.30-06 vs .270 vs .308: What do you like and why

[Elkhunter1]

It's worth mentioning that the term, "Go ahead and run, you'll just die tired" was coined by military snipers shooting Springfield .308 sniper rifles (M1A to be exact). Nothing spread fear among the battle fields more than a well-trained American sniper that could kill at 1000 yards - with one shot.

Coach I hate to tell you the Springfield you talk about is the O3-A3 and M1 Garand, both are in the 30/06 caliber. My dad has both, he shoots a 130grn sierra soft point at about 3150fps.... He has killed coues, elk and all game in between. That round was used by our military in two world wars, Korea, and by our special forces still today. That round has a large range of bullit weights.

[.270]

only drawback with any .30 cal, if it is a drawback, is that they are sorta twist sensitive and you ain't gonna find one twisted that will shoot all of the wide spectrum of bullets available with real good accuracy. if you want to shoot everything from a 110 to a 220 gr it may not happen. i'm real biased, but i'd still pick the .270 over the 3 mentioned. it's the cartridge of Orion and Nimrod and the rest of the hunter gods. Lark.

[308Nut]

It's worth mentioning that the term, "Go ahead and run, you'll just die tired" was coined by military snipers shooting Springfield .308 sniper rifles (M1A to be exact). Nothing spread fear among the battle fields more than a well-trained American sniper that could kill at 1000 yards - with one shot.

Coach I hate to tell you the Springfield you talk about is the O3-A3 and M1 Garand, both are in the 30/06 caliber. My dad has both, he shoots a 130grn sierra soft point at about 3150fps.... He has killed coues, elk and all game in between. That round was used by our military in two world wars, Korea, and by our special forces still today. That round has a large range of bullit weights.

 

The M1A (308) has done more than its fair share of damage. As has the M40, M40A1, M40A3, M40A5 and the M24. All of which are (you guessed it) chambered in 308 Win. The 308 has basically replaced the 30-06 on the battle field.

[ruffcountry]

Of the ones you mention I vote 30-06 . If it was dedicated coues rifle , I'd say 270 . 7 mm rem mag gives you little more zip without a whole lot more recoil . You can manage recoil on the bench with pads and hearing protection to prevent bad shooting habits , its not near as noticable in the field .

 

 

Edited to add that I just noticed there a couple nice weatherby rifles in cwt classifieds .

[Airbusdriver]

Of the ones you mention I vote 30-06 . If it was dedicated coues rifle , I'd say 270 . 7 mm rem mag gives you little more zip without a whole lot more recoil . You can manage recoil on the bench with pads and hearing protection to prevent bad shooting habits , its not near as noticable in the field .

 

 

Edited to add that I just noticed there a couple nice weatherby rifles in cwt classifieds .

 

Thanks for the input Ruff. Any gun buying will be postponed until our tax refund...and maybe then some! Hoping to be geared up by next deer season.

 

Met a couple of people at work who are going to let me try their .270 and .06. Will be a good education for me in making a more informed choice.

[Stray Horse]

No animal will be able to tell the diff out to 300 yds.

 

I like the 270 because that's what I've always used.

 

Id get a Tikka T3 with a Leupold vari-x III 3.5x10x40.

 

Someone said it could handle mice to moose, or was it the 30-06.....no wait

[PRDATR]

only drawback with any .30 cal, if it is a drawback, is that they are sorta twist sensitive and you ain't gonna find one twisted that will shoot all of the wide spectrum of bullets available with real good accuracy.

 

Sorry but I callin BS on that. Although the .270 is a fine Antelope round.

[.270]

you need to shoot more i guess. .30 cal is extremely twist sensitive. Lark.

[308Nut]

Lark, I really do expect more out of you than this..........You know better than that.

 

One finicky 30 cal gun you have wrapped your hands around does not constistue twist sensitivity for all 30 cals.

[.270]

