Your favorite cartridge based off .30-06?

[WYOHTF]

Apparently this Thread is in regards to the now Extinct 30-06 family of Cartridges. Back in the day 30 years ago perhaps the 280 would have been my favorite of off the Shelf boxed ammo. It's duplicated by the 7x64 which is available very frequently. The 280 didn't have today's high tech bullet technology though it provided adequate accuracy for Hunting. But it faded from shelves long ago. On the wildcat side a Straight 6.5-270 would easily fit the bill only today you can't find any pills now and it's a pure wildcat only custom. Today I would be happy if even the regular 270 was in stock. I digress, none of these cartridges are on the shelves any longer where I live. My favorite all around O6 version Wildcat of my own vision is the 6.5 FMD. Great for Targets or Game & uses the 6.5mm Lapua shoulder design.

I think what we are all witnessing is the shortage caused from Covid or the ten other reasons.
The is a reason all the man bun cartridges are on the shelves and that's mostly because the big corporations are building what sells.
Brass is so hard to buy right now in many many case designs.
Let alone, loaded ammo

 

[hunter67wa]

I have a 338/06 and enjoy it. I would not feel left out if I had an 06 though. I would not mind a 6.5-06 someday. In saying that maybe just a 30-06 would do it all. I have hunted and taken a bit of game with an 06 and they are all just as dead.

 

[WildRose]

You could say "obsolete" I suppose in a comparison type discussion of fine hair splittery of modern cartridge designs...
I bet if we took a poll of all the gun owners/hunters in the US, one of the 06 family, if not the 06 itself, would easily be the most widely used cartridge and in 90%+ of gun owning households and carried by 90%+ of guys in the woods every year.

By comparison, all of the new supersweet awesom-o's are "extinct" and "obsolete" as they are only a very small % of guns owned and ammo is either hard to find or impossible.

I doubt it's quite that high but certainly in half or more I'd expect you to be correct.

I've got my dad's first year of production Remingon 760 pump that came from Amarillo Hardware in the fifties, the wholesaler our store used, that came packaged with the 4x weaver it still wears.

Tomorrow I could without a doubt kill a hog, deer, moose, bear, or anything else in N. America confidently with it.

Obsolescence doesn't mean junk, it just means they've pretty much been left behind by more modern rounds. No insult at all.

My Ruger No 1 in 25-06 was the most accurate rifle I'd ever shot, including our military rifles until about 1996 and was my favorite for everything form prairie dogs to Pronghorn and White tail for quite a few years.

The 7RM and STW following however finally got a grip on me and I haven't owned one since.

If I had that rifle today though, I'd still hunt with it at least occasionally but my 6.5's have distinct advantages over it.

One thing about the 06 though, it and the wildcats off of it have retained enough popularity that getting brass for them is a heck of a lot easier usually than more modern and popular rounds.

 

[WildRose]

I have a 338/06 and enjoy it. I would not feel left out if I had an 06 though. I would not mind a 6.5-06 someday. In saying that maybe just a 30-06 would do it all. I have hunted and taken a bit of game with an 06 and they are all just as dead.

With the old Remington Accelerator, a 40gr bulett in a plastic Sabot it was even an outstanding, flat shooting very fast varminter.

Alas though the .243 Win had already gained such popularity the Accelerators weren't around very long.

 

[WYOHTF]

280 AI, and...
338 Hawk. Casper WY gunmaker Fred Zeglin's creation. Worthy of mention because it hasn't shown up on this list, and of course because I have one. Used it to kill a big UT bison and a bunch of elk.
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You may already have this book but I stumbled across it looking for a reamer to rent.

Hawk Cartridges Manual - 4D Reamer Rentals

Hard cover reloading manual for Hawk Cartridges. 180 pages. 10 years of research went into the collection of data for Hawk Cartridges. This book includes all the data collected for all calibers. This unique line of wildcats is base on the concept of non-belted cartridges that deliver magnum...

4drentals.com

 

[vedauvoo]

You may already have this book but I stumbled across it looking for a reamer to rent.

Hawk Cartridges Manual - 4D Reamer Rentals

Hard cover reloading manual for Hawk Cartridges. 180 pages. 10 years of research went into the collection of data for Hawk Cartridges. This book includes all the data collected for all calibers. This unique line of wildcats is base on the concept of non-belted cartridges that deliver magnum...

4drentals.com

I bought the book some time ago. Thanks for the reminder. I always admire someone like Zeglin who can get stuff like this created. Having had a 338-06 AI previously, I found I could get solid gains in velocity without the pressure I noted in the 338-06. The 338 Hawk has served me well.

