The Venerable 30-06 and 1 Gun To Hunt N. America?

[white eagle]

never been a fan of one gun for all
what fun would that be

[Shawlerbrook]

I would be very unhappy if I could only have one rifle/caliber, but if it was the case, you couldn’t find one much better than the ‘06. Ammo everywhere, broad array of bullet choices/weights. Many one gun Alaskans have an ‘06. Nothing you can’t kill in North America with it. It is the Swiss Army knife of rifles.

[richhodg66]

A couple of years ago, I bought a very plain Santa Barbara Mauser in .30-06 with the intent of sending it to JES for a rebore to .35 Whelen. It was about the same time I cleared all my dad's stuff out of his shop when we movded him out and he had a billion .30 caliber cast bullets cast up, many were small lots of one design or another, also small lots of various pistol powders. I just grabbed that Santa Barbara and started loading up small lots of plinking rounds and shooting them at 100 yards from the porch. I've about changed my mind on the rebore now. It's just such an easy cartridge to do just about anything you want with.

[JSnover]

That the '06 has been 'rediscovered' doesn't surprise me, it's as good now as it ever was. With a good, tough 220 grain bullet I think it would be just fine for any sort of bear on this side of the planet.

[HangFireW8]

For decades, the gun media existed to sell new bolt action rifles in new chamberings that weren't 30/06, trying to get through the message that there was other possible choices.

I remember multiple articles that compared cartridge performance, and would completely leave out the 06, like it didn't exist.

Now everything possible to be chambered in bolt action has been covered, and most of the rifle market is AR's and AR variants, the battle is over.

[M-Tecs]

I found if I needed more oomph than the 30-06 I go straight to my 375 H&H and skip all the other cartridges in between.......

Yep, same for me.

[ascast]

I like the '06,own several. There is just so much data out there. I suspect any cartridge could be loaded to shoot rats in the kitchen without huge collateral damage on the low side, and what is the action strength on the high side. You could spend your life wringing out the 8mm Mauser to prove the point, but if the '06 is in doubt, why not grab the 375 H&H.

[Gray Fox]

I've got two at somewhat opposite ends of the use spectrum; a Sako long action with a Leupold scope in a McMillan stock, free floated and pillar bedded that shoots a lot of 175-189 grain jacketed over a near max load of IMR 4895. The other is a mid-80s Browning-Miroku copy of the Winchester '95 lever gun that I shoot either Hornady 220 grain round nose jacketed or the Lee cast boolit of the same weight. This is more or less my faux version of the same rifle in .30-40 Krag which I always wanted. The rifle carries the copy of the side mount aperture sight and is as accurate as I can hold it from a good field hunting rest (grab a sapling and lay the forend on my wrist, standing or kneeling). GF

[Texas by God]

It’s so perfect I don’t even have one. That could change at any second because I’ve had several and liked them. My favorites so far were both Remingtons- a 721 and a 760. I would feel well armed with an ought-six most anywhere.

[NyFirefighter357]

I always grew up saying if you were only going to get one CF rifle the -06 is good for moose to mouse. I've never deer hunted with a rifle here as we are in a shotgun only area. I have several 30-06's. A sporterized 1903, a low number 1903, a Rem 742 that a guy was about to cut up because he & a gunsmith couldn't figure out why it wouldn't chamber a second round. I got it for free, turned out the screws for the scope mount were too long and interfering with the action but the action isn't so smooth & a sporterized FN Mauser. They are all safe queens. I've only put a few rounds through one or two of them. I'm thinking of loading some lite cast loads for some target shooting to be able to dust them off.

[trails4u]

Carried a Rem 742 for most of my youth/adult life....of course over time it patterned more like a shotgun than a rifle, but it was what I had, so I adapted and just didn't shoot anything past about 80yds. Until a few years ago my wife and kids squirreled some money away for a father's day present...a new hunting rifle for dad. A Tikka T3 it would be.....and it honestly never crossed my mind what it would be chambered in. 30-06, of course.

[tazman]

I put a Bartlein barrel on a 700 long action in 30-06 for my 600 yard rifle. I am using a load of H414 (about 2 grains under max) with a Hornady 168 gr match bullet. It leaves the 34 inch barrel at 2950fps.
Does a great job without all the recoil of the magnum calibers. Shoots about 1 inch groups at 200 yards for me.

