When I think of all my friends that deer hunt, only one hunts with an 06. And he just sold it to buy a .270!

And not a single friend owns, let alone hunts with a 30-30. These are avg guys, not gun nuts. And my gun nut friends refuse to use anything remotely common. For example, one buddy is building a .400 Whelen.

I have never owned a hunting rifle in 30-06 until now (just bought it, waiting for it to ship). Felt weird, almost anti-hunting not to have one! And while I have a 30-30, it sits at the back of the safe, unfired for at least 12 years.

I think both the 30-30 and the '06 are on a gradual slide in popularity.

Not a single one of my hunting partners uses either the 30-30 or the 30-06.

We are getting into territory similar to "how many fairies can dance on the head of a pin?"

How is it to be measured? Is there somebody out there keeping track? Are you talking numbers of people hunting with particular calibers, rifles being sold, or rifles in existence? East or west? U.S., North America, or world wide?

My guess would be .308 and .223's have made big advances in the last 20 years. 30-30 sales are shrinking fast. 30-06 still makes a good showing in all categories but is considered plain vanilla by new generations of gun buyers/shooters/hunters.

quote:

How is it to be measured?

I would think that if the majority of people posting here do not use these cartridges,or do not have hunting partners that use them,it would be a good indication that the popularity of these cartridges has dropped off dramatically.I don't belive that exact numbers are required or are asked for.

I don't think you could use the posters in this room as a representative, that is to say, average lot of hunters. But one way to answer your question, RCBS, and others, keep track of their die sales. I don't know where to find that info but I would daresay that 30-06, 7Mag, and .223 are in the top five of reloading die sales. I also think that a lot of the box a year shooters use 30-30's and 30-06's. Around here, a lot of the once a year guys shoot .243's.

The 30-30 was my first deer rifle in the Marlin lever action as I believe was the same for most of my hunting buddies back in the 70's. It was a very good rifle but does not do well on longer shots. I then graduated to the 30.06 which I still have and is still a good all around caliber. But I do admitt that my favorite rifle is now a Browning Medalion in .300 Win Mag.

In general it does not matter a lot what cartridge an average deer hunter uses. I have to dance around the 30-30 some however as many rifles that it came with don't have scopes and most seem to what that today.

Otherwise just about any cartridge over the legal minimum will kill a deer. Now that it's established that it does not matter a lot it seems that rifles last almost forever and the 30-06 was the military cartridge for the USA for half a century and millions of 30-06 rifles are chambered in that round. That the 30-06 is the biggest seller in loading dies still after 100 yrs of handloading it.

As to the 30-06 being 'plain' I suppose some might say that if they are going to try to convince another uninformed hunter that it matters.

What else do you keed to know?

"Get a 30-06, load the 180 gr bullet and sight it for 200 yds. This is all that you need to know about cartridges for big game"

quote:

Originally posted by Duckear:
When I think of all my friends that deer hunt, only one hunts with an 06. And he just sold it to buy a .270!

LOL, I doubt the switch made a big difference on deer!

For deer in TN I'd use a 260, 7-08 or 308 and bypass the added power of stuff based on the 06 case.

Out here the 30-06 is used extensively, as is the 270, 7mmRM and 300WM.

The 30-30 is only seen hanging on walls or sitting in gun cases.

Though it may not be the case anymore, the 30-06 used to be most guys first BG rifle. The reason was/is it works. If a guy's a rifle nut he usually drifts into other cartridges but often, after a few decades, may come back to the 30-06 because of its time-tested virtues.

I did...

I think the 30/06 is still real popular take a look at your local sporting goods store selling ammo or talk to someone selling ammo, I'm pretty sure the 30/06 is still on top. In some parts of the country the 30/30 still holds its own although out in the wide open west you'd be hard pressed to find many people carrying one for deer.
I own dozens of rifles in dozens of chamberings but when I leave the house to hunt the 30/06 is still the one I grab. I have not bought a box of shells for it since 1988 but I buy components and load plenty for it. This gun has taken Deer, Elk, Antelope, Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goat and various other animals with relative ease and comfort there's no wonder the 30/06 is so popular.
Just cuz' your buddy isn't shooting one doesn't mean that his dad, uncles, and grandpa's aren't!

