30/06 on big game in the past

[hunter 89]

Hello, I have a question for you. Is it true that 30/06 with 220 grain FMJ was used successfully in the past for hunting elephant, rhino, hippo, and Cape buffalo? Thanks for your answers.

 

[375Fox]

I’m sure it has. I know PHs that have taken buffalo with 308 and 300 win doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. The 303 British and 7.62x39 have likely accounted for a huge number of African game they weren’t designed for and wounded a lot too. I’ve pulled 7.62 FMJs from two animals so far. The animals you listed are tough but aren’t impervious to well placed shots that reach the vitals.

 

[baxterb]

Yes

 

[Pasme]

Personally, I don't think it's a matter of caliber. Man was hunting (and killing) dangerous game with a sharpened stick long before the invention of gunpowder. (little more dangerous, but it must have been "invigorating") I've also seen "hunters" shoot a grizz multiple times with a 458 Win Mag and it's still charging. I think a '06 would bring down anything I'd care to hunt. 375HH mag is the minimum dangerous game caliber in most places in Africa but that's not something I'd want to be shooting on a frequent basis. (I wince every time I remember the few times I've shot one)

 

[HookMeUpII]

Per what @375Fox said, they used them enough to mention, back in the day. We know for a fact 303 British was commonly used. Col Patterson favored that in Tsavo to take the lions, among other things. On the USA side, Hemingway favored his "Springfield" which was likely a 30-06 caliber, as he talks about in Green Hills of Africa. On his return safari, he decided to bring something big-bore because he found out the hard way that the 30-06 was far from a buffalo stopping rifle, if even ultimately a killing rifle. It was not the best option but often times, all they had.

Times were different back then. Hunting was basically "best efforts." A lot of animals seemed to be wounded and never recovered. If you read some of the books about hunting Africa, it was basically a free for all in the old days. Tags/licenses were comparatively cheap with multiple animals to a tag. Hunters would shoot a buffalo, go on to track it, come across another, bigger buffalo, while tracking, shoot that one, then break off to track that one.

There are now of course, better ethics and more availability of effective options.

All the true African's knew better. Capstick (despite the controversy surrounding him), Selby, Selous, etc. They all had big-bore rifles for DG from basically the very first availability.

 

[SafariCurious]

Personally, I don't think it's a matter of caliber. Man was hunting (and killing) dangerous game with a sharpened stick long before the invention of gunpowder. (little more dangerous, but it must have been "invigorating") I've also seen "hunters" shoot a grizz multiple times with a 458 Win Mag and it's still charging. I think a '06 would bring down anything I'd care to hunt. 375HH mag is the minimum dangerous game caliber in most places in Africa but that's not something I'd want to be shooting on a frequent basis. (I wince every time I remember the few times I've shot one)

If you want 375 power in a manageable package, try a Ruger Hawkeye Guide bolt action rifle in .375 Ruger with the factory provided muzzle brake, I have one and its much nicer to shoot than an un-braked 30-06.

 

[mark-hunter]

Hello, I have a question for you. Is it true that 30/06 with 220 grain FMJ was used successfully in the past for hunting elephant, rhino, hippo, and Cape buffalo? Thanks for your answers.

30-06 was rifle (amongst others) of Teddy Roosevelt on famous safari 1909 and 1910, as well as a favorite rifle of Ernest Hemmingway. Both of them also had bigger guns available. What was shot in their full bags with what rifle we will not know for certain.
WDM Bell used 7x57 to hunt elephants.
But all this, has to be taken in a context of time and history.
This means, forget about such stunts today.

Now, commercial hunting is well regulated by laws, and minimum required caliber is 375 H&H in most of the countries to hunt elephant. (and I may add is a pleasure to shoot)

 

[Sideshow]

I know during WW2 that water buffalo and Asian elephants were taken in Burma with the 06 during the fighting there. Most at night when crossing the frontlines.
WW1 Africa a huge number of animals during that awful campaign. A lot of soldiers got stomped eaten during it.
Edward Price wrote a fascinating book on that campaign “Tip and Run” get it on kindle though I spent a lot of time reaching for the dictionary.

 

[PAUL_MAUSER]

Elanor O'Conner Jacks wife I believe shot an elephant with a 30/06 and called it her big cannon or something along those lines as she mostly used 7x57.

 

[Phil Giordano]

As far as I remember, Papa used his trusty '06 for many African big game, including this Rhino...

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Yes, it definitely did.

CT Stoneham took a lion with 220Gr Kynoch soft points fired from a Mauser Oberndorf Sporter Type A chambered in .30-06 Springfield.

Earnest Hemmingway took a bull rhinoceros & a Cape buffalo by using a Griffin & Howe sporterized Springfield Model 190A3 in .30-06 and Remington 220gr round nosed copper jacketed FMJ solids.

White hunter John Coleman took 30 bull elephants (all with brain shots) back when Zimbabwe was still Rhodesia and legal stipulations on minimal caliber requirements for hunting dangerous game did not exist. He used a .30-06 Springfield Mauser Oberndorf Type B (which was rebarrelled from 8x60mm Mauser) and 220Gr Kynoch round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solids (which were produced by Norma in Sweden for Kynoch).

Colonel William Gresham (American military attache to Nepal in 1963) took two large Nepalese tigers from elephant back, with Remington 220Gr Core Lokts fired out of a Springfield Model 1903A3. Although he did have to shoot the first one three times (frontal & broadside heart-lung shots) and the tiger still managed to get away and succumb to his injuries on the following day.

I personally shot one bull seladang in Northern Chiang Mai, Thailand in 1979… with an Anschutz Model 110 chambered in .30-06 Springfield and a 220Gr Kynoch round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solid to the heart-lung region. But he succumbed to his injury no less than five hours later and actually spent a good deal of time attempting to stalk me in order to ambush me & retaliate.