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

I did two chamber casts so far now, then I got side tracked. I did find the chamber cast, and the notes I made back when it was freshly done (Cerrosafe castings need to be measured one hour after popping out of the chamber), of the M1903A1 Service rifle so thank goodness I didn't have to do a third casting today. The throat in a 1930 National Match (Star Gauged barrel) mics at .309 with the rifling starting slightly closer to the end of the chamber neck than in the 1903A1 service rifle close to it in age, which also has a .309" throat. (Although the bores are bright and crisp and they shoot sweetly I can't swear to how heavily they've been used, obviously.) Strangely enough the throat in a 1929-vintage NRA Sporter (Star Gauge barrel also*) mics .3085" and the rifling leade is the same as the Service rifle.**


* Star Gauge doesn't make a barrel special in terms of construction. It merely means that it conforms within tolerances for the .30 Springfield barrels. During production, all barrels were gauged with the device and only those that met requirements perfectly were given the Star Gauge stamp of approval on the barrel crown. Legend has it that a healthy percentage of all barrels met the standards anyway.

** NRA Sporters were intended to be hunting rifles so maybe that explains it. Although, I've read where Sporters were popular as target rifles back then too. I don't know, I wasn't there. Ask Pappy348, I think he was there.

I have two '06s; a Parker-Ballard 98 Mauser that I bought in 1974 and a 1952 vintage M70. Both group under 1" with 58gr H4350 and 165gr Hornadys. The P-B shot 1/2=3/4" consistently with 125gr Sierras and IMR4320 when it was my only rifle and I used it for groundhogs as well as deer. Both rifles wear 4x scopes. Not match grade accuracy, bit not too shabby, either.

I can't say about inherent accuracy, but I have a Rem 760 and a stainless Win. M70 FW in a Winlite stock that are very accurate with the same load.

Carlos Hathcock could have told us.

I can hit a moose at 100 yards consistently with my 30/06

You're stronger than I am. Can't throw mine near that far.....

I have 3 270 rifles and all three are easily capable of 3 shot 3/4 inch or slightly smaller groups. The only reason I have three 270's is I can't decide which to sell.

That's the way I see it too. The throat on the 6.5 CM is completely different than the 308 and that's what I believe contributes to it's "inherent" accuracy. And the 30 TC too (page 94 on the PDF) has a similar throat design to the 6.5CM. Everybody and their brother hacks on it like it's the worst round ever created but the one gun I had chambered for it shot exceptionally well.

All cartridges from those era's suffered from the same thing. Less was known, manufacturing tolerances weren't as tight, bullets weren't as consistent, that's just the way it goes. If my 1950 Chevy was made in a 2023 Porche factory it would've run a lot better too

I'm looking forward to it, John.

Did you happen to know German Salazar by any chance or recall his experiments with the .308 vs. .30-06? He shared some interesting information from what I recall until he got out of rifle shooting.

I bought one rifle from you back around that time. It was a 30-06. A winchester model 70 Extreme Weather. It had a bedding issue from the factory, that you told me about. I glass bedded it and all was good. I later put it in a Mcmillan hunters compact stock and it shot the same:

That rifle balanced perfectly in that stock, but my pre 64 featherweight would out shoot it every time I took them to the range. I even started a thread on the subject. I sent the EW down the road, even though it was a moa shooter. I generally expect better out of even hunting rifles.


You can build customs all you want, but sometimes you'll get lucky with an old one like some of the ones I've posted. The picture here shows how my '56 FWT shoots, and I would not trade that for anything..

No we couldn't. Not until they are all glass bedded properly. Then after that, we could do your test. I'd have all 10 of those rifles glass bedded in a day too. Want to put some money on that??? ha ha.. I wouldn't trust schidt until it has a proper foundation. Just sayin.

I took delivery on a 30-06 Serengeti recently and will be working up some loads in about a month.

I wonder how well the Remington 40X sold in 30-06 caliber

Like that schidt hasn't been written about 100 times before.

German definitely liked his 30-06 target rifle and shot it well to say the least. He did use a custom reamer to better suit target use. A friend of mine owns several of his rifles including that Remington and the reamer. Unfortunately German passed away last year. He was constantly experimenting and always enjoyed sharing his knowledge.

Thanks for sharing that about your friend, the rifles, and reamer. Very cool, Mike.

Too bad about German. He definitely shared a lot of information.

I have a 1903 Spfld built by Wundhammer that shoots under 1 moa even with my 74 year old eyes and peep sights.
And a Borden Rimrock 30-06 lightweight hunting rifle that is a quarter minute gun if I do my part.

Bottom line is the 30-06 remains a viable target cartridge

Thanks, my buddy is a lefty like German and an exceptional shooter (US Palma Team), so the rifles have the perfect home.

An interesting thing is that the 30-06 has a 1-13" twist barrel that was a set back and re-chambering of a used .308 Palma barrel given to German by another local shooter. It stabilizes some pretty heavy target bullets.

I first met German years ago when I just had to strike up a conversation with the guy a few benches over at the Ben Avery range who was bench testing some crazy looking target rifles (Eliseo tube guns) with strain gauges epoxied to the barrel shanks!

I started out my competition days in 1964 shooting an 03 Springfield I bought at Montgomery Wards for $12. After I figured out what I was doing, I was shooting right along with M1 Garand shooters, and many times better.