Is the 308 Win used very much for plains game and what bullets and weights used?

It's just fine.
I have used the 308 to kill a number of elk and my sister uses hers to kill moose and caribou, as well as a grizzly in Alaska.

I'd opt for 180 grain Partitions or maybe 165s,

It’s works perfectly.
Bullet weights depend on the length of shot planned (typically longer in the N Cape, E Cape mountains and plains than in Limpopo bushveld). As an all purpose load I’d probably go with either 165gr bonded (Accubond, Scirocco, Interbond, A-Frame etc) or 150gr copper (CX, TTSX, TSX, E-Tip etc) - whichever shoots best in your rifle.

Worked for me on Kudu with a lowly 150g Hornady Interlock.

Bullet selection and reasonable shot distance are the key. Keep your shots under 300 hundred yards. Use a good quality bonded bullet or Partitions/A-frames of 165 grains and you will do just fine. Bonded bullet or Partition/A-frame .... because the African game typically needs a shot through the shoulders to get to the vitals.

From what I have learned from a lot of reading on African hunting forums, it seems that the .308 is quite likely the most common cartridge used by resident hunters for plains game hunting in much of Africa. Certainly South African "biltong" hunters and landowners have used the .308 for many decades with good success. Bullet weights for the .308 trend towards the 165-180 grain for most African hunting, simply because a variety of game is often available and bullet choice sensibly tends to be dictated by effectiveness on the larger species present. So yes, the .308 is capable, common, and widely used.

Super common round used by locals. The game ranger we had with us used a rifle chambered in .308.

Absolutely FINE for really all African PG and I include eland. I prefer the 300s, but a 308 has probably taken more game in Africa with the possible exception of the 303 British than anything else. Great, well balanced round with mild recoil.. Nice for the ladies...

Just as a comparative reference point, a 150gr. TSX handloaded to 2950fps will completely broadside pass-through the shoulders of zebra (mountain and plains) out to 200m. I've done it a LOT while culling. Factory ammo is readily available in RSA, Nam and Bots but, not loaded as fast.

Yeah, the .308 works fine. My wife Eileen with her zebra stallion, South Africa 2008--handloaded 150-grain Nosler E-Tip at about 2850 fps:

We used a .308 with a 150 grain TTSX load at 2900 fps for plains game last fall in Mozambique, and it worked very well on a variety of species including a big sable.

I agree with other’s posts here. I’ve taken a kimber 308 for plains game three times, if I recall correctly. Always shot 168TSX and it was always very effective. The PH’s I’ve talked to over there all regard it very highly and have told me it’s probably the most commonly used caliber by locals. I made one of my longer shot with it one evening on a very nice zebra stallion at around 285 yards…. One shot through the “triangle” and he was finished. Great round for plains game.

You'll be fine with 308. The PH I hunted with loaded his own 30-06 ammo and turned it down to less than 308 loads and it worked fine. He even shot leopords with it.

The more I use a 308 Winchester and read about hunters and their adventures; I have more and more confidence in this round.

Take care.

308 gets a bad rap. It's a great round that been put to the back of the line by newer and "sexier" cartridges. Still very capable.

chris

...FWIW: Pre '64 M-70 FWT, Federal 180NP
Zebra, bushpig, tsessebe, bushbuck, impala, kudu, and leopard.

Never been to Africa just shot whitetail, mule deer and antelope with the 308 no problems. But I suppose obi wan and spec needs would tell us it is not impressive or inadequate anyway...mb

I've owned a few 308s over the years, they killed deer with boring regularity and I moved on to other chamberings. I was building (assembling a DIY pre-fit) rifle, was going to be a 6mm CM Proof at 24", and last minute had an opportunity to get a suppressor, changed the build to 308 as it was the only 20" barrel Proof had that would work, I thought the 20" would be a better fit with the 6" can. Anyway, got it all put together last minute for a first time hunt on extended family land in KS. Loaded 165 Hornady spire points and the worked as expected. I know this has nothing to do with Africa and I'm not in the position to give advice on that subject but the 308 is easy to shoot and there's a lot to like about it.

