Thoughts on the 30/06 family tree

The only one I would consider adding to my stable would be the .280 ai.

270's always been my go-to. The 130s provide '06-esque ballistics with a little less kick.

I inherited an old Remington 721 in 30-06; my grandfather was a poor redneck to the bone, and rifles don't get much more redneck than a 1960s budget '06 with a Simmons scope. I've kept it, because you don't sell family guns, but I've shot it a few times and it doesn't do anything for me.

jmr40 said:

Going back even farther the 6.5X55 and 7X57 were both developed in the 1890's. Both should be considered the grandmother and grandfather of most of the common cartridges in use today. If you think about it they were the original basis for many other cartridges. The 7X57 impressed the military enough to take the same case and lengthen it slightly and expand it to 30 caliber to develop the 30-03 which morphed into the 30-06. Which of course has it's own line of descendants.

But the 30-06 was also shortened and combined with developments in powder became the 300 Savage which duplicated 30-06 loads at the time. And was tweaked again to make the 308. And then the 308 spawned the 243, 358, 338 Fed. It's sort of ironic that the 308 also led to the 260 and 7-08 which came full circle to re-invent the performance of the grandparents 6.5X55 and 7X57. The 6.5CM is also in the family tree as is the 257 Roberts and many others.

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7x57 is definitely grandfather. In fact, I have a Chilean Mauser 7x57 I make the brass out of 30-06 cases.

I currently own rifles in 25-06, 270 Winchester, 30-06 and 338-06 and have taken big game animals with all of these cartridges. Although I shoot steel with all of these rifles each year the only ones I have hunted with since 2001 are the 30-06 and the 338-06. That quickly indicates what I like. I do, however, have a pre 64 Model 70 featherweight in 280 Remington coming from my gunsmith any day and I am looking forward to giving it a try. I found several boxes of 140 and 150 grain Nosler Partition bullets and that should keep me busy until October when hunting season starts again. Although I have owned two 308 rifles I have never fallen into the short action crowd and these rifles came and went. I much prefer rifles based on the 30-06 case and I shoot more 30-06 ammo each year than any other cartridge.

Got a Garand, and an A303, (and a couple others) but my favorite is the old Ruger M77-MKII Canoe Paddle.

The first rifle I built myself was a .243/06
26 inch Heart barrel I would say it was one of my favorite.The rifling didn't last long back when I thought full throttle was the only load.

My first New deer rifle was a 742 BDL in 30-06. It killed a lot of deer. I brought it out of the safe a couple years ago and shot a nice buck with it then passed it on.

A Spanish 98 I built into a 25-06 about 40 years ago. I bought a Ruger 77R in 270 brand new in the early 80s, 260 bucks if memory serves. Killed crows to caribou and a lot of deer in between

Offhand that Winchester is a beautiful rifle. I love the peep sight, it adds so much class. It’s really refreshing not to see glass on a classic.

My target rifle built using a 1903 action with timney(s) trigger and 1&1/8" straight heavy barrel was chambered in 30 - 06 caliber. It shot 1/2 MOA using my handloads of 165 grn BTSP Hornady bullets at 2700 FPS. I really never seen a need for variants of the 30 - 06 case.

I had a 760 in .30-06 for a while; my FIL gave it to me. I took my first whitetail with it. It got traded off for a 760 Carbine in .308. I then found a 700 BDL for a song. They both went down the road when I got out of .30 cals a few years ago. Only members of the family I own now are a couple of 280 Ackleys.

.455_Hunter said:

People like to lampoon the "Commission" that developed the GEW88, but one thing they got right was the .473" 7.92x57mm cartridge case.

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Good point! Just for the record though, it was the Gewehr 88's short-lived and oft-forgotten .318" Patrone 88 cartridge (predecessor of the 7.92x57mm) that started the ball rolling.

The .318" bullet diameter was popular with the Schuetzen crowd and may have influenced the initial Commission cartridge specs.

Dave DeLaurant said:

Good point! Just for the record though, it was the Gewehr 88's short-lived and oft-forgotten .318" Patrone 88 cartridge (predecessor of the 7.92x57mm) that started the ball rolling.

