Question about long range bolt gun

[rta308]

Just a quick question for all of the guru's on here. Why is the .30-06 not used for long range shooting. I know Carlos Hathcock used it in his service as a sniper and I was just wondering why it sort of fell by the way side? Thanks for any insight you can give.
Travis

 

[Roddd]

There's a lotta shooters on here using the .06.

 

[marku]

I think the 30-06 teamed with the right bullet and powder can make a excellent cartridge. In the world we live in now LR shooting is dominated by bullet B.C.'s and muzzle velocities. The 30-06 isn't the problem, but there's so many other cartridge in the .243, .264, .284 line that can give someone a slight advantage at longer ranges. When you can take a 6mm AI and shoot 115gr Dtacs and be comfortable shooting it all day and spot your own shots that gives you a advantage.

I think both 30-06 and 7.62x51 are very accurate cartridges but my GUESS would be the 30-06 fell to the wayside cause the government adopted the 7.62x51.

 

[Pinecone]

Also, most people seem to prefer to go with one of the magnums if they have to go with a long action.

 

[marku]

I think that just depends on what cartridge your wanting to go with. Depending on your COAL it better to shoot some typical short action calibers in long action platforms. Like a 7mm WSM or .284 Winchester, my 7mm-300wsm is built of a short action but the action was notched so the cartridges would eject and I run a single shot BTW. If I was running a DBM, definatlly would be running a long action in that caliber. But the ballistics between the 30-06 and 7.62x51 are typically very close id rather have a short action or give up the maybe 100FPS for having a short action over a long action

 

[valkyries]

One thing to consider is the 30-06 is loaded to lower pressure than the .308, mainly due to some old guns out there. If you hand load you can get pretty close to .300 win mag ballistics from the 06 and still run 200 plus grain bullets. Still lots of 30-06s out there and still one of the best cartridges out there IMO.

 

[anthonylapoint]

Your question was why it isnt used, so....

Why it ISN'T used in a lot of long range shooting is mostly because of the bullet selection. 30 cal is a lower BC bullet and people generally go with a caliber shooting 7mm or less so, the 6.5 cm for extreme long ranges. No doubt, the 30-06 is a great cartridge but gets outclasses by other rounds that shoot inside it with much less effort. Even in short action, the 7's and 6.5's are doing well, take for example the 7-08, if the 30 cal bullet had good bc, I don't think that would have been born because 30 cal have a gigantic selection of bullets compared to 7mm or 6.5's. I'm running 6mm cartridge for my short action and .284 in my non mag long action

Food for thought

 

[marku]

.30 cal have excellent BC but you have to get 210gr-230 to take advantage of it. To achieve the velocity and push that bullet to get the advertised BC you need a larger case like a 300 win mag or bigger.

For lighter bullets like you said its outclassed my lesser recoiling flatter shooting 7mm's, 6.5's and 6mm's.

 

[Copyleader]

...all answers technically correct, although I think the real answer to your question is more simple---the .30-06 is the old standby, and that's pretty darn boring in a world that produces a new cell phone or gadget every six months that millions of people flock to purchase regardless of actual need....