DIY Practical Rifle

[Mortblanc]

I find the 30-06 an unusual choice for your island, since the round has been out of military use over here since 1957 and was never used as standard in England. Most of what I see used by British shooters is .308, which your military did adopt as 7.62 NATO.

You have been on the 5.56 wagon for the past 30 years. We find that round adequate for deer over here and that is about your largest game animal. The last couple of rifle shot deer I have taken were done with that round.

Even over here the 30-06 has fallen behind the .223, .308 and 6.5 Creedmore. Last years sales reported that it was #6 in sales.

The 175 grain bullet is also a bit heavy for general purpose shooting. You will not get the same velocity or flat trajectory as the lighter and more accurate 165-168 grain boat tail bullets.

I switched to the 165 boat tail soft points about 30 years ago and have found them superior in every aspect.

I do use a 175 grain projectile a lot but it is a cast lead flat nose in 30 caliber which is my SHTF stock for after the jacketed ammo is all shot up in 2395 a.d. Cast bullets are limited in their velocity so I use one 30 caliber bullet for all my rifles in that scenerio. I am swapping out velocity for bullet weight and I know it, but it is still enough for man or beast.

Still, I would not choose a 30-06 as my "all around rifle" if that was all the rifle I had for hunting, home defense, and target work. Rifles tend to be too highly specialized to make that restriction. You have to give up too much of something, somewhere important.

I can see the sense of an "all around shotgun"! I have several of those. I consider a shotgun a necessity of life in any climate, culture or geographic zone. Everyone that can qualify to own one should have one.