How do you pronounce 30-06?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Aught has to be the correct term. Remember Jeffro (of the Beverly Hillbillies) was a Double Aught Spy, and he had a 6th grade ejumacation.
 
"Of course, if you're from the south, its thuddyoddsix"

Err, we don't talk like that.

I have always said aught six and if someone said oh six, I corrected them.

As for 7mm-08, I also say aught eight. Always have.
 
OK... now that we have the serious stuff sorted out...

Anyone remember how to pronounce Steve Martin's character's last name in "The Man With Two Brains'?

To refresh your memory, it's spelled, 'Hfuhruhurr' and I was never entirely convinced that he said it the same way throughout the movie. :p
 
Haha Art, now that's funny!

"catheterpillar"!

Made me spit my Coke out!

:D
 
Uh, Mike,

you're probably right, but I thought the original caliber for the Springfield was 30-03?

Sure the thing was drawn up earlier, but I thought the original was chambered in the 30 caliber model 03 rifle from which the round took it's name. They later changed the case slightly in 1906.

Respectfully, and curious to find out more.

"There ain't much that a man can't fix, with enough money and a Thirty-ought-Six."
 
Last edited:
Russ,

Development of a new rifle and new cartridge to replace the Krag and the .30-40 went on at the same time, and there were numerous iterations of both, just as there were numerous iterations of what would become the 7.62x51.

The .30-01 was paired with the first series of Mauser-style rifles developed by the Army, and may actually have first been tested in a Modified Krag rifle.

It differed from the .30-03 in that it had a much thicker rim, which was quickly found to be not very satisfactory with the Mauser controlled feed rifles, IIRC.

With the tweek on the rim, the cartridge went into production as the .30-03 with the same bullet as found in the old Krag (220-gr. round nose).
 
The .30-'03 used a 220-grain bullet, IIRC, and had a longer case neck. They shortened the neck in '06, and went to a lighter bullet.

There was all manner of meddling around with loadings. The 172-grain boat-tailed bullet had a greater effective range than the 153-grain flat-based bullets, but there were all manner of complaints about recoil. After a "mere" 25 or 30 years, the Army settled down with the M2 Ball ammo with a bullet of 153 grains. (Or was it 173 and 152? Ah, memory.) There's nothing new in the flailing and thrashing with 5.56 ammo...

:) Art
 
Art,

Yep.

The main reason why the .30-03 case was shortened was advances by Du Pont in military rifle powders.

This was, by and large, still the infancy of smokeless rifle propellants.

Du Pont came up with I believe Military Rifle 15, which was higher energy and lower density than the powder originally loaded into the .30-03.

The original replacement bullet for the 220-gr. round nose was a 150-gr. flat base pointed bullet.

That was replaced by a 173-gr. bullet (and the powder changed to, I believe, MR 17 or 17 1/2). A couple of things became evident with that change -- recoil was higher, the heavier bullet had the same nominal muzzle velocity as the lighter bullet, and almost every military rifle range in the nation was rendered obsolete by the 173's MUCH extended range.

When development of the Garand started, and MacArthur ordered its caliber changed to .30-06, the 173-gr. loadings presented a challenge to John Garand that he never was fully able to solve.

The decision to switch back to a 150-gr. bullet finally made the M1 a truly workable proposition.

Remaining stocks of 173-gr. ammo were then earmarked for use in machine gun.
 
Thanx, Mike. Phil Sharpe lists loads with DuPont 15 and 17-1/2, along with Hercules Hi-Vel #2, etc. I often wondered about those DuPont powders, since I think they were pretty much off the market by 1950.

I recall reading, somewhere, that the 173-grain bullet had some 50% more range (max? effective?) than the 150s...5,300 yards for max range comes to mind.

Art
 
The old Military Rifle powders were replaced by the Improved Military Rifle powders in Du Pont's line up. I can't remember for certain right now, but I THINK the powder that replaced MR 17 1/2 in American .30-06 ammo was IMR4895 around 1941.

The advances in rifle powder technology leading up to and during WW II were very dramatic, and Du Pont I think rightly thought that the old MR powders were completely obsolete.

Add to that the fact that there were enormous quantities of surplus powder available after the war, which cut into Du Pont's sales to begin with, and there just wasn't much reason to hold on to a series of obsolete powders for a shrinking civilian market.

The extra range given by the 173-gr. project was dramatic, but I'm not 100% sure of the exact figures. I can get them when I get home this evening, but I think max range for the 150-gr. bullet was around 5,000 yards, and max for the 173-gr. bullet was closer to 8,500.


Here's a trivia question for you...

What's the oldest military smokeless powder still in production?
 
Anybody out there load their shotguns with "Double Oh Buckshot"?
Me neither.

That's why I say, "Thirty Aught Six" and "Twenty-Five Aught Six".

But I do say, "7 em-em Oh Eight" because it came from the "Three Oh Eight". (Which had nothing to do with the year.)
 
CZ 75 BD, I wuz just browsin' a Brit-writen article; he commented we had moved from the nineties to the noughties.

Or, remembering Clinton, from the naughties to the noughties...

Mike: Cordite?

Art
 
The double naught spy once said that he ought to have thought to have sought to have bought more 30-06, before the financial drought brought his supply down.

Pass the ammo! :neener:
 
Art,

Cordite?

Nope, but good guess. I should have been a little more specific and said American smokeless powder.

It's the venerable Bullseye. It was first developed in the early to mid 1890s by Hercules for military and commercial applications.

I was also wrong on the powder for the 173-gr. load. It would appear from my notes that Du Pont developed one of the first IMR powders for it, 1185, which was never available commercially.

Hi Vel No. 1 was also used by the military in .30-06 in 150-gr. loadings, as was Du Pont's Pyro .30 DG.

And, finally, it would appear that Du Pont 15, 17, and 17 1/2 were considered to be IMR powders.

It's been a long time since I read all that information on obsolete powders.
 
God, Ilove a trivia fest like that!

Thank you muchly Mike and Art. I consider myself fairly knowlegeable on factory artridges and wildcats. The 30-01 is a new one for me. But it's filed away now and not to be forgotten short of senile dementia.

Rusty
 
I agree russlate... I consider myself pretty well versed... then I read a post where Art and Mike exchange banter and then I regress back into my little hole. :p
 
BluRidgDav, while needing to get an "e" key on his keyboard:) , brought to my attention an inconsistency that I have always taken for granted. I've always called the .30-06 a "thirty aught six," but a .25-06 a "twenty five oh six." I'll be the first to acknowledge the inconsistency, and now I'm not sure how to pronounce the .25-06.
 
That's odd, I never thought about that either.

As I mentioned earlier, I have said thirty OH six since childhood, but have always said twentyfive ought six.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top