Major Caliber,

Read this Shooting Holes in Wounding Theories

[/QUOTE]The .308 is the only caliber I've used that has NEVER dropped anything in it's tracks, that's everthing from rabbit's, deer. and hogs.[/QUOTE]

THAT just might be the most unintentionally funny thing that I've ever read on a shooting forum.

quote:

Originally posted by Big-foot:

The .308 is the only caliber I've used that has NEVER dropped anything in it's tracks, that's everthing from rabbit's, deer. and hogs.[/QUOTE]


Don't you just hate the armor wearing rabbits??

a .308 bullet of whatever weight,from a 308, 30/06, 300WM, or any other 30 calibre at "X" fps will drop anything on this continent. I can't imagine that one calibre, the 308 Win, is an exception. Am I missing something?

This is getting funny,
I started this post cause I was thinking of bying a .308 instead of a .270. When i was shopping I found a beaytifull 308 kimber, and I wanted to buy it, but I decided to look around a little mor, found a .270,
As far Major caliber goes, I still have not herd him say its a bad round only that he has not done well with it, I bet he knows its a good round...tj3006

I have had a bias against the 308 Winchester that I am finally getting over. The cartridge came out just when I started handloading and at that point the 30-06 dominated all thinking and experiance.

Since the M70's then only came as a long action with just a short stroke for the 308 it made no sense to bother with the new round and since I could get all the free 30-06 ammo that I could shoot from the DCM I ignored the 308 and in fact held personal feelings for the great round that had won all the wars to date.

Not only that but much of the target shooting available to me at that formative time was slow fire at 200 yds and both .30's were way too much for trying to win in terms of recoil.

Today I want lighter rifles and now the 308 makes sense to me. To each his own as there are lots of good cartridges.

If I can manage to deflate to some degree my sometimes overinflated Ballistic Ego, then I would have to say that everything that I have done with my 270Weath,300Weath,.338win, could have comfortably been done with the humble .308win and a wise selection of bullet.

If we launch a not unreasonably achievable 180gnXBT@2600, at 300yds it has 2100v/1800e. use the TSX and its even better.
In comparison, if we launch an Aframe180gn30/06@2730, at 300yds it has 2080v/1730v.
Give me the .308win180tsx@2600 over that aframe06 load anyday. Less recoil,higher retained energy,superior penetration.
Not saying the 308 is better than an 06, just talking about what we can easily do with the Ugly Duckling .308win. if we use our brains to combine an efficient cartridge with tough versatile well ballistically designed bullets.

I would imagine that most of the people on this forum have several choices of rifles to use when they go hunting. I am in the same situation and the decision each year of, which to use, gets more difficult to make. I usually end up carring a 308 just because I have confidence in my ability with it. Not that any thing else wouldn't do just as well, I just know what is going to happen when I pull the trigger.
Where do you shoot a rabbit with a 308 that it doesn't really make a mess much less stop it in it's tracks.

All I can say is, all the deer I shot with a .308 has been one shot drop dead right there kills. Also, the .308 has been responsible for my shortest and longest shots on deer. The longest? It was 427 yards with a still load of H-335 and 150 gr. Sierra Pro-hunter, although they didn't them that way back then.
The shortes was 6 feet when a hunting partner spooked a deer badly and it came running past me. I just had to reach out and shoot. Same gun, load and bullet. The .308 has become over the years as my favorite cartridge for deer. I use bigger caliber rifles for elk, but i would not feel under armed if all I could take was my .308.
Paul B.

MajorCaliber, I have to agree with 308Sako. It sure sounds like a shot placement problem. The only other concideration could be bullet failure.