Is the 30-06 used? Of course. Why couldn’t the 308 be used? Not much difference.

Funny, where I’ve hunted in the Eastern Cape, it seems all the PHs or landowners I’ve come across use and swear by the 270Win.

270 Wins were the only rifles I saw when I was in the Eastern cape.

They spoke highly of other cartridges but the 5 PHs I was around all had a 270 with them.

To answer the OP, from what I saw while I was in SA the 308 would be a wonderful choice.

The 308 and the 270 are both very popular with the PH’s as is the 30/06.

Avoid the temptation to take anything bigger. You don’t want a bigger cartridge or a new and unfamiliar rifle.

In SA the locals don’t own a pile of rifles so they choose wisely and end up with a 308 or a 270 plus a 375 H&H

I stopped by the African safari booths at our regional sportsman's show a couple years in a row and asked about suitable cartridges. I think every one of them said to bring a .270 Winchester or .308 Winchester. And preferably Barnes bullets. I have no personal experience with shooting plains game though.

Yep--though the smaller cartridge is sometimes similar to the .308 or .270. Have run into a couple traditionalists who had a 7x57 instead.

...FWIW: Pre '64 M-70 .270 Super Grade, (Hand loads) 150NP.

Zimbabwe
Leopard
kudu
Sable
Duiker
Impala
Warthog
Zebra
Baboon
Wildebeest
Reedbuck
Tsessebe

South Africa
Gemsbok
Springbok
Blesbok

I killed all my plains game with .308 - 155 Berger VLD. Other hunter I was with used 270win-150gr Sierra GK
Don't over think it, just shoot straight and everything dies.

It is interesting how your mind attributes some greater tenacity to animals never hunted before.

Years ago I took my 2 boys to Namibia for a non- trophy plains game hunt. they were little guys 10 and 13. 308 165 noslers. 21 animals later ( they let me shoot a wart hog) no lost or wounded animals later we came home with big smiles. the simple answer to the question is yes absolutely yes take your 308.

When I went to RSA in 2016 I shot Impala, Warthog and Blesbok with a Kimber Montana in 7-08 using 120 TTSX all DRT. I also used a Sako A7S in 270 Winchester using 156 Sako Hammerhead factory ammo on Kudu and Gemsbok, both dropped at the shot but both needed finishers. The 156's had major core jacket separations.

if i ever go to Africa on a plains hunt i plan on just taking my 30-06 which has basically the same ballistics of a 308 WIN. should work just fine and finding extra ammo will be easy for you too. good luck,Pete53

Most South African natives have a 308 and have hunted thousands of animals with it. I’ve hunted a lot of plains game with it including a few eland. You’ll do just fine and the PH will actually be happy that you brought a rifle that you know and not a new Magnum cartridge.

Steve,

Based on my experience in four African countries, including several safaris in various regions of South Africa, you're more likely to find a good selection of .308 than .30-06 ammo, whether in stores or in your PH's stash. This may seem strange to American hunters, but....

I was getting wheeled outta the hospital in salmon ID after my hernia surgery . Looked up on the hills to the north…I axed the male nurse if he ever hunted there.

“ Yes sir”

“Got a mulie there last year.! Man did I missed a whopper!”

“ did you shoot over it? What you shoot it with?”

‘“ basically yes I shot over it! I used a tikka in .308!”

“ too much gun for a deer……not like a 270!”

My stitches hurt , and I was still feeling the fentanyl………

I chose to remain silent…..smiling.

It just seem to work well in many settings. It is not hard on bullets or the people shooting it. Point it correctly with a decent bullet and it kills stuff without any drama. I have two rifles so chambered and will not sell them.

It's getting to be that way here, too, at least in Washington State.


