rustyshackleford
Well-Known Member
I
Okay In the spirit of friendly argument lets open this can of worms all the way. First, let me say I am an 06 fan. It is the Jack of all trades, Scottsdale pickup truck of the gun world. That said, I think the 308 is a more efficient cartridge as well as the 300WM on the other side of it. There is a reason the US military choose the 308 over the 3006 and still use it as their primary sniper rifle along with the 300WM. There is also a reason most competitive bench rest shooters for years have chosen 308 based cases rather than 06. You can push a 220gr 308 at 2500-2550fps again about 100 to 150 fps less with far less powder. On the other side of that the 300WM can push a 215gr berger at 2850 and stay supersonic beyond a mile. This is what I run in my personal gun, a 27" sako, shoots 1/2 moa @ 100 and 1/3-1/4 moa to 1250. Those are the averages of a 10shot group at varying yards with more than 300 rounds through the gun. Anything an 06 can do a 308 can do almost as well and more efficiently and a 300WM can do significantly better. Because the original poster ask if he should consider an 06 when he already owns two 308's I said no but to consider a 300WM. In full disclosure 300WM is my personal favorite do it all long range big game cartridge and the one I own now is one of the most accurate I have ever owned. Again just my opinion and experience.
I will say I agree that he should probably get a 300 WM or 338 WM so he gets a significant bump in performance but can still find ammo. However, throwing out efficiency as an argument against the 30-06 is silly if you handload. Efficiency is nothing more than operating pressure, a well matched powder, and a sleek bullet. A 30-06 can probably come very close to matching your 300 WM load with RL 26 and a 24-26 inch barrel. If you handload a 30-06 and load it like you would modern cartridge the efficiency argument is moot. With RL-16 and a 200 sgk I'm getting 2685 ft/sec with zero pressure signs from a 22 inch barrel. I could probably run it up 50-100 ft/sec faster but I don't care to chase that. This is why my next step up in firepower is a 416 rem mag. Any non dangerous game will fall to that 06 load inside out to 500 yards.