30-06 vs 300 weatherby mag.

[long hunter]

Always been a practice with what your going to hunt with kind of shooter especially the ammunition, unless you re-load nothing is going to be cheap to shoot even if you do re-load its still expensive ,secondly if your going to shoot long distance practice a lot which equates to money.

 

[wind gypsy]

Always been a practice with what your going to hunt with kind of shooter especially the ammunition, unless you re-load nothing is going to be cheap to shoot even if you do re-load its still expensive ,secondly if your going to shoot long distance practice a lot which equates to money.

Practicing with a 223 and $0.65/ea ammo and a 300 weatherby with $3/ea ammo is not the same.

Nobody is shooting through 20+ rounds of 300 weatherby factory ammo in 5 minutes due to ammo cost and barrel life/heat but it's frequently not a second thought with 223. Basically nobody is practicing a lot with a 300 weatherby and factory ammo.

 

[buffybr]

My first centerfire rifle was a .30-06 that I bought in 1967. I immediately started reloading for it. I reloaded 125 gr bullets for prairie dogs, 150 gr bullets for deer and antelope, and 180 gr bullets for elk. Back then we didn't have the great variety of bullets that we have now, so my practice and hunting bullets were the same.

When I moved from Colorado to Montana in 1975, `I shot my first whitetail deer with that rifle, along with a few more pronghorn antelope, and a few more (and my best 6x6) bull elk with it.

My favorite rifle now is my .300 Weatherby Vanguard. I've used it on multiple hunts here in Montana and Texas, multiple hunts in Africa, and hunts in New Zealand and Azurbaijan. Although I've shot many animals smaller than whitetail deer with it, it would not be my first choice for a whitetail deer hunt.

In recent years I've bought two more Weatherby Vanguard rifles, one in .223 and the other in .308 Win. I used the .308 on a Sitka blacktail deer hunt on Kodiak Island in Alaska, but I mainly bought those two rifles for practice shooting at the 200, 300, and 430 yard steel gongs at our local rifle range.

I've always reloaded my own ammunition, and to further keep the costs down, I buy components in bulk quantities when I can. I like to hear the loud WHACK that a bullet from my .300 Wby makes when it hits the 430 yd steel gong, but at 84.5 grains of powder per shot, the .300 Wby is not an economical practice cartridge.

Because I do practice some with my .300 Wby, I shoot cheaper Hornady HPBT bullets for practice at $0.76 per shot rather than the Barnes TTSX hunting bullets at $1.37 per shot.

My .308 Win burns a little over 1/2 of the powder for each shot as the .300 Wby does and my .308 cartridges only cost me $0.47 each. My .223 reloads only burn 1/3 as much powder as my .300 Wby and they only cost me $0.22 each.

Even with yesterday's 15 mph plus winds, I was able to keep all of my .223 and .308 hits on the steel gongs out to and including the gong at 430 yards. Until I started shooting both of these cartridges together, I never realized how much more wind drift there is with the .223 bullets compared to the .308 bullets.

I know that .223 bullets will kill deer (I've killed deer with less), but I would not reccommend the .223 as a deer hunting cartridge, and I would not hesitate to hunt any deer with my .308 Win.

 

[long hunter]

Practicing with a 223 and $0.65/ea ammo and a 300 weatherby with $3/ea ammo is not the same.

Nobody is shooting through 20+ rounds of 300 weatherby factory ammo in 5 minutes due to ammo cost and barrel life/heat but it's frequently not a second thought with 223. Basically nobody is practicing a lot with a 300 weatherby and factory ammo.

Then perhaps one should not shoot the bigger cal. Rifles. Lots of difference in guns between a 300 and a 223. Also if you’re ripping through 20 or more rounds of anything in 5 mins. You’re not helping build anything let alone decent marksmanship skills. Get a gun one can afford to shoot and shoot well

 

[Mule3006Elk]

You are all over the place. You're going to get a 223 because different bullet types but not a 6.5 creed because its not good for hunting and you're convinced a 143 ELDx is penciling through whitetails unless it hits a bone?

You seem to be stuck in cartridge headstamp fairytale land. Headstamps don’t matter, bullets and their impact velocity do. Zero reason to get a 30-06 for punching paper/steel.

I think he's messing with everyone. This can't be real!!

 

[wind gypsy]

Then perhaps one should not shoot the bigger cal. Rifles. Lots of difference in guns between a 300 and a 223. Also if you’re ripping through 20 or more rounds of anything in 5 mins. You’re not helping build anything let alone decent marksmanship skills. Get a gun one can afford to shoot and shoot well

20 rounds might be on the high side but to think a guy can’t build decent marksmanship skills by taking an average of 15 seconds per shot is wrong at best. With the typical bench or prone shooting most take at the range, how long is it supposed to take to get solid and break a good shot? If a guy can’t stack bullets with less than 15 seconds between shots he needs a lot more practice on those marksmanship skills.

 

[Macintosh]

Pretty amazing how fast and easy it is to be methodical and steady when you arent getting punched in the face.

 

[Magma]

Had a 300 and sold it. Never have regretted getting rid of it. Never will own another one either.