Why we love our .30-calibers.
Photo above: Although its velocity has been eclipsed by “modern” fast .30s, the .300 H&H was (and is) an important development and is fast and versatile. The author used a rebarreled Remington M700 to drop this excellent southern greater kudu with a .300 H&H and 200-grain Sierra bullet.
America’s lasting affair with .308-inch bullets began in 1892 with the .30-40 Krag. It blossomed three years later when Winchester used the same bullet diameter for our first smokeless power sporting cartridge, the .30 Winchester Center Fire (WCF), better known as .30-30.
In the shift to smokeless propellant, various European powers adopted similar diameters. Great Britain fielded the .303 British in 1889, with a .312-inch bullet. In 1891, Russia adopted the 7.62x54R, also .312. Why we chose a .308-inch bullet is unclear. Perhaps xenophobic American engineers wanted their own unique diameter.
A century ago, the .30-40 was a common sporting cartridge, mostly in surplus Krags. The .30-30 became legendary and is still popular. It was first chambered in the John Browning-designed 1894 Winchester, quickly adopted by Marlin and others. The ’94 Winchester would become the most popular sporting rifle of all time, followed by the Marlin 336. In both rifles, .30-30 was the most popular chambering. Between just those two, something over ten million rifles were sold. Until at least the 1950s, .30-30 was synonymous with “deer rifle.”
In 1903 we “borrowed” much of Peter Paul Mauser’s design to create the forward-locking, stripper-clip-loading 1903 Springfield. We also copied much of Mauser’s cartridge design to create the rimless .30-03 cartridge, using the .30-40 Krag’s round-nosed 220-grain bullet. European armies were shifting to sharp-pointed bullets, so in 1906 America’s engineers went back to work. They shortened the case slightly and went to a lighter, faster spitzer bullet. The result was “Cartridge, ball, caliber .30, Model of 1906,” shortened to “.30-06.”
Army ordnance folks modified 1903 Springfields to the new cartridge by screwing the barrels in one turn for the shorter cartridge. This sounds more confusing than it is: The shorter .30-06 case can be safely used in the longer .30-03 chamber, but not the reverse. For some years both versions were commercially manufactured, then the .30-03 faded away. The .30-06 became a world-standard hunting cartridge, its .308-inch bullet defining the .30-caliber.
For the next 50 years, whitetail hunters preferred the .30-30. Hunters wanting more range and power chose the .30-06. In today’s magnumized world, we think of the .30-06 as mild and slow. It is neither; it is fast and hard-hitting, the most powerful cartridge ever adopted by a major military.
The .30-30 isn’t fast, and its blunt-nosed projectiles (in tubular magazines) lost velocity quickly. Still, before WWII, open-sighted lever-actions had little handicap because few hunters used scopes. However, none of the most popular lever-actions could handle the .30-06. The Savage 1899 action wasn’t long enough, but it was strong and its rotary magazine could handle sharp-pointed bullets. In 1915 Charles Newton designed the .250-3000 for Arthur Savage, which was the first production cartridge to break 3,000 feet per second (fps). Suddenly, the Savage lever-action gave Winchester serious competition. It became even more serious when, in 1920, they necked the .250-3000 case up to take a .308-inch bullet and created the .300 Savage.
Powders were different back then and .30-06 loads were slower. The .300 Savage propelled a 150-grain bullet up to 2,700 fps, close to .30-06 performance of the day. The .250 and .300 Savage cartridges are based on the .30-06 case shortened; the .300 was given a stubby neck to wring as much performance as possible.
From 1920 onward the bolt-action gradually eroded the lever-action market, but the Savage 99 continued to be a major thorn in Winchester’s side. In .300 Savage, it was powerful, reasonably flat-shooting, and (like the Marlin) its solid-top receiver was readily adaptable to scopes.
The semiauto Garand in .30-06 served through WWII and Korea, but the army wanted a detachable-magazine rifle mated to a more compact cartridge. Seems like the .300 Savage was exactly what they were looking for. Maybe the short neck put them off, or maybe Winchester had more pull. Several experimental cartridges were developed, mostly based on the shortened .30-06 case. Winchester grabbed the likely final version, introducing it as .308 Winchester. Two years later, it was adopted as 7.62×51 NATO, along with the M14. The M14 was short-lived as our service rifle, but the .308 came to define the short bolt-action, and it is now our second-most popular centerfire, trailing only the .223 Remington. Easily adapted to all action types, the .308 is now more popular than the .30-06. The .308 is about 93 percent as powerful as the .30-06, which is not damning with faint praise.
