Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30-06 inherent accuracy

I read about the inherent accuracy of cartridges like the 6.5 CM. Where does the 06 rate in that category? Thanks for your thoughts.


I'm guessing a Tikka rifle will make it more inherently accurate...ha

I love the 06, no question, (although I'm down to 3 rifles now), but it most often needs tuning and tweaking of loads. Having transitioned to the .308 in the midst of a 40 year NRA Highpower...the .308's ate anything that was fed to it...gas gun and bolt...with minimal or no tweaking. I had a customer just recently back out on a Creed build, and I am stuck with it, and I have decided to break in the Krieger barrel (for the first time in my life)with a clean and shoot regimen. Maybe I'll learn about "inherent accuracy" in the process. The stock and action used was my old NRA bolt gun in .308, and I know what to expect...so it will be interesting to see how the Creed compares.

I’ve never owned a .30-06 that wasn’t accurate with at least a few loads. My Colt/NULA that retained the factory barrel.

Everyone "knows" that the .308 is "inherently" more accurate than the .30-06.

In my experience the .30-06 may not be "inherently" accurate, but ain't bad--depending on the rifle/chamber.

My ULA .30-06 (which weighs around 6.5-7 pounds depending on the scope) will still put five rounds loads it "likes" into into .75" at 100 yards, even after close to around 1000 rounds through the barrel. Its latest load uses the 175-grain Barnes LRX and IMR4451, and the first group at 100 was around .6--and it keeps shooting like that.

Also have a Griffin & Howe custom Springfield, which like many was apparently built on a 1903 "match" barreled action. I can confidently state this because the the NRA Match models had shorter throats, designed so the match ammo actually contacted the lands when chambered. It shoots VERY well with the lower-magnification scopes I've used in its 7/8" G&H rings, which have included the rifle's original 2.5x Lyman Alaskan, and a Leupold 4x "reproduction Alaskan."

But I wouldn't bet on any .30-06 grouping better than the average .308 Winchester.

I'm guessing you will not be disappointed at all.

If you chambered it right using a good barrel, it'll shoot. For the shakedown cruise get a box or two of Berger ammunition, part # 65-31010. This is loaded with their 140 grain hybrid target bullet. Shoot them after going through a box of whatever cheap stuff during that shoot clean shoot clean rigamarole.

I had to buy 5 different 308 rifles to see that. Generally the 30-06 is extremely easy to load for. I've never had an inaccurate one. The same can't be said for the 308's I've had and got rid of. It is often said the 308 is more "inherently" accurate than the 30-06 though. I have 1 308 that I am hanging on to right now. It is the only one that has really impressed me, that I have owned. I have a buddy that was given a heavy barreled stainless Tikka T3 varmint 308 winchester and that rifle is exceptional. At one time I had 6 30-06 rifles and they all shot around 1/2" for 5 shots. I think I still have 5 30-06 rifles, but 2 are not as precise as the others. Not bad for hunting rifles though. Of the 2 30-06 rifles I've sold in the last 10 years, both went to posters here on the fire. One to EricM, who has not posted for years. That rifle was a 1951 std wt Winchester model 70. It was one of my most accurate 30-06 rifles. He later sold all of his Tikka's and kept the old 30-06 and also a 270 Winchester he bought from Roger Rule. Another rifle I sold here was one of my favorites and it always shot well. 79s here bought it and he can testify as to how that rifle shoots. I was often able to shoot 1/2 moa 5 shot groups with that rifle. Both of these rifles are your classic hunting rifles, but shot damn well. There is one more 30-06 rifle that I really regret letting go. It was my BSA model D, that was built from a m1917 in England. I shot my best offhand group with that rifle: 5 shots into 1.057" at 100 yards. It would continually put 5 shots into the same hole, off the bench, with loads it liked.


Man, I wonder if there is a chart regarding a rifle cartridges "inherent" accuracy. We've heard it discussed before, but if I had to make a chart, it would go something like this for general hunting cartridges:

1. 6.5 Creedmoor
2. 308 Winchester
3. 22-250
4. 223 Remington
5. 270 Winchester
6. 300 Win mag
7. 30-06, 7mm Rem mag, 300WBY, 338WM, 7mm08, These are all about the same from what I've seen.