I'd say, look at what's on the store racks. Around here, it's .270 and 30-06. All the lower dollar high volume deer rifles are chambered in these two rounds. Some of them exclusively. JMHO

Yes, the 06' is still America's most popular big game cartridge. Sales stats regarding reloading dies put it a #1. I did some consulting work for walmart (the nations largest seller of both guns and ammo). .22 ammo had the most sales, followed by the 06'. Get one, get some 180grs, and go hunting. My local gun shop even said they sold more 06's and 270Wins this past season than they have in years. Lastly, drawing conclusions regarding gun popularity based upon what one reads on this and other like forums is seriously misleading. Of the millions that buy guns and hunt, a mere fraction visit/post.

MATT NORMAN - "We are getting into territory similar to "how many fairies can dance on the head of a pin?"
_______________________________________________

Well that one's easy. 4,386,988,327. I know 'cause once I counted them.

As for .30-06, there are lots of them used here in Idaho.

.30-30 ? Not too many, although a few people will use them for closer shots on elk & deer, depending on how thick the brush & trees are. More people use them for Black bear as both bear baiting and running with dogs are legal so long range shots are few and far between.

A good, light weight lever rifle in .30 (mine is a Marlin 336) is mighty handy while chasing dogs up the mountains and down the canyon sides.

L.W.

My son and I both use 30-06's... His is a Rem 700 and mine is a stainless/synth Ruger M77/MkII.

Many shooters today gravitate towards the hot-shot magnums or semi-wildcats because they enjoy being different. The '06 is "boring" to many, but to me it's just plain wonderful and plenty capable of getting nearly any job done well with proper bullet selection and careful shooting.

Let's see which rounds are still here in 100 years...

I own and hunt with two Factory '06's and one custom '06 AI. I also have a hand me down Model 94, .30-30 which I hunt with at least once every Fall to take the memories of my wife's GodFather back to the places he loved. I enjoy carrying that 94 more every year! This being the centenial year for the .30-06 I plan to hunt the Factory versions heavily.

I have my original 30-30, a Marlin 336 Model. I have taken many Whitetail Deer with it, as have my son and grandsons, it will always have a place of honor in my house. I have never owned or shot a 30-06. I shot a .308 BLR for years then when interested in going on up for Elk, got a .300 Winny, then Alaska and Africa called for the bigger stuff yet. ----- I hunt Colorado with a group of 15, not one shoots a 30-06. Many .300's of all sizes, 7mm's and then the .338's and on up. I do have an old buddy in the group that will never shoot anything but a .270 Winchester and he always gets his meat or rack, whichever comes first. ----- I have a Brother-in-law that shoots a Remington Pump in 30-06 that his father shot and has killed many Deer with it, and some 500 head of Bison he raises on his Bison farm. When he goes with us West he packs a .300 Winny and swares by it. The 30-06 is a fine round that I would never put down and it will always command a good market, but when you start stretching those shots and increasing the size of the animals hunted there are better rounds to shoot, if the shooter can adjust to the additional recoil and become proficient in the use of the bigger stuff. Just my .02 worth. Good shooting.

I got my first centerfire rifle at the age of 10.It was a Winchester Model 94 30-30.I didnt like it because it had no scope.I got a 30-06 at the age of 12.I hunted with it and a 243 for a while.I kept thinking some day I would go to Alaska.I got a 338 win mag at the age of 24 and have hunted with it from then till now.I moved to Alaska at the age of 35.I still use it on deer mostly.I had to have the fastest and most powerful so I bought a 338-378 Weatherby a few years back.I hunt mostly with it for anything bigger than deer.I did get a few 416 Rem mags in case of bears and if I ever go to Africa.

I went through the magnum thing some years back. I have two 7mm rem mags, two .300 Weatherby mags, and a .416 rem. mag. Recently, I went back to my .30-06 for most of my hunting for animals larger than deer. For deer, I use a Browning A-bolt in .257 Roberts. The old ought six will kill just about anything if you hit it in the right place. If I had to have just one gun, and only one, it would probably be a .30-06.

