30-06 or 7mm Mag

7 mm mag vs 30-06

Depends on range 300 or less, no brainer-06. Heavier loads, great bullet selection, higher sectional densities, cheaper ammo, probably easier to find at mom and pop stores.
 
Get the 7mm Mag, you can say you have a MAGNUM and talk about all the virtues of the .28 bore, ballistic coeffcient, bullet selection, etc

Get the .30-06 and you can talk about it being a classic and great all around cartridge, etc. You can also say cool stuff, like "mah ought six" and .30 Guvmint' '06
 
my brother has a 7mm rem mag that he's hunted with for years. my first time out hunting I watched him actually knock a 120-ish pound doe off her feet at 300 yards, he and a buddy went down while I "guarded the truck" and they came back with nothing but the rear quarters, nothing else was salvageable.
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I'm trying to wrap my head around the physics of this and am thinking that even if he used a varmit bullet that transferred all its energy to the animal and he hit it in the spine above the front shoulders, causing bullet and bone fragments to damage edible meat ..... there's still a lot of meat that went untouched......

If it was a 110 gr varmit bullet starting @ 3500, or a sleek 160 gr hunting BTSP (which likely would have not come apart, taking some of it's energy out the other side of th animal) , by 300 it had consideralbly less energy than the .270 WIN I use does at short range. I have shot various deer with various bullets, and find it very hard to believe that the entire front half of even a small deer was rendered inedible by a bullet carrying less than 2/3 the energy of the bullets I have taken deer at short range..... what bullet weight was being used? Where was the animal shot?
 
Back in the late '80s I had 3 different 7mm Magnum rifles a Ruger #1, early 700 Rem, and one made on a Mauser '98 action. I tried bullet weights from 120-175 grains on deer and hogs. I shot them from 30 yards to close to 400.

I have a 7mm Mag Sako 75 Stainless Synthetic right now.

I have NEVER seen the effects descibed by tahunua001, ever.

In fact I've handloaded for and killed at least one deer with most all the rifle cartridges below and none of them lifted any deer off their feet and destroyed the whole front end either.

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So another words tahunua001's buddy's 7 mm Magnum did what hot handloaded 300,270 and 257 Weatherby's, .270 WSM, 300 Win Mag, etc, etc couldn't.

Lets just say I'm skeptical. :rolleyes:
 
30-06 has the advantages of greater bullet weight and frontal area, cheaper to shoot, widespread ammo availability and less recoil.

7mm mag (Remington or WSM) has the advantage of better trajectory for longer range shooting.

Only you can decide if the advantage of the 7mm's flatter trajectory is worth putting up with the other disadvantages compared to the '06 for your kinds of hunting.
 
I'd stick with the .30-06, the 7mm just doesn't bring enough to the table to justify the heavier recoil and pricier ammo. But then I'm in FLA and for where I hunt 100 yds is a long shot.
 
The infamous flinch factor will no doubt raise it's ugly head

I can get the same Savage rifle in 4 different calibers for the same price. 308 - 7MM Mag - 30.06 - 300 Win Mag.

This will be my go to hunting game gun.

The responses so far are all logical except for one which I won't name!

I'm leaning towards the 06 but I have been working on long range distance.

As of this weeks range visit I'm out to 600 yards with consistant hits in the kill zone using a .223.

The infamous flinch factor will no doubt raise it's ugly head when I move up into the 30-06 and magnum calibers. :o
 
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I will deal with the facts here. Facts a 7mm DOES NOT shoot flatter then the
'06 actual facts zero both guns @ 200 yds, using the same weight bullet, at 300 yds the '06 will be .2 inches lower then the 7mm, no diff. a '06 has the capability of using heavier bullets then the 7mm and it is the most versitile cartridge ever made by man and these are ALL proven facts not hype so I say that the over 100 yrs the '06 has been in use and it's proven success as a big game cartridge makes it much more desirable, JMHO FWIW.
 
Aaaaaah, what the heck...

Get a 375 H&H and be done with it.
All the speed and 350-yrd big game ±6"/point-blank trajectory of the `06 with near twice the bullet. :)

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...AND... you much greater Range Rat "Wow" factor. :D :D
 
30/06 under 300yds-same reasons as given in the other thread for the .308 vs 7mmRM: cheaper to shoot.
Caveat is that I own and enjoy all three calibers. :)
 
ive killed a truck load of deer with both. Theres very little differnce in the meat damage done by either on a close up hit and neither is especialy bad on meat damage out past a 100 yards. You dont need a 26 inch barrel on a 7mag anymore then you need a 24 inch barrel on an 06. Velocity drop on either per inch of barrel is about the same. To me the 06 is a bit more versitile. It allows for heavier bullets and an the low end allows for a bit more downloading if a low recoil load is needed. Neither of them is much of an argument though as how many really need to down load either and anymore you can buy a ton of differnt premium bullets for either that will allow you to shoot even bigger game. Biggest differnce i see is the 7mag is flatter shooting. theres no arguing that and the 06 is alot cheaper to buy ammo for and that applys even if you reload. Brass is laying around at ranges and they use less powder. Again in the big picture that means little. Personaly i think that i wouldnt want to be without at least two of each of them.
 
On the practical side there seems to be a flood of 7mm Magnums rifles in gunshops and gunshows at least around here. I could get a half dozen 7mms before I found an -06. Cheaper too. Your area may vary.
 
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