Last week I drove to CMP Talladega to shoot up more old ammunition. I also wanted to practice prone with a 308 Match rifle. I took my 1937 manufacture M70 in 30-06. I rebedded the thing in December 2016, free floated the barrel, came to the conclusion the rifle shoots very well for a sporter rifle.
This is my velocity data from January with cartridges in this rifle. I believe I am pushing the bullet at lower pressures for the same velocity, than if this was a 308 Win cartridge.
Code:
175 SMK 48.0 grs AA4064, wtd, lot 2398 Czech, TW54 CCI #34 OAL 3.30"
23-Jan-17 T = 59 °F
Ave Vel = 2590
Std Dev = 30
ES = 97
Low = 2551
High = 2648
N = 10
175 SMK 48.0 grs AA4064, lot 5902 TW54 CCI #34 OAL 3.30"
23-Jan-17 T = 60 °F
Ave Vel = 2508
Std Dev = 32
ES = 127
Low = 2465
High = 2592
N = 12
eleven cracked case necks!
175 SMK 48.0 grs IMR4064 wtd, lot E89AU, 1989 powder, TW54 CCI #34 OAL 3.30"
23-Jan-17 T = 60 °F
Ave Vel = 2563
Std Dev = 27
ES = 92
Low = 2525
High = 2617
N = 10
I was very pleased to see that first shot at 300 yards, from a cold bore barrel, was in the X ring at three hundred yards. I zeroed the rifle at CMP earlier in the year at 300 yards. The ten shot group at that distance was 5.0 inches in diameter, which I consider to be more than adequate.
Mainly out of curiosity, I shot the M70 at 600 yards. I was very surprised how well it shot once the scope was adjusted for distance.
This hunting rifle was able to put seven shots within seven and three quarters of an inch at 600 yards, which for me is even more remarkable considering I was using ammunition loaded in the 1980's , thrown charges, and Remington Core Lokt bullets.! The reason I stopped at seven rounds is because that was the last seven out of 20 rounds in that box of ammunition. The previous 13 rounds were expended getting the scope zeroed at distance!
Recently I read a thread where the poster wanted advice on the best scope to put on his Mosin Nagant so he could shoot at targets 1500 yards away. Shooters have this expectation that they can just dial in some book value and they will be able to hit dead center at any distance. I adjusted my scope 12 MOA up from my 300 yard zero and was shooting above the target. I determined this by aiming above the target, below the target, strictly a trial and error process as when you are not hitting the target, you don't know where the bullet is traveling. Luckily, the target registered a shot even though it was not within the scoring rings. From there I was able to adjust down and around to get the group in the middle. It turns out that the click adjustment on this scope is closer to 1/3 MOA than 1/4 MOA and this is not apparent till the distance increases. In my experience, you have to verify your rifle's zero at distance, with the load you plan to use, to have a reasonable chance of having the point of impact and point of aim coincide in any future attempts.
I think the CMP has found that many shooter's don't know that. The safety briefing now requires that rifles be shot at 200 yards to verify zero before going out further. CMP range staff have all sorts of stories of shooters with bench mounted 338 Lapua magnums who can't stay on target at any distance. Guys show up with expensive equipment, intensively indoctrinated by internet stories about 1000 yard shots, they put up the 600 yard target, dial on their internet settings, and their bullets land in the Gulf of Mexico!
Considering that the chest width of a 50 percent male is 13.1 inches, (from
https://msis.jsc.nasa.gov/sections/section03.htm) I think any rifle and cartridge combination that will put all rounds into 13 inches at 600 yards is more than acceptable for any practical purpose. My 1937 hunting rifle put seven rounds into 7 3/4" inches at that distance, which more or less proves to me, that the 30-06 is plenty accurate for a hunting, or even, a combat round. Image that, not adequate for target shooting but adequate to win two world wars!
