The 30-06 can be found anywhere. I have found it in Macedonia. The 300 WinMag can be found nearly anywhere, too. I have all three .308 caliber rifles, 308 Win, 30-06 and 300WM. I like all three cartridges, but if I had to choose only one, it would be the -06. I load bullets ranging from 165gn up to 200gn in the -06, and have chronographed the rounds along with the .308 and 300 with the same bullet weights. The -06 is generally at least 150fps faster than the .308, and that's in a 22" barreled -06 and a 26" .308. I gain about another 50 to 70fps in my 24"03A3. Barrel life is quite a bit better with either the .308 or the 30-06 than it is with the 300 WM., and the -06 is much easier on the shoulder than the magnums of any stripe. This afternoon, I loaded about 180 -06 rounds for testing, using Hodgden's Superformance powder, pushing a 168 grain AMax and a 200 grain Sierra Gameking. I tested a slightly milder Amax load on Friday in a 22" Ruger M77MKII and shot a 5 shot 100 yard group into 0.8 inches in a 10 mph full value crosswind, gusting to 15 mph. Velocity for this load chronographed around 2850 or so. I already get 2600+ from the 22" rifles with the 200 grain Speer or Sierra, and 2650 to 2670 with the 24" 03-A3, which is all I need to anchor an elk out to around 500 yards. If you want the 300 WinMag, its a really good round, too. I'd go with it before I did the 300 WSM but that's just me. The WSMs are bad on barrels, though. As to the Remington 700 long actions, they're very good, extremely easy to accurize and true, very strong, and they can easily be made to feed any of the short magnums, along with any of the .308 family of cartridges. The Army actually uses the M700 long action in the M24 rifle with the 7.62 X 51 cartridge. They did this so that they could convert existing rifles into more powerful cartridges like the 300 Winmag rather than buying new rifles. You can buy the Remington 700 Longrange in 30-06 (26 inch light varmint barrel) and watch the Gunwerks videos on how to accurize it and it will stay supersonic far past 1100 meters(approx. 1200 yards) with the right loads and projectiles. Hammer bullets makes some .308 bullets in heavy for caliber weights that can be launched in the -06 at velocities that will match the 300 WSM and be just below the 300 winmag with much lower recoil. If you reload, and you're going to have a build done, you might think about an Ackley Improved 30-06 with a 1 in 8 or 9 twist. Its easy to handload, you fireform your brass by shooting standard 30-06 (which means if you lose your ammo, you can buy ammo at the local store and shoot it anyway) and it can be loaded to put a 180 grain round down range at nearly 2900fps from a 24 inch barrel, and your brass lasts for at least 10 reloads(more if you anneal it every third loading). Recoil with this round is still noticably less than any of the magnum .30s, too.
