Art, Hornady light magnum is not normal .30-06 and I'm a handloader, don't buy factory ammo. If you try to mimic Hornady light magnum loads by handloading, you're going to blow cases. The 7 is superior when you compare apples to apples, good for at least another 50 yards if not 100 in PBR depending on load. Whether that's important is up to the in individual, but I like mm calibers, specifically the 7, and either gun costs the same, so I went with the 7.
Go with the 06, it is tried and true. I still plan to get one eventually because I reload that round. Not a fan of any European (millimeter) calibers.
So, the 7 hasn't killed an animal since 1962 and has no following or popularity, right? It's just a flash in the pan, a fad, and nobody hunts with it?
I don't expect that I'll ever own one ever. The good ole rounds that our granddads used are good if not better than when he used them.
Well, I'd rather hunt with the calibers my great, great, great, great, great, ........ granddad used, bows with a flint arrowhead.
Well, yeah, the matchlock was an improvement, no need to go any farther ahead than that, though, right.... well, unless you hunt in the rain, maybe the flintlock is the best, nothing since is an improvement?????
You'll never have trouble finding ammo with the 06, and there is no way you would regret buying it over the 7mm. If it ain't killing elk, you ain't shooting in the right spot.
I don't have trouble finding ammo in 7mm, sell it right down the street at Walmart! I've never actually bought factory ammo for it, though, and of the game I've taken with it, I never used a factory load to do it. It is one of the five most popular rounds in the US after all.
Now, don't take this post personal, I'm just playing devils advocate here and stickin' up for the 7 and some things modern. You can get carried away with the old fart "the don't make 'em like they used to" and "what was good enough for gramps is good enough for me" mentality. I'm fast becoming an old fart, turn 55 on Thursday, but I own a PC with Windows XP, a MP3 player, a digital camera, hell, even a cell phone with an MP3 player and a digital camera built in! I ain't tried to go down to the Western Union office to wire a gram in quite a while.
ROFLMAO! I love sarcasm, you can probably tell.