Just for fun, and perhaps to stir the pot a little bit, here is a quote from an article by Chuck Hawks on his website.

Chuck Hawks page on the .30 calibers.

"Just slightly more powerful than the .308 is the venerable .30-06, the most popular big game cartridge in the world. This old timer requires a standard length action, but can deliver, in spades, on all CXP2 and CXP3 class game, and shoots slightly flatter than the .308 to boot. It has a longer case and a longer neck, which allows it great versatility in bullet selection. Using very long 220-250 grain bullets the .30-06 has even accounted for CXP4 class game, including African elephant.
"I guess that pretty much settles it. No .30 caliber cartridge is really appropriate for CXP4 class game, but the fact that the .30-06 has accomplished this feat many times certainly indicates that more power in a .30 is pointless. There is no game animal on this planet that the .30-06 has not and can not humanely take."

I know a lot of guys who use .30-06s and a few who still use .30-30s. I live in TX and see a lot of .30-30s at the range plus the clerk at Sportsman's Warehouse told me they sell a ton of .30-30s (this was pre-Win plant closing). I think with Win. plant closing, .30-30s new rifle sale will slide, but expect it will be in top 3-5 of ammo sales for years to come. I have read a lot of "100 year birthday" 06 articles this year. Several of them mentioned the 06 is still the number 1 seller in new rifles with no signs of slowing.

-Lou

Take a look at which dies sell the most and the fact that every major gun maker carries everything just about in 06 id say it still is tops. I have one, but have used others and ended up going back to it. Isn't fabcy, but I can't find anything it won't do either.

I have six '06s, and two 30 30s, and hunt with them all from time to time. I would agree with Lou270 above, I hunt in Texas, and the 30 30 seems alive and well down there. I think it is somewhat of a regional thing. Another factor is the age of the hunter, I believe, as the years go by, and we gain experience, I think we gravitate to what works. I know I have tried to keep things as simple as possible as I grow older. The 06, and the 30 30 simply do their job.

DGK

I still use my 30-30 Marlin 336 every season when hunting the swamps of NC where the shots are well under 50 yards. Always with iron sights, though with my aging eyes I'm looking at a peep sight in my future. When hunting in the fields, the 30-30 stays home and the .270 comes along.

The funny thing to me is that people would consider these cartridges dull. For goodness sake, it is a casing, primer, powder, and a bullet. Same as every other cartridge out there.

The 30-30 is still a great beginners gun and excellent on most deer sized game under 175 yards. Plus, in my case, I just enjoy caring it sometimes.

The 30-06 is still the most universally sound cartridge ever made. It probably has taken every game animal on Earth, not withstanding the every day hunter and the worlds big 10 most dangerous game. If reloaded properly, it rivals some magnums and as a factory load, can be considered optimal for shootabilty and penetration.

If I had to sell them all, I would keep my .30-06. Recently, I was debating having a custom gun made in .300 WSM, but finally I came to my senses and truly researched the .300 WSM versus the .30-06. I won't say they are equal, but the .30-06 is close enough with Light Mag Ammo, an extra 1-2 rounds in the Mag, and the smooth feeding of the long, slender .30-06. It is a great round today, even at 100 years old.

While I do not use either for hunting any more, several friends use the 30-06 and one of their sons uses a 30-30.

Far more interestingly, when I police the brass at the club range just before hunting season ... by far the most common brass I find is 30-30 and 30-06!

I suspect the old standards are still the standards.

The 30-30 is a good short range gun. I like using one for brush hunting. They don't do near the internal damage to animals as the 06' and other faster carts but, they work effectively if shot placement is good. I've taken some nice bucks w/ a 30-30 from straight down out to 80 yards while hunting in dense timber. Contrary to what some say, I've found the slower carts like the 30-30 to do well when shot through light brush at close range.

