Mine was free; my first centerfire, a 17th birthday gift from my Aunt & Uncle and the rifle with which I took my first deer.
Thing is, there is no real disadvantage to this rifle over a .308 Win in 99.9% of situations... the "why" as Steelhead pointed out implies that "bigger and faster is always better" which itself assumes that the practical difference between a lever in 308 Win and 30 WCF are bigger than what in my experience they really are.
