November 13th, 2021
9minute read
The .30-06 went to Alaska when miners were still plodding the Chilkoot trail.
The Titanic had not yet been built.
The .30-06 pulled the U.S. through two world wars.
The great variety of bullets available in .30-06 ammo has much to do with its versatility and popularity.
It arrived in hunting camps before Coleman lanterns.
In 1900, engineers at Springfield Armory began work on a battle rifle to replace the.30-40 Krag-Jorgensen.
Their prototype emerged a year later.
Early .30-06 loads, military and sporting, had heavy (up to 220 grains) round-nose bullets, now rarely seen.
TheModel 1903 Springfield rifleresulted.
Its .30-caliber .30-03 rimless cartridge headspaced on the shoulder, like the 857 Mauser.
8mm spitzer at 2,800 fps.
A 4-bore black-powder load from the era of African exploration dwarfs the much moreversatile .30-06.
The U.S. countered with the Ball Cartridge, Caliber .30, Model 1906.
It launched a 150-gr.
bullet at 2,700 fps.
Wayne aims an unaltered 1903A3 Springfield, a follow-up to the 1903 rifle that introduced the.30-06 round.
For reasons not entirely clear, an edict came down to shorten the case .07, to .494.
All .30-03 rifles were promptly recalled for re-chambering.
The 1903 Springfield rifle would retain its Service Rifle status in 1940, as theM1 Garandmade its competitive debut.
Grancel Fitz used an upgraded Springfield .30-06 to take one of each North American big game species.
Eleven years later, the Garand would take that mantle.
So was born theEnfield Model of 1917.
Production soon surpassed that of 1903 Springfields.
The .30-06 Ackley Improved (left) has a “blown-out” 40-degree shoulder, for more powder capacity.
bullet with a 173-gr.
spitzer at 2,646 fps.
This M1 cartridge pestered soldiers to 5,500 yards.
This 1917 Enfield has had its sight ears removed and a sporter stock installed. The .30-06 barrel is original.
It hiked recoil, too.
In 1939, the Army adopted the M2 load with a 152-gr.
spitzer at 2,805 fps.
The .30-06 M1 Garand (top) clearly influenced the M14 and, here (below), Springfield Armory’s M1A chambered in 7.62 NATO.
It functioned better in the new gas-driven Garand than did loads with heavier bullets.
U.S. troops used it throughout World War II.
The Johnson rifle had a short-recoil action with an eight-lug rotating bolt.
Once a wildcat, the powerful .338/06 is now commercially loaded by some shops. It makes for a fine elk cartridge.
The barrel retracted on firing, then unlocked from the bolt, which continued its rearward travel to eject.
But it brought orders from the Netherlands for the defense of the Dutch East Indies.
Roughly 2,000 rifles shipped before the Japanese invaded.
A champ in lever and pump rifles, Savage’s .300 has been called a “short-action .30-06,” but it falls shy.
A few of those had already been acquired by the U.S. Marines.
One sawservice on Iwo Jimaearly in 1945.
The .30-06s history in machine guns predates the 1917 development of theBrowning Automatic Rifle.
Its case is suitable for new long-range bullets, which allows the .30-06 to give a good account of itself in1,000-yard matches.
By 1910, John Browning had invented its inspiration: his Heavy Water Cooled Machine Gun.
It sat on the shelf even as the BAR was accepted into service.
He sent 20,000 rounds downrange without a hiccup.
The M1 Garand carried U.S. troops through WW II and Korea. These Hornady loads are M1-specific loads designed for perfect functioning.
No parts failed; none showed fatigue!
Then Browning stunned onlookers by firinganother20,000 rounds!
For an encore, to prove this wasnt a specially tuned sample, he unpacked a second machine gun.
The .30-06 is very capable at 600 yards. The .30-06 had a 32-year run on the National Match course in 1903 Springfields.
Fed what surely seemed an unending belt of ammunition, the gun fired continuously for 48 minutes 12 seconds.
The seven-member examination board didnt take that long to approve Brownings 1917 machine gun.