Okie John

On my first trip to Namibia in 2012 I brought two rifles: a Thompson Center Icon in .308 and a Winchester Model 70 in .300 WSM. The TC Icon shot a 1/2” group at the PH’s 100 yard range using my 165 grain Sierra GameKing handloads. The Model 70 shot right at a MOA shooting 180 grain Sierra GameKings. My PH said let’s go with the heavier bullet which we did. My second trip with the same PH in 2013 I just brought the .300 WSM. My third through sixth trips I used the PH’s camp rifles, a 68X8 mm Mauser shooting 200 grain handloads for Eland, Kudu and Waterbuck, and a .308 Ruger 77 shooting 165 grain handloads for Springbok, Baboons and Jackels. I don’t check any baggage, just a single carryon Red Oxx soft side bag wih 2 pairs of pants, two long sleeves shirts, a down vest, gloves, underwear, shaving gear, meds and 40 Arturo Fuente cigars to smoke with sundowners. I waltz through Security checkpoints and Customs and avoid Baggage Claim lines. I email my trophy pictures to Costco while still in Africa and they blow them up to 11”X14” prints encased in acrylic for about $40 per print. I receive them within 7 days of arriving home/

as Roy Weatherby said in his book, "you still need to hit them in the vitals"

The animals do not like 165gr .30 call bullets

In 2002 my PH carried a Musgrave 308 Win shooting 180 gr Hornady's

My notion about the .308 is that it handily surpasses original .30/06 ballistics, and logically is at least as good for whatever you care to turn it to. Factor in the better bullets we have now, and there you have it…

The only place it falls short is its inability to use the old 220s that were once so popular, and monos seem like a pretty good substitute there.

.308 sounds like the way to go.

I'm getting over 2700 fps with the 180 Accubonds in a 22" barrel seated at 2.92" using Varget. That's what I'm planning to use on the next plains game hunt for large antelopes.

That'll work--but also know am RSA PH who uses 180-grain Sierras in his .308 for back-up on plains game, including gemsbok, blue wildebeest and kudu. A lot of 180-grain .30s work at 2650-2700--the reason 180s became the "bigger game" load in the .30-06 more than few decades ago....

Back when I was booking hunting trips and taking clients over to South Africa, one of the most memorable clients was an older gentleman in his early 70s. He had somewhat limited mobility but he had shot a lot in his days. He brought a pre-64 Win 70 featherweight in 308 Win with a 1.5-5 Leupold scope. He had shots out to 250 yards and killed everything he shot at with one shot. He never acted surprised or ecstatic about any of them. It was just what he expected to do. If I remember correctly, he killed about six animals up to a nice kudu. He was a genuine pleasure to hunt with and we became friends. Sadly, he has passed on by now!

Dean

I used to use the 165g interbond a bit. That bullet really kills well. On my 2008 Africa hunt one of my rifles was loaded with the 165 interbonds but I took all my game with my other rifle. I have shot some good sized mule deer bucks with the 165 interbond and those bullets really hit hard. Lots of good bullet options for a 308 and its a great round for most plains game.

Bb

A rare man.
A 30-06 guy being totally honest about the 308!
Good for you Pete.

Have both, shoot, both, DGAS which.
The choice is in the rifle.

A few years ago Tony Galazan was selling Mauser M12 308's for $510 delivered. I bought four ($10 shipping for the last three), one for me and one each for the three boys. Christmas. We have all killed deer with them together. They shoot very well.

If I were to take a .308 for plains game, it would be with 165 gr. TTSX or similar

Yeah, but Eileen is a good shot. She would whack one with a 257 Roberts.

She's downsized the handload for her "big" rifle (that .308) since then, using the 130-grain Barnes TTSX at the same muzzle velocity of 2850 fps. Which she used on the biggest cow elk either of us have ever taken at 250 yards. It was quartering toward us at around 250 yards, and the bullet broke the left leg just above the shoulder joint, and ended up under the hide over the middle of the right ribs. The elk was down and out in around 20-25 yards, so quickly she barely had time to get another round it the chamber. (But she's also killed cow elk with the .257 Roberts, which dropped even quicker because the 100-grain TTSX clipped the underside of the spine while going through both lungs. Oh, and as Charlie Sisk mentioned elsewhere, he was standing beside Eileen when she killed a mature cow bison with one 140-grain TSX from a .270 Winchester. It went through both lungs and exited, and the cow went 40 yards, stood wobbling for a second, and fell over.)

