30-06 and bears

Phil really likes his stories…
The take away from that particular one should probably mean on that bear, at that time, it really wouldn’t have mattered what it was shot with. It would have done the same thing.
No replacement for displacement, except for placement itself.
Crapchesters hold six shots? As mentioned, Phil likes his stories.
Kinda blows his own quote all to crud, though, doesn’t it?
“Anyone who claims the .30-06 is not effective has not used one, or else is unwittingly commenting on their marksmanship.”

Maybe if Phil was using a proper cartridge, like a 7mm RM, and put his thumb in the correct location, he would have fared better, marksmanship wise….


R.
 
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thewoodsrunner said:
Alaskan brown bear guide Phil Shoemaker wrote of his endorsement for the .30-06 as a brown bear gun in the March/April 2014 issue of Sports Afield, but he used a very strange example from the field to do so, in my opinion. One that served to dispute his own claim. He was following up on a client-wounded bear. He came upon the bear 'at 20 feet' and shot it five times but it kept bouncing back up and coming. (Must have been some world-record bolt cycling if the bear was truly at 20'.) Five into the bear from the '06, 220 grainers, and still it kept coming. His 6th shot broke its neck. Who thinks this is an endorsement? It's a cautionary tale, "Carry enough gun." Which in this case was clearly not the '06. That ol' veteran was lucky to see the sunset that day. Is there anyone on here who can't imagine what could just as easily have happened between his 1st and 6th shot? Or if the 6th shot hadn't been so surgical?

I'd say the .30-06 is to North America what the .375H&H is to Africa. The best all-rounder out there. With some circumstances in some places strongly recommending something more.
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Do you have that article? I have it somewhere just haven’t dug it out. Who knows, someone may have borrowed it. I believe he was using a Lon Paul Mauser which would hold 6. Same as a Winchester.
 
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pathfinder76 said:
Do you have that article? I have it somewhere just haven’t dug it out. Who knows, someone may have borrowed it. I believe he was using a Lon Paul Mauser which would hold 6. Same as a Winchester.
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I have the magazine, yes. It was from an article about his custom Lon Paul rifle, yes. Part of the premise of the article was how surprising a choice of calibre it was for a brown bear guide of great experience. I wonder how many people grasped the takeaway of that article being just how close that veteran came to death that day for being undergunned? I read these articles with great interest being "in it" the moment i step out the door, i have a grizzly trail 75 feet or so below the house. I have a .30-06, 1957 Remington pump carbine, love it, slick as glass. I carried a while during my work here as a stockman loaded with 220 grainers. It sure is nice to carry, but i felt about half naked. My old custom .375 H&H remains my go-to. I never feel naked with that thing.
 
thewoodsrunner said:
I have the magazine, yes. It was from an article about his custom Lon Paul rifle, yes. Part of the premise of the article was how surprising a choice of calibre it was for a brown bear guide of great experience. I wonder how many people grasped the takeaway of that article being just how close that veteran came to death that day for being undergunned? I read these articles with great interest being "in it" the moment i step out the door, i have a grizzly trail 75 feet or so below the house. I have a .30-06, 1957 Remington pump carbine, love it, slick as glass. I carried a while during my work here as a stockman loaded with 220 grainers. It sure is nice to carry, but i felt about half naked. My old custom .375 H&H remains my go-to. I never feel naked with that thing.
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Was it Sports Afield or Successful Hunter?
 
Definitely the 30/06 has improved with age with the availability of high performance modern ammo. If you have to go with only one hunting rifle, it's not a bad choice at all.

I have a Remington mtn rifle in this caliber that's usually my go to rifle every fall.
 
I have hunted for nearly 70 years now. During that time I have enjoyed the privilege of using many different
rifles in quite an array of chamberings. Still, if I was to actually count, the majority of game taken was with the
venerable 30-06. From Grizzly Bear down to varmints, the '06 is up to the job. I have 2 at present, a M700 "Classic"
Remington and a T/C ICON. both shoot sub-moa. I flirt with 3000 FPS with the 165 AB, 2850 with the 180 and
2740 with the 200 Partition. The latter is a real persuasive load that I would pack if a big Bear was the target.
I believe the 30-06 is about as versatile as it gets. EE
 
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