30-06 Popularity in So Cal

[lgm270]

Talking the owner of one of the few remaining gun stores in metropolitan Southern California, King's Gun Works, in business since 1949.

He said that almost all of his CF rifle sales are for the 30-06.  Said he hasn't sold more than one 7mm Mag in the  last several years.  Said the main thing was the relatively cheap cost of 30-06 ammo compared to other calibers.

I was very surprised.  Everyone I  used to hunt with used .270's, 7mm Rem Mag's or .300 Mags.  I can't remember anybody who hunted with a 30-06.  Now it's the caliber of choice.

[454Puma]

Not hard to understand as the '06 is the do everything caliber!   There isn't an animal it hasn't killed , a place it hasn't hunted!!  It was the hunting caliber many ,many years and still is!  Especially for those of us that didn't need nor want a Mag to kick the snot out of us! Everything I've shot with mine has died very quick deaths! Can load it for Varmints up to Elephants what more do you want!

[mannyrock]

   When I moved to the Memphis area in the 1980s, I hunted at many large deer camps in West Tennessee and North Mississippi.   I hunted with a .308 Winchester, but I assumed that almost everyone else in camp would be using a .30-06.

   I was really stunned to find that without fail, the .270 Winchester was the overwhelming favorite, closely followed by the 7mm Rem Mag.  The third most popular was the .243. 

   These folks were very unsophisticated, and had never read a trajectory chart in their lives. But they all recited the same thing, "the .270 and 7 Mag shoot much much flatter than the .30-06."   Since the overwhelming number of shots were at 300 yards or less, and many at 100 yards, I wanted to tell them that there wasn't really a hair's worth of difference in practical trajectory at these ranges, particularly since the deer were very very large.  But, on the other hand, I didn't want to get beaten up.  :-)

    They had a very low opinion of the .308 Winchester, saying it was just a weak version of a .30-06.   Yet, they all talked about the electrifying power of the .243 Winchester.  Idiots.

    Eventually, I saved up enough money to buy my on 45 acres of woods and fields in prime deer country, so I never had to hunt in a camp again.



Best

[zoner]

   When I moved to the Memphis area in the 1980s, I hunted at many large deer camps in West Tennessee and North Mississippi.   I hunted with a .308 Winchester, but I assumed that almost everyone else in camp would be using a .30-06.

   I was really stunned to find that without fail, the .270 Winchester was the overwhelming favorite, closely followed by the 7mm Rem Mag.  The third most popular was the .243. 

   These folks were very unsophisticated, and had never read a trajectory chart in their lives. But they all recited the same thing, "the .270 and 7 Mag shoot much much flatter than the .30-06."   Since the overwhelming number of shots were at 300 yards or less, and many at 100 yards, I wanted to tell them that there wasn't really a hair's worth of difference in practical trajectory at these ranges, particularly since the deer were very very large.  But, on the other hand, I didn't want to get beaten up.  :-)


Good post. The funny thing is that most folks worried about "trajectory" and how "flat" their rifles shoot at 300 yds don't have any business shooting at game farther away than 200 yds due to their marksmanship skills.....including me. And most deer are killed at 100yds or less
    They had a very low opinion of the .308 Winchester, saying it was just a weak version of a .30-06.   Yet, they all talked about the electrifying power of the .243 Winchester.  Idiots.

    Eventually, I saved up enough money to buy my on 45 acres of woods and fields in prime deer country, so I never had to hunt in a camp again.



Best

[Harry Snippe]

The 3006 is pretty well king here in Central Ontario Canada so I thought . Before the hunting season starts every one is siting thier guns at the local gravel pits .Last year I must of gathered about a half a pair of '06 brass with the odd 300 WM and a few 30/30's .

This year year , it seems folks are settling in with the 308W.That was "The ''  brass found to be picked up. with a few box's of o6 a few 300 WSM and 300 WM and the odd REM  mag as well as some 30/30.

Well the game here is Bear Deer and Moose, so, either the 3006 or the 308 W you got it covered .
It seems every one is looking for the short light rifle  Times are always changing !!

[Mauser]

Is it even possible to shoot a 30-06 in So. Cal. anymore?

[Sourdough]

Mannyrock:  I experienced the same thing back in the late 60s and early 70s.  I brought my 308 back to Tennessee and got a lot of flack.  Then one day one of the hunters came and asked me what could he do to make cleaner kills with his .243.  He had lost several Whitetails in the last two years.  My reply blew the whole group away at deer camp.  I looked at the man, and in a very crisp and clear, but loud voice I said, "First you need to get a legal deer gun, there is a reason the State of Tennessee does not allow the use of a .243".  I pulled out a copy of the hunting regs, and asked, "Have any of you guys read these"?  I opened the book and pointed to the wording that said, "No rifle smaller than .25 caliber shall be used to hunt big game in the State Of Tennessee".  Totally blew them away.