I suspect if she goes back to Africa the 130-grain TTSX load in that .308 would be her choice, partly because in her two safaris she's also taken bull gemsbok, blue wildebeest and kudu, and knows they're not bulletproof.

MD, which powder is Eileen using to get 2,850 with the 130? I know that several will work...

Thanks,


Okie John

IMR4895

Thanks.


Okie John

The charge weight is 45.0 grains. That's from a 21" Lilja barrel, using RWS brass and CCI 200s.

She didn't actually work up the load--I did. But she did make her own hunting handloads for a while, to the point where we set up her own loading room in the basement. In fact here's a photo of her with her first animal taken with her own handloads, a doe whitetail with her German over-under-combo gun, a 16-gauge/9x72R, holding up one of her home-made rounds.

She liked hand-loading, but was so nit-picky it took a long time, and she was also getting very busy with writing game cookbooks and running riflesandrecipes.com. Eventually it made more sense for me to load her ammo--but the second loading room has come in handy, especially when it's below zero and my larger loading "room" in the garage gets pretty chilly!

Cool story!!

When I got my press at 18, I had no place in the farmhouse to put it. I was mainly loading .308 for a 99A. I drilled 2 holes in the workbench in the unheated shop and carried cases outside to size, back in the house for priming and charging, then carefully carried the charged cases back to the shop for bullet seating. It got old fast! Case lube got a little thick in below zero weather. Was happy when Dad gave the ok for a 2x12 small bench below my bedroom window.

That little .308 killed well on deer, jackrabbits, and coyotes with 150 grain pre-interlock spire points.

I didn't take on one on any of my 5 safaris but I'd say it would have worked on nearly everything I shot. The only exception may have been eland but if you placed the bullet right it would take the eland just like it has taken many elk and moose. I always took a 7mm Rem Mag and a 375 H&H and shot nearly everything except eland and roan with the 7mm.

I have used that 45gr IMR4895 load a lot in the last few years in the .270 Winchester. Mostly with 130gr but also the 110gr Sierra where it really shines. First tried it with the 150 Sierra where it shot better than the 4831 load by J'Oc. Have never put it over the chrono but would expect 2800 - 2900 with the 130's. It is a lot nicer to shoot than the full power loads. I have never tried it on game but suspect it would not bounce off a deer.

A 308 Winchester with a good bullet is deadly on all manner of plains game in Africa

Sitting in the Joberg airport now. Just finished a plains game hunt in Namibia using a .308 camp rifle, a Sako using Sako 180 grain ammo. No drama, worked just fine on kudu, wildebeest, gemsbok, waterbuck and the smaller stuff. And I’m pretty sure an animal doesn’t know the difference between a bullet moving 2600fps and 2750 fps. IT’S BULLET PLACEMENT!

Do you know the particular type of Sako 180-grain ammo? The reason for the question is I hunted moose in Finland with Sako in 2015, and the rifle they had me (and other gun writers) use was a .308 with 180-grain Hammerhead bullets, which are bonded-cores. They regarded the combination as plenty for moose....

Don’t know the type, just saw the box said 180 grain. I’m not one who gets his drawers in a knot sweating the minutia. If a PH finds an ammo or rifle does the job, I’m good with it.

That's generally what I've found too. Was just curious.

In my experience just about any 180 works fine at .308 velocities.

Enjoy your .308 in Africa, I've never been yet. But there used to be the old guy who wrote articles about killing all sorts of plains game with 130 partitions from a .270, so a 165 partition from a .30 caliber should be even better.
Have a great trip.

Used my 308 last year on leopard and kudu.

Plain 150g Hornady interlocks.

Worked just fine.

I used my 308 last month for Impala, Blesbuck, warthog and