Is the .308 Win 7.62 X 51 still a Long Range Hunting Cartridge?

[FEENIX]

I saw a guy kill a cow elk at 300+ yards...he was lobbing them though...

Exactly!

 

[Turpentine21]

Here I go counting on my suspect memory again but I seem to remember reading an article where Elmer Keith killed a mule deer at 600 yards with his 6 gun in 45LC. It did take him two shots to connect. Talk about lobbing them in there!

 

[GUNNNN]

How far we are being engaged had nothing to do with my post, I was simply saying none of our "enemies" carry 7.62x51. And if our troops run out of ammo using enemy ammo is not a viable option. That's all I was speaking to. I served my time in Afghanistan and was a designated marksmen. Not saying that means I know everything the army does etc, and not saying that qualifies me as better than anyone. But I very well understand enemy engagement at distances that a 223 and 308 are not the absolute best for the job.

Thank you for your service brother

 

[M118LR]

Well I guess the way to figure this is the other way round. Let's start with say an average Rocky Mountain Elk. With 3MOA as a figure of merit and roughly a 24 inch broadside, that means that a 700 yard shot falls easily within those parameters. Now A Projectile with roughly a .275 SD would need to arrive at 700 yards with at least 1800 fps of velocity and 1000 ft/lbs of kinetic energy. Currently I don't find a loading that gets the .308 Win to that level. So I'm going to say that the .308 Win isn't a viable long distance Rocky Mountain Elk hunting round using my expectations. It runs short at the intermediate range of 500-600 yards and won't deliver what I expect at 700. Now on smaller white tails etc where a broadside of 3MOA and a slightly lower SD would be required to fit the parameters of 500 yards would be attainable Long Range Shooting for white tail etc from the .308 Win. Basically, the smaller size of a vital zone using a 3MOA figure of merit for an actual shot taken afield wouldn't constitute the 700 yard distance afforded Rocky Mountain Elk. So if consider the .308 Win good to go on less than Rocky Mountain Elk.