Thread: 308 vs 30/06

@Frogfeatures Here this info might help, l have a mates Brother In Law who hunts with us occasionally wanting to buy my Mod7 308 but having first dibbs on a Tikka in 30-06 & was asking a lot of InterWebs inspired questions & plain " wrong facts" from the couch sitting ExSpurts ,he had been listening to ,so to save space & allow for the slow internet & it dropping out at the bach, l have just posted my answers to some of the questions . @Frogfeatures you will probably know a lot of this already, but the first hand experience with favored loads in the field ,l have had may help . Good Luck with what ever you choose

First off the case capacity in grains of water is 68gn for the 30-06 & 56gn for the .308, so if handloading & wanting to use heavier bullets the 30-06 is going to have the clear advantage ,it is a load of BS that the 30-06 does not shoot lower weight hunting bullets.

I have carried & used a Remington Mountain Rifle LSS in 06 (so 22"barrel')around the world for over 2 Decades while Guiding as my "Back Up" rifle & have owned 2,but also one of my favorite rifles is a Mohawk in 308 with the 18" barrel , l have owned for 40yrs this year as l brought it for myself for my 21st Birthday & between our family we have owned 4 08's over the years & still use a Rem mod7 308 suppressed with a 16" barrel ,although l will probably sell that as l was just bequeathed a nice early Custom Rem MR in 280AI & l do not believe in Safe Queens .



Even with popular Hunting loads using the 150gn bullet ,l have done side by side comparisons using identical Rem 700's & with my handloads, l could get the 308 to push them at just over 2900fps with first signs of primer flattening ,while the 30-06 could easily reach just over 3100fps,the usual gap is 100 to 200fp plus ,although with a bit of playing around you can get it at the lower end, (While guiding in Africa ,PNG & Top End of Oz l tested all loads for my various rifles to allow for the extreme heat they would be used in every day).

My all round Kiwi hunting loads for the 30-06 are, the Nosler 125gn Ballistic Tips doing just under 3300fps & Hornady 130gn Spire Points for Goats, Pigs , Chammy & Snack Pack Fallow & Reds , the 150gn Barnes TSX & Woodleigh's doing just under 3000fps,for the bigger stuff at closer ranges, Tahr ,Chammy on the tops etc . For longer ranges or all round trophy hunting, in varying conditions where you are faced with taking shots at various difficult angles, l have taken a lot of Kiwi game using the 167gn Lapua Scenar ,168gn Ballistic Silvertip & the 165gn Woodleigh at just over 2800 fps , with the MRLSS shooting 3 shots into 14mm to 20mm with them ,all very mild loads in my rifle but of course work up loads to suit what works best in your own rifle . I have other rifles built specifically for Long Range shooting so stick to around 500 yard max for my rifles like the 06 so the 160's do everything l need , although l do like the 180gn Nosler Partition doing just under 2900fps when Roaring in Stags in the thick stuff.




Once you get above 150gn the gap gets even bigger, with something like the 180 grainers again compared SXS ,you are hard pushed to get the 308 to push them without pressure signs at much above 2650fps fps, while the 06 is happily pushing them at he 180gn Nosler Partition in the .30-06 gets 2900fps and velocity, energy loss and drop at ranges out to 400yd. are way less than what the .308 can do. For years l used the 180gn Nosler Partition doing just under 2900fps as my all rounder load when in areas with stuff that bites back,l always like the K.I.S.S systems in all things & it as a Point & Shoot load ,allowing shoulder hold out to 300yds plus ,l just Sighted-in 3in. high at 100yd it is then 4in. high at 200 & down 2in. at 300.



I chose to use the 06 based on its proven ability to take any game that walks the face of the earth even with "mild" loads as l reloaded for it allowing for extreme heat due to it spending a lot of time sitting in the Dash Racks in open jeeps in blazing heat & easy ability to load bullets to take , from in my own experience, Rabbits To Buffalo ,using loads from the Speer 100gn Plinker at Rimfire velocities with Trail Boss or the 06 "Varmint " loads we used on 100's of Rabbits ,Foxes , Dingo's & Wallabies using a variety of bullets but my MR loved the Lapua 100gn bullet pushed along with a mild load at around 3400fps & then the same rifle l used to take a lot of Jesus Taxi's ,Scrubbers & Buff using the 180gn Woodleigh , Barnes TSX or even the Old School Nosler Partitions ,loping along from 2800fps to just under 2900 fps & pressures were that low l would regularly get a dozen reloads (something important living in remote areas or Ammo component Apocalypse's )using using good slow powders like RE-22 and Re-25.

Taking into account that versatility, the fact the 06 is not a hard kicker, but yet is easily capable of all that & one of the few cartridges that fit that criteria & not hard to get accurate loads for various bullet weights , or hard on barrels , or hard on the nut behind the Butt & all while being able to be easily hand loaded to good hunting velocity levels .

Having said that the 06 was a Yank, Ambo Chasing, Lawyers Wet Dream, as for a few bucks for decades , Bubba was getting his hands on them ,so the factory ammo (unless you pay top $) is largely some of the most under loaded going . So for me if it is going to only be a Bush Pig using bullets up to 150gn bullet ,the 308 will do fine anything above is where the 30/06 comes into its own ,but l would go 20' min so you can use the Long Range advantage it offers ,it all really depends on what you want it actually for .