Range Report This may be old news... 30-06

[sandwarrior]

But, I just got the article today in my email:

https://www.americanhunter.org/artic..._campaign=0817

I would have liked to title the thread, "FUCKIN' REALLY?!?!?!?" The article it seemed to me would be a sarcastic approach to what we don't know about the 30-06...that is until you read it. Instead the author makes every reason NOT to buy and enjoy one. Including the "bad uncle". Now that is a full-time, life-bearing solid reason to not buy a 30-06...you had a bad uncle.

While not a particular 30-06 fan in what I do, long range shooting, it's not because the round doesn't have merit. It does. It's just that we've moved past it scientifically for long range shooting. And, until we get manufacturers to make bullets that are comparable to what we shoot in 6.5 and 7mm (.277 for that reason too) out to distances, it will remain that way.

A caliber is nothing more than a diameter. A bullet is nothing more than a formed weight inside that diameter. The weight of the bullet in that caliber allows it to be massaged into a form that is much more efficient in the air (see: Josh Kunz, PVA, known here as Bohem), giving it a better BC. A larger diameter allows us to use more weight in the bullet improving BC. For as some people know, BC is made up of the two things I just mentioned, form and weight. To reach really far, you have to have enough weight and form. Also, the form has to be such that the bullet doesn't go unstable at any point in it's flight, particularly the transonic range. Therefore, twist and shape of lands/grooves in the barrel are important too. But, all this is attuned to bullets intended to be shot farther than the average bullet. Simple long range shooting, not hunting.


A cartridge, i.e. 30-06 is how much go power you put behind the bullet when you send it. Less cartridge, less total push. Higher pressures, more recoil. Higher bullet weight, more recoil. More weapon weight, more recoil absorbed. Most of that is mitigated unless you go to extremes. Packin' a heavy barrel is not necessary. Packin' a half pound more and absorbing a tad more recoil isn't going to matter if you don't sit there and pound yourself at the bench getting it sighted in the day before..

Getting back to the article, it's a stupid diatribe of how not understanding ballistics and recoil and a bad uncle keeps us from shooting the most standardized cartridge in America.

 

[SPAK]

.30-06 with flatline Bullets would be freakin awesome........will always be a .30-06 fan.

 

[lash]

.30-06 with flatline Bullets would be freakin awesome........will always be a .30-06 fan.

Agreed.

I have a project -06 that I want to do this very thing with. Maybe this winter.

Why? Because it is there to do and reaching well past a mile accurately with one will be satisfying. Modern powders and new .30 projectiles like the Flatlines make this doable.

 

[Fursniper]

The guy that wrote the article is obviously a pussy and should limit himself to rimfire rifles and cottontail rabbits for game. Good grief......

 

[sandwarrior]

Somebody might've said it in the comments attached to the article, but what is this guy gonna come out with next month? 30-06 is King?? Now there is a bullet out there (there are several) that will do magical things!

I know I'm beating my own drum here, but not only does this writer discredit himself, he discredits most of the "for hire" writers. The cartridge is, without question, capable of any kind of kill you need.

And, I don't know why I can't see it on this computer, but I included a paragraph on cartridges (don't kick my soapbox out from underneath me) and cartridge classes. I don't know if you can see it, but I see it on my phone, but not on this computer:

A cartridge, i.e. 30-06 is how much go power you put behind the bullet when you send it. Less cartridge, less total push. Higher pressures, more recoil. Higher bullet weight, more recoil. More weapon weight, more recoil absorbed. Most of that is mitigated unless you go to extremes. Packin' a heavy barrel is not necessary. Packin' a half pound more and absorbing a tad more recoil isn't going to matter if you don't sit there and pound yourself at the bench getting it sighted in the day before.

edit: now it's there.

 

[GhostFace]

I stuff my '06 cases with a slow burning powder (mainly RL22) and a bullet with a BC in the .6s and go to work. Unfortunately the furthest that I can shoot is 1k right now but it hammers.

 

[black5.3]

I too am a fan of the 30-06 for range work and taking game. Of course there are better calibers out there that will shoot just as far with less recoil. But some of them dont have the bullet selection that the .30 does. SPAK recently helped me dial in my pet load with the 195gr tmk and it is dangerous. It now consistently shoots less than 10 sd and does it at about 2700-2710 fps.. it hammers steel at 1k, i would love to take it out farther as i know it would handle it well.