A few years later the State changed the reg allowing .243s.  But in the mean time My Dad and all his friends went to 30-06s.  Oh and the man that had lost so many deer with the .243, claims he has not lost a deer since he switched to the 30-06.   

[lgm270]

Mannyrock:  I experienced the same thing back in the late 60s and early 70s.  I brought my 308 back to Tennessee and got a lot of flack.  Then one day one of the hunters came and asked me what could he do to make cleaner kills with his .243.  He had lost several Whitetails in the last two years.  My reply blew the whole group away at deer camp.  I looked at the man, and in a very crisp and clear, but loud voice I said, "First you need to get a legal deer gun, there is a reason the State of Tennessee does not allow the use of a .243".  I pulled out a copy of the hunting regs, and asked, "Have any of you guys read these"?  I opened the book and pointed to the wording that said, "No rifle smaller than .25 caliber shall be used to hunt big game in the State Of Tennessee".  Totally blew them away.

A few years later the State changed the reg allowing .243s.  But in the mean time My Dad and all his friends went to 30-06s.  Oh and the man that had lost so many deer with the .243, claims he has not lost a deer since he switched to the 30-06.

You're not the only person to have this experience with the .243 as a failed deer round.  I had a friend who was a gun nut who went through his .243 phase and after chasing his wounded deer I suggested he go back to his 7mm Rem Mag, .270, 30-06 or other guns he owned.  He did. It worked.
 

[zoner]

i'm a SoCal guy and my 06 is a Rem 760. Recently i sent my trigger group to a guy in Virginia and it came back with a sweet 3 lb pull. It shot good groups with it's original 6 lb trigger pull but now it wants to shoot in the same hole. All my shootin buddies at the range shoot high end bolt guns. I routinely shoot smaller groups and make sure i remind them about it. They kinda laughed when i first got this rifle. Everybody knows that a bolt action will outshoot a stupid pump rifle

[HogFan]

Mannyrock:  I experienced the same thing back in the late 60s and early 70s.  I brought my 308 back to Tennessee and got a lot of flack.  Then one day one of the hunters came and asked me what could he do to make cleaner kills with his .243.  He had lost several Whitetails in the last two years.  My reply blew the whole group away at deer camp.  I looked at the man, and in a very crisp and clear, but loud voice I said, "First you need to get a legal deer gun, there is a reason the State of Tennessee does not allow the use of a .243".  I pulled out a copy of the hunting regs, and asked, "Have any of you guys read these"?  I opened the book and pointed to the wording that said, "No rifle smaller than .25 caliber shall be used to hunt big game in the State Of Tennessee".  Totally blew them away.

A few years later the State changed the reg allowing .243s.  But in the mean time My Dad and all his friends went to 30-06s.  Oh and the man that had lost so many deer with the .243, claims he has not lost a deer since he switched to the 30-06.

I would be lying iif I said I had never lost a deer while shooting a .243, as I have. I don't think my problem was the round, but rather my scope. Come to find out the old Bushnell was broken, and the recticle spinning. The deer died about 100 yards away, but on the neighbros property and no way was he letting me retrieve the deer. This past youth hunt, my son lost the first deer he had ever shot. He hit the deer behind the shoulder, but I think a little far back. We tracked the deer, at first what was a lacking blood trail. About 15 yards from the initial  place he shot the deer we found a really nice blood trail and tracked it about 100 yards. While tracking the deer, the blood trail became less and less. When the deer came to the creek, we came across a guy that was trespassing, and said he was looking for his daughter's doe. Well only being about 150 yards from where our stand was and  not having his daughter with him we think he actually took my son's deer. My father hunted deer with this particualr rifle for years and never lost a deer. Most people I know that lost deer with .243's were using bullets unfot for big game hunting.

[helotaxi]

Growing up, I wasn't aware that there were other choices than the 30-06.  I saw 1 30/30 and 1 .280.  Everyone else had a 30-06.

Deer have been "lost" with every caliber under the sun.  A poorly placed shot is a poorly placed shot, regardless of what caliber.  Some are a little more forgiving, but often at the cost of meat.  FWIW, more deer are killed every year with the .22LR than all other cartridges combined.