In Praise Of The .30/06 Cartridge
BY Herschel Smith
5 years, 9 months ago
After more than a century of flattening the world’s biggest, meanest, and tastiest game animals, the .30/06 Springfield remains an incredibly well balanced, versatile, affordable hunting cartridge. With modern ammo it shoots 100- to 200 fps faster than it used to. If it was good enough to stop lions, rhinos, buffalo, and elephants 100 years ago, it’s probably good enough to stop deer, elk, and moose today.
He makes his case with unction when comparing the ballistics to 6.5 Creedmoor, .270 Winchester, and other cartridges. The 300 Win Mag comes out on top in just about every category which is expected, but just by a little.
But when comparing ballistics, he looks at energy (ft-lb), and hydrostatic shock is important as well, so I’m not entirely convinced.
My conclusion is that the cartridges are closer than one might think, but one interesting thing is that the 270 Winchester beats the 6.5 Creedmoor in carried velocity at distance, energy, and bullet drop.
While he says makes the case for the .30-06, I might conclude that he really makes a better case for the .270 Winchester.
On March 6, 2019 at 8:17 am, ragman said:
“A 30.06 is always a good idea “ Colonel Townsend Whelan. Nuff said .
On March 6, 2019 at 9:48 am, Furminator said:
Like I’ve said before, the ‘06 and 270 do most jobs well enough; the newfangled cartridges do certain things better but there are trade-offs to get them. I am putting together a second 6.5 Creedmoor, a round that I have to say I like better than my 308s, but I personally wouldn’t go after anything bigger than a Muley with either one. A 22, a 30-06, and a 12 gauge still cover all your bases after over 100 years.
On March 6, 2019 at 5:05 pm, Georgiaboy61 said:
@ Herschel
The late Jack O’Connor, at “Outdoor Life” magazine, made a virtual career out of extolling the virtues of the .270 cartridge as a do-it-all hunting caliber for any soft-skinned game to be found in the U.S. He wasn’t far wrong; it is an excellent cartridge – flat-shooting, potent, and accurate. There is indeed much to recommend it, without question.
However, the .270 isn’t the answer to every bolt-action rifle problem. Very few manufacturers make match-grade bullets (projectiles) for the caliber; almost everything out there is directed toward hunting. If one is a competitor in service-rifle matches, for example, the pickings are quite slim when it comes to the .270. Virtually no one, as a consequence, has used the .270 as a competition cartridge at places like Camp Perry.
The 30-06 has a great many virtues, both as a hunting caliber and also as a general-purpose cartridge for competition, warfare, and other uses. In fact, the long-action case can accommodate 110-grain loads for varmint hunting, on up to 220-grain loads for hunting, long-range, and competition use. The 30-06 was our nation’s standard service cartridge for a half-century – from 1906 to 1957, which is an excellent record.
If one counts specialist uses, the ’06 was in service even longer – through Vietnam and into the 1970s as the last Garands and Springfield M1903 rifles in the U.S. Navy and Army National Guard armories and arms lockers were exchanged for M-14s in 7.62 NATO.
The 30-06 has a clear advantage over the .270 in its ability to throw heavier bullets with superior sectional densities to those of its smaller cousin. This is a desirable characteristic when hunting large game, such as moose, elk and black as well as brown bear.
Using a stoutly-constructed bullet such as the 180-grain Nosler Partition, the 30-06 will handle just about any game encountered in the U.S. – including Alaska – if the man behind the rifle knows his business.
The Danish Sirius Sled Patrol, an elite unit of that nation’s navy who patrol the vast wilderness of Greenland – a Danish protectorate – use M1917 Enfield Rifles chambered in 30-06 – a choice made in case they need the firepower to dispatch a polar bear. Members of the unit may be on patrol for months at a time with little or no contact with civilization, so their choice of the M1917 and 30-06 is an important one: if their equipment and arms do not get the job done, help isn’t going to be over the next rise.
And let us not forget the enormous role the 30-06 played in winning this nation’s wars during a tumultuous period in its history.
The debate isn’t settled, for both calibers have their virtues and uses. If you are having trouble deciding between the two – just get both, and you’ll be good-to-go.
On March 8, 2019 at 7:17 am, Pat Hines said:
Being able to find ammo nearly everywhere is meaningful. If, on the other hand, you handload for yourself, the 280 Remington Ackley Improved tops them all unless you go to a larger case head diameter. No, I don’t have a rifle in this caliber, but wish I did.