the purchase and the want to take Esmeralda hunting

the bore is glass smooth and not a trace of cooper in the bore
their new trigger is amazing

[murf205]

I chose an '06 for the same reason.
As luck would have it I found several boxes of Herters 220gr SP and bunch of IMR 7828... good times!

Those 220gr bullets in an'06 were what all the old sourdough's used in Alaska for years to knock off bears to beavers. It would be hard to make a 308 digest 200-220 gr boolits with any degree of success.