 

[sandwarrior]

I too am a fan of the 30-06 for range work and taking game. Of course there are better calibers out there that will shoot just as far with less recoil. But some of them dont have the bullet selection that the .30 does. SPAK recently helped me dial in my pet load with the 195gr tmk and it is dangerous. It now consistently shoots less than 10 sd and does it at about 2700-2710 fps.. it hammers steel at 1k, i would love to take it out farther as i know it would handle it well.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. It's taken manufacturers a long time to realize that massaging the bullet into a more streamlined projectile, you can get a lot better trajectory. And, that is all it is. There is nothing wrong with the case. The cool thing is, this bullet will still work in a standard 1-10" twist. Like many of us who have gravitated to smaller cases and more efficient bullets, they take a non-standard tight twist. I say non-standard, but the Swede's twisted their 6.5x55 (which most bullets in the U.S. are based off of) in 1-8.66" (1-220mm). In any case, you could not, for the longest time, get 6.5 and 7mm barrels twisted that tight in the U.S.

Again, making a case FOR the 30-06, is you don't have to change barrels. You can shoot high BC bullets of relative comparable weight with a 1-10"...now that manufacturers see a need for them.

 

[black5.3]

Very true... and my whole reasoning behind the 30-06 is that everybody sells ammo for it (if i ever have to buy factory loaded ammo for it), it is the .308's bigger brother and the .300wm's younger brother, and it has the energy to do about whatever you want to do but the recoil isn't punishing.

 

[sandwarrior]

Very true... and my whole reasoning behind the 30-06 is that everybody sells ammo for it (if i ever have to buy factory loaded ammo for it), it is the .308's bigger brother and the .300wm's younger brother, and it has the energy to do about whatever you want to do but the recoil isn't punishing.

Interesting you say that. Where I was at during both the Obama election panics, .308 was sold out everywhere for more than a year each time. But, there was always some kind of 30-06 on the shelf
If you wanted abundance though, there were still stacks of .270. A great round itself, much in the same category as the 30-06. It was invented in 1925 and therefore must be obsolete. Rather, like the 30-06, far from it.

 

[FatBoy]

I think the Arms Race in F Class has driven match bullets perfectly fit to the 30-06. 185 Juggernauts, 200 BH and 200-20x, etc. IMO these are too big for 308Win, (maybe not the Jugs) at least with a barrel useful for more than prone competition.

Happy to see the old round getting some visibility outside the vintage sniper matches.

 

[SPAK]

I too am a fan of the 30-06 for range work and taking game. Of course there are better calibers out there that will shoot just as far with less recoil. But some of them dont have the bullet selection that the .30 does. SPAK recently helped me dial in my pet load with the 195gr tmk and it is dangerous. It now consistently shoots less than 10 sd and does it at about 2700-2710 fps.. it hammers steel at 1k, i would love to take it out farther as i know it would handle it well.

Glad ithe load is working out for you.

a good shooting .30-06 with the heavies is a thing of beauty.

 

[black5.3]

Yes it is!

 

[sandwarrior]

There was a poster on here before the move to scout who went by MontanaMarine. He shot heavies from a 30-06 to very long ranges where he was at in Montana. Near where I lived for a number of years.

 

[pmclaine]

Not a knock on Sandwarrior, it was a post that needed to be made as a general PSA of the stupidity out there, but truly everyone is now dumber for reading that article.

 

[MosesTheTank]

^^^ My sentiments are the same. There's far too much wrong with the article to pick it apart. I am sad to see it appear in a NRA publication. The 30-06 has always been a great big game round that has only improved with the incredible bullet selection and modern powders we enjoy today.

 

[sandwarrior]

^^^ My sentiments are the same. There's far too much wrong with the article to pick it apart. I am sad to see it appear in a NRA publication. The 30-06 has always been a great big game round that has only improved with the incredible bullet selection and modern powders we enjoy today.

True, guys, if it had been some YouTube know-it-all dumbass, I might have just let it pass. But, the stupidity from a magazine most of us consider to be the base-center of our firearm establishment is unacceptable!

It's been going on with these guys for quite some time. Their approach to firearms writing comes from a negative viewpoint. This or that cartridge is obsolete. Not, "While it may seem less popular now, here is how you can make it work for you..."

I'm flat out sick of 'wannabe' gunwriters saying stupid shit like this. It can't work. It won't work, blah, blah, blah. New ideas aren't stupid, either. Just because one thing comes along and is everybody's favorite doesn't mean similar ideas won't work. Largely because of the myths they spread, the gun buying market is reticent to try anything new.

 

[pmclaine]

It's the new generation.

My kids say "I can't" to everything.

I tell them if they had been in NASA circa 1965 we would never have landed on the moon.

Snowflakism.

Maybe that writer should remove the tampon from between his legs and use it as a recoil pad as he shoots his mean uncles 30-06.

Something suggests to me I'd much rather enjoy having a few brew dogs by the fire with the uncle instead of the nephew.