Where does .308 Winchester excel?

[SSG Graybush]

Let's call it the German Short Haired Pointer of rifle cartridges…..the versatile champ.

My Wirehaired Pointing Griffons would disagree

 

[jbronner13]

My Wirehaired Pointing Griffons would disagree

I say this as an English Setter man myself…..ever the contrarian

 

[jbronner13]

But I guess it speaks to the point….sometimes versatile is boring…..what if we all drove Honda CRV's…….it's not practical at all but give me a 1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 and I'll pop the CRB into neutral and push the CRV into a lake

 

[jbronner13]

Wouldn't take a corvette off-roading…..it's always about how and what you are using something for. I am just echoing what others have said but the 308 works for me up here in the northeast for anything I would hunt. I could take it out west and shoot elk at ethical distances for me confidently (under 400 yards) because I practice with it a lot. I am able to do that because of great barrel life and cheap, readily available ammo. But again the old saying "when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail." If you need a gun, cartridge for a very specific route/task, get that specialty product. What I find so enticing about the 308/30-06 families is our ability to now easily make switch barrel rifles and swap out barrels in 15 minutes or less. What's not to like with this? Especially as a hand loader with resizing dies.

Which begs the question of 30-06 or 308 family then…..my 2 cents….30-06, what we can do now with a faster twist 270 win, coupled with the 6.5-06 and the ability to have a 35 Whelen all with a couple barrels, wrenches and gauges….sign me up coach

 

[jbronner13]

The M14 still rules against bolt guns on occasion. This was high power championship, not service rifle championship.


View attachment 395934

And, at 600 yards when the wind goes up to 30 MPH against the 16s driven by some of the best in the business. 2012 Louisiana by a 60 yo young man.

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And he only won 10 dollars?

 

[Montana'eer]

I don't have a love affair with the cartridge itself, but I do appreciate the package I do have- a 20" Rem 5R. It was stupid simple to work up a 168 match load, and the same load pushes 165 Game Kings almost identically. It's a perfect steel banger at 600yds and a 300-400 yard deer gun. Plus it is awesome to carry with me when I go hunting with my older friend. My 26" barrel 7mm mag is a PITA to carry in his RAZR. The 20" barrel on the 5R? Perfect!

It's a great truck/Razr rifle, useful if presented with an opportunity while beating down ranch roads or oil/gas ROW's. I can keep my 7mm-mag in the carrier while travelling and have a handy quick handling .308 in the cab. Works for me!!

PS my older friend saw how much easier it was to carry a shorter barrel .308 in the cab, so he just had built an AR-10 for the same purpose- .308

 

[jbronner13]

My current build project is a Remage, built on a standard, Rem 700 stainless short action, Magpul 700 Hunter stock, triggertech primary trigger, Red Hawk Rifles aluminum hinged floor plate set up, 21 inch Shaw heavy sporter contour barrel, Mack Bros bolt, doing NECG fiber optic sight up front with a shallow v rear sight, warne maxima bases with maxima qd rings and a tract toric 2-10x BDC scope in 308 Win….if I get bored all I need is a crescent wrench and some go/no go gauges and a new barrel and I have a 7mm-08, 6.5 creedmoor, 338 federal, etc.

 

[Lenny Foffa]

I agree with Mr. Elk Hunter. Its good a lot of things, not the greatest at anything. That is not a disrespectful remark, merely an observation. I would love to own a fine rifle, Bulit on a pre 64 Model 70 action, 20 inch barrel, Soft Rust bluing on all metal ,Mannlicher stocked in High Grade English Walnut , chambered in 308. topped with a Leupold 1.5X to 5X scope. Even for a .270 freak like me, that would be a real prize!!!

 

[jbronner13]

I agree with Mr. Elk Hunter. Its good a lot of things, not the greatest at anything. That is not a disrespectful remark, merely an observation. I would love to own a fine rifle, Bulit on a pre 64 Model 70 action, 20 inch barrel, Soft Rust bluing on all metal ,Mannlicher stocked in High Grade English Walnut , chambered in 308. topped with a Leupold 1.5X to 5X scope. Even for a .270 freak like me, that would be a real prize!!!

