Did a little more work with a 30-06 over the weekend and was struck once again with how handy this cartridge is to have around.
Truth be told, as a whitetail and larger deer/black bear round, in 30 caliber I think the 308 makes more sense, even though I don't own one.
But in this current environment if I was advising a new gun owner on a first time rifle purchase, I would advise a 30-06. Once fired brass is still readily available at reasonable prices, and almost anybody getting into reloading will know somebody with a 30-06 die.
Yes a full power 06 is more than needed for whitetail, and yes it hits back more than necessary on the bench. But you can make it anything you want.
Not only does it handle every bullet weight from 110-220 quite well, but because it sits right in the middle of burn rate with preferred medium burn rate powders, it is possibly more versatile at the reloading bench than it is in the field. It is quite well behaved with a slew of powders. Somebody somewhere will have one of the powders on the list for a 30-06. Pick one and it will work.
There's a whole lot of fussy magnums sitting in gun cabinets these days because they can't get powder, or don't want to pay $200 per lb to shoot them.
I tested out that severely reduced load again using 33 gr's of IMR 4227 pistol powder with 130 gr sp's. Still amazed how well that load shoots. Put 3 right together at 100, then I had a 4'th one loaded that I intentionally stood on it's nose first before shooting, so that the back half of the case was dead air space. It is position sensitive as that shot went directly above at 1.5" high. But still nothing to get mad about for a load an 8 yr old kid could easily handle to use at 100 yds and under.
Then I had 3 loaded up with a 1/2 grain above starting load at 43.5 gr with IMR 3031 and a 150 Hornady. Not a typical powder. Used 3 primers I had popped out of some ancient reloads so I wasn't using my own primers. Not even sure they are all the same brand primer. That load put 2 tight together, and one at 1.75" high. Will test it again with current primers.
That load chrono'd at 2650 average. Kicks like a 300 savage and at that speed is slightly faster than the average 300 Savage with 150 gr bullets, and 300 Savage with 150 gr bullets has been killing all sorts of game for 100 yrs now.
I can't think of a better cartridge to own and get components for right now than an 06. And you can make it anything you want.
Truth be told, as a whitetail and larger deer/black bear round, in 30 caliber I think the 308 makes more sense, even though I don't own one.
But in this current environment if I was advising a new gun owner on a first time rifle purchase, I would advise a 30-06. Once fired brass is still readily available at reasonable prices, and almost anybody getting into reloading will know somebody with a 30-06 die.
Yes a full power 06 is more than needed for whitetail, and yes it hits back more than necessary on the bench. But you can make it anything you want.
Not only does it handle every bullet weight from 110-220 quite well, but because it sits right in the middle of burn rate with preferred medium burn rate powders, it is possibly more versatile at the reloading bench than it is in the field. It is quite well behaved with a slew of powders. Somebody somewhere will have one of the powders on the list for a 30-06. Pick one and it will work.
There's a whole lot of fussy magnums sitting in gun cabinets these days because they can't get powder, or don't want to pay $200 per lb to shoot them.
I tested out that severely reduced load again using 33 gr's of IMR 4227 pistol powder with 130 gr sp's. Still amazed how well that load shoots. Put 3 right together at 100, then I had a 4'th one loaded that I intentionally stood on it's nose first before shooting, so that the back half of the case was dead air space. It is position sensitive as that shot went directly above at 1.5" high. But still nothing to get mad about for a load an 8 yr old kid could easily handle to use at 100 yds and under.
Then I had 3 loaded up with a 1/2 grain above starting load at 43.5 gr with IMR 3031 and a 150 Hornady. Not a typical powder. Used 3 primers I had popped out of some ancient reloads so I wasn't using my own primers. Not even sure they are all the same brand primer. That load put 2 tight together, and one at 1.75" high. Will test it again with current primers.
That load chrono'd at 2650 average. Kicks like a 300 savage and at that speed is slightly faster than the average 300 Savage with 150 gr bullets, and 300 Savage with 150 gr bullets has been killing all sorts of game for 100 yrs now.
I can't think of a better cartridge to own and get components for right now than an 06. And you can make it anything you want.
Yee haw! 