educate me then. what twist rate is good for every .30 cal bullet weight? i've seen .308 bullets from 100 grain to 230. i'm sorta sure that there ain't a twist that will shoot em all with pinpoint accuracy. that was what my original comment was about. i have a buncha .30 cal rifles in various twists. they will all shoot real accurate within a fairly specific weight, but if you go out of the boundaries, the bullets fly all over the place. i have an old 721 reminton in '06 that will shoot 150's and 165's real accurate, but if you try to shoot larger bullets, the bigger you go, the bigger the group gets. same if you go down to 125's. only with the lighter bullets, they don't keyhole, like a 220 will. the groups just get horrible and are way off center. when i had the new barrel put on my .300 i told them what bullet i was going to shoot and they made it specifically for that. i can't remember exactly what the twist rate is, but i do remember it has a 1/4 in it. that's pretty specific. it's been my experience, and all i've ever read has said the same thing, a barrel that is twisted for lighter bullets in most calibers, won't stabilize heavier bullets very well. that's why remington changed the name of the .244 to the 6mm. the original .244 had a slower twist and wouldn't shoot 100 grain bullets worth anything and the sales were horrible compared to the .243. so they sped up the twist and called it a 6mm. i have a buncha .22 cal highpowers. .223, .22/250, swifts, etc. none of them will shoot anything heavier than about 60 grains with much accuracy, because they aren't twisted quick enough. i have a .250/3000 savage, a .257 roberts and a .25/06. the .250 and the .257 will keyhole with 117's or bigger but will drive tacks with anything 100 gr's or lighter. the .25/06 will shoot 117's and 125's excellent, but doesn't shoot the lighter bullets real well. the .25/06 has a quicker twist. .264 diameter is another one that won't shoot everything with one twist. twist it right and it'll shoot gnateyes. if it ain't, it won't. i don't know much about all the different rifling styles like polyagonols and all that stuff. in fact i don't know a lot about twist rates, other than some are better than others for different weight bullets. and i do know that the .308 diameter, mainly because of the vast difference of bullet weights available, is one that needs to shoot a bullet that is compatibale to the twist of the barrel. one guy wrote that he thought the .30 cal was better because of the different bullet weights available. i said that you needed to be careful because not all .30 cal bullets will shoot well in all .30 cal barrels. some guy said it was bs. i hafta disagree. the .277 diameter is about the only one i know of that will shoot every available bullet weight with one twist. one reason for that is because they don't make a big range of bullet weights. or didn't. somebody might make something heavier than a 150 now. if they do, then it might need to be sped up a little to stabilize it. the .284 diameter seems to be pretty close too. but with these newer high bc bullets they make, i would asssume you have to twist em different than what was once considered standard. Lark.

[Snapshot]

I prefer the 30-06,as I have been shooting one for many years, and it will take any game in North America. The .270 is a great cartridge as well, however, I have only shot a .270 once, and do not have any experience with that caliber. Like Lark and the others mentioned, the 30-06 Factory rifle barrles are twisted for average bullet weights. 150,165,180.etc. I noticed a difference in accuracy between the 150 and 180 grain,at least in my gun.

 

My first rifle as a kid was a Remington 788 in .308. That light rifle without a recoil pad kicked like a mule to a skinny kid. lol

[308Nut]

Well Lark, you sure did bring out one of the STRONG suites of the 30 cal. Bullet weights between 110-240 grians. 130 grains of difference to choose from. Thats about the heaviest bullet for a 270 eh? Any luck with such a variety in the 270?

 

Sure, a 10 twist might be a bit out of kilter with a 110 grain 30 cal. That said, 150-210 is the typical weight range for most 30 cal shooters. A 10x barrel will stabilize adequetly up to the 240 SMK and I know plenty of shooters using a 10x for 150's with superb accuracy. The 13x is the standard for the Palma Match rifles using the 155's even though there are several Palma shooters that use a 10x. 10x or 13x, they still shoot top scores all the way to 1K.

 

To me, a 10x for 150-240 grain pills is a very large window and anything BUT sensitive. Sure, if you wany to launch 110's, a slower twist would work better but for the bullets weight range that matters in a 30 cal (150-210+), a 10x is a versitile as they come. One twist for 90 grains worth of difference (150-240). Seems pretty insensitive to me. At least in my opinion.

 

Most factory 30 cal hunting rifles from 30-06 to 30-378's come with a 10x. I dont know of any hunters that complain about it even though some use 150's and other 200+ for hunting.

 

M

[.270]

ain't a lotta need for variety to a guy that knows what he's doin'. Lark.

[308Nut]

ain't a lotta need for variety to a guy that knows what he's doin'. Lark.

 

Who said anything about "need"? LOL!!! Glad you know what you are doin there Lark!

[.270]

yeah, me too. but only .270 shooters truly know what they're doin' anyway. it's a fact. even the ones who don't think they know what they are doin', do, just because they have a .270. so every .30 cal you have has a 1 in 10 twist? and it will shoot anything you want just fine? do you ever go quicker or slower? why does everything i read talk about the need for different twist rates for different bullets? in almost all calibers? i'm gonna hafta ask the guy that made my .300 barrel why he thought it was so important. Lark.