Forums.NitroExpress.com

Philip is a good guy but he does churn these articles out.

I have several 30 calibres, my customised Parker Hale .30-06 M98, a barrelled action M98 .30-06, a Tikka/Valmet U/O DR .30-06 barrel set, which I have never used o date. I detest people like that, and I have too many rifles un-used or rarely used. And a .308 BLR.

However my .30-6 Customised M98 Parker Hale 1200 HAS been used a hell of a lot. Hundreds of animals. When just out of High School I acquired this rifle, when dis-satisfied with the performance of my .222 Rem 788 on feral goats. It killed them, but too many were wounded and time wasted chasing them up. So I drove down to Adelaide to visit a seller, called "Tony Brown's Mans World", he was a barber, had a leather couch in his shop, sold some 'manly stuff' and believe it or not, had a rifle rack in his shop, with his personal firearms. Imagine that nowadays. Guys would hang out in his "man's world". Smoke and drink beers, while he cut hair. He told me he was selling his .30-06 as he rarely used it. I bought some reloads from him, including 220 gr Normas he had loaded for buffalo. I don't know if he used it on Buffalo.

I planned this rifle as my "international hunting rifle". For deer and feral hunting at home, but also a rifle capable of any medium game hunting anywhere in the world. Also in a cartridge chambering where cartridges could be bought most places in the world if needed.

I shot a lot of feral goats with it in the Northern Flinders Ranges. I remember one nanny, alerted it bounded up and stood on a cliff looking for me out in the wrong direction. I was only 20 metres directly behind it. A 150 gr Speer Hot-Cor or could have been a Nosler Solid Base HP right in the back of the head near the spine joint, caused it head to actually explode, and bits fly up and land in a wide circle all around me. Amazing. Another time some of my more longer range shooting, on the side of an arid mountain, I surprised a herd of goats, they ran and ended up fleeing across a ledgelike pathway in single file. Some 400 metres or yards away, I got behind my day pack, and sniped off goat after goat it falling off dead off the cliff. Until I gut shot one. It fall and lay at the bottom crying out. Could I hit and kill that goat ?!!! No. It took a couple of magazines before it was dead.

Also up there were some donkeys. Donkeys can be tough. Especially with bad idiot shooters like I shot with, I remember one guy managed to hit a donk in the hoof ... that is quite a miss ... I think I finished that one off.

We did bump in some camels as well, but they were too far off. One dickhead did try with his .22/250 ...

Talking about Donkeys, shot quite a few in the Kymberley with this .30-06. Donkeys are tough, but not when brain shot! This rifle was and is accurate.

My first deer, a red stag in North Island NZ, fell to it.

As did my second red stag, a cull from here in SA, a 10 or 11 point red stag.

A number of fallow bucks have fallen to it.

It was the rifle I took over twice when visiting Gryphon, and this rifle took a nice sambar stag.

This rifle travelled over on my first safari to Zimbabwe, for my honeymoon. Shot an impala, duiker, warthog, wildebeest, eland, kudu, and a zebra with it.

I was unhappy with its performance on that trip. The 180 gr Nosler Partitions were a bad batch. I think the front half were exploding in a shallow wound and the rear shank was shooting through like a solid. Caused a lot of problems. Luckily took some 200 gr Nosler Partitions Semi Pointed and they worked so much better, Judea the lead tracker thought t was a different rifle.

What else? A North Island feral Sheep! A ram. Probably other game I am forgetting.

By far, other than my .22 centrefires, it had shot the most game for me. With my .450 No.2 Nitro Express Jeffery double rifle, it is my go to rifle. And probably will stay that way. My M03 8x68S was purchased to replace the .30-06 as my "international hunting rifle" and being a takedown probably will. But not so far. Need a lot more hunting in my life for it to catch up.

This rifle could shoot three shot groups in one .30 calibre hole with the 180 gr Nosler. Or I missed the next two shots, ha ha.

Originally I had a Weaver Steel 4x scope on it, with a tapered post thin crosshair reticle. Was perfect for the rifle, out to any sensible shooting distance on medium sized game. Now a different scope sits on it.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"