On this forum the .308 Win has been underestimated on many occasions and preference given to many other calibres in spite of the fact that the reliable .308 can do it all and most of the time better than the other more sofisticated medium bore rifles.

In my opinion it is a question of using the bullets that really gives the best results.

This was once again proven correct in our recent hunt in Kwa-Zulu Natal where GS Custom HV 130gr monolithic bullets performed extremely well.
Most hunters will tell you that the .308 is not the best choice when hunting Kudu and similar game, but I've seen it quite differently in the case where the better performing bullet was used.

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Your opinion on this statement would be appreciated.

the .308 is boring...

Everytime I point mine at an animal, it kills it.

Seriously, I love this caliber. Shoot it a lot. the big mags get all the attention, but what a lot of people don't know is that a .308 has the same wind drift at 615 yards as a .300 RUM has at 700. In other words, if you could hit everytime at 700 with a RUM, you should be able to do so at 615 with a .308.

Its recoil is nice and it is inexpensive to load for.

I am just getting ready to load some rounds for my .308. The .308 is a great round. I have said for years we gun nuts are as illogical as any group of guy,s I can think of. I own 13 center fire rifles . On the light side is my .257 Roberts, on the heavy side is my .338 win 35 Whelen or 45/70. As a hunter The chances of me taking any game I might hunt in the lower 48 are about equal inside 300 yards with any of my rifles excluding the roberts, its a little light for Elk or moose, but inside 300 yards my 7mm Mauser or .308 with the right bullet will kill um just as dead as any of my boomers, I just like rifles, wonder what #14 will be ? ...tj3006

In my case, I have a 308 that generally shoots faster than any 30-06 I own. I have one of the Remington stainless VSS with a 26" barrel. With my best handloads it shoots faster than any of the 4 30-06's with 22" barrels. So, I generally find the comments degrading the 308 to be rather interesting. I generally feel the are equals except for case length.

I've had six 308's (I like it!) but have never had any come close to an 06... the 06 will always best it by 100 to 200 fps... it's just not possible to be any other way except to run the 308 at excessive pressure.

quote:

Originally posted by buckeyeshooter:
In my case, I have a 308 that generally shoots faster than any 30-06 I own. I have one of the Remington stainless VSS with a 26" barrel. With my best handloads it shoots faster than any of the 4 30-06's with 22" barrels. So, I generally find the comments degrading the 308 to be rather interesting. I generally feel the are equals except for case length.

Try the 308 with a 30" barrel and it will shoot the Palma MK to 1000 yds supersonic. Then cut the 06 barrels to 16".

Wow looks like a wonderful hunt with great accomodations. In you info you said you were getting the 130 grain bullet at 3200 fps. Did you actually chrono the load that fast? I have some Hv bullets on hand but have not tried to push them that hard. The ones I've shot haven't been that accurate but I have not tested them enough to pass judgement by any means. Wow--that kind of speed with that kind of bullet adds new meaning to "efficiency" with the .308.

My backyard gun mechanic recorded the speed on his chrono as I have requested him to go to the maximum speed recommended by the bullet maunufacturer.

He was also happy that absolutely no signs of excessive pressure was noticed during test rounds fired.

I also experienced no problems whatsoever in the hunting field with any stuck cases or anything else.
The test shots gave good accuracy and I have seen that in the real hunt as well where the shots were placed on the positions aimed for.

The results with the .308 (1:10" twist) and the GS Custom HV's were outstanding.

When I was looking for my first high power, the helpful gun shop clerk kept pointing out the .308.

Not flashy, no big boom, but it is accurate and gets the job done.

The 308 Win. is one of the great unsung cartridges, but in terms of efficiency, accuracy, minimal hassles, and light recoil it's one of the best.

For some reason I've never had a rifle in 308 that I've really like, but I've had quite a few 30-06s that were stupendous guns. That's just the way it's worked out for me........

AD

I moved from the .300 Savage to the .308 Win because the later cartridge came in some great carbines. Now I am almost always hunting with my Steyr Scout in .308 Win (with low power variable scope mounted over action: just now a VXIII Leupold 1.5-6X).

I have been shooting 180 grain bullets, but recently I have moved down to 165 gr and 150 gr. So far only one whitetail deer (a 300# Sask monster and a California 150# wild boar have been suitably impressed with the lighter bullets).

jim

quote:

Originally posted by Brad:
I've had six 308's (I like it!) but have never had any come close to an 06... the 06 will always best it by 100 to 200 fps... it's just not possible to be any other way except to run the 308 at excessive pressure.

Not necesarily so. We had a Super K-mart close down due to poor sales and they were liquidating everything rather than transfer it to another store. I bought out all their 30-30, .308 Win. and 30-06 ammo for really cheap.
I ran a comparison of the .308 180 gr. Silvertops against the 30-06 180 gr. Silvertips, and the .308 consistantly beat the 30-06 by a considerable margin. Both rifles had 22" barrels. I then tried the 30-06 in two other rifles, one with 24" barrel and another Ruger #1 with 26" barrel. Even from a 26" barrel, the 30-06 was beat by the .308 by 20 FPS.
FWIW, I've long had the suspicion that the factories had downloaded the 30-06 even further that it's normally emascualted level. As far as I am concerned, suspicions confirmed.
Paul B.

Paul, I'm speaking of handloads... comparing factory loads isn't exactly a fair test. Loaded to the same pressure the 30-06 always runs faster by 100 to 200 fps.

Where is ElDeguello with his "rifles are individuals" sig?

In my experience the 06 isnt really very efficent with the lighter bullets from 165 grs on down and the 308 will either match it or come very close all day long, which is why I now save my 165 grainers for my 308 and 300 savage. But with the bigger bullets (180's on up) it easily walks away from the 308.

Despite differing opinions, the military uses the 308 with good reason. It is an amazing little cartridge. Funny, I never thought of it as a plainsgame round, dont ask my why not because I have no answer. It would certianly get it done.

Possbibly the reason the 308 has gained a great reputation for perfomance is it operates in the speed range that ALL bullets are designed to do their best at. YUP the "superbullets" hold together pretty good when we push them at 3300-3800 but in my opinion if you are gonna recover one that looks like a picture from an ad it's gonna come from a gun like an '06 or the good old 308.

I think it's safe to say that I am more than a little bit pre disposed to the favorable side on this one! The .308 has taken for me every animal I have asked of it from Moose & Cariboo to Bears, and so called lesser species. Bullet selection is the key to easy success. Try it you will like it.

Great cartridge, the .308 Win. I call it the big, little round as most people dismiss it based on its look. Hence it is greatly underestimated, and undervalued. I have one in the rifle that introduced it, Winchester pre 64 M70 featherweight. It shoots great too, 150gr Sierra spitzer @ just under 2,900 fps out of a 22" barrel with accuracy other cartridges would kill for, see photo below, shot this yesterday:



Just to show this is not a fluke, I shot the follwoing target previous time out with it, same load as yesterday:



Cheers & God bless,
Magnum308