.30-06 opinions

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sharper

sharper

Active Member
Hi all

As title suggests I’m looking for peoples FIRST HAND opinion of the legendary .30-06 I have done months of research into this Calibre so I’m quite familiar with its capabilities and ballistics/performance. It will primarily be used for reds in Scotland but also all U.K. deer species with the odd bore (hopefully) in there too. What I’m more wanting to specifically know is just how “bad” is the recoil of the .30-06 ?? To be even more specific...how harsh is it in the form of a sako85 classic with a moderator ??

With this being a fairly light rifle and overall light stalking set up I’m guessing the recoil will be toward the upper end of what the .30-06 can be...(given ammo choice and so on, let’s go with factory loads) I currently have a .25-06 as my go to deer rifle which is more than manageable and recently dropped me a lovely stag at just shy of 200 yards with a .117gr gamhead no problem 👍🏻

The .30-06 to me is the practical and logical upgrade...I just don’t know any one with one to use before committing to it...after hearing so many mixed reviews I’m hoping there’s a few people on here that will be using one regularly that can tell me exactly how it feels/performs.

Many thanks, Benny
 
bullet weight matters more than the cartrige that fires it ! reduce bullet weight and you reduce recoil , increase rifle weight and again you reduce recoil. 30-06 isnt that great especially if your using 140 -150 grain bullets ( remember also that a big copper bullet is a good deal lighter )
 
.30-06 has noticeably more recoil than .308. It will 'do' all UK deer species, but so will .308. You are looking at (as you know) about 200fps higher velocity for the same weight .30 cal bullet. I chose the .308, but if you really want .30-06, then go for it.
 
i shoot a 30.06 weatherby and have to say am very happy with it, i use 150g rounds, yes it recoils but it does what i need it to and i wouldnt say its hard recoil anyway, i get very little meat damage . i think if i were to use any other calibre on deer then listening to friends id prob opt for a 6.5 creedmore which is proving very popular, may be worth going to a shop that has grounds to shoots a couple different guns first or find a guide with one as estate rifle to try
 
Most felt recoil is down to rifle fit and technique. Get these correct and felt recoil is much less an issue.

Mount scope too close to your eye, stock too short etc and recoil is painful. I have shot an unmoderated 30-06 a few times - last was an older Brno in Namibia in 2018. Yes it kicked but nothing to really notice. Even my then 15 year old daughter shot it with no complaint.

I regularly use a 7lb, 7x65r which pushes a 162 or 173gn at similar velocities to a 30-06. Yes it recoils, but no more than the 16bore shotgun barrel. When I first bought it stock didn’t fit - added a recoil pad to lengthen stock and change the butt angle, and added a lace on comb piece. Recoil is no longer an issue.
 
I have had my 30-06 202 for about 6-7 years now and love it . Before that I had a couple of 308s but never really got on with them for what ever reason?.
I use mostly 180 gr for everything . Though I do have some sako 200 gr and 220 gr ammo as well I got cheap .
I don’t notice the recoil to be any worse than the 308 but then my 202 is no light weight and I am 5/10 and 14 stone on a bad day . I mostly shoot free hand so that probably helps as well with recoil management. Put the mod on it and it’s a easy rifle to shoot . I managed to get 6 boar for 7 shots running in a train a couple of years ago .free hand and no mod on .
I just picked up a load of ammo for it from a gun shop nr Gateshead and they had loads of factory 30-06 but little 308.
Easy to reload and great choice of ammo.
If you hunt in Europe it is fast becoming the most popular cartridge for Boar hunting .
And just about everywhere stocks it .
Not tried it with non toxic yet but don’t think there will be any problem
I don’t think I would ever need to buy another calibre again .
Reiver
 
I have a Tikka T3 lite synthetic. Unmoderated ,it’s a horrible thing to shoot from a bench, but you don’t notice it in the heat of the moment whist stalking. Get a decent moderator and lighter loads and it’s a different animal.
 
I’ve had a wooden stocked Mauser M03 in 30-06 and a Sako 85 Synthetic Stainless in .308 for a number of years. I used to shoot 165grn bullets over 51grn of N150 in the Mauser and with a mod recoil was manageable but noticeably more than the Sako with a mod in which I used to shoot 150grn bullets over 42grn of N140. Without the mod the Mauser had a real kick to it. The Mauser was a heavier rifle than the Sako and the stock design was better so probably helped with the recoil. To all intents and practical purposes (I.e. out in the field stalking) there was no real difference. Personally I would only go for a 30-06 if you have a real need for using bullets in the 165grn and above category so your intended use on Reds and Boar would make it a contender, but if you do I’d look at the weight of rifle and stock design / composition to help address the extra recoil.
 
I use an unmoderated 30-06 with 150gr loads as my default deer solution. I don't really notice the recoil. I also have a 200gr load that is a little punchy after a range session.