There are no flies on the .30-06. It is still a powerful and versatile cartridge, but it’s not a speed demon. The .30-06 was still new when folks started to put bigger cases and more powder behind its .308-inch bullet. Charles Newton was first with his .30 Newton in 1911, almost reaching 3,000 fps. Far ahead of its time, the .30 Newton was a casualty of the Depression, now almost forgotten.
The next notable fast .30 came in 1925 with the .300 H&H Magnum, based on the .375 H&H necked down to .308-inch bullet. It’s interesting that staid Holland & Holland used the American .308 rather than the .312-inch bullet of the British .303. I theorize this was out of respect for the .30-06, which earned its sporting spurs on the 1909 Roosevelt safari. By 1925 the ‘06 had a tremendous reputation in British East Africa.
Since then, there have been too many fast .30s to name. Belted, unbelted, short, and long. The .300 H&H was most popular for forty years, but Roy Weatherby’s improved version, the .300 Weatherby Magnum, introduced in 1945, is much faster. Still Weatherby’s flagship and one of my favorites. The .300 RUM and .30-.378 Weatherby are faster still, but now we’re getting into severe recoil. Then there are short-action fast .30s: .300 RCM, RSAUM, WSM. Awesome performance from compact cases, but only the .300 WSM has gained major following. 1963’s .300 Winchester Magnum is now the most popular belted magnum in the world.
Until recently, most .308-inch barrels had 1:10 rifling twist. These were able to stabilize bullets up to the old round-nose 220 grainers, but were unable to stabilize the new extra-long, extra-heavy low-drag bullets, now up to 250 grains in .308. That’s what new fast .30s like 30 Nosler and .300 PRC are about, specified for fast-twist barrels. If I were serious about extreme range shooting (I’m not), I’d probably have a fast-twist .30. Recognizing that bullet weight increases recoil, and hunting guides the world over already complain about poor shooting with magnum .30s.
If the .30-06 isn’t fast enough to suit you—and you can handle a bit more recoil—then get a .300 Winchester or .300 Weatherby Magnum. For anything short of the largest bears and big bovines, ain’t nothin’ out there as versatile as a fast .30. Yeah, I know. The 7mms and .270s have huge followings, and the 6.5mm is the new darling. I like them all. It depends on what and where I’m hunting, but none of them hit as hard as .30-calibers, thus are not as versatile.
Bullet diameter (frontal area) makes a difference on game. Larger-diameter bullets disrupt more animal tissue and transfer more energy upon impact. If you don’t believe that, then I have little more to say. Sure, longer-for-caliber bullets of smaller diameter penetrate better. They don’t hit as hard. We can play Sectional Density (SD) and Ballistic Coefficient (BC) games, but a .30-caliber bullet makes a bigger hole, and .30-caliber bullets are available in adequate weight to ensure penetration.
Paper ballistics of the .30-30 are unimpressive, but no one can question its deer-thumping capability. Both the .308 and .30-06 are probably overpowered for deer, but both are fine elk cartridges at sensible ranges. Forty-eight years after my first safari, the .30-06 is still my pick for the most versatile, effective, and shootable cartridge for African plains game. There are times and places where I want a flatter trajectory than my .30-30, .300 Savage, .308, or .30-06 offers. I’m not into over-the-horizon shooting, but when I think I might need some distance, especially with animals larger than deer, I want to hit them hard. Usually, I reach for a fast .30.
I’ve used many, from .300 H&H to .300 PRC. Love ‘em all. Great for elk, awesome in Africa, where animal size varies constantly. As with deer, we could correctly argue that fast .30s are needlessly powerful for sheep and goats. The problem is that shots in mountains are often difficult, and it’s essential to use a tool that gives great confidence. I’ve taken a lot of mountain animals with 6.5s, .270s, and 7mms. All are appropriate for the size of game. However, I’ve used fast .30s the most (.300 Weatherby most of all) because, when the chips are down, a fast .30 gives me the most confidence.
I’ve hunted with all the PRCs, recently bought a 7 PRC. I love it and I’m likely to do my last mountain hunting with it. For big deer like elk and moose, and for the full range of African antelopes, I’m still happy with my .30s. Loaded with a good 180- or 200-grain bullet, I’ve never suspected a .30-caliber wasn’t enough gun.