I'm not including the benchrest cartridges like the 6 PPC, BR's, or any of the new fandangled schidt you see now days, like the 6.8 Westerner, or the PRC's. The 6GT would definitely be near top, if I included newer cartridges.. Nor am I including the super old 300H&H, which we know has a good reputation for precision. We also know the 300WM replaced it when it made its debut. Similarly the 308 kind of pushed the 30-06 out of the spotlight.

IMO the 308 is handicapped by the sloppy SAAMI throat specs, and mass manufacturers aren't going to use reamers which start out on the minimum side of that spec either.

https://saami.org/wp-content/upload...CFR-Approved-2015-12-14-Posting-Copy.pdf

See pdf page 122/375 for the drawing. The minimum diameter of the cylindrical section of the throat is two thousandths over bullet diameter.

On pdf page 51/375 you'll see the similar spec for the 6.5 Creedmoor is one half thousandth over bullet diameter.

If you are going to make a chart you have to expect different opinions, for example #3 on your list. a 220 swift should be there instead. #4 a 222 Remington is more inherently accurate every day of the week, #9 a 300WM should be higher on the list
I could go on but will leave it at that

I'm not a gun writer, but have some experience regarding this subject.

On a quest to find a really consistently accurate .30-06, I've had built, bought, shot and traded or sold I would guess in the vicinity of 40 or 50 .30-06s. Maybe more. I've found it to be a really finicky cartridge. I wanted the versatility of something of .30-06 power level and availability that I could put most any load in and have it shoot well. Outside of maybe an accurate load or two, I don't think most .30-06s offer that level of consistency (at least to my standards). I haven't shot my current .30-06 much, but it appears to be really accurate (finally). It is a .30-06 AI (because that's the reamer the gunsmith had on hand) barreled by a gunsmith that specializes in benchrest rifles with a Bartlein barrel on a commercial FN Mauser action and stocked in walnut. I haven't had time since it was completed 3-4 years ago to do much load work up, but have been fireforming factory loads on various big game animals since it was built. I hope to eventually get around to handloading for it more.

If a person wants a consistently accurate big game rifle, I wouldn't try to go the .30-06 route as I did around 30 years ago. It's been a waste of money and effort for the most part. Instead I would buy three identical copies of a rifle that I liked in .270, 7mm-08, .308 or .300 Win Mag, all cartridges that in my experience have on average been much more consistently accurate than the .30-06. I would then tweak on all three rifles until I had them where I wanted them. I would sell the least accurate of the three, keep the second most accurate as a spare and hunt with the most accurate rifle. The other thing I've figured out is that a .300 Win Mag can be loaded down to .30-06 levels if wanted and has great availability in places where most people hunt worldwide.

On another note, I've yet to experience a 6.5 Creedmoor that isn't super accurate with a wide variety of ammo. I'm sure inaccurate Creedmoors exist, but I haven't found one yet.

I had a Tikka .30-06 that was more accurate than most .30-06s (though would not shoot the load I wanted at the time--180 Partitions with one of the 4350s) I sold it in 2009 as part of a gun sell-off to start my business. After money started coming back in, bought two more Tikkas in .30-06, neither of which matched the first.

My M98 with a heavy, 30-06, 27" "Finnish sniper barrel" per Sportsman's Guide where I bought it for about $100, already parkerized, will put 3 into an inch at 300 yards. Repeatedly. 11 lbs of rifle isn't exactly a sheep hunting rifle tho. Mostly I've carried it on snowmachine or ATV, for caribou.

150's, 165's or 180's. Every factory round I've yet tried. Win., Rem, Hornady, Federal. Have yet to hand load for it.



I just finished the Dyna-Tek bore-coat on it last night. Probably shoot it later in the week. We''ll see if I fugged up the accuracy....

The 260 Rem 725 is next. Already finished is a Ru77 tang in 270, 7x57 Win 70, Rem 770 in -06, and a RU77 tang in .338, all waiting for the range.

I'll shoot up all my remnant ammo first, to temper the bore-coat. Won't be able to tell much about "inherent accuracy" doing that, probably, but that's not the point, at this time.

Everyone knows the 30 TC laid all other 30 caliber chambers low for the same reason the 308 laid the 30-06 low.....inherent accuracy.

