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away from my books...1st 30-06 was invented???

bobski
remember the days when people would religiously quote 22 38 45 as the most common handgun cal's? use the same time frame only for rifles...what would they be saying? .22, ___, ___? if 30-06 is one of them, what year would they have started saying it? follow me? thanks!

former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction.
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Comments

13 comments

Date Votes
  • Pearyw
    The army adopted the basic case in 1903 and the standard round in 1906. I would say it came in to common usage during WWI. So it probably became popular 1920 or so.
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  • bambihunter
    I always thought the 06 part of it was because of the when it was adopted...
    Thirty caliber - adopted in '06.
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  • snowtigger
    The US 30 cal was adopted in 1903 in the '03 Springfield. In 1906 the case was enlarged to today's 30/06 dimensions to achieve higher velocity with a heavier buller. Thus the 30/06 came about in 1906. The earlier military rifles were re-chambered to this improved round. That is why '03 rifles are chambered in the '06 caliber. When it became popular, I don't know, never owned one.

    It ain't what you shoot, it's what you hit.
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  • captkirk3@dslextreme.com
    After Government Testing the 30-03{the Year of} and was the caliber of choice...The Round was improved and standardized and is known as the 30-06 [again...the year of]

    1903
    1906

    Captain Kirk, Tech Staff
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  • Iroquois Scout
    Original cartridge was adopted in 1903 and used a 220 grain round nose bullet. In 1905 the cartridge was redesigned by shortening the neck, not enlargeing the case, and the bullet weight was reduced to 150 grains and given a spitzer point. Final adoption of the U.S. Cartridge, Caliber .30 Model of 1906 was in the year of 1906. It was used in the Rifle Model 1903 as modified in 1905.
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  • leeblackman
    Yea, everything I've ever read about the 1903 springfield rifle says that it was first originally chambered in the 30-03 and later improved and chambered in the 30-06spr. I'm not sure but I think that the 300savage had something to do with the 30-03.
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  • Iroquois Scout
    The 300 Savage was developed by Savage in 1920 to equal the original ballistics of the .30-06 useing the 150 grain bullet, but, in a cartridge short enough to work through the Model 99 Savage rifle action.
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  • 101AIRBORNE
    IS,
    I believe the .300 Savage was later the platform for the 7.62x51 Nato.
    Is that correct?
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  • Iroquois Scout
    I am not sure that was the case. I think that you have to look at the 7.5X55 Swiss and the 7.5X54 French for the inspiration for the 7.62X51 NATO. Except for useing cases that are just a little longer and .002 larger in diameter, they are the same as the 7.62X51 NATO. They are also just about the same in power and all three use a bullet of .308 diameter.
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  • jakelin
    Even though both the .30/03 and the .30/06 were chambered in the Winchester M-1895, the '06 didn't really catch on [along with bolt guns] until after WW-I; that in the 1920s on up.
    The .308 [7.62mm NATO] was really designed because of autloading arms: the shorter case coupled with more modern powders worked better in an auto action than did the older, longer '06 one.
    If it had not been for a drafting error, the US military would have been using a .30/06 copy of the German MG-42 GPMG at some point just after WW-2...

    JAK
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  • 101AIRBORNE
    IS,
    Thanks for your response. 101
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  • Iconoclast
    The rimless .30 caliber cartridge which became the beloved .30-06 began life as an experimental rimless .30 USA (Krag). The first version comparable to the '06 was the .30-01, which used the same thick rim below the extractor groove as the experimental Krag; dummy, ball and blank loads exist. The .30-01 and .30-03 both used the 220 grain RN bullet as the Krag. The '06 had some minor case dimension changes from the '03, but the main difference was the adaption of the 150 gr Spitzer bullet modeled after the Mauser design - as I.S. noted (Mauser sued the US gov't for patent infringement, but since WW 1 had happened in the interim, that action didn't go too far!).

    RE: 7.62x51 . . . 101, you are correct and Iroquois Scout is wrong. The very first prototype of the round which became the 7.62x51 was actually manufactured using .300 Savage headstamped cases in 1945. I have one of the very few proof rounds ever made and am still looking for a ball specimen. This evolved into the 7.62x47 after the war with ball, AP, tracer, aluminum cased and other loadings, then the 7.62x49 in the late 40s, which was limited issue with ball, proof, AP, tracer, dummy, aluminum cased and possibly other loadings. This is known as the "intermediate" design and had the official nomenclature of "light rifle." In the early 1950s, this became the 7.62x51 and became, with some heavy leaning by the USG, the official NATO round. Winchester actually brought out the .308, based on the government's development work, before the 7.62x51 was officially adopted.
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  • Iroquois Scout
    Teak,
    I bow to the master. Actually I was hopeing that you would see this thread and straighten us all out.
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