Interesting thread....
I have burned a lot of powder through long barrels in the /06 and wildcats based on the /06.
For long range hunting purposes I have switched to the Lost River J36 165 gr. bullets. Nothing else compares in performance on game and competes with a B.C. of .636.
Accuracy is better than a couple years ago too. The quality control procedures at LRB have improved greatly over the last 16 months.
For the 30/06 I run the J36 on top of 56 grains of VV N550 in a Lapua case torched by a CCI LR BR primer. This gives an average of 2996 fps out of a Rock 5R 28" tube. Pressures per the strain gages average 58336 psi. Groups are in the high .3's and low .4's.
I have over 1000 ft.lbs. of energy left at 800 yards and a wind drift of .5 moa/10mph at that distance.
For the 30 Gibbs using the same components and increasing the charge weight to 58.5 grains yields 3054 fps. Pressures run 58395, accuracy is similar.
For my money, the hassle of fireforming the Gibbs doesn't pay off in performance downrange. Don't get me wrong, I like the Gibbs series, however, the only Gibbs I currently use is the 240.
There's a lot of wildcat data out there and a lot of stories about radically increased performance. Many of the wildcat loads I see are running pressures that I don't want next to me at the bench and certainly don't want close to my face.
Bottom line is the /06 works fine for me out to a little past 800 yards. If I need more reach, it's time to reach for more horsepower. My definition of more horsepower is a big 338 based on the 505 Gibbs case with 300 gr MK's at over 3000 fps.
Just my unsolicited $.02.
(All loads are maximum loads and safe in my firearms. Readers must reduce 10% and work up from there, yada yada yada, legalese bs etc.)
Mike
[ 10-01-2004: Message edited by: Carbonman ]