All-around cartridge for North American game?

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220 gr. is pretty common ammo for 30-06 from Remchesteral and found even at Wal Mart....
Indeed but it's not quite the deep penetrating Hammer of Thor that 'some' folks think it is.


That said from 180 gr. up a stout -06 is very good big bear medicine...
And up to 180gr is has ZERO advantage over a shorter and lighter .308. Along with all the other cartridges that do exactly the same job, without the Kool Aid.


Their misfortune, I personally have never met anyone who disparages that round like some here have.
Misfortune that some folks would rather think for themselves rather than run with the crowd???


Bottom line is that the .30/06 is not the best for anything. It does well in a number of roles but is not perfect for anything, regardless of popular opinion. There are better deer/antelope cartridges that fit into lighter rifles, shoot flatter and are easier on the shoulder. There are better large game cartridges that pack more punch with a bigger, heavier bullet. Let's be honest, who really wants to hunt everything "from mice to moose" with one rifle/cartridge? This ain't 1850 when all you needed was a horse and a pack mule to hunt the whole continent. It's 2012 and if you can afford to hunt all over North America, surely you can afford to have several rifles that are better suited to their particular tasks. Rather than one mediocre one.
 
Indeed but it's not quite the deep penetrating Hammer of Thor that 'some' folks think it is.



And up to 180gr is has ZERO advantage over a shorter and lighter .308. Along with all the other cartridges that do exactly the same job, without the Kool Aid.



Misfortune that some folks would rather think for themselves rather than run with the crowd???


Bottom line is that the .30/06 is not the best for anything. It does well in a number of roles but is not perfect for anything, regardless of popular opinion. There are better deer/antelope cartridges that fit into lighter rifles, shoot flatter and are easier on the shoulder. There are better large game cartridges that pack more punch with a bigger, heavier bullet. Let's be honest, who really wants to hunt everything "from mice to moose" with one rifle/cartridge? This ain't 1850 when all you needed was a horse and a pack mule to hunt the whole continent. It's 2012 and if you can afford to hunt all over North America, surely you can afford to have several rifles that are better suited to their particular tasks. Rather than one mediocre one.
Mediocre? Sorry, but my dad hunted almost exclusively in Alaska with his 30-06 and put several moose, dozens of caribou and three black bear on the family table feeding us hungry kids. Sorry, I believe your view of this great caliber is very much a minority view. It has and will continue to be the measure that all other calibers in this range are judged. .308 in Alaska, no thanks.
 
Before I run out and purchase my first .308, would anyone care to make a convincing case for .243, .270, or some other similar cartridge?
The only reasons I can think of are (1) you are fairly recoil sensitive. The .308 isn't all that hard-kicking, but there are cartidges with less kick that are perfectly suitable for deer. THe .243 is probably the most recommended, but even the 7mm/08 is ligher recoling. (2) You don't want to use the same cartridge as everyone else. The .308 is a justifiably popular cartridge but some people just like to be different. The .257 Roberts, the .260 Remington, or the 6.5x55mm won't kill a deer any deader, but they are all good chartridges in their own right and its much less likely any of your hunting buddies will have one, too. Finally, (3) maybe you don't want a bolt action? There are some fine lever action rifles in proper chamberings that are well suited to most eastern hunting. The old .30-30, the .35 Remington, or even some pistol cartridges make fine woodlands deer getters.
 
Indeed but it's not quite the deep penetrating Hammer of Thor that 'some' folks think it is.

Well, people real life experiences say otherwise.....read this review for the 220 gr. Nosler partition bullet out of a 30-06

Chris S. of Juneau, AK

This bullet is truly a heavy weight performer king when it come to 30 cal. bullets. I took a nice 7 1/2 ft brown bear with this bullet in 30-06 (2550 fps) that was causing trouble around are camp near Yakutat, AK. the fall of 2001. Shot was taken at 40 yards broadside chest through the right shoulder. Dropped the bear in his tracks. The Nosler 220 Partition drove a ping pong ball size hole through the bear that exit through the shoulder. Impressive! And accurate! It is my go bullet when my shots will be less then 200 yards in the 30-06.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/42...308-diameter-220-grain-semi-spitzer-box-of-50

An old 1983 US Forest service study, posted already countless time on here, ranked the 30-06 basically #3 for big bear stopping effectiveness behind the big 400 magnums and the 375/338 magnums, the 308 was well behind...you do the math...

Try telling some of my elk and moose hunters range friends if the 30-06 220 gr does not penetrate like Thor's hammer and listen to their answers.....


And up to 180gr is has ZERO advantage over a shorter and lighter .308. Along with all the other cartridges that do exactly the same job, without the Kool Aid.

.....If up to well over 150 fps of difference for you is zero that means that the 300 Win Mag has zero advantage over the 30-06 as well......


Going back to the real world....the 30-06 can do as effectively everything the 308 does while the 308 cannot do all the 30-06 does as effectively...simple as that....
 
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If a man wants to take a 30-06 case and neck it, shorten it, or whatever to something inferior to the original design because he wants to be different I understand completely.
I hunt with a 280 Ackley.
 
Lotsa .30-06 koolaid around here. :D Equals a .300 mag, eh?

:rolleyes:

Why doesn't everyone hunt elephant with a .30-06? I mean, why are there any other cartridge choices? It IS the deadliest cartridge known to mankind, after all. How did any game get taken BEFORE 1906?