I will say I've had some very irratic performance from my 30-30. I've dropped many deer in their tracks w/ shoulder hits and I've also hit them right through the lungs and had to trail them for 100s of yards. On a plain broadside lung shot it just doesn't give the internal damage of the 06 or a Mag and sometimes the game can cover alot of ground after impact.

I will probably never quit using it when I head for the thick stuff and they make great starter guns for kids as well. The double safety on the Marlins is quite useful when teaching new hunters.

Good Luck

Reloader

Not too much "serious" hunting goes on with the .30-30 any more, but a lot short range deer shooting from blinds (mostly for meat/management does) goes on in Texas and the South, and the .30-30 does about as well as any under those conditions. As a result, and due to tradition, there will always be a lot of .30-30's in use.

I guess that I might prefer a .270 for antelope and open country deer, and I might prefer a .300 magnum or .338 for elk or mooose, but if I only owned one "serious" big game rifle and it was a .30-06, I would feel no handicap. Which is exactly what millions of hunters do and will continue to do many years into the future.

quote:

but if I only owned one "serious" big game rifle and it was a .30-06, I would feel no handicap. Which is exactly what millions of hunters do and will continue to do many years into the future.

Very True.

Sure is nice to be able to hold dead-on out to past 300 yards w/ the flat shootng Magnums in Open Country though. That said, My longest shot on game was on an antelope buck at 455 w/ you guessed it, the good ole' 06. Very effective if you know the trajectory.

Have a Good One

Reloader

I took a little poll around work on deer cartridges in local use. Three 30-30s, 2 30-06s and one 7mm mag. I think this is probably fairly representative for local hunters, most of which also hunt with a bow and/or a muzzle loader.

Dang, around our hunting camp the .30-06 rules! And typically the .30-30 is used as the camp gun for any and all kids in their first or second hunting camp. The .300 WM does show up from time to time usually from the trophy elk hunter.
I still use my .30-30 / 170 gr. Partition combo for Black Bear in the close brush.

I think the way to answer this question would be to look at ammo manufacturers' sales figures, if you could get them.

If we assume that the .22 calibers are used for varmint hunting -- not a totally accurate assumption because some people do use them for deer and other larger species, but then some people use 30-06 rifles for varmints, so my guess it that it averages out -- then anything larger, if used for hunting, is likely to be used for big game hunting.

Another problem is that a great deal of the ammo sold is used for paper punching and target practice instead of hunting. But we could assume -- again, the assumption may be mistaken -- that the percentages used in target practice would be about the same for all cartridges, so we could assume that the greater amount of any given cartridge sold means that this cartridge is more used in hunting.

Sale of reloading dies could also give a clue, but, again, the assummption may be mistaken that the sale of reloading dies would coincide with the the popularity of a cartridge in hunting.

Without some such actual data, however, I think the rest is pure anecdote.

Every species of huntable game in North America has been taken, successfully, many times, with a 30-06. In fact there are several hunters who have themselves taken every species of big game in North America with a 30-06. Is there any other cartridge of which those things can be truthfully said?

I don;t care how many rifles I own or how few.. you will always bet that there will be 30-06s and 30/30s in my gun cabinet...

even tho I have fun with a lot of different other calibers... those two still are an American tradition...

each year during elk season and deer season, I still run into quite a few guys still carrying both the 06 and even the 30/30 hunting elk...stop and talk to them, and the 30/30 crowd is always telling me that they have used it for a long time to hunt and have taken elk with it, or it belonged to dad and grandpa and he took elk with it...

we all know the 06 is capable of taking Elk and the 30/30 is fine for deer...

I could never see me owning an Ultra Mag, or a Short Ultra Mag, or a Super short whatever Mag...

But I will never be without a few 30/30s or a few 30/06s....The same way I wouldn't expect to find a real South African or Aussie or Kiwi or even a Real Canuck without a 303 in the closet.. whether he used it a lot or not...it is tradition if nothing else...

for that matter, I have a 30/40 Krag that I will hand down to my son also.... even if it is a 108 years old right now...

cheers
seafire

If i can find it i'll post it but the #1 caliber in sales for 2005 according to the article i read was the .30/06 i think it was in guns and ammo or shooting times.