What are my options I am looking for plainsgame in 06. I was thinking about the 338-06 or 338 if it can be done?

Thanks, John

Ropes

What action will you use for this project?

I would stick with a standard caliber rather than a wildcat

Cheers
/ JOHAN

Its a left hand model 70...

Assuming you're looking for a larger caliber, 9.3x62 or 35 Whelen would be very easy rebarrel proposition, and ammunition is fairly easy to come by.

With some good handloaded Nosler or Swift A-Frame particians in 180 or 200 grain the .30-06 will do the job very adequately. The only upgrade I'd consider from the .30-06 is the .338 Win Mag.....and instead of rebarreling I'd just trade the gun.

I would trade it for a 338 if they made aleft handed sporter or supergrade. Being left handed I am finding my choices limited. Thus the search for a bigger cartridge I suppose I could trade it in on a 375 h&h ...

I would spruce up the 06 a bit and call it fantastic.

Chuck

I am just finishing up rebarreling, glassbedding, rebluing etc a LH Mod 70 from 30-06 to 7mm Rem Mag.
It is alot of work.
Milling the extractor groove is a bear as well as opening the bolt face because the bolt shroud threads are left handed, go figure.
If it were me, I would try to keep the old barrel if you can.
338-06 would be pretty cool but involves rebarreling.
If you like magnums, I would recommend something 30 caliber and common like a 300 Win Mag so all you would really need is the bolt face opened up.
Just my personal opinion out of experience.

-Spencer

quote:

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Originally posted by Ropes:
I would trade it for a 338 if they made aleft handed sporter or supergrade. Being left handed I am finding my choices limited. Thus the search for a bigger cartridge I suppose I could trade it in on a 375 h&h ...

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Are you partial to the Model 70, or would you consider something else? CDNN currently has left-handed Weatherby Mark V Accumarks in .340 Weatherby for $900 with free shipping on page 39 of their current catalog.

CDNN Catalog

9.3x62. Worked like a champ for me in Zim in August. You won't regret it.

Ropes,

From one lefty to another, I understand.....my sympathy is with you.

As it appears that you are tending to a larger bore size, I REALLY agree with Head Trauma - instead of playing around with all these quasi wildcats and difficult to obtain, brass, dies and componets, just re-barrel to 9.3x63 Mauser. I did the same three years ago with a Yugoslavian left-handed Mauser action that was originally a .30/06 Springfield. Nothing else was required other than the barrel, no new magazine, action tuning....nix.....cannot praise the 9.3x62 enough.

Gerry

Is there commercial ammo available for the 9.3*62 ? From what I have read it is exactly what I am looking for

Sellier&Bellot from Midsouth goes for $20 a box. It's good stuff for light skinned game. Midway sells some of the premium stuff, but with a price to match.

Terry

I agree with Chuck 100%.

I don't consider enlarged versions of the .30-06 to be improvements at all. Calibers from .25 thu .308 are optimum for the powder capacity of the .30-06 case. If you want a bigger bullet, you need a bigger case, and in that regard I agree with Vapodog who recommended the .338 Win. Mag. as a next logical step up from the .30-06.

Quite honestly, if you shoot any African plainsgame animal with either a premium 180 gr. or 200 gr. bullet out of a .30-06, he'll be killed just as well as if you shot him with a .338-06 or .35 Whelen.

When it comes to cartridge selection, I'm not very imaginative I'm afraid, and besides, the good ol' .30-06 is a common cartridge in Africa. If your ammo gets separated from you in transit and lost, you'll be able to get ammo from someone to finish out your safari. But you'll pay heck getting .35 Whelen or .338-06 ammo ANYWHERE in Africa. The worst kind of foolishness is to mess up a hunt logistically for the use of theoretical cartridges.

The regular .30-06 is a proven cartridge from plainsgame use in Africa. It leaves very little to the imagination, but it surely does work well. I know guys who have shot virtually every species of plainsgame in Africa over the course of many years with the .30-06, and they've seen no reason to change a winning formula.......

