30-06 for a Western Gun

So a post in the General Discusiion about a new Elk rifle and the 30-06 being mentioned raised a question.

I've owned one or two and killed a bunch of deer with it, but never considered it when thinking about a future gun for out West. Mistake??

I'm not a ballistics guru, but wouldn't POI vary greatly at 200-400 yds. as compared to the popular .300 Win mag. and newcomer .280 AI along with many other popular calibers?

What Western experience do any of you have with this caliber and what bullets do you recommned? Lastly what would you zero it at? 200 yds.? With an average drop of what at 400 yds with your favorite bullet?

Reason I ask all this is because this would be a gun I could use in Bama for fields and powerlines as well as for mulies or elk out West.

Thanks for input and suggestions!

The 30 06 is a GREAT cartridge and has killed every game animal on this continent.

Shooting the same bullets, the 300 Win Mag shoots about 5" higher at 400 yards and the difference at 200-300 yards is negligible.

You'll never want for more if you choose a 30 06 b

I’m a big fan of the ol’ .30-06. She really shines with good bullets and modern powders.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Whats a good factory bullet that you've used for deer or maybe some larger game?

Nosler Partition

165gr Sierra gamekings have never let me down. But for elk I would probably look at 180gr.

Ain't thing wrong with a 30-06 for out west
280 Ackley is far from a newcomer and is plenty for everything upto elk as is the 30-06.
It don't have to be the latest prc whizbanger to kill stuff at long range

This.

165 Barnes Triple Shock. Will shoot through anything.

Father and son I hunt with shoot Barnes...not sure which series, but swear by them.

I took two with mine shooting 150gr Hornady SST. 30/06 is plenty but I’m no longer a fan of the SST. I’d want a heavier bullet with stronger construction if I hadn’t traded it off. 180 Accubonds would be high on the list

I do hear a lot of good reports on Accubonds.

I would shoot 165 grain Accubonds or Partitions in front of a stiff load of 4350 of some sort.

It'll do whatever you want if you're up to it. Thing to do is take your /06 out to a powerline with some paper plates and try it. The usual Spring day where it starts out calm and gets blustery would be good. Set those plates at 400 and see how it goes. Also set some at 300 and 250 for comparison. Keep notes so there's no guessing at what was fired at what and how many. Maybe guess wind, too.

You'll probably start wondering about what other cartridges might be a little flatter and slicker in that wind. And what's like that and cheap enough to shoot much of.

30/06 will do it if you're up to it, though.

Not that I’ve put much through elk or plains game elsewhere, but it’s always been generally accepted tha: For anyone with ANY of the 270, 280, 30-06, 7RM or 300 RM class, there’s zero reason not to shoot most anything, anywhere, with them….short of big bears or DG in Africa.

30 06 will work just fine on big brown bears. Phil Shoemaker is a veteran Alaskan bear guide and has killed many with the aught six.

Lol….and Bell killed a lot of elephants with a 7x57 too….but I can think of a lot of reasons why it wouldn’t be my FIRST choice for that, or an’06 for a close brown bear.

100%!

Not mine either but for a one gun man can't think of a better choice than the 30 06. I say this as someone who owns several 308 caliber rifles and none of them are a 30 06.

And I knew a woman who passed a few years back that used a 7x57 to kill all of her African game, including a nice bull 🐘

Now if Hornady would make a 7.62 Creedmoor, that would be a game changer.

A 30-06 with the proper bullet matched to the specific animal you are hunting will kill the hell out of anything in North America and most things on the planet. A 30-06 also shoots flat enough to reach out past where most people on the planet need to be attempting a shot. The old aught six has just been around so long that it's not the sexy new new kid on the block anymore. Gun makers sell guns by convincing you that you need a NEW rifle chambered for one of the latest whiz bang zoom cartridges.

It's not really true if you look at how calibers are actually developed, but if you look at the cartridges... the 30-06 really looks like the middle. The baseline. Everything looks like a bigger or smaller version of the 30-06. I think that says a lot about the round. I love my 270 and I think it cam do most things I will ever want to ask of it. But I know it's just a flatter shooting weaker -06

All great comments much appreciated. I'm just trying to add another long gun to the barn that will do what I need it to do when the few opportunities come up to go out West with my adult son, but still usable here in the south on these pine goats.

So I think I'm open to the .300 win mag. and 30-06 both. I can size up or down in bullet weight for most any game except squirrels. lol

I learned to shoot long range (1k+ yard) with a 30-06. Effectively... a Winchester Vietnam era sniper rifle. Realistic distance while hunting "out west" is typically within any cartridge's max point blank range. Not all shots east of the MS are long shots and most are under 300 yards. You can certainly get into 500 yards but the vast majority of the time you are going to be able to get within a few hundred yards. I tried to shoot a deer this past season @ around 500 yards and I could not do it while hunting. I could not get the rifle steady enough.

That's reality.

Out west... 180 Partition for elk. 165 Accubond for everything else.

here in Alabama put a 165 Sierra on the whitetails.

It will get it done today just like it got it done 100 years ago and still with ZERO fuss.

☝️

My Dad killed several antelope and mule deer with a REM 760 30-06 when we lived in Montana. He used 150g Silvertips. I asked him once how he accounted for long range and he told me “ just hold a little over his back.”