The .318" bullet diameter was popular with the Schuetzen crowd and may have influenced the initial Commission cartridge specs.

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Yup- I have owned a GEW88 for 30 years, getting it at a Denver gun show for elk hunting at age 15.

I have two 30-06 rifles, a 280 Remington and a 35 Whelen. There is just something about the 30-06 family that works for me...

I prefer the 30-06 to any of its offspring. I have owned or currently own 25-06, 270 Win, 280 Rem and 30-06 and don’t find that any of them do anything better than the 30-06 for my purposes. Currently my favorite 30-06s are my Ruger No. 1 International and my CZ 550 FS.

Dave DeLaurant said:

Just for the record though, it was the Gewehr 88's short-lived and oft-forgotten .318" Patrone 88 cartridge

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I wouldn't call it short lived, 1888 - 1905 is a pretty good run. Especially as compared to .30-03. Even .30-40 Krag only lasted from 1892 - 1903. Taking them together, US use of roundnose bullets in smokeless ammo was from 1892 - 1906, which is not much different.

And there is still a shadow of it in SAAMI, the US spec for 8mm is a 170 gr bullet at 2340 fps from 35000 ppsi, less pressure than a .30-30. I have read that this was standardized from the 1920s 8mm Remington Special with a light soft .323" bullet lightly loaded to squeeze through a J bore safely but still be reasonably accurate in an S bore.

The rim dimensions of the .308 Winchester are different from the Mauser family of cartridges.

The Mauser family have a 0.049" thick rim with a 0.033" groove length and 32 degree entrant angle. The .30-06 family is similar to the Mausers except the entrant angle is 36 degrees.

The .308 Winchester/7.62 NATO family have a 0.054" thick rim with a 0.055" groove length and a 36 degree entrant angle.

It's a minor thing, kind'a like the difference between the Canini (dogs) and Vulpini (foxes).

The 30-06 came out before the Model T. Horse and buggy was still the primary means of transportation. We all know that but let it sink in for a moment. And it's still a great, viable cartridge. Shot my first deer with my dad's 740 Remington in '06 40 years ago. Finally retired that gun and bought a new BAR in guess what caliber.

I took my one and only moose with my dads 760 Remington in 30-06 when I was 19,46 years ago. Although I’ve never owned a rifle in 30-06, as a kid I always thought of the 06 as the caliber you used when you needed a little more horsepower than the old thutty thutty had

Offfhand said:

View attachment 972711 View attachment 972712 View attachment 972713

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That is a gorgeous rifle.

From .25 to .366 (yes, I know), the .30-06 case brings all the performance a field rifle would ever need.




GR

My personal favorite is a .280 Rem built on a mauser 98. I honestly don't do anything with it that couldn't be done with a 30-06 or .308 with 150 grain bullets, but I like the weird factor. Had the barreled action I found been chambered in the 1930s Euro 7mm that aproximates the .280 (I forgot the specific caliber designation), I'd be even happier with the same ballistics.

With modern powders and bullets (by modern I mean post 1920), I think there really is a sweet spot for an all purpose medium game rifle from 7-8mm bore x57-63mm with the Mauser basic case. The venerable '06 falls right in the middle of this with a bit more case capacity than the X57mms, making it almost perfect. The .308 comes close, and some of the recent .30's have tried to get to '06 performance with a slightly shorter or blown out case, but they have for good reason not been successful. The '06 just does it well and is trusted to do so. Honorable mention to the .270, but I wouldn't want to hunt moose with it. Some of the niche cartridges do some things better, but there is no better Jack of all trades.

I did have a .31-06 for a little while. It was a real mutt. A Canadian friend had it made up as .311 barrels were easier to find in his part of Canada at the time and the original barrel was junk. Was built on an old Remington (m30?) action. He loaned it to me to work up a load for moose and have a good American gunsmith fix a couple of minor issues. As far as I know, he's still killing moose with IMR 4350 pushing a 174 Hornady RN at a conservative velocity.