Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Remington 760's: .308 vs. 30-06?

Of the two, which would you pick and why?

Local shop has two Remington 760's, similar vintage, similar condition, one in 30-06 and the other in .308. Same price for both.

I don't own a pump-rifle, and I feel I need one for the sake of comprehensiveness.

I reload for both calibers, and have ample stock on hand of each so ammunition is not a concern.

06 would be the way I'd fly, have had two of the 760C's in 06 and both shot sub 1" with ease.

Dober

Thanks 'Dober. For a second there I thought you were going to day ".270" Somebody will here eventually...

Well.......you could always rebarrel. The soundness of that idea comes with age and maturity..grin

Dober

If resale is a consideration at some point , 308s are usually worth a little more ! That being said , the action only comes in one length , so why not use it all . 30-06 , plus Mags are easier to find !

Well, I am turning 30 soon so maybe I should hold out for a .270

I'd pick the 06 if everything else on the guns are equal.

That's the way I'm leaning. The 308 has a better trigger, but has been cut for a pad whereas the 30-06 has the original buttplate. The 308's forearm rattles just a bit, and is of a later, larger design than the 06's forearm. The 308 does have a Leupold M8 4x long-tube on it, though, and the 06's doesn't so that's the only confounding variable.

308, then call Douglas to order a 338 Federal barrel. Then you'd be covered in cool + have a brand new caliber to load for!

Tell the seller he'll have to swap buttstocks to make the deal!

The first thing I thought when I saw the 308 was "358 Win rebore!"

I've got a 358 or otherwise I'd have suggested that! But I'm tryin to fill my 308 family and the 338 is out there looming somewhere.

In that case I'd get the .308 if the prices are the same.

The rattles won't bother anything but you. When you carry it the rattle is gone. Add a 1/2-1" decelerator on the butt stock and kill the heck out of stuff.

If you go the 358 route, load some 357 110 grain hollow points to rifle velocities, and then go all the way up to 250 grain silver tips and: sorry to borrow from one of our member's names, but you've got yourself a 760 SPLATTERMATIC!! BTW, he's got the best name on this forum!

Get the .308 then when you find the .270 get that too.
If I got the 30-06 I'd switch it to 35Whelen....

All of the Remington pumps I have had have been shooters. A .308 spitting Barnes 130s out over 3000 FPS makes a mighty fine choice for about anything you need to do. The 30-06 just does it faster. This is a choice with no wrong decision to make.

The easiest route to a .358 Win. is to rechamber a .35 Rem. . I've made both .358s and Whelens this way , works fine .

get the 308. See if he will switch around the handle to the uncut one and while hes at it tell him ya need the Leupy too......

If you really want to do this right, go 300 Savage

Good Morning, Oregon45,

I like nearly all hunting calibers. I do have healthy respect for the .30-06. It is excellent for all North American big game. But then again, so is the .303 British, which was used extensively in Canada for everything including grizzly.

When I was neophyte I used to buy into magnum mania. So I bought a 7MM Rem Mag, which is an excellent western states big game rifle. But it's a damned heavy rifle albeit accurate. It will take big game with complete reliability.

My focus soon shifted to a light mountain rifle. By then I was slightly more wise. I did research. I learned how mammals die. I came to figure out that it wasn't so much caliber that fells big game. It's all about shot placement. Whether .243 Win or .375 H&H, no animal will live very long with its heart and/or lungs destroyed. This fact helped me narrow down my choice for mountain rifle, which I use for backpack hunting.

The benefit of the '06 is 220 grain bullets. The irony is I have never run across anyone who hunts with an '06 who has ever used 220 grain bullets. So I eliminated that from my essential criteria. A .308 Win with stout bullets will penetrate identically to an '06 with same bullet weights & design. In fact, a .308 Win will penetrate through-and-though the front of a car including V-8 engine block.

Truncating this treatise, I bought a .308 Win. I was surprised by its actual chrono'd ballistics. I found that my .308 Win gives up nothing in terms of ballistics to the venerable '06, and it does so in a smaller action. Moreover, it is far more accurate that I had anticipated.

There are few guarantees in life, but I will guarantee that no mammal will live very long without its heart and/or lungs. It doesn't matter what caliber bullet destroys these vital organs. With correctly constructed bullet, a .308 Win will penetrate heavy bone every bit as well as an '06.

Except for shooting 220 grain bullets, the .308 Win will do everything the '06 will in a short action and probably with better accuracy.

My advice is to buy the caliber with which you're most comfortable. It terms of efficacy, there is no difference in caliber unless you're planning on hunting Kodiak bears a lot with 220 grain bullets.

While I have and will hunt where griz lives, were I to buy a rifle not a .308 Win, I'd buy a .270 Win or .280 Rem. While the recoil of my .308 is manageable, I do not like being recoiled back to the Dark Ages by monster magnums that will fell big game no better than a .308 Win.


Best of luck to you, Oregon45,

R

passport,

My dad used to tell me that when hunters of his era talked of the .300, they were talking about the wonderful .300 Savage. Apparently it gives near .308 Win ballistics, which means it will reliably fell big game.

R

I would pick the 308.