30-06 Majority Choice In Taking Elk

[nomosendero]

The "vanilla is part of the appeal. It will shoot a very wide range of powders & bullets well & handle most hunting needs witout fuss.

 

[bullet]

The "vanilla is part of the appeal. It will shoot a very wide range of powders & bullets well & handle most hunting needs witout fuss.

The 30-06 is like vanilla ice cream with all kinds of different toppings and they all taste good and go well with the vanilla ice cream. From 110-240grs and shoots them all well with the advantage of tweaking you rifle for any given or specific hunt or you can just go "All-So-Ran" using a 180gr bullet. Yes, lots of toppings and it is never boring. :grin:

 

[FOTIS]

My motto is Death by Chocolate :lol:

 

[bullet]

My motto is Death by Chocolate :lol:

Chocolate on top my vanilla ice cream is the 240gr Woodleigh bullet, that is Death by Chocolate.

 

[ehunter]

I think a lot of people drop out of the magnumb craze as well go back to the 06. It is a lot more fun to shoot at the range and as pointed out a ton of options for hand loader.

 

[woods]

I got this from the RMEF website.

Here are the top used Elk rifles among those surveyed

.30-06-----------148
.300 Win. Mag.---118
7 mm Rem. Mag.--105
.338 Win. Mag.----72
.270--------------56
.300 Wby. Mag.---39


Top used bullet weights among those surveyed.

225 to 250 grains--27
200 to 210 --------45
175 to 180 --------33
160 to 165 --------91
130 to 150 --------82
Federal -----------126
Remington --------111
Nosler -------------97
Winchester --------63
Barnes ------------20

Those bullet weights are a little puzzling. When you consider that:

Most of the 338 win mag would use 225 to 250 or the 200 to 210. Those 2 would add up to exactly 72, the same number as the users of 338 win mag. But some of the 300 win mag or 300 Wtby users would use 200 gr bullets (I do) so some of the 338 win mag users must be using 180 gr bullets (bad choice IMO).

Only 33 used 175 gr to 180 gr bullets! 180 gr in 30-06 seems to be prime time for an Elk bullet in 30-06, a great choice for the 300 win mag or 300 Wtby and the 175 gr bullet has long been known as a show stopper in 7 mag. Means a lot of shooters are dropping to the 160 to 165 gr bullets for Elk in the 30 calibers (not the best choice IMO).

The largest number used 160 to 165 gr bullets. That is a good choice in a 7 mag but in any of the other calibers it would seem to be out of the mainstream (maybe I'm out of the mainstream!).

The 130 to 150 gr did pull in a lot of users. Probably included all but a handful of the 270 users who might have gone to the 160 gr bullets. Probably did include quite a few 7 mag users who opted for the 140 to 150 gr bullets (mostly 140's, some swear by them in a 7 mag).

What the bullet chart tells me is that there a lot of shooters out there who buy into ballistics that "look at me, I'm shooting a flat shooter" rather than the common sense approach of more energy, less wind drift and higher sectional density applications.

 

[JD338]

What the bullet chart tells me is that there a lot of shooters out there who buy into ballistics that "look at me, I'm shooting a flat shooter" rather than the common sense approach of more energy, less wind drift and higher sectional density applications.

Exactly! Its all about marketing and speed sells. Many clerks at sporting goods stores are not knowledgeable and sell what they have instead of what you need. Heavy bullets for caliber work, and they work well. :wink:

JD338

 

[30-338]

I got this from the RMEF website.

Here are the top used Elk rifles among those surveyed

.30-06-----------148
.300 Win. Mag.---118
7 mm Rem. Mag.--105
.338 Win. Mag.----72
.270--------------56
.300 Wby. Mag.---39


Top used bullet weights among those surveyed.

225 to 250 grains--27
200 to 210 --------45
175 to 180 --------33
160 to 165 --------91
130 to 150 --------82
Federal -----------126
Remington --------111
Nosler -------------97
Winchester --------63
Barnes ------------20

Myself I sure wouldn't put too much in this survey have to consider only 538 responded on calibers used and 278 about bullets used and don't they have over 100K membership.

 

[Brad]

I'm one of those that actually thinks the 30-06 is nearly the "ideal" elk cartridge, and is likely overkill on lighter game (like deer).

But I'm probably in the minority...