I am not much of a hunter. A friend uses his "270" to hunt. In looking at wikipedia, it seems the diameter is .277 inch. I suppose they round this down to .270. Ok, I can live with that.

My friend also has a 30-06. In looking at wikipedia, it says the diameter is .308. Like the "270", why don't they round and call it a "30 cal".

If they want to be exact, why not call it a "30-80".

To be consistent, why don't they call the 270 a "27-70"?

Why the extra significant figures for the 30-06 (which don't even seem to be correct)?

Sorry if this is a stupid question. The only reason I ask is so I look stupid on the internet and not in the deer blind.

Am I missing something?

Not sure if this is going to end well for you.

A .30-06 and a .308 are the same bullet, just different casing lengths. The .308 is a short-action cartridge, whereas the .30-06 is a long-action. If I recall correctly (I don't feel like googling at this particular moment, but feel free to double-check me), the nomenclature ".30-06" translates to ".30 caliber, designed in 1906" or something along those lines.

Edit for my stupidity. Thanks Horse With No Name.

[This message has been edited by Georgia_Ag (edited 12/18/2012 1:56p).]

[This message has been edited by Georgia_Ag (edited 12/18/2012 4:13p).]

Developed in 1906. There was an article in a recent gun magazine about caliber/round nomenclature. I think there's a pretty good book about it too. Can't remember the name though.

Georgia, you shoulda stopped at the '06 explaination. The 7mm-08 is based on the .308 cartridge and has nothing to do with 1908.

The .30-06 and its development is very integral to military history, and makes for a good read if you ever have a minute to kill on quick search.

Yeah I almost made the mistake of comparing it to the 45-70 but it's a 45 caliber bullet that takes a 70 grain BP charge. It was actually designed in 1873. Things get pretty confusing when it comes to cartridge designations.

You mean like a .30-30?

And the nomenclature "ought" is just old-timers' way of saying "zero" with reference to a year. For example, if you were referring to 1900, you'd say "way back in ought and ought..." Hence, 1906 is spoken "ought six".

It gets interesting when you are referring to 30 caliber cartridges because you have
30-06, 30-30, 7.62x54, 7.62x39, and the .308 which in military terms is 7.62 Nato or 7.62x51.

sorry, I was just going by wikipedia:

Several names for the number 0 include "aught" and "ought".

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"7mm-08" would translate to "7mm rifle designed in 1908."

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The 308 Winchester was introduced in 1952. The 7mm-08 was the 308Win necked down to 7mm...creating the 7mm(bore)-08(308Win Cartridge).

The 25-06 says hi!

the 30-06 cartridge necked down to .257...

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.308 which in military terms is 7.62 Nato or 7.62x51

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While these are very similar rounds they are not identical. The commercial .308 is loaded a little hotter than the standard 7.62 NATO.

And .308 not = 7.62mm

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Just like "7mm-08" would translate to "7mm rifle designed in 1908."

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Actually it was made a factory round in 1980 but big green was afraid that 7mm-80 would sound too powerful or get confused with the 280 Rem, since they fire the same bullets, so they just flipped it to -08.

Which is the opposite from the 5.56x45 and the .223. In this case the 5.56x45 generates a higher casing pressure and has a longer leade.

Actually it was a wildcat round that came about in the 1950's and was tabbed as 7mm/308.

Remington intially called it a 7mm cipher8 but changed to 7mm 08 to avoid confusion.

Don't forget about the .243 either

The .30-06 is a .30 cal bullet that was ADAPTED by the US Gov't in 1906.Not invented. then

For some excellent bathroom reading, pick up a copy of Cartriges of the World. Excellent resource:

http://www.amazon.com/Cartridges-World-Complete-Illustrated-Reference/dp/0896899365

Sunchaser, I was joking.

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The 7mm-08 is based on the .308 cartridge and has nothing to do with 1908.

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BS it is clearly based on a .243 case.

Slip....Ditto.

Side benefit is someone probably looked up cipher.

schmellba99 said:

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Don't forget about the .243 either

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What about the .244 or the 6mm Remington?

Edit: sheesh - didn't even catch that it was a necro'd thread.

You "ought" to know.....

An excellent question from the OP.

Caliber names etc can get confusing especially when the gun/ammo companies put their own labels on them.
Best example I know of: .300 Win Mag/.300 Weatherby/.300 Savage/.300 Blackout....