When I was a lad, surplus military .30-06 ammo sold in quantity for a pittance.
But shooters soon learned rifle barrels didnt long endure it without diligent cleaning.
Potassium chlorate primers deposited corrosive salts.
In 1901, the German firm of Rheinische-Westphalisch Sprengstoff (RWS) had developed priming without potassium chlorate.Rostfrieprimers resulted.
The only corrosive-primed domestic .30-06 ammo since: a run of Western Match with Western 8 1/2 G primers.
These were also mercuric.
Remington developed non-corrosive Kleanbore priming in 1927.
But these, and Peters Rustless, contained mercury fulminate.
Its residue, harmless to steel, weakens brass.
It would fall to German chemists to remove both potassium chlorate and mercury fulminate from primers.
Early steel jackets had a cupro-nickel coat.
Fired at .30-06 speeds, they fouled the bore, especially at the relatively cool muzzle.
Tin-plated jackets made the problem worse, as tin cold soldered itself to the case neck.
One bullet recovered at a shooting range still wore the case neck!
The Army dropped Mobilubricant and tin-plated bullets.
Cupro-nickel jackets (60% copper, 40% nickel) yielded a better result.
Its still the dominant alloy.
Jacket and core dimensions for 30-caliber bullets are held to ever-tighter tolerances.
Sierra keeps MatchKing jacket thickness within .0003 of a standard, and limits bullet weight variation to .3 grain.
Test lots that dont shoot into .250 inches at 100 yards can disqualify the entire batch.
We shoot four five-shot groups to check lots, a Hornady engineer explained.
Average extreme spread for 30-caliber hunting bullets must stay inside .600 at 100 yards.
Our match bullets must print .800 groups at 200 yards.
Despite its ubiquity, anyone dismissing the .30-06 as commonplace did so at their peril.
The most respected riflemen of the day hailed and used the .30-06, and handloaded for it.
These included Townsend Whelen, who launched 165-gr.
boattails with 58 grains 4350, and Ken Waters, who capped 50 grains Norma 203 with 180-gr.
bullets.Outdoor Lifeshooting editor Jack OConnor liked 53 grains IMR 4320 behind 150-gr.
bullets.Field & StreamsWarren Page claimed fine accuracy with 180-gr.
bullets, 55 grains 4350.
In my second book on rifle ballistics, I listed more than 100 commercial loads for the .30-06.
And these only from major manufacturers!
I wouldnt be surprised if 90% of .30-06 hunting rifles carry loads with 150-, 165- and 180-gr.
In North America, theyve served ably for game from pronghorns to grizzlies.
For decades, ballistics tables have listed the standard velocity of a 180-gr.
bullet from a .30-06 at 2,700 fps.
Over my chronograph, factory loads routinely fall short of that mark.
Of course, barrel length matters.
But current lists include frothier options.
Hornady hawks a Superformance 180-gr.
load at 2,820 fps from a 24 barrel, corresponding 165- and 150-gr.
loads at 2,960 and 3,080 fps.
Those speeds approach what was once expected from the .300 H&H Magnum!
Alas, the 220-gr.
Federal still offers it.
An even better pick for tough game is Federals 200-gr.
Its hard to improve on the .30-06.
And many of the most useful alternatives since its debut have derivedfromthe .30-06!
The .270 Winchester (1925) did.
So did the .280 (1957), and of course the .25-06 (1969).
Then theres the .35 Whelen, a Remington adoption (1987).
Contemporary wildcats include the .30-06 Improved and .338-06.
Less common but with fine records afield: the 6.5/06 and 8mm/06, the .375 and .400 Whelen.
Both my .30-06 Improved rifles were carved from 1903 Springfields.
One of them took a fine elk with a 180-gr.
But the .30-06 in original form, with ordinary loads, has taken many elk.
If memories serve, its antlers scored 381.
The top dozen entries:
Sadly, theres no clarification of .30 here.
(The .300 is also problematic.
Both, and others now, are .300s).
Conclusion
The .30-06 is revered by hunters worldwide.
Youll find .30-06 ammunition nearly everywhere cartridges are sold.
