I'm thinking about buying a new rifle. I already have a butt-load of 30-06 ammo, but I don't want that fact to be the only contributor to my decision on which caliber I want my new rifle to be.

Question:
If you were going to buy a new rifle, which caliber would you prefer?

Choices:
308
30-06

 

Purpose???

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
Purpose???

this

The 2 calibers selected are probably the most versatile on the planet. So much so they really overlap each other in terms of use. Id be happy with either but if I could only have one to do everything, Id take the 06

What rifles do you already own in those calibers?

Buy a rifle of a type/purpose you don't already own, if no other reason.

On paper, 30.06 and 7.62x51 are "similar," and I think that the idea is too often overstated.

In both bolt and semi-auto, shooting 30.06 is definitely different than 308/762.

If you don't own a Garand, get one of those. If you're going to load a cartridge to the max, then a 30.06 bolt is a good choice. If you're going to shoot factory ammo, a .308 semiauto is a good choice, or for reloading, a high end .308 semiauto.

What is your budget?

How about an SR-25? or Mk1 Mod0 clone?

If you reload and want to stretch your rifles legs I'd go 30-06 as you have more case capacity to work with. The Garand suggestion is a good one if you don't already have one. Past that we'd need to know what you want to do with it.

The Alaska requirement of 200 gr with 2000 ft.lbs. at 100yds just allows the 30-06 but not the 308. This might be a consideration.

It sort of depends, my mountain rifle is a 308 because I wanted a short action to save weight. The rifle Ill be hunting moose with this year is a 30-06 which I like because I can shoot 200g or 220g rounds with it (not for moose obviously)

I won't ask for your purpose, simply because "for the hell of it" has always been good enough for me. What kind of rifle you feel like shooting?

quote:

Originally posted by pony220:
The Alaska requirement of 200 gr with 2000 ft.lbs. at 100yds just allows the 30-06 but not the 308. This might be a consideration.

Where did you find that requirement?

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:

quote:

Originally posted by pony220:
The Alaska requirement of 200 gr with 2000 ft.lbs. at 100yds just allows the 30-06 but not the 308. This might be a consideration.

Where did you find that requirement?

I was wondering that myself. I'll wager it is more of a suggestion.
And I'll take an '06 for a bolt action hunting rifle (have a pre-64 Model 70 in that caliber) and the .308 for a semi-auto.

There is no such requirement for hunting in Alaska.

I know when I was in the Navy we kept M14s on the sub for use against polar bears. I always figured if 308 was good enough for those it'd probably be good enough for just about any thing I'd ever run into.

quote:

Originally posted by LVJD:
I know when I was in the Navy we kept M14s on the sub for use against polar bears. I always figured if 308 was good enough for those it'd probably be good enough for just about any thing I'd ever run into.

Ive heard of inuits shooting them with 223 rifles. In fact every village ive visited and the one Im moving to in 2 weeks, there seems to be an abundance of Ruger Mini 14s.

I was quoting from memory. From google it seems that the bison tags have this requirement.

ADF&G Weapons legal for bison hunting gives this requirement.

quote:

Originally posted by pony220:
I was quoting from memory. From google it seems that the bison tags have this requirement.

interesting, guy I know used a 30-06.

FOr those interested, It is listed on the ADFG website under the orientation section for hunting plains bison.

Good to know, thanks for that info.

Here's an interesting article on the 30-06:

Cartridge selection is driven by ballistics and emotion. The savvy among us trust ballistics, the rest follow their heart. The .30-06 Springfield was once the undisputed choice for big game hunting; in 1927 the esteemed gun writer Townsend Whelen proclaimed it one of the best. But that, just like Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, was from a time we’ll not see again.

In a 1954 D. M. “Karamojo” Bell, who killed more than a thousand elephants—about 800 with a 7x57 Mauser—said if he had it to do over his choice would be the .308 Win. What Bell realized then, was the same thing Whelen suggested three decades prior, “…that the cartridge be such that the rifle using it shall have sufficient accuracy, flat enough trajectory and a moderate enough recoil so that the sportsman can place his bullets with sufficient degree of accuracy.”

