30-06 for Long Range

Dont need to own one to know what it does, and doesnt do. Ain't rocket science lmao...It will never be a 7 or 300 mag, which are both superior in just about every way imaginable. Period! I dont care what you say or think about it, its still an 06' and there's nothing special about it :)
 
Does any use the old reliable 30-06 for Extreme or Long range hunting? How far have you been successful with it?

I really like this cartridge! I don't reload but I can find just about everything I need for variations of ammo to hunt with.

Thanks for the help.

Yes when you have an 06 set up for long range it can do very well running 215 bergers at 2800. Still has great ballistics to 1000 yards with plenty of energy. For plinking it would make a good cheaper ELR round. I take much lesser cartridges plinking past a 1000 yards often.

You stated you will be using factory ammo, Hornady 178 ELD-X comes to mind. Around 600 yards is the farthest you will be able to make consistent cold bore shots in a hunting situation depending on your set up.
Using a lightweight factory rifle with a cheap plastic stock your better off sticking to 400 or 500 hunting.
 
The word (hunting), and in this case long range hunting is the game changer in my opinion.
If i had to choose one rifle for all game animals walking around north america it would probably be an 06.
But if i were to take a brown bear hunt id rather a different cartridge.
I personally consider long range anything past about 400 yds.
But things start to change very quickly as for performance when the distance gets to 1000.
Read all the data regarding it you like, but real life observation might show a different picture.

So here we sit, glassing an area that might offer an opportunity for a shot at say up to 1000 yds.
But right over there is a different ridge, where the distance can be much further.
And after an hour of glassing and finding nothing, we find ourselves glassing the more distant ridge.
This is the reality of long range hunting, at least the way many of us hunt long range, including my friend Bo.
So now we find ourselves preparing for a shot we know is at the limit for the gun we have.
And beyond that, real life experiences and arm chair scenarios rarely play out the same.
You could very well start out with a 900 yard shot that ended up at 1200 before it was over, maybe even before you fired a shot.
And it could also be it still isnt over if you have a crippled animal that made it around a point and out of sight.
Now that is of coarse possible with any cartridge, but far more likely with one that is running on air and not gas.
Be at least prepared for the long shots, and you wont ever be sorry.
If you cant handle the recoil, consider long range prairie dogs as an alternative.
 
Sooooo

If a 30-06 IS NOT a long range cartridge.....

ITS LITTLE BROTHER THE 308/7.62X51 NATO

CANT BE A LONG RANGE CARTRIDGE EITHER!!!!

BETTER TELL THE ARMY - NAVY-SEALS-SPECIAL OPS ETC FROM 1958 TO CURRENT!!!
 
the man who can hit a animal(deer size) at 800-900 yards in the killing zone with the first shot from a cold barrel is to me a true marksman, with wind-twitches-mirage- animal movement againest him with any caliber.
 
My '06 runs 208 eld at 2913fps. It can shoot long range :)
My kids used to spend hours hitting rocks at 5 and 6 hundred yards (on calm days) with 22 mags.
No doubt you could do likewise with a 7/08 or a 3/08 up to a mile or more.
But were not talking about just hitting targets here, were talking about hitting animals, ones that can walk away after having been hit in what might have been a good location with enough gun.
Tissue damage causing blood loss is what kills animals, that requires velocity, and the more the better.
 
Here is a quick ballistic print of one of my 30-06 180NAB loads at my sighting altitude.

View attachment 214917
Old September post, but it caught my attention as I've not seen that high of ballistic performance in a 30-06 especially from a 180gr Nosler bullet. For comparison, Gun Data's 30-06 ballistic chart for a 165gr AccuTip shows a drop of 55.3" @ 500 yards. JAT :)
 
A 208 gr ELDM or 215 gr Hybrid at 2900 fps is going to cause a lot of tissue damage. LR hunters been successful using them for LR elk. 2900 fps with a 208 gr ELDM is getting into 300 Win Mag velocities.
 
Litz describes, not defines, ELR this way. I'll accept his description for arguments sake. " For our purposes, we'll consider ranges of 1500 yards and greater to be what defines ELR.". Out here in Eastern Oregon (2200 ft elevation) even a 208 gr AMAX or ELDM going 2700 fps would be right there depending on the conditions. https://elrcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ABDOC136_IntroToELR_Article.pdf
 
OP.

1. Know the limits of the bullet
2. The rifle
3. Most importantly yourself...30-06 is fine for long range.

Apparently the definition of long range cannot be defined.
Define it for yourself based on 1-3.

The forum already defined it ...

ELR.JPG
 
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