</sarcasm>

Oh, well, where's my Hawken? Hawkens were doing the job near 100 years before WW1. :D

Then again, the bar that kilt Hatchet Jack was kilt by his Hawken first. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nqxIdROsI
 
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this is what the OP said he was looking at , not an autoloader or a bolt 308 win handi.jpg

308 handi rifle.jpg this why I said 7mm-08 or 270 , you only get one shot and he said he might shoot out to 400yards , this one is in 308win with a 4-16X44mm scope on, it if sighted in at 400 it would work but from 100 out too 400 you want something that shoots flater
 
Lotsa .30-06 koolaid around here. Equals a .300 mag, eh?


.....If someone equals 308 to 30-06 then by the same logic we can comfortably equal a 30-06 to a 300 Win Mag...
 
OP here...

I discounted 30-06 because it's more than I need in my area, and I can get 90% of the performance for half the recoil in a .308 Win.

30-06 is a fine caliber, but it's more than I need to solve the problem as defined in the OP (< =400 yard shots @ < =elk sized game). If I ever move out west where larger animals or longer shots are a serious concern, then I'll buy a bigger rifle.

R
 
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OP here...

I discounted 30-06 because it's more than I need in my area, and I can get 90% of the performance for half the recoil in a .308 Win.

30-06 is a fine caliber, but it's more than I need to solve the problem as defined in the OP (<=400 yard shots @ <=elk sized game). If I ever move out west where larger animals or longer shots are a serious concern, then I'll buy a bigger rifle.

R
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Fair enough, that works for you, but a lot of folks would consider the .308 less than an all around caliber for all of north America. 30-06 fits that role well. Lot's of folks I know back east use the 30-06 as well. It truly is that all around caliber.
 
All this thread has shown is that for some strange reason some people don't like the 30-06
I think it's that lots of people actually read the original post and not just the thread title. ;)

The OP said he doesn't want a .30-06 which is one excellent reason to suggest something else. Everyone doesn't have to use the same rifle

For another reason he eliminated moose and big bears from his hunting list. If you eliminate the biggest NA game IMO some other calibers start to offer serious competition as "all around" rifles. That's not to say the .30-06 can't do the job but others can do just as well in smaller and/or lighter recoiling and/or flatter shooting combinations.
 
I think it's that lots of people actually read the original post and not just the thread title. ;)

The OP said he doesn't want a .30-06 which is one excellent reason to suggest something else. Everyone doesn't have to use the same rifle
Funny, I didn't see the -06 being excluded in the OP...
 
Also... wow. 140 posts and counting? I had no idea...

R
yep , after you said you had counted out the beloved 06' the "30-06 is better than everything else war" got started ,OMG !!!!! it never ends ,

Is the handi rifle I posted the pic of in post #135 like what you are looking at, or were looking at, that one is 308
 
.....If someone equals 308 to 30-06 then by the same logic we can comfortably equal a 30-06 to a 300 Win Mag...

Well, okay, I can see THAT. The advantage the .30-06 has over the .308 is about what the .300 has over the .30-06.

I don't know that anyone said the .308 was the ballistic equal of the .30-06, lost track of it when the "friendly discussion" got friendlier, just that he was originally considering 3 calibers and .308 was one of 'em, .30-06 wasn't. I do like the .308 and for game up to and including elk, it'll kill game just as dead as the .30-06 will. If it needs killing any deader, I do have the 7 mag. That .308 sure is easy to tote in rough country, though, light and handy and it's superbly accurate. I love the rifle. I just like the round. Long action calibers ain't an option in the Remington M7. If I couldn't have found the M7 in .308 and could have in 7-08, I was fully prepared to handload for 7-08. :D
 
Is the handi rifle I posted the pic of in post #135 like what you are looking at, or were looking at, that one is 308

That's a beautiful rifle, and more or less precisely what I had in mind (though possibly in another caliber, and with different glass).

Yours wouldn't happen to be for sale, would it? ;)

R
 
That's a beautiful rifle, and more or less precisely what I had in mind (though possibly in another caliber, and with different glass).

Yours wouldn't happen to be for sale, would it? ;)

R
not for sale ,sorry,,,, one of my boys got his first deer with that 308 handi , so it will be his some day , I thought in an another post you were leaning to a 308 ?
 
To the OP,

If you're going to also be doing target shooting stay away from .277 cal. Abysmal selection of target bullets. Berger makes some but they're pricey. 7mm & 308 have great selections OTOH.

One of my target loads for my 308 is a 200 gr SMK moving at 2630fps behind RL17. Works well, plus I can drop a Sierra 200gr hunting bullet right on top of the same load. I'm not going to lose any sleep if it's a few FPS behind what the 30-06 can do because it kicks less & uses less powder. All else being equal, short action cartridges tend to have less recoil, are lighter, and are more accurate. I tend to prefer them. However, if someone else didn't like my favorite cartridge it's no skin off my back, that's why there are lots of guns on the rack at the gun store.

If you can't kill it with a 7-08 or a 308, you sure as hell can't pack it out of wherever you shot it! Must be a monster! Friend of mine shoots an elk pretty much every year with an 18" 7-08, so I know it works. I've packed out the meat to prove it.
 
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