30-06

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Bucksnort1

New member
All,

I want to make a display of various 30-06 cartridges and the spin offs from it. I know of the 25-06, .308, 270, 280 and others but will some of you provide cartridge types? Thanks.
 
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jmr40

New member
The 7X57 is the grand-daddy. That case was lengthened a tad and opened up to create the 30-03. The 30-03 was designed to shoot 220 gr bullets. The army decided quickly that 150 gr bullets were a better option and the 30-03 was modified into the 30-06.

The 270 is actually based on the 30-03 case, not 30-06

The 280, 25-06, 6.5-06, 338-06, 35Whelen, 9.3X62 and 400 Whelen are based directly on the 30-06 case. Maybe others, but those I know of.

The 30-06 case was shortened to make the 300 Savage. The 300 Savage was modified slightly to make the 308, which in turn lead to the 243, 260, 7-08, 338 Fed, and 358 Win.

They are all from the same family tree. How closely related the 308 is to 30-06 is something to debate but all can be traced back to the 7X57.
 
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Bucksnort1

New member
jmr40,

Thank you for the information. You are telling me what I want to know. I'll have to dig out my 7X57 cartridge to start the display rather than the -06. My problem is, I don't have an -03 cartridge. I will look around a bit. I may leave a blank place for the cartridge on the display board.

Jmr40, is the 7X57 the 7X57 Waters? The modification to the 30-03, in addition to reducing the bullet weight, was to shorten the case to its current length, is this correct?

I'm sure I'll never find all the wildcat cartridges based on the -06/7X57. Speaking of wildcat cartridges, I have a really odd ball one, which looks like a .308 case modified to accept a .22 caliber bullet. About one inch above the extractor rim, the case is neck tapers to .22-ish. What this means is, the neck is about 1.5" long.

This cartridge is at a friend's home. I will photo it and post for comments. This must have been done as a gag cartridge because I can't believe someone would actually re-chamber a rifle to accept the case. In fact, I can't believe someone would spend the money and time to make the die to form the case and seat the bullet.
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
To be more nit-picky about some of the above cartridges' lineage:

.280 Remington is another .30-03-based cartridge. If you form it from .30-06 you end up with a short neck.

And the same goes for .35 Whelen, 375 Whelen, and .400 Whelen: The true parent is .30-03, not .30-06.
Even the SAAMI-approved Remington version of .35 Whelen (which is not the original version, but shares the same case length) will show this if you take case measurements, particularly if forming .35 Whelen from other cartridges or sizing .35 Whelen brass back to .30 caliber. In order to achieve proper case length with the .35 caliber neck, .35 Whelen brass has to start out at .30-03 length. That's why Remington's own production of .35 Whelen brass actually uses .280 Rem (.30-03 length) draw dies until the last steps (shoulder/neck forming and bunting - stamping the case head and primer pocket). If they were to draw it as .30-06, the neck would be too short.


7-30 Waters is based on .30 WCF (".30-30"), not .30-06.



It's a bit of a stretch, and probably not something that you'd want, but....
Believe it, or not, .444 Marlin was designed around .30-06. Marlin took the basic (straight-walled) .30-06 case, chopped it by a little more than 0.2" (to fit in the 336 action), sized the neck for .4295" bullets, and added a rim.
So, it's only related in the sense that, although a new and 'unique' cartridge when it was introduced, it was a derivative of the .30-06 and owes its basic dimensions to .30-06.

It seems relatively 'disconnected' from .30-06, but it's actually more closely related than .308 Winchester; which, as noted above, is a derivative of a derivative (.300 Savage).
 
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