As a right-handed person who shoots left because of a defective right eye, finding bolt actions I like chambered in 30-06 is never a problem. It's one of the common calibers that lefties (and involuntary southpaws like myself) have as a popular choice from multiple manufacturers. That's why I own three of them:
View attachment 721983
Remington 700 BDL, Timney trigger, Nikon 1.5-6x42
View attachment 721984
Sako 85 Hunter, Schmidt & Bender 1.5-8x42 Stratos
View attachment 721985
Steyr CL II w/ fixed sights & a Swarovski Z6 1.7-10x42
The goal I was looking for feedback on is setting each one of them up differently to maximize the potential of this one particular cartridge across a trio of rifles. I had thought about getting one of my 30-06's rebored into something larger like a 35 Whelen / 9.3x62 or rebarreled to a smaller classic like the 257 Roberts. But I decided to see what kind of performance could be had off the reloading bench first. Since the majority of my hunting is in the southestern woods in the USA, most of my shots are less than 200m & the longest I've ever had an opportunity at is 325m. My main goal is terminal peformance with minimal tracking so I'm focusing on effective hunting rounds at moderate distances.
I'd like the Remington 700 to be setup to shoot a lightweight bullet like the 125gr Accubond or the 130gr Barnes. Something fast, flat & light. This could be a load with a mild recoil that's pleasant to shoot but still effective at the ranges I usually hunt at. Or it could be a screamer that shoots as fast as possible for this caliber. Something that would give results similar to a 257 Roberts or a 25-06 for example.
My Sako 85 Hunter shoots 165gr bullets really well. Its the only rifle that I've managed to shoot a single ragged hole using three bullets at 100 meters with so it would be my medium-weight rifle. Setting it up with 165gr ~ 180gr bullets would cover everything I'm currently hunting & I would get a lot of use out of it. I specifically jumped over the 140gr ~ 150gr bullets because my primary deer rifles (a trio of Ruger #1's in 6.5x55, 275 Rigby & 303 British) all shoot bullets in this weight range so I was opting for something a bit heavier in one of my 30-06's.
The Steyr CL II I'd love to setup for a heavier bullet. Something in the 200gr ~ 220gr range. With its iron sights, it might be used at closer ranges or in brushy areas. This is an option I haven't explored yet but I was hoping a group of experienced African hunters might have some good suggestions for this one. With retirement approaching next year, it'll be interesting to see if I can expand the type of hunting I do (maybe to other continents
).
So if you have a single favorite round you'd like to suggest or even give me an opinion on two or all three, then I'd love to hear what has worked best for you. I enjoy testing different options at the gun range but hearing from some experienced hunters might narrow my choices considerably & save me a lot of time & money. I always appreciate advice from other hunters who have had successful hunts. If you don't like my idea for this particular experiment, then feel free to give me your opinion of how you would set them up. I'm just mulling the possibilities so I'm open to other ideas. All of these rifles have 22" / 560mm barrels, so it seemed kind of redundant to set them up with the similar loads. My biggest problem is that I like to buy rifles but I never sell them so I do wind up with duplicates.