[smoked turkey]

I have really enjoyed reading this thread on the '06. I will put my vote in here for it as well. I have a couple of old Remington '06s that have seen several winters and they are still going strong. One is the bolt action 700 and the other is a semi-automatic. My M1 Garand is also special me. I confess to also thinking the old 375 H&H is pretty hard to beat. I regret selling an old pre 64 in that caliber many years ago. I still have a Weatherby MK V in 3 7 5 that has accounted for 4 different African animals as well as MO whitetail. I really do like that rifle and caliber also. Wasn't it mister Whelen that said "The 30-06 is always right"?

[Loudenboomer]

I'm just not one of those one gun kind of guys. I would say if I were to weed threw all the rifles a controlled round mod. 70 Winchester 30-06 would be one of the last to go. I like the 180 gr. Nossler partition or one of the 165 gr BTSP for most hunting. The old Lyman 311284 is Classic in the 30-06 too.

[samari46]

My first '06 was a 1917 enfield, don't know how many rounds went down the tube but it was a lot. We had a lot of WWII & Korea vets at our range and guess they took pity on my and let me have the spent U.S. military cases. Pre '64 Winchesters were still fairly cheap and 3 of them were rebarreled with Douglas barrels. Did they shoot bet your bottom dollar. My deer rifle was a 1949 standard M70 in '06. Then came two Garands one a Springfield 1943 Blue Sky from South Korea for $250. Then a bubba'd chopped Winchester. Redid all the metal work, sent it out to get D&T, bead blasted and had the recess in the rear receiver ring filled. and then blued. 22 inch barrel so it makes some noise and a prime canadate for cast bullets. My latest one is the now discontinued Sako 75 Hunter. I get just over 2800fps with 55.5 grs INR 4350 and a Nosler 165gr ballistic tip, funnt thing about the Sako. I tried some of my stash of Lake City 1967 M72 match in it. 1" at 100 yds. Didn't have to change the settings on the scope. The hunting load was 2800 and the LC Match 2650 and it still shot to the scope settings. One last thing, I've never had an easier time getting any '06 to shoot than any other caliber, My 308's have been a pain to get decent accuracy with one exception. A Savage 110 FP heavy barreled rifle. I put 10 rounds with LC match and got a 1.5" group. Even with that plastic stock. Do I like the '06 cartridge, you bet I do. Frank

[Tripplebeards]

My go to caliber for WI white tails along with a 180 grain core lock. Been using my 7600 pump every year since 84’ on opening day. Drops deer where they stand 99% of the time. If not they go down within a few feet to a few yards. I have tons if other options but can’t put down the 06’. Had a sporterized Springfield I sold off and now in need of an enfield stock for my current 30-06 restore. My 35 whelen pump will probably get a chance this year.

[randyrat]

The greatest thing about the 06 , not to diminish all mentioned, if you forgot your ammo at home, you can borrow or buy a box of 06s anywhere

[Lloyd Smale]

its the one ALL others are measured by and for good reasons.

[trapper9260]

My first rifle I bought in my life was a Rem 7600 30-06 . I still have that gun after all these years. It dose what I want .then a few years ago I got a 308win and before a 22-250 . Beside some other rifles.

[northmn]

I have noticed a golf club mentality among shooters the last few years. I mentioned that I prefer a varmint rifle for smaller varmints but some want a rifle specific to about anything they hunt. An all around rifle gets kind of overlooked. A 243 for pronghorn, a 300 mag for elk and so forth. The 06 is a good deer rifle but a bit over gunned for me. As Larry stated, many go to the 375 for the dangerous ones.

I just hunt deer so don't have an 06 and sold my 270 as I did not need it. I could get along fine if I had either a 257R, or a 6.5 CM/Swede/260 But many that take hunting trips and are not so gun conscious like to have something like an 06 to cover about everything. Sometimes I think the modern hunters should carry a bag similar to a golf bag filled with rifles so they can pick the one they want for what ever specific situation they encounter. Its like the screw in shotgun chokes. They need birds that freeze in the air until the shotgunner can screw in the correct choke.

DEP