Win 70 Classic Stainless, Douglas XX Premium stainless, Bansner High Tec Custom stock, old school Leupold VX-3 2.5-8x36. Weighs 7 lbs 8 ozs. I like the combination so much that I went into prolonged rifle acquisition retirement (treatable and can be overcome using a variant of the 12-step program).

I know that the same Hawk concept was created, apparently independently, by Dave Scoville of Prescott. He called his the 338 Scoville. I don't know who gets the fame and fortune. Since Fred chambered mine, he got to put the Hawk moniker on the barrel.

 

[vedauvoo]

Like I said, I haven't heard much on the Hawk or Hawk/Scovill line of cartridges (made from the -06) here, but I know they like the Gibbs line are very effecient, have high velocities for their case capacity, and are extremely effective. What are your bullet weights and velocities and your barrel length?

225 gr Barnes TTSX, 2630 ft/sec (chronigraphed), 22" tube. I think the Gibbs line and the Hawk line both use very similar principles to achieve their ends. If I had not been seduced by some other shooting endeavor, I would have had a 358 Hawk made.

 

[vedauvoo]

I just remembered that the 338 Scoville was included in the Barnes Reloading Manual #4. The write-up is by Dave Scoville hisself and includes instructions how to create this round. The velocities cited in the manual from a 24" barrel are in line with what I got using IMR 4064 and Varget, but in a 22" barrel. 225 gr TTSX at 2630 ft/sec.

Having started with a 243 Win (sane, modest, but somewhat elk resistant), degenerated to a 30-378 Weatherby (insane, profane, wrecked my hearing!), and settled into my 280 AI and my 338 Hawk/Scoville.

As has been stated by many in this thread, in the end, it's pretty tough to beat the original '06. But Oh, the fun I would have missed!

 

[Darryle]

280 Ackley

I just flat love it, hammers deer and easy on the shoulder

 

[hunter67wa]

I bought the book some time ago. Thanks for the reminder. I always admire someone like Zeglin who can get stuff like this created. Having had a 338-06 AI previously, I found I could get solid gains in velocity without the pressure I noted in the 338-06. The 338 Hawk has served me well.

Win 70 Classic Stainless, Douglas XX Premium stainless, Bansner High Tec Custom stock, old school Leupold VX-3 2.5-8x36. Weighs 7 lbs 8 ozs. I like the combination so much that I went into prolonged rifle acquisition retirement (treatable and can be overcome using a variant of the 12-step program).

I know that the same Hawk concept was created, apparently independently, by Dave Scoville of Prescott. He called his the 338 Scoville. I don't know who gets the fame and fortune. Since Fred chambered mine, he got to put the Hawk moniker on the barrel.

Just curious what pressure were you seeing in the 338/06. I have not seen any yet but the first load I loaded shot with no pressure and I have not went any farther. OBTW 210 TTSX with 414 2741 fps 22"

 

[vedauvoo]

Sticky bolt lift, primers squared and ridged around the firing pin indentation, loose primer pockets. It was with RL-15, a powder I found finicky about temperature. This was with 210 gr Nosler Partitions and velocities of 2800+ fps.

I now use Varget. I have also become less inclined to pursue velocity, so maybe comparing my 338-06 days with my 338 Hawk era is not apples to oranges.

2741 fps out of a 22" barrel is impressive! How does the 210 TTSX work on game?

 

[hunter67wa]

The picture in my avatar is the first critter I killed with it. My smith has killed over 2 dozen head of game with the same combo and only 4 bullets recovered and were picture perfect. Those critters included eland and elk and kudu. My bull was bang flop complete pass through at about 90 yards.

 

[vedauvoo]

Nice bull! Impressive bullet resúme. The "Who's Who" of tough big game.

One shot kills with the 338 TTSX has become expected. I won the lottery (literally) in 2010 and shot a nice bull bison in the Henry Mountians of southern UT. I was advised to keep shooting these hardy animals until they stayed down. 80 yard quartering away, the bull dropped before I could rechamber. The bullet was lodged against the far side hide. Something irrationally satisfying about the appearance of a lethal bullet that matches the ads in appearance.

My favorite shaped mushroom!

 

[hunter67wa]

Great! I agree. We are building my wife a 338/06. I hope it shoots the same load. If not I have a lot of 210 TSX or 210 Partitions to try also. My rifle does everything I need out to 500 yards which is the limit of bullet opening anyway. I like to keep under 400 though. The old 06 lives on through offspring.