Ballistics Matter on Both Ends

Comparing Hornady’s Precision Hunter ammunition, the .30-06 will deliver about 9 percent better performance than the 308. The trade off—there’s always a trade off—is this performance increase comes with a 16 percent increase in recoil. In other words, with what is arguably the best big game hunting ammo you can buy, the .30-06 gives you about half what you pay—suffer—for.

Some might point out the .30-06 will handle heavier bullets. True, but given our modern projectiles, 200 or 220 grain .30 caliber bullets offer no advantage. Back in Whelen’s and your grandpa’s day, this was not the case. At .30-06 velocities the weakly constructed 180-grain or lighter bullets of that time, shed lots of weight during penetration. 200 or 220-grain bullets didn’t because they impacted at slower velocities, thus penetrating deeper.

With bullets like the Partition, Triple Shock, AccuBond and ELD-X, those weighing less than 200 grains offer a better ballistic balance. This is why 200 grain or heavier .30-06 ammunition is almost as rare as flying frogs. Modern projectiles have even improved the performance of smaller cartridges. They can now hang with the '06 and not whack you near as hard.

Consider the 6.5 Creedmoor. Comparing similar bullet weights, the Creedmoor will shoot flatter and just as hard as the ought-six. But, the .30-06 will kick 34 percent harder. Though some will argue you gotta get used to recoil if you’re going to hunt big game, it’s an established fact, the harder a rifle kicks, the more difficult it is to shoot with consistent precision.

Size & Weight

The other downside to the .30-06 is length; the cartridge measures about 3.334 inches. The .308 Win. and similarly sized cartridges only measure about 2.75 inches. This means the action and rifle will be shorter, more rigid, and can be cycled faster. It also means the rifle will weigh about a half-pound less, and still not kick as hard. The ballistic performance of modern smaller cartridges is not significantly sacrificed because they’re loaded to slightly higher pressures.

You might contend a half-pound is nothing to fuss over. But, after carrying hunting rifles of all sorts, all over the world, I agree with Whelen on another point, “A man will travel farther, hunt over more country, have a better chance of coming on game, and be in better condition when he does if his weapon is light.”

Ballistics vs. Emotion

When it comes to killing big game, shot placement and bullet construction matter most. The letters and numbers printed on a cartridge case have no bearing on lethality. They can however be an emotional inspiration. Your daddy might’ve hunted with a .30-06; might’ve killed his best buck with one. Maybe that’s why you trust and are devoted to an archaic cartridge. And, I’m OK with that; a hunter should like his tools.

But, it goes both ways. I had a tenderfoot braggart of an uncle who boasted of the .30-06 with the same misplaced faith of those who think Hillary won’t go after their guns. His marksmanship and character were always in question, and all my family despised him. I suspect most of his family didn’t like him either. I’ve forever linked the ought-six to his deplorableness and have never or ever will, hunt or kill an animal with a .30-06!

In 1984 Jeff Cooper wrote, “A 30-caliber, 150-grain spritzer at 2700 fps may not be a ‘magnum,’ but it has been logging one shot kills all over the world for so long that one may well ask why anything more is necessary, unless one’s target weighs over 1000 pounds.” Those are the ballistics of the 308 Winchester, 7mm-08 Remington, and 6.5 Creedmoor. If you need more power than that, you’re going to need a lot more than you’ll get from a 30-06. The only thing it does better than those cartridges is kick harder.

Emotions might trump ballistics when it comes to cartridge selection, but they do not change them. By modern standards, the .30-06 sucks.

quote:

Originally posted by synthplayer:
Here's an interesting article on the 30-06...

By modern standards, the .30-06 sucks.

I mostly agreed until the last line. There's a big difference between being marginally worse than a .308 and being labeled as "sucks". By modern standards the 30-30 sucks, but not the 30-06.

I assume you mean a bolt action.

Both are great. I like a long action. But own both of these and like them both a lot.

Cannot go wrong with either. If buying used. Buy the best rifle you can in either caliber