I love having projects….couple years ago I bought a good condition 1954 manufactured model 70 standard receiver….after 3 years of scouring guns international and eBay I finally have all the parts (getting a matching bolt was a PITA, I had to but each part separately and make sure everything matched up). I decided to go with 6.5x55 Swede in a 24 inch barrel. Not a particularly practical cartridge that really excels at anything….but we make C students president in this country most of the time, our current one may be a D student, so I figured hey, why not?

 

[Teri Anne]

My 300 wm with a max load of 78 grs of H1000 pushes a 208 amax at 2882 fps, 26" barrel. It shoots very well at 1000 yards. At 1000 yards it has about 1270 #'s of energy, compared to a 308 with a 185 jug starting at say 2664 fps which would have about 750 #'s of energy.
In a 3 to 8 mph fv variable wind the 308 would drift between .6 and 1.7 mils, the 300 wm drifts .4 to 1.3 mils. So you can split the difference and get a hit on a regular sized 18 inch wide silhouette with the 300 wm, you can not with a 308. In any caliber its the same. A 6.5 Grendel shooting a 123 gr .51 g1 bc bullet at 2500 fps is hard to get consistent hits at 1000 in the same wind, compared to a 6.5 cm shooting a 147 gr .629 g1 bc bullet at 2650 fps. I use this analogy cuz Ive seen it numerous times at my range.
Better bc coupled with slightly more speed reduces the margin of error. Whether its holdoff or even vertical dispersion. Am not hating on the 308. Its pretty good enough for hunting within distances most shots are taken. But for long range, its lacking. 3006 is a good round. But imo a .6+ g1 bc bullet going over 2850 fps is the standard for any long range round, in any caliber. Especially for hunting where moa or better accuracy is needed to be ethical at distance.

I am not quite what you are getting at here? Your dissertation is well thought out however trying to compare the .308 to the 300WM is like trying to compare peanuts to pumpkins. They are no where in the same class or ballpark. I have 2 rifles in .308 and one in 300WM. They are both useful in their own way, but nowhere comparable other than they use the same .308 caliber bullets. A 308 can take on a 300 WM out to 600 yards but beyond that it is a toss up who will win. Actually out to 600 I would put my money on the guy shooting the 308 rather than the guy being beaten up by the prone recoil of the 300 WM. Keep in mind that I am not making this claim out of the blue. Own both and shoot both on a regular basis. Each round has it's place in the pecking order and all the peckings are different.

 

[Joefrazell]

Recently I've thought about buying a Tikka CTR in .308 as I no longer have a rifle in that caliber after selling my model 10 and already have a 6.5 Creed in a bravo. But it's got me thinking, with all the cartridges that are out now, does it really make sense to buy one new? The ballistics are worse than It's smaller caliber derivatives, it has more recoil, and any animal I would feel comfortable shooting with .308 I'd also shoot with a 6/6.5/7mm and .223 given a good projectile in it's effective range. The biggest points in it's favor that I can think of are
1. Ammo cost relative to the 6/6.5/7mms although those seem to be coming down a bit
2. Ammo ubiquity compared to 6/6.5/7mms
3. Potentially a good trainer as it drifts more in the wind, but I feel like the same thing could be done with .223
What am I missing? The point of this thread isn't to try and **** on .308, I just can't think of a reason I should get one even though I'm likely going to eventually.

.308 is actually a really good training rifle as your not getting away with positional form flaws. It's gunna keep you honest. Your gunna have to get good at reading wind and your not going to break the bank. Loonngggg barrel life. Components are affordable and easy to find. So although it's not the best in any actual shooting sport or for hunting it's still very practical as a training cartridge.

 

[OG10]

Ok now it's cool again...

 

[Montana'eer]

Ok now it's cool again...

I'm starting to tinker with the new 169gr Sierra MKs. So far promising.

 

[vedauvoo]

The 308 clearly excels at provoking long, interesting, educational and sometimes passionate and humorous discussion!