The come ups for my 223, 308, 30-06 rifles, from a 200 yard zero to a 300 center is 3 MOA and that is a very consistent value, plus or minus a little, from rifle to rifle. From 300 to 500 yards it is 8 MOA, and 12 MOA to 600 yards. I have not shot on paper at 400 yards, but all things considered, if the average elevation increase from 200 to 300 yards is 9 inches, I am sure that the drop at 400 yards is more and exceeds my ability to judge distance. I have no plans to shoot at any living creature beyond 300 yards, especially something at 500 or 600 yards, as I know just how bad of a shooter I am, how uncertain wind conditions are, and how unlikely my elevation and windage guesses will put the bullet in the middle of the target. When you are paper punching, you get sighter shots. But you are only putting holes in paper.
The last year the Marine Corp fielded the M14 as an across the course rifle, I asked the Armorers at Camp Perry what accuracy they required for their match M14's, and they told me their accuracy standard was ten shots within 3 inches at 300 yards. These rifles had heavy match barrels, glassbedded, matched out in every respect, and were shot from a machine rest. Three inches is the diameter of the X ring at 300 yards so as a standard, their match M14 rifles were able to hold half the ten ring at all distances, which meant if the shooters did their thing, all Marine Team shooters should be able to clean the target at all distances. I believe they are still using the same accuracy criteria for their 5.56 M16 but that rifle and cartridge is more accurate than the 308 Win, and scores show that. Service rifle shooters are shooting higher scores on average than they ever did with the 308 Win in a M1a or M14. The 223 cartridge kicks less, and is more accurate.
Whether the 308 Win is a more accurate target round than the 30-06 would have been a valid debate issue in the target shooting game up to the 1990's. The game however, has moved on even though there are angry old men, standing on the cemetery fence, shaking their fists at the tombstones, crying "I was right!". Nathaniel Grigsby needs competition in the angry epithet competition.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=25400862 In my experience, the 30-06 kicks more for the same velocity, which causes me to flinch, the longer bolt throw requires me to move more in the rapid fires, and cheap NM match brass stopped being available in the mid 1960's. While the 308 Win ruled the firing line for decades, what I noticed, starting in the middle 90's, was that the classic 308 Win bolt gun disappeared from XTC, replaced by the 223 Space gun and Tubb Rifles. As a target round, the 223 is extremely accurate, good bullets made it wind competitive at 600 yards, though it does not have the ballistic coefficient of a 190 grain 308 Match bullet. But then, wind judgment, poor sight alignment and trigger pull, move the bullet more than slight changes in ballistic coefficient. All things being equal, a higher ballistic coefficient is better, but the confounding factor is that all things are never equal. What I have seen past the turn of the century is the sub caliber, 6mm or 6.5 mm bullets, taking over the firing line in bolt guns, and in semi auto mechanisms. While the 308 Win is still a very accurate round, it is primarily used in those classes or competitions which mandate the cartridge, to equalize things out between competitors. The Army has finally woken up that the 5.56 round is underpowered for a combat round,
https://www.armytimes.com/articles/...inside-the-armys-plan-to-ditch-the-m4-and-556 and if the Army every adopts a 6.5 Creedmore, or equivalent, I predict the tactical rules will be changed and the 308 Win will join the 30-06 on the target round ash heap of history.
I am not one who can hold inside the inherent accuracy of either round, and few shooters can, it will be safe to predict that outside of paper punching, the future for both will be well. However, because of its large case capacity, the 30-06 can do everything that the 308 Win can do, and at lower pressure. And, because of its larger case capacity, the 30-06 can fire heavier bullets. This might make a difference as legislation is moving the market moves away from lead core bullets. The 30-06 can accept longer bullets without suffering a crippling loss in powder volume. The 308 Win, or rather the 7.62, was basically optimized for a 150 FMJ with IMR 4895. It will shoot 174's very well, but it is hard to push anything heavier than a 174 at a respectable speed without going overpressure.
Maybe the 35 Whelen will make a come back, big bullet, standard length case, shoots well out to 300 yards.
Still, I had fun practicing prone with my 308 bolt rifle, even if it is obsolete: