Where does .308 Winchester excel?

[Janno05]

Let me preface this by saying that I am primarily an archery guy and the only reason a rifle gets taken out if the safe for hunting is if I need to fill a tag I wasn't able to with a bow. The rifle of choice for that is a tikka in .308, because it's easy. A 130gd ttsx will kill anything I would point it at, was easy to develop a load for, and if I need factory ammo I know I can find it. There are probably a hundred better calibers that I could use for whitetail out to 400 (I am the limiting factor), and the deer wouldn't know the difference

 

[340Wby-4-everything]

Best poster ever. Course now I guess next we will hear about how useless a 300 win mag is? From another post or several I've read here in the past actually, "shoot what you like and enjoy and pay little or no attention to what anyone else thinks." The one thing I like about the creedmore is it has made a lot more bullets available for my 264 win mag.

 

[JamesWilson5]

Only thing I could see it good for is taking space in safe or gun cabinet

 

[Stevenstl86]

.308 has become easier to source components to load for since the CM craze. I've had 24" 11.25 gap .308 rifles shoot 1k no problem. Sure CM and PRC make it easier but I would use a magnum to take game at that distance nothing smaller.

 

[Samesaw]

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 a do all cartridge and does it well. It has also proven itself taking virtually all big game in North America over the past 100 years. The .223 cartridge is an excellent varmit round, but much to light on most big deer. It is a FMJ war round designed to tumble and wound humans when hit, not kill outright. It takes an extra solder to remove a wounded soldier off the battlefield. And you can carry twice the ammo vs the bigger .308 round.

 

[Greyfox]

The acquisition if my 308's occurred when I became interested in extending my "precision" hunting range out to 600 yards…..About 20 years ago. With very little being written or detailed, I bought Plasters book, "The Ultimate Sniper" which I could translate many of the principles and techniques to LR hunting. The bulk of the technical content pertained to the 308 Winchester, and the limited availability, Remington 700 Mil-Spec 308 with its heavier(M24 styled) barrel was consistently capable of delivering sub .5MOA performance with a variety of bullet types. This proved out well! My usual rifles were sporters in 30-06/270. Rangefinders back the were for the most part in their infancy unless you wanted to spent the price of several rifles. Following Plasters book, I used a Mil based Mark 4 to range with good success out to 600 yards. At the time Iused the same rifle to successfully compete in 200-300 yard Egg Shoots for which the 308 shined. After a few years of success I did eventually evolve to cartridges that proved to be ballistically superior, and capable of extending my effective range. With the exception of an occasional Vintage Sniper match and various fun shoots, my 308's no longer see much use.
It did it's job at the time; my first 500 yard whitetail, Mil-ranged, heart shot- DRT, 308, …..20 years ago. My MilSoec 700 with Mark 4 3.5x10X.

 

[gvjm]

Just my experience, I did the 6.5 CM thing and I've owned at least one 308 my whole adult life. I only hunt deer/hogs/coyotes, whatever shows up at the deer lease that the owner wants gone. Ranges are under 300 yards. But in the field I saw nothing that impressed me with the 6.5. It seemed to me that animals ran farther and bled less from the 6.5 than the 308, I don't need to mention my 7 mag. Even my 300 Hamr caused more bleeding. After 3 kills I gave up on the CM, just not enough terminal damage on game. Another reason is bullets. Since I'm not a PRS shooter and would never take a shot longer than 500 yards on game the 308 offers at least one bullet that outperforms the 6.5. The Speer 165 BTSP with a .520 BC advertised. I can get 2840fps out of my 24" 700 with MOA all day. When you put that bullet with that velocity into a ballistic calculator it outperforms almost all 6.5 hunting loads. I used it last year as well as my 7 mag and you'd be hard pressed to tell any difference in performance, at least in that example. I just think in normal hunting situations the 308 is superior. In long range events, clearly the 6.5 out runs it. As to recoil I'm either lucky or smart, before they went out of production I bought a Knoxx Axiom recoil reducing stock for my 308, recoil is of absolutely no concern.

 

[Tidus56]

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.

You basically nail it on the head with your post and you aren't missing anything. You explained a 308 just as it is. Based on your understanding it appears you know the answer to your question, it excels nowhere. But if you want one buy it, you can own a rifle in any cartridge you want it's America baby! I would say you're being redundant if you already have a creed, but you do you. I would say maybe consider a larger offering so you cover more game and can carry more energy down range. Maybe a 300 PRC, 30 Nosler, 28 Nosler or 300 win mag something in that range.

 

[Outdrmn]

My 308 excels at what I let my family and friends use when I'm teaching them how to Shoot and hunt.

 

[orifdoc]

I think there are places and times where the .308 is a wonderful choice. PG hunting in Africa is one of them. Most African PHs will not be terribly excited if you show up with a fast, ballistically superior "small bore." Most of them are rather disinterested in anything that happens beyond 300 yards. They tend to prefer larger, relatively slow bullets, and they have plenty of reasons to think this way. For the majority of hunting on that continent, long range hunting is a minor consideration. Certainly this perception is gradually changing, but In the realm of "tame 300", the .308 excels. There is no end to the number of bullet options in .308.

My PH in Africa carries a .308 Tikka as his backup gun for PG hunts and does not hesitate to use it on eland or even in the rare situations when a lion or leopard needs a hole in it.

 

[if4not]

I have a rifle for deer, a different rifle for hogs, and a third for elk, and a 4th for long range plinking The back-up gun for all four is the same .308. It's also my loaner. That's why I think you should have one.

 

[med358-boise]

Where does the 308 excell? - everywhere!

Varmints 155 scenars
Medium game 150-168
Large Game 168-180

Easy to reload, easy to find components.

Other than squirells, coyotes, antelope, pigs, deer, elk, and moose - I have not used a 308 much.

I always laught at the people who say a 300 Win Mag is good for elk at 600 yards but a 308 win is no good for elk at 400 yards. Guess what - the bullets are travelling the same velocity.

 

[sfdoc2000]

My wife killed her buffalo with a .308. I've seen many elk down to javelina taken with the .308. I used to shoot my M1A in military match to 600. Best score at 600 yards (prone, no rest, open sight) was 200-14X. I am now preparing to shoot F-TR class which requires military cartridge out to 1000 yards accurately. again .308. So really no problems with accuracy with properly set up rifle and understanding ballistics of the weapon and load.
Regarding wind drift, this really has nothing to do with bullet weight or lateral profile. Wind drift is measured by the time required to get to the target minus the time it would take in a vacuum (slowing time) then multiply this number by the wind speed. More slowing time and greater wind speed means ;more wind drift. Simple. Buy the .308. Like others have stated, it is versatile, good at many things, excels at none. For Formula ! racing you need a Formula 1 Car. For everyday driving in cities and on highways you can't beat Chevy ( there will be some interesting comments on this). Best regards

 

[westexhunt]

308 excels at versatility. Tikka CTR is a very capable and versatile rifle. One of my favorites. If forced to only have one of my rifles, that's what it would be.