Barrel length vs cartridge 308cal

[SamuelBerryhill308]

Hello all I'm trying to help my brother out he is looking at buying a new rifle and the rifles he is looking are chamber in 308 win has 1/10 twist and one in 30-06 1/11 twist but the 308 has a 22 inch barrel and the 30-06 has a 20 inch barrel. He is wanting to shoot hammer,and 175s to 210s i know the 195 eld-m and above are recommended for 1/10 twist minimum but will the 30-06 perform just the same or better with say 175s or 178s as a 308 with 208s or 210s but at a lower velocity.this will be a hunting and paper punching rifle and will be upgrading a few things on it. Out of these two calibers what does the 30-06 offer that the 22 inch 308 can't do and how much difference in fps will the 30-06 have over the 308 with the heavier bullets?

 

[jpd676]

That is a loaded question. It just depends. I would steer you toward the stability calculator on Berger's website. I am at 6050', shoot at 7000' and hunt up to 10K+. I have a .308, 20" with a 1/12 twist. At this elevation it shoots the 208 ELDM very well (out to 950) but didn't stabilize the 168 smk past 550 yards. Some barrels can be fast or slow. It also depends on the type of powder you can get for your loads. I tried several powders in my .308 and only got 2200 fps with the 208 bullet. I found some Reloader 17 and the low charge weight got me 2400' and one ragged hole groups. I think the 30-06 will still have the edge (100-150 fps would be my guess) but the .308 won't be far behind in what it can actually do.

 

[SamuelBerryhill308]

That is a loaded question. It just depends. I would steer you toward the stability calculator on Berger's website. I am at 6050', shoot at 7000' and hunt up to 10K+. I have a .308, 20" with a 1/12 twist. At this elevation it shoots the 208 ELDM very well (out to 950) but didn't stabilize the 168 smk past 550 yards. Some barrels can be fast or slow. It also depends on the type of powder you can get for your loads. I tried several powders in my .308 and only got 2200 fps with the 208 bullet. I found some Reloader 17 and the low charge weight got me 2400' and one ragged hole groups. I think the 30-06 will still have the edge (100-150 fps would be my guess) but the .308 won't be far behind in what it can actually do.

That's kinda what I was thinking I edited the post I had the twist rates wrong he's looking at a tikka in 30-06 and christensen or savage in the 308.hes also looki g at bergara ridge in 30-06 with 1/10 twist and 24inch barrel but he's wanting a lighter weight rifle.he also looked at the tika in 308 and it has a 1/11 twist rate barrel at 22 inches. We are at 800 to 900 feet her were we hunt in NC so it will be alot different from were your at. I recommend the 308 cartridge to begin with but that's mostly because I really like the 308 and have let seen much need for a 30-06 so I have a 300 wsm and a 300 win mag for the heavier pills and bigger game now saying the 308 can't kill elk just with 308 I would limit shots to say 450 or 500 years on elk depending on the load I was using.hes mostly looking for a lighter rifle but the rifles he likes is in these two cartridges but in od twist rates. I know in my 308 I hunt with I get just over 3000 fps with 152 hammer hunters and I really like that load on white tail and my 175 smk load is great at punching paper so I feel no need for 30-06 but for some reason he keeps going back to 30-06 I guess it would be interesting to see what a 30-06 with a short barrel would do.. I believe it would be loud and a fire breather

 

[Doom2]

I not a hunter but if you're looking at Hammer Bullets I think you need to look at lower weight bullets. You will have more twist with the 30-06. You have more powder so the real benefit is heavier bullets. For NC I don't think you are looking at shooting distances much beyond 300yds. The 308 should be equal to the task to 500-600yds. Beyond that I think the scale tips to the 30-06. Exactly where would depend on the bullets.