The 30-06 was used by US snipers from WWII thru the 80s. The option to us it has always been there as various branches allow the soldier to use their preferred weapon. White feather (Carlos Hathcock) was one of the greatest snipers, and he carried a modified m70 with a fixed 8-power unertl. It was good enough to make a shot thru another sniper's glass at 800yards. There are better rounds now, but until the 308, 300win mag, 338lm, and bmgs came along, the 8mm, 06, and 6.5x55 were the standard. I believe the Germans had the best idea using the 7mms. We should also remember that those soldiers on the list above came from countries that have had a longer, and mostly more brutal time in war than we did. I'm not discounting anything our vets have done, but sadly a lot of those countries have had a tougher history in regards to constantly fighting for their lives, thus the higher body count. What'll really give u chills is how many of the most successful snipers were women.