.30/06
Posted on 11/09/2012 5:14:03 PM PST by reed13k
Just a quick question on positive and negatives of each 30-06 vs 30-30. My understanding is there is only a slight difference in range, but what all the other potential factors? Your thoughts as I dig into the details in the books, mags, and websites.
Huge difference in range, power, and accuracy potential. 30/06 is far superior to 30/30 in al regards.
been eying a Marlin 30-30 for some time now.
Can’t give a good reaon why. Just want it.
Will probably go with a lever action 44 mag instead, since they are handgun legal to hunt with here. Don’t hunt anymore, but might have to out of necessity by 2016
.30-30 is a blunt-nosed round designed for lever action rifles. .30-06 is a pointy-nosed round designed for bolt-actions with stacked magazines.
So, if you have a preference in rifle type, that may make your decision for you.
The aerodymanics of the .30-06 are better and more stable at long ranges.
Here is everything you need to know thanks to a quick google search complete with links to reputable authors articles.
http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/showthread.php?t=66310
Firearms are like cars.... you will get lots of answers depending on who you ask. Good luck.
Exactly.
The real good thing about the 30-30 is the nice handy lever action carbines chambered for it.
The 30-06 in a good bolt action is one of the all time great cartridges. It can, depending on the individual rifle, be very accurate and is effective to at least 600 yards. It will kill at far greater range than that.
The 30-06 caliber is lot more versatile and has a larger selection of rifles available.
Get military calibers.
30-’06 used to be, but .308 WIN/7.62 NATO will be easier to scavenge. .223/5.56 should be available as well.
.30-30? In hard times you couldn’t even kill to get those...
.30/06
Your understanding is a misunderstanding :-)
The two rounds are quite different, although both exceptional in their own rights.
The .30-30 started life in the blackpowder era, and was an exceptional round compared to its contemporaries. The .30-06 was part of the first generation of smokeless powder, spitzer bulleted military rounds that came into being in the very latest days of the 19th, and early 20th century, and were baptized by fire in WWI.
If they were airplanes, a good analogy might be the P-51 Mustang, perhaps the apex of propeller driven fighter aircraft, and the F-86, an exceptional specimen of an entirely new breed.
Both rounds remain very, very popular as they fill their own niches better than perhaps any others.
The .30-30 used to be somewhat limited by the weapons it was developed for: lever actions with tubular magazines. Because of the magazine layout, it was limited to flat nose bullets which have inherently poorer ballistics. In recent years some manufacturers have began offering poly-tipped bullets that allow for a much better ballistic coefficient and have improved the performance somewhat. The .30-30 has a much smaller case volume so, all other things being equal, the .30-06 will allow for higher velocities, heavier bullets and longer range.
The .30-30 has less inherent recoil and is better suited to brush guns and shorter barreled carbines, and would probably be more suitable to a particularly recoil sensitive shooter.
The .30-06 will typically be chambered in heavier rifles, but allow for much longer range shots due to its flatter trajectory. could go on at length but those would be the major differences.
Depends on what type of terrain you plan to hunt in.
30/30 for brush/wooded country. Go with the Marlin 336. A few ounces heavier than Winchester 94’s, but made better, IMO.
30/06 is best for long range open hunting. Way better ballistics than 30/30.
All depends on how far out you need to take out the trash from, if you know what I mean.
If you are left handed like me, you might want to go with the Browning BLR lever-action rifle, it is, or at least as far as I know is, available in 30-06.
Unless you have a love of Lever guns there is little reason to use a 30-30
+s for 30-30
Works in Lever guns
Ammo is easy to acquire
Range medium (200 yards or so with most lever guns)
-s for 30-30
Few actions other than lever or break open
Rimmed (this is not an issue in lever but can be if it was a box mag)
RN (round nose) bullets dominate as most are tube fed a pointed bullet is not a good idea (hornady does make one special)
Few variations on loading (bullet shape / weight / power)
+s for 30-06
Actions of every type Bolt, Break open and Semi auto
Rimless - better feeding from box mags\
Ammo is ubiquitous in many more loadings than 30-30
Spitzer Bullet in Hollow Point, Soft Point and FMJ
Medium to Long Range (600 yards)
Bolt Guns are far easier to scope than a Lever * no mater what caliber
- 30-06
More recoil
Few loading for a lever gun
Longer action than newer center fire cartridges
There are many other cartridges to choose from but for easy of ammo in .30 you really have picked 2 of the best the other is .308 Win which is really little more than a 12mm shorter 30-06
Now that’s what I love about FR the quick facts right at everyone’s fingertips. I do tend to prefer a bolt over lever (though I always wanted to do the rifleman thing from tv as a kid). I was leaning toward the 30-06 but hadn’t realized there was an accuracy delta. First info I was looking at just had max ranges as similar.
Echoing what has already been said.
You can’t really compare the two, as they have characteristics that make them suitable for different applications.
30-30 is a lever-action brush gun.
30-06 is for longer shots in open range.
Get both.
Was also looking at maybe a Remington 770.
About the same price. $400 +/-
Don’t want to shoot to the next road. Just down the road, if necessary.
If you want a Levergun I suggest a Marlin .308 Marlin Express. It might be described as a 30-30 on steroids. Gives you near .308 Winchester ballistics, which I would go with instead of 30-06 if I was going with a bolt gun since it is a short action. With modern powders it is equal to a 30-06.
My primary deer rifle now is a .308 Marlin Express and with the gummy tip bullets it has excellent ballistics and mine is capable of groups of about 3/4 inch or smaller at 100 yds. I just have a thing about leverguns. Guess it, comes from growing up watching John Wayne movies and they give quicker follow up shots than a bolt gun.
30-30 lever guns with open sights are my favorite, but then I mostly hunt with a longbow. With the new leverevolution ammo from hornady you can get good accuracy out to a few hundred yards.
However, if you want a long range scoped rifle, 30-06 is better.
I aslo agree you should consider .308.
I learned to shoot with a bolt action 30/06. that was the cartridge I learned to reload on too. It’s a great round easily capable of sub MOA accuracy and very capable of making 1,000 meter shots in a quality rifle. there is an abundance of ammo available for it too. Plus, you can get an inexpensive device that fits in your chamber that will allow you to shoot .308 out of a 30/06 so it’s versatile. On top of that, the 30/06 uses the same projectiles as the .308 so, in a pinch, you could pull your 30/06 projectiles and reload them into a .308 cartridge for your battle rifle if the need to do so ever arose..
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