. 30 - 06 Springfield The . 30 - 06 Springfield cartridge ( pronounced " thirty - aught - six " or " thirty - oh - six " ) , 7 . 62×63mm in metric notation and called " 30 Gov ' t 06 " by Winchester was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and later standardized ; it remained in use until the early 1970s . The " . 30 " refers to the caliber of the bullet , and the " 06 " refers to the year the cartridge was adopted — 1906 . It replaced the . 30 - 03 , 6 mm Lee Navy , and . 30 - 40 Krag cartridges . ( The . 30 - 40 Krag is also called the . 30 U . S . , . 30 Army , or . 30 Government . ) The . 30 - 06 remained the U . S . Army ' s primary rifle and machine gun cartridge for nearly 50 years before being replaced by the 7 . 62×51mm NATO ( commercial . 308 Winchester ) and 5 . 56×45mm NATO , both of which remain in current U . S . and NATO service . It remains a very popular sporting round , with ammunition produced by all major manufacturers . History . Many European militaries at the turn of the 20th century were in the process of adopting service rounds loaded with pointed spitzer bullets : France in 1898 , Germany in 1905 , Russia in 1908 , and Britain in 1910 , so when it was introduced in 1903 , the . 30 - 03 service round loaded with a round - nose bullet and achieving a muzzle velocity of was quickly falling behind the ongoing technical evolution . For these reasons a new case was developed with a slightly shorter neck to fire a spitzer flat - based bullet that had a ballistic coefficient ( G1 BC ) of approximately 0 . 405 and achieved a muzzle velocity of and muzzle energy of . The M1903 Springfield rifle , introduced alongside the earlier . 30 - 03 cartridge , was quickly modified to accept the new . 30 - 06 Springfield cartridge , designated by the US military as the M1906 . Modifications to the rifle included shortening the barrel at its breech and resizing the chamber , so that the shorter ogive of the new bullet would not have to jump too far to reach the rifling . Other changes included elimination of the troublesome ' rod bayonet ' of the earlier Springfield rifles . Experience gained in World War I indicated that other nations ' machine guns far outclassed American ones in maximum effective range . Additionally , before the widespread employment of light mortars and artillery , long - range machine gun ' barrage ' or indirect fire s were considered important in U . S . infantry tactics . For these reasons , in 1926 , the Ordnance Corps developed the . 30 M1 Ball cartridge loaded with a new Improved Military Rifle ( IMR ) propellant and bullet with a 9 degree boat tail that had a ballistic coefficient ( G1 BC ) of approximately 0 . 560 , that achieved a muzzle velocity of and muzzle energy of . This bullet further reduced air resistance in flight resulting in less rapid downrange deceleration , less lateral drift caused by crosswinds , and significantly greater supersonic and maximum effective range from machine guns and rifles alike . Its maximum range was approximately . Additionally , a gilding metal jacket was developed that all but eliminated the metal fouling that plagued the earlier M1906 cartridge . Wartime surplus totaled over 2 billion rounds of ammunition . Army regulations called for training use of the oldest ammunition first . As a result , the older . 30 - 06 ammunition was expended for training ; stocks of . 30 M1 Ball ammunition were allowed to slowly grow until all of the older M1906 ammunition had been fired . By 1936 it was discovered that the maximum range of the . 30 M1 Ball ammunition with its boat - tailed spitzer bullets were beyond the safety limitations of many ranges . An emergency order was made to manufacture quantities of ammunition that matched the external ballistics of the earlier M1906 cartridge as soon as possible . A new cartridge was developed in 1938 that was essentially a duplicate of the old M1906 round , but loaded with IMR 4895 propellant and a new flat - based bullet that had gilding metal jacket and a different lead alloy and weighed instead of . This 1938 pattern cartridge , the Cartridge . 30 M2 Ball achieved a muzzle velocity of and muzzle energy of . Its maximum range was approximately . Firearms . In military service , the 30 - 06 was used in the bolt - action M1903 Springfield rifle , the bolt - action M1917 Enfield rifle , the semi - automatic M1 Garand , the M1941 Johnson Rifle , the Famage Mauser , the Browning Automatic Rifle ( BAR ) , and numerous machine guns , including the M1917 and M1919 series . It served the United States in both World Wars and in the Korean War , its last major use being in Vietnam . Large volumes of surplus brass made it the basis for dozens of commercial and wildcat cartridges , as well as being extensively used for reloading . In 1908 the Model 1895 Winchester lever action rifle became the first commercially produced sporting rifle chambered in 30 - 06 . It is still a very common round for hunting and is suitable for large game such as bison , Sambar deer , and bear , when used at close to medium ranges . Ballistically , the 30 - 06 is one of the most versatile cartridges ever designed . With " hot " handloads and a rifle capable of handling them , the . 30 - 06 is capable of performance rivaling many " magnum " cartridges . The . 