Quote: ... or because you've decided that a 308 or 30-06 was enough gun and that other things like noise, powder consumption, barrel wear, weight, length, ammo availability, and mag capacity seem like more sensible things to start caring about. Also, it seems to me that there is a distinction between being able to handle recoil and liking it.
Precisely.
I sold off all my magnums, and I've hunted all over NA. When I do get to Africa, I have little doubt my 308 Winchester will not be found wanting on any non-dangerous game.
I also wonder how many people have been hurt due to shooting rifles that kick too hard for them to shoot well along with how much game has gotten away wounded due to the same problems.
If you've ever paged through the book "Ruger, The Man And His Guns" you'll see in its pages a battered old M77 in 308 that was used by an Australian Rancher to kill in excess of 12,000 head of game! The rifle was preseted to Bill Ruger as a gift... the 308 works, period.
Speaking of Bell, in later years, he wrote that of all cartridges then available, (1954) he thought that the .308 Winchester, loaded with a solid bullet at least four diameters long, (220 grains) would be the ideal load for the kind of elephant shooting for which he once used the 6.5X54mm and 7X57mm. He thought that the short action required for this cartridge would make cycling a new round into the chamber faster and more reliable.
I note that T.R. used the original 150-grain .30 caliber 1906 Springfield ammo for plains game shooting during his 1909 safari. He found it to be an excellent killer BECAUSE IT TUMBLED ON IMPACT, making a wound comparable to what it would have made had it been an expanding bullet!
I think the biggest myth biggest mistake in hunting and shooting in underestimating the 7X57, 308, 270 class, and overestimating the 7mm, 270 mag, 300 supercharged class.
Posts: 631 | Location: North Dakota | Registered: 14 March 2002
All I know is, my preferred .300 Win. Mag. will do everything that the .308 Win. will and then some. In my experience, the various .300s are ideal African plainsgame cartridges for all classes of plainsgame up thru eland, plus leopard. The only reason to choose either the .30-06 or .308 Win. over a .300 is if you just can shoot the .300 well because of recoil.