I agree that felt recoil is a lot more to do with fit and technique than we give it credit for.
 
Not sure what you are expecting to hear from us. You know the facts already.
Recoil is very noticeably more than from a .308 at the gain of a couple of hundred fps.
In the extreme you can shoot heavier bullets.
Barrel length cannot be reduced as effectively as on a .308 or you will end up at near .308 performance.
It burns considerably more powder than a .308, berrel get hotter more quickly and it requires a different breed of mod which also heats up a lot faster when you‘re at the range.
All in all it has a lot of disadvantages compared with a .308 or a 6.5 CM …. unless you really need that extra punch. Do you?
 
If I had my time again (I will be sixty-five in a week's time and have held an FAC since 1976) I would buy a .30/06 from the get go. Save if there was an *x60S available. Recoil? Bullet weight for bullet weight (assuming fired at equal velocity in equal weight rifles with properly fitting stocks) it will recoil less in 150 grain than a .270 WCF in 150 grain and less in 180 grain than a 7mm in 180 grain.

What, however, it will...slightly recoil more than...is the same weight bullet in an 8x57 or 8x60S.

Yes the .3006 will perform with 200 grain and 220 grain bullets but the real "King" in that weight is the 8mm. But in shooting only ever the UK? Do you ever need 200 grain or 220 grain? Lastly this....in a LONG ACTION such as anything built on a Mauser 98 action rifle it feeds better than a .308 Winchester does and, finally, if you think smokeless powder is a passing fad and we will all be going back to loading with blackpowder it'll perform well enough with that too.
 
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Steff said:
Not sure what you are expecting to hear from us. You know the facts already.
Recoil is very noticeably more than from a .308 at the gain of a couple of hundred fps.
In the extreme you can shoot heavier bullets.
Barrel length cannot be reduced as effectively as on a .308 or you will end up at near .308 performance.
It burns considerably more powder than a .308, berrel get hotter more quickly and it requires a different breed of mod which also heats up a lot faster when you‘re at the range.
All in all it has a lot of disadvantages compared with a .308 or a 6.5 CM …. unless you really need that extra punch. Do you?
Click to expand...
All I’m expecting to hear is people’s first hand experience and use with a .30-06 I like hearing personal opinions rather than “my mate has one and likes it/hates it” and so far plenty of people have provided me with just that 👍🏻
 
sharper said:
All I’m expecting to hear is people’s first hand experience and use with a .30-06 I like hearing personal opinions rather than “my mate has one and likes it/hates it” and so far plenty of people have provided me with just that 👍🏻
Click to expand...
Well then, here‘s another one. I had it in a Blaser BBF 95 for a few years. And I hated it in that gun with its hog saddle style stock.
 
I had a .30’06 which I used on the hill and on the range. Shoot one round on the hill and you don’t notice the recoil. Shoot twenty rounds (prone) on the range and it’s no fun at all (IMO). I sold it and bought a .308.
If you are sensitive to recoil, like me, you won’t enjoy the 30’06.
 
Going back to the OP, he already has and shoots a 25-06. This is a lovely fast and flat shoot calibre ideal for longer range work on smaller animals, but will quite happily deal with large Red Stags.

30-06 and also the 7x64 or 280 Remington would be a perfect compliment giving you a rifle that would provide more authority on bigger tougher animals eg big Red Deer, Boar, African plains game etc but still plenty flat enough shooting for any mountain hunting with the correct bullet and load.

An argument could be made for stepping up to a 300 Magnum of some description. These add perhaps another 50m of point blank range and a bit more power but at expense of a lot more powder, recoil noise etc. and for longer range these point blank is much less of an issue, as range finders and good trajectory info takes the guesswork away. Wind is always and always will be an issue. Even long high BC bullets are blown around in the wind.

The beauty of the 30-06 is that it is a worldwide calibre and hunting ammo is pretty much available in most places.

Personally I really like the 7x64 and 7x65r just because, but a 30-06 is probably the more useful and easier to run choice.

A lot of the myths about 270s, 30-06 etc come from shooters who are new to rifle shooting and / have never been taught how to control recoil. Everyone seems to use the tactical crossarmed hold with the weight of the rifle taken on a bipod or bag, and then the free hand holds the butt into the shoulder. This works fine on a light recoiling rifle, especially one that has a thick heavy barrel. If you use a bipod on a heavy recoiling rifle and use you forehand as god intended to hold the forend, you hand just gets bitten by the bipod. Harris Bipods in particular seem to be designed to inflict as much damage as possible. Ditch the bipod, take a good grasp of the forend and rest your hand on a bag, on sticks etc and your forearm acts as a big recoil spring and takes a lot of sting out of any recoil. And this technique gives more consistency in recoiling sporting rifles across a whole range of shooting positions. Also wood, and wood laminate stocks soak up and don’t resonate recoil like many plastic / polymer type stocks.
 
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