30 - 06 ' s power ( combined with the availability of surplus firearms chambered for it and demand for commercial ammunition ) has kept the round as one of the most popular for hunting in North America . With appropriate loads it is suitable for any small or large heavy game found in North America . Performance . The . 30 - 06 cartridge was designed when shots of were expected . In 1906 , the original M1906 . 30 - 06 cartridge consisted of a , flat - base cupronickel - jacketed - bullet . After WWI , the U . S . military needed better long - range performance machine guns . Based on weapons performance reports from Europe , a streamlined , boattail , gilding - metal bullet was used . The . 30 - 06 cartridge , with the bullet was called " Cartridge , . 30 , M1 Ball " . The . 30 - 06 cartridge was far more powerful than the smaller Japanese 6 . 5×50mm Arisaka cartridge and comparable to the Japanese 7 . 7×58mm Arisaka . The new M1 ammunition proved to be significantly more accurate than the M1906 round . In 1938 , the unstained , , flat - base bullet combined with the . 30 - 06 case became the M2 ball cartridge . The M2 Ball specifications required minimum velocity , measured from the muzzle . M2 Ball was the standard - issue ammunition for military rifles and machine guns until it was replaced by the 7 . 62×51 mm NATO round for the M14 and M60 . For rifle use , M2 Ball ammunition proved to be less accurate than the earlier M1 cartridge ; even with match rifles , a target group of diameter at using the M2 bullet was considered optimal , and many rifles performed less well . The U . S . Marine Corps retained stocks of M1 ammunition for use by snipers and trained marksmen throughout the Solomon Islands campaign in the early years of the war . In an effort to increase accuracy some snipers resorted to use of the heavier . 30 - 06 M2 armor - piercing round , a practice that would re - emerge during the Korean War . Others sought out lots of M2 ammunition produced by Denver Ordnance , which had proved to be more accurate than those produced by other wartime ammunition plants when used for sniping at long range . Commercially manufactured rifles chambered in . 30 - 06 are popular for hunting . Current . 30 - 06 factory ammunition varies in bullet weight from in solid bullets , and as low as with the use of a sub - caliber bullet in a sabot . Loads are available with reduced velocity and pressure as well as increased velocity and pressure for stronger firearms . The . 30 - 06 remains one of the most popular sporting cartridges in the world . Many hunting loads have over of energy at the muzzle and use expanding bullets that can deliver rapid energy transfer to targets . The table above shows typical muzzle velocities available in commercial 30 - 06 loads along with maximum 30 - 06 muzzle velocities reported by several reloading manuals for common bullet weights . Hodgdon , Nosler , and Barnes report velocities for barrels . Hornady and Speer report velocities for barrels . The data are all for barrels with a twist rate of 1 turn in which is needed to stabilize the heaviest bullets . The higher muzzle velocities reported by Nosler for and heavier bullets use loads employing a slow - burning , double - base powder ( Alliant Reloder 22 ) . The newer 7 . 62×51mm NATO / . 308 Winchester cartridge offers similar performance to standard military . 30 - 06 loadings in a smaller cartridge . However , the greater cartridge capacity of the . 30 - 06 allows much more powerful loadings if the shooter desires . Recoil . One reason that the 30 - 06 has remained entrenched as an extremely popular round for so long is that the cartridge is at the upper limit of power that is tolerable to most shooters . Recoil energy ( Free recoil ) greater than will cause most shooters to develop a serious flinch , and the recoil energy of an pound rifle firing a 30 - 06 bullet at is . Recoil shy shooters can opt for lighter bullets , such as a bullet . In the same , a bullet at will only generate of recoil energy . Young shooters can start out with even lighter bullets such as the . Cartridge dimensions . The . 30 - 06 Springfield has a 68 . 2 grains ( 4 . 43 ml ) H2O cartridge case capacity . The exterior shape of the case was designed to promote reliable case feeding and extraction in bolt action rifles and machine gun s alike , under extreme conditions . . 30 - 06 Springfield maximum C . I . P . cartridge dimensions . All sizes in millimeters . Americans defined the shoulder angle at alpha / 2 = 17 . 5 degrees . According to the " Commission Internationale Permanente pour l ' Epreuve des Armes à Feu Portatives " ( C . I . P . ) the common rifling twist rate for this cartridge is 254 mm ( 1 in 10 in ) , 4 grooves , Ø lands = 7 . 62 mm ( . 30 in ) , Ø grooves = 7 . 82 mm ( . 308 in ) , land width = 4 . 49 mm ( . 1768 in ) and the primer type is large rifle . According to the official C . I . P . guidelines , the . 30 - 06 Springfield case can handle up to 405 MPa ( 58 , 740 psi ) piezo pressure . In C . I . P . - regulated countries , every rifle cartridge combination has to be proofed at 125 % of this maximum C . I . P . pressure to certify for sale to consumers . The 8x64mm S is probably the closest European ballistic twin of the . 30 - 06 Springfield . U . S . military cartridge types . " Note : " . 30 - 06 cartridges are produced commercially with many different bullets and to a number of different specifications .