The Most Overrated Deer Hunting Cartridge

Listen, I get it, ok? Calling the aught-six overrated is like calling Michael Jordan overrated. It’s the kind of hot take that seems like it’s meant to make people mad without offering anything helpful or useful. But that’s not my intention. I understand, as MeatEater readers pointed out during October Madness two years ago, that the .30-06 is perhaps the most popular deer cartridge of all time. It kills deer dead, it’s cheap and easy to find, and millions of hunters have used it successfully since its adoption by the U.S. military in 1906.

If you’re one of those hunters, and you love shooting the 120-year-old cartridge, don’t let me stop you. Carry on, brother. Go in peace.

But if you’re someone who’s never enjoyed shooting your grandfather’s old .30-06 but assumed that’s the price you pay to hunt deer, keep reading. You’re not crazy or a wimp, and there are better options out there.

My argument is pretty simple: the .30-06 has more juice than you need to kill a deer. It’s true that more energy on target is rarely a bad thing. As I’ve written elsewhere, increasing bullet energy may increase the odds of inducing hydrostatic shock. But it’s also true that poking a hole in the right place can kill a deer almost as quickly as hitting its “off” switch. Plus, you know where the heart and lungs are in every deer you’ll ever see. We still don’t understand what causes hydrostatic shock, and chasing it can be a fool’s errand.

For that reason, most hunters agree that selecting a cartridge you can shoot accurately is more important than chasing bullet velocity and energy. You might be able to shoot your .30-06 just fine, and I’m with you–I have no trouble shooting mine. But if you can step down to something softer on the shoulder, why wouldn’t you? My goal is always to balance ballistics with recoil: I want something powerful enough to punch through a shoulder blade but not so powerful that I dislike a long practice session at the range.

Let’s put some numbers on these bones. First, recoil. Recoil is highly dependent on rifle weight and powder charge, but these numbers from Chuck Hawks’ recoil table give you a sense of how the .30-06 compares to other common deer cartridges.

It’s been said that the .30-30 has killed more deer than any other cartridge. The .243 Win. is a famous deer killer, as are the .270 Win. and the 7mm-08. I hunt deer every year with a 6.5 Creedmoor, and I’ve never failed to recover an animal. Given these facts, it seems sensible to favor cartridges that kick less but still get the job done.

And they do get the job done. I don’t ascribe to this benchmark (mostly because I know so many bowhunters who kill deer every year), but 1,000 ft.-lbs is bandied about as the minimum bullet energy needed to dispatch a deer. Energy imparted also depends on bullet construction, but putting that wrinkle aside for now, here are the distances at which those deer cartridges above dip below 1,000 ft.-lbs.

These numbers are approximate, but as you can see, the lighter-recoiling cartridges maintain >1,000 ft.-lbs. of energy at most common hunting distances. I don’t know what percentage of deer are shot within 100 yards, but I bet it’s close to a majority. On the other end of the spectrum, I’d be surprised if even 1% of deer are killed beyond 400 yards, though your specific needs will be dictated by where and how you hunt.

Bottom line? The .30-06 produces more recoil than other common deer cartridges, but unless you plan to take a shot beyond 500 yards, it doesn’t offer a tremendous in-the-field advantage.

But it sure does kill those deer dead. Fans of the .30-06 report that deer, much like our foes in World War II, often collapse when confronted with the raw power of the ‘06. I get that, but I think there are better options if you’re looking for an Ubermensch deer cartridge.

Take another look at the charts above. The 300 Win. Mag. and the 7mm Rem. Mag. both produce more recoil than the .30-06, but you probably don’t care too much about that if you’re already partial to the thirty-aught. However, those two other cartridges also offer significantly better downrange performance than the ‘06. They’re both humming along above 1,000 ft.-lbs. at nearly 1,000 yards, which offers about 200 additional yards of range (if you, for some reason, want to shoot that far). They also hit with more energy at the closer distances you’re more likely to actually take a shot.

Again, I don’t think you need a .30-06, 300 Win. Mag., or a 7mm Rem. Mag. to hunt deer. I suppose if you plan to shoot beyond 600 yards, those hotter cartridges might be necessary. But if you are dead-set on high-powered magnums, I think the .300 Win. Mag. and 7mm Rem. Mag. are better options–not to mention all the modern, usually more accurate cartridges that best even those tried-and-true designs.

I’m not suggesting–and never will–that the .30-06 is a bad deer cartridge. If you’re looking for a cartridge that can easily take a whitetail while also stepping up to elk, moose, and pretty much everything else in North America, the .30-06 is a great choice. But if you’re looking for a dedicated deer round, there are better options.

The ‘06 became a popular deer cartridge because deer are the most popular big game animal, and as a U.S. military round, the .30-06 was cheap and easy to find. The match makes sense, and it’s why thousands of hunters feel nostalgic for the old rifle round. Those hunters probably have a father or grandfather who shot dozens of deer with a sporterized M1903 Springfield or a Remington or Winchester from a Sears catalog. Those memories and associations are understandable and totally human, and if that’s why you love your .30-06 deer rifle (along with the aforementioned ability of the cartridge to kill deer dead), keep using it!

But if you’re a new hunter or someone who doesn’t enjoy hunting with granddad’s deer gun, you should know there are new and established cartridges that, in my humble opinion, are more suitable for deer than the old ‘06.