Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 308 Hunting rifles - your top pick and why

I have four 308's and my personal pick is the Rem 700 LH SA with MPI Stock and Matt Hard Chrome Finish with the Leupold 2.5 x 8 . I prefer the 165 gr bullets over the 150 gr's. My two favorite powders in the 308 in this order is Hod or IMR 4895 and then Varget, IMR 3031 and 4064 are also great powders to use. Bullets take your choice, at the moment I'm using Sierra 165 gr SP. I guess you could say i'm a big fan of the 308 Win. It doesn't get much better than the 308 in the deer woods.

ah geez, good timing on this post. I have a number of .308 or 7.62x51 rifles, but i had the savage 99F in 308 out yesterday.
I pull it out of the case once a year. It looks to having never been fired, and i keep debating about drilling it for sling swivels and putting a scope on it. Then i put it back in its case without doing anyting. I probably should loan it to someone to break it's virginity.
I have another one thats pretty camp. It was built out of a English P14, the predecessor to the model of 1917. The guy who built is for me put a douglas barrel on it, imported parker hale competition sights on it, floated it, many many hours smoothing the action and hours honing on the trigger.
Best part is it stills looks like a P14, but it good hold it's own in competition.

I have three .308's, and like them all. The Stevens Model 200 is my beater; my CZ American is accurate as all get-out with most 150 grainers, but is heavy as hell. My favorite is the Kimber Montana, which is light, easy to carry, and accurate. When that rifle gets touched off in the deer woods, the deer start notifying their next-of-kin at the sound of the shot.

I've got a Kimber Classic in .308 I bought off of the classifieds here about 6 years ago. Shoots really, really well with several bullets and powders.

I love the rifle. Just luke warm on the .308 for some reason.

I've got several .308s, but none I really hunt with. I'm afraid that if I get one in a rifle that I really like, I'll have to find a new hobby and sell off all my stuff.

I have "always" owned a .308, a wonderful caliber. Today a Tikka T3 SS. Havet taken several moose with my .308:s. Many different bullets up to 200 grains.
A real performer.

Good posts/info by all, thanks.

Battue, nice rifle - the Bart bbl M70, what contour? Always enjoyed the balance and handling of a shorter bbl vs one too long.

2muchgun, seemed to recall seeing a stock like that in a threat on McM, nice colors, nice outfit.

Smokepole, 155s at 2950 is ...well Smokin! What twist?

Mojo, those Finns seemed to know a thing or two about making Steel ...right Amazing accuracy you were getting, in that SL, seen pics.

JMR - would not change a thing - TTSX should be a hammer on game

My current .308.
LVSF / TI stock / Leupold 2.5X8

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7.4 lbs, feels and balances perfectly for me. The only way it could be better is if it were a 7mm-08!

If only there were something to keep us from doing such things??!! I shudder at the thought of having done so with my first rifle which was a 308.

However, even though I still own a 308.

For hunting, the 308 is a jewel and only gives up velocity to the 300 WSM.

Got a Finnlight in .308. One of my better moves. I'll be keeping it.

I currently have two 308's, an old Win88 and a newer SS M70 FW.
I usually shoot 165-gr. bullets: Hornady SPBT, Nosler 168-Gr. BT, or 165-gr. NPT with Varget or 4064. 46 gr. of either powder in Winchester or Hornady cases will give me about 2720 to 2750 fps (the M70 produces slightly higher velocities than the M88 using the same loads).
47 gr. is about max for me with 150-gr. bullets, giving me around 2850 (both guns have 22" barrels). These loads are fairly accurate in both guns, from 3/4 to 1'. The 88 has a slight preference for Varget and the M70 likes 4064 a bit better, but for practical hunting purposes the loads are pretty interchangeable.

Someone asked about 10" twists. They'll stabilize anything up to 200 gr. My Winchesters have 12" twists, and they do fine with weights to 180 gr. I haven't tried anything heavier in those guns so can't comment.

Teeder, nice, feed her 130 TTSX and pretend, - game won't know the difference.

10025 - Sako almost always is a good move...

M88s are classics, made as rifles should be, good steel - put together right. M70 Fwt make great sporters, owned a few.

Thank you. I was just thinking that this thread kinda sucked without pics and that if I threw a few out there, we just may get to see some really nice rigs. I was right. Very nice gentlemen.......

The smith and I weighed parts, and looked at the barrel numbers and chose a fluted no 3. Looking in the rearview I would have downsized. Things improved taking it down to 20 inches. I wish I could shoot up to its potential. Sometimes it is spooky accurate.

Battue,
How fast are the 150's out of the 20" barrel? And by any chance did you chrono them before?

Huntr:

Not sure on the 150s, but the 130s with W748 were hitting 3100fps and it wasn't a book max load.

Last 150 I used was this year. Only at around 80 yards or so, but the Deer didn't stop it.

I think Montana Marine did a test on cutting back a .308W and off the top of my head I don't think he lost all that many FPS.

I guess maybe I should have added that my current 308 hunting load for the Winny 88 is:

150 gr Nosler Accubond
45.5gr. IMR4895
CCI 200 LR primers
Win or Fed cases
2.809" COL
Neck sized only

Wonderfully accurate in the 88. 3/8"-3/4" typical groups. One of the most accurate factory rifles I have had the pleasure to own(which is saying something). The cheap Federal Classic 150gr. SP loads also will group 3/4" and better.

I have been running this 1980s Redfield 3-9X Lo-Pro Widefield on it for 7-8 years now. Today, a new VX2 3-9x40 will get installed. It fits perfectly, just enough room to flip up lens covers without hitting sight, and eye relief/glass is MUCH better:


Notice the old Redfield Ace-in-the-Hole flip-up peep/base. It just screams cool IMO:

I have read several articles on the marlin xs7 series of rifle and the ones in .308 with federal factory match ammo were shooting .75" groups
not too bad for a ugly matte black synthetic stock rifle under $350

been kinda thinking about getting one

My GAP Non Typical in 308 is like cheating... Love this rifle!

308s aren't to hard to get to shoot well. For a cheaper gun, that Marlin isn't bad. For match loads, I run Varget or R-15....