round selection

OK, DH (jimisod) missed what I feel is an important question. Exactly why do we call a 30-06 "thirty-ought six"? Why ought and not oh or zero??

OK, I'll go back under my lurker rock, now....but I really would like to know if anyone has any idea.

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Jen
If my typo's bother you, come on over and take a chair. We can discuss it over some "ham and swill calzones"
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The wife's (Ohio Dreamer) comments aside (although a good question for us collectors of useless knowledge) thanks for the information and opinions. I was not considering the .270 since it was smaller and that made me think it did not have the power for the larger game.

I bow to the comments on Ohio hunting restrictions to shotgun only. I have a cross bow for the bow season. I have not considered the muzzle loader either for no good reason.

All comments have placed me in a rougher spot. You have added the .270 to the original question (I only added it so no-one jumped in and screamed "hay they make that gun in .270!"). The muzzle loader would extend my season using bullet vs bolt.

All in all good food for thought. Since I am planning on buying after gun season, but before inventory, I still have time to make decisions.

The .30-06 cartridge uses a .30" diameter bullet and was developed by Springfield in 1906....thus "thirty ought six Springfield." Back at the turn of the century, people would refer to the first decade of years as "ought X". For instance, 1901 was referred to as "ought one" and 1905 was called "ought five" and so on.

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This is the government the Founding Fathers warned us about.....

Yep, and then when the 30 aught 6 had kids, some of them took the family name, like the 25 aught 6 and the 22 aught 6 Easling and the 8mm aught 6.

The original round was a 30-03, but it only made it to 1906, I guess.

Thanks guys!!! We really do love all the "useless knowledge", as DH puts it.

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Jen
If my typo's bother you, come on over and take a chair. We can discuss it over some "ham and swill calzones"
Follow us at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimisod/

No problem. I know how easily women can get confused when talking about firearms.

BTW, when we talk about "double ought" buckshot, we are not talking about a buckshot size that was first introduced in 1900....okay?

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This is the government the Founding Fathers warned us about.....

Of course not, that would be confusing.
The bigger the shot number, the smaller the shot.
The bigger the gauge number, the bigger the shotshell.
A .410 isn't a gauge, it's a bore diameter.

Simple, really. And makes perfect sense.

I think you got that backwards, didn't you?

A 12 gauge is a smaller number but a bigger shotshell than a 20 gauge.

Gauge is determined by the number of round lead balls of that diameter required to weigh one pound.

Actually the 30-06 was an improvement on the 30-03 which was developed in aught 3...because the '03 was not as good as the latest improvements in the German 8mm and the USA wanted something compareable to the 'improved' 8mm.

Well, I only been a handloader for 30 years and a shooter for 46, so I get confused. But I know the red ones go in the 20 ga and the purple in the 12 and the yellow in the 16 and the 410s will go in any of them.

I have some 30-03 cartridges in my collection. The differences are very subtle, but they came up with a winner in the final round.

I know what you mean about getting confused. The older I get the more "confused" moments I get.