What can't a .30-06 do?

[30-06 lover]

First look at my name

The 30-06 is a gift form God to us Yankees. There is no more versatile round for NA. Period.
I wouldn't want the gun during a charge situation, but those are few and far between and the animals I hunt believe in flight, not fight.
-Mike

 

[Stickjockey]

Can't take satellites with the '06. Need a .50 for that.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I carried an M1 I borrowed from the ARVN when I was an adviser during my first tour in Viet Nam. I'll gladly salute the .30-06 as a worthy comrade in arms.

 

[Harley Quinn]

The 30-06 is a winner

Was good for me when I was shooting it in the service.
Had a M1 Garand.
I have a trophy to prove it, out of Bootcamp. I have an Expert badge and what we called the 3 year badge to go with it.

Good round, we shot a different round then. It was an armor piercing round.
Tough on the steel frames holding the targets. Talk about noise and problems in the butts. (area downrange pulling targets).

I believe if I only could afford the one rifle, it would be the one with a chamber for the 06.

HQ

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Good round, we shot a different round then. It was an armor piercing round.

That was kind of an on-again, off-again thing. In WWII the armor piercing round was standard combat issue. Someone said, "We should zero and practice with what we use in combat."

After a couple of years of peace, the bean counters said, "This armor piercing stuff is hard on backstops, and that costs money." So we went back to ball.

Then the Korean War came along, and ...

 

[Geno]

Vote +1 for AP only!

In the 5.56, I prefer nothing other than APs. For the .30 Cal also, nothing beats it, and few materials stop it. Unfortunately, I think that it is now illegal (so I have been told) to purchase .30 Cal. APs (perhaps only in MI).

Oh well. Some good monolithic solids aren't bad either.



Doc2005

 

[Johnny Guest]

A worthy quote.

1911 guy wrote:

Who said?
-------------------------------------
There ain't too much a man can't fix with seven hundred dollars and a 30-06.

That's from Grandpa's Lesson, by Lindy Cooper Wisdom, 1995 (daughter of Jeff Cooper.) Full text may be seen HERE.


Johnny

 

[22-rimfire]

As I recall, the -06 armor piercing ammo would penetrate 1/2" steel plate. Pretty impressive penetration. That said it will zip though most things like butter. It is illegal due to the penetration. It would easily zip through both sides of a rail road car.

The 30-06 is one of the most versatile rounds available. My Dad always used an -06 for deer hunting. When I was a kid, I chose the 270 as I was influenced by Jack O'Connor and the 30-06 and the 30-30's seemed common. That does not change the fact that it will take any game in the lower 48 states. I would prefer something a bit larger for grizzly though.

 

[H&Hhunter]

A friend in Zimbabwe told me his dad used to hunt elephant in Kenya in a semi professional mode back in the day as a teenager. He couldn't afford a "proper" rifle or "proper" rifle ammunition (read Nitro Express) so he used an old FN Mauser in .30-06 shooting 220 gr solids. He claims that they would often exit on a side brain shot on bull elephant.

Hemingway killed several of his buffalo with the same round with body shots. As have countless others.

While these are both extreme example of what an 06 can be pressed to do. It does demonstrate that it is enough gun for just about anything else. If I couldn't have my .375H&H my next all around rifle choice would be a .30-06.

There is nowhere in North America that I'd feel under gunned with a .30-06 and premium 200gr bullets. There are damned few places in Africa that the same with 220gr solid that I would feel slighted .

That being said it is not my choice for dangerous thick skinned game in tight cover. Nor is it my first choice for hunting Brown bear. But for everything else it is in my opinion gods gift to the rifleman.

The .30-06 is the all around North American game rifle the .375 is the .30-06 of Africa.

A little heavy for some a little light for other but darn well capable of doing it all.

 

[Harley Quinn]

Grandpas lesson

Hi,
I really enjoyed reading the story and lyric's.

Thanks,

HQ

 

[Sunray]

"...seven hundred dollars..." I'll bite. What's the $700 for?
The .30-06 will take any game in North America with the right bullet. Big bears included. But it can't have a baby.

 

[H&Hhunter]

The .30-06 will take any game in North America with the right bullet. Big bears included. But it can't have a baby.

Sunray,

I'm afraid your mistaken. The .30-06 has a long list of fine off spring she's given birth to.

Including but not limited to:

The,

.270Win
.25-06
.280Rem
.35 Whelen
.338-06
.375Schovil
.416Schovil

As you can see a very nice and abundant bundle of joy.

The saying, there ain't much that can't be fixed with $700.00 and a .30-06 is an often used saying by the like of Jeff Cooper. It come from an actual statement he heard said at one time. But I can't remember it's origins at the moment. Maybe somebody can help us out on that one.

 

[NateG]

"...seven hundred dollars..." I'll bite. What's the $700 for?

To answer, from Jeff Cooper:

When our daughter Lindy married Joe Wisdom he brought to the alliance among other things six hundred dollars in hard cash and an old sporterized 1903 rifle. A phrase slipped out of the woodwork and into my ear that might fit into a Country Western-type ballad. To wit:

"Ain't many troubles that a man cain't fix with six hundred dollars and a 30-06."

Since the saying needs another syllable in order to make it bounce properly, I raised the six to seven and thought we might use it to start off something that Johnnie Cash might sing..

 

[Harley Quinn]

Johnny Guest

He mentioned it in this thread, quite a few post's back.

Some of these "Moderators" are walking encyclopedias, he sure is.

HQ

 

[HankB]

IMHO the .30/06 is an excellent choice for leopard and all thin-skinned, non-dangerous game worldwide, with the possible exceptions of eland and giraffe, where it may be regarded as an "adequate" rather than "excellent" choice.

Though "adequate" it wouldn't be my first choice for 1000 lb-plus Kodiak or Polar bears, and I really wouldn't care to use it on lion (the African kind) or tiger (which you can't legally hunt anyway), but it WILL get the job done.

Hippo? The usual brain shot, sure. Rhino, Cape buffalo, and elephant? Well, even though with proper bullets and shot placement it will do the job, I'd really want something bigger.