AD

I'll agree with Chuck and Allen... I've essentially come full-circle. After owning somewhere in excess of fifty rifles in over 25 chamberings I've paired down to two rifles... a SS M70 30-06 and a SS M70 300 WSM. I had a 338-06 built several years ago and honestly, unless you absoluteoly have a fire in your belly to build one, I can't see what it does that a 30-06 won't do... if you like a bigger hole than the 30 cal. provides load a bonded bullet in your 06' and you'll turn it into a 33 cal. when it punches game.

Call me boring, but the 30-06's ability to put down game is beyond intelligent dispute.

Brad

quote:

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The regular .30-06 is a proven cartridge from plainsgame use in Africa. It leaves very well to the imagination, but it surely dooes work well........

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Well put Allen.....The worst thing about the .30-06 is that it's common here in the US.....being the former military cartridge and so often found in springfields, garands, enfields, and every single mfr of firearms in the world. We here in the USA have been so used to using that as the standard by measuring everything else that we forget just how good it is.
In truth the .300 mags are very little more and the .30-06 is still the standard of performance.

Maybe if the name was changed to the .300 govt. magnum folks would have more respect for it.

I have two .300 mags and increasingly they stay home and the much lighter to carry .30-06 goes hunting and I loose absolutely nothing to killing ability. It's a very fine cartridge indeed.

Ropes

I am in the middle of having a Springfield /06
rechambered and rebarreled into a 9.3x64

Or you could always go 308 Norma Mag thats about the quickest route to go .



Pottsy

That's quite true. The .30-06 seems boring, but we really ought to embrace the simplicty, availability, and efficiency is offers. It even FEEDS like a dream, which is no accident, but a carefully calculated design feature -- another example of American engineering at its very best.

I have found that most common factory cartridges do the job better than well, and I'm usually much more concerned about the mechanical quality and function of the rifle itself, rather than the exact chambering.

AD

Well After reading all the well thought out posts about over this subject I have decided to keep the 06 as is...

Besides I have a long list of stuff I do not have for the trip to Africa in 06 I need to save some cash..

Thank You, john

PS I like to tinker and that drives me to change rifles all the time. The only rifles I own that have stood the test of time are my first three. 30-30 mod 94, Mod 70 pushfeed 270, and a win 77 22. All of which still serve me well today.

Sticking with the 06 is an excellent choice. Everybody should have one of them.

Best line i ever heard for the 30-06 was in the Nosler reloading manual. Written by well known hunter and outdoor writer Bob Robb. It said something like this...

"while the 06 may not have the "sex" appeal of todays "super mags", it is still one of the best choices for all around NA big game hunting!"

I've shot a lot of plains game with the .30-06, as has my wife. It's a fine cartridge, and ammunition is ubiquitous.

If you just have to have something bigger, with decent availability overseas, the 9.3x62 is about your best option.

George

quote:

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Originally posted by allen day:

I don't consider enlarged versions of the .30-06 to be improvements at all. ... If you want a bigger bullet, you need a bigger case...if you shoot any African plainsgame animal with either a premium 180 gr. or 200 gr. bullet out of a .30-06, he'll be killed just as well as if you shot him with a .338-06 or .35 Whelen.

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Mostly, I agree with you. The one difference is with the small stuff that you'd like to have whole mounted. Klipspringers, duikers, steebok, &c. The nice thing about the .35 Whelen is that it can be loaded down with a round nose solid and it makes a fine duiker gun. Of course, if they'd make a decen rn solid in .308, then there'd be no need to neck up the '06.

There are, I think, three essential rifle cartridges in the world -- 22/250 (or maybe .223 can serve as a replacement), 30-06, and .375 H&H. All else is fun, but not essential.

I made a mistake above. I should have said that there are three essential centerfire rifles.

The .22 rimfire is also essential.