If the 30-06 had a 23 degree shoulder all problems would be solved.

I got a 308 classic M70 made in 92 that will put 3 handloads of Barnes 130 TTSX in an inch at 100 yds most any time I shoot it, with a 3 x 9 scope. Only bullet that I can do that with. Have shot 30-06 in the past but could never do that with the ones I owned because of the recoil….just me and not knocking the 06 but I have shoulder issues and the 06 is not good on the shoulder.

I’ve had a dozen 30-06’s, got good accuracy out of all of them.

All three of my 30-06 will shoot sub MOA with almost anything I put in them. One is a factory 80’s Remington 700 BDL, One is a Tikka Boar hunter I picked up here in the classifieds, and one is a Hill County custom.

“Inherent accuracy” of a cartridge, with unmodified or lightly modified factory rifles is pretty much an academic discussion.

So many variables involved with quality assurance, material lots, tooling wear, etc….

One could go through ten randomly selected, factory-stock .30-06s and find them all more accurate than one randomly selected, factory-stock .308.

Take 100 rifles of each caliber and compare them. One might find a difference, but I doubt if it would be significant enough to determine success or failure for real world big game hunting.

I have a few rifles chambered to the 30-06 and a few in .308 as well. All are rally just basic hunting rifles with generally decent hunting accuracy. A couple of the 30-06s have only been test fired with factory ammo and are J.C. Higgins M50s they were destined to be used in custom builds. I don't even remember what kind of groups they gave. No matter as all were more than sufficiently accurate for big game. There's a couple of Remington 700s, a BDL and a Classic that will run .75" to 1.0" depending on what hand load I'm using. These rifles are all strictly factory stock with one exception One of the Higgins was restocked in a Butler Creek stock because the original stock got broken when I took a bad fall during a hunt. Basic choices were save the rifle and die or save myself and let the rifle go. Tough decision.

One 30-06 does stand out. A commercial FN Mauser that was rebarreled by the late Cal Albrite. He was a hobby gunsmith that had a reputation of being a meticulous metal man. He ran the Sears catalog store in Winnemucca Nevada and played gunsmith as a hobby. He did good deals to people he liked and I guess I was one. We were talking guns and I mentioned I had this FN 06 and the barrel was bad. He told me to bring it in and said to leave it. He called me about a week later and asked if I had a spare $100. I said yeah and said to come over, He'd replaced the barrel, brand unknown and even made a new stock for the rifle. The old one was pretty well beat up. He told me the twist was 1 in12" which was OK by me as that's a better twist for cast bullets. I figured I'd work up a hunting load with the 180 gr. Sierra Pro-Hunters I like so well in the 06 and never could get a group worth keeping This was back around 1973/4 BTW. I set the rifle asode and tried every once in a while to get it to shoot a 180 gr. bullet but no luck. Got a job transfer to Tucson in 1979 and acouple of years later I drove up to the Phoenix area and stopped by the McMillan plant. I asked if they had anything laying around that might work on my FN and they had one that a customer backed out on. He quoted a price and I took it home. I glass bedded the rifle into the stock but when I tried shooting my 180 gr. load, same old problem, poor accuracy. I put the rifle aside and went on with another, a .270 I was playing with.

One day I was on here and griped about the poor accuracy and IIRC, it was Mule Deer who suggested trying a lighter weight bullet. I ran some 165 gr. Accubonds I had on hand with W760 and got decent speed and sub MOA groups, a few even smaller than half inch. I've tried to get the twist rate of that barrel but I've not had any luck. I know how to do it but this rifle does not like to cooperate. I have some 165 gr. Speer Hot Cores and Partitions to try once it warms up some. I like to do load work ups in the summer as pressure shows up sooner when it's 100*+ in the shade. Any load that is safe then will be safe during hunting season.

On the .308s, I have two that sre MOA or slightly sub-MOA. The rest are Ruger 77 RSIs and the best they do is 1.25 to 1.50". Good enough for deer most of the time.
PJ

i always had good accuracy with my 30-06 cartridges , but my question is on the chart of listed cartridge accuracy where is the poor old 243 Win ? which would probably be #3 right after #2 6.5 Creedmoor because #1 is 222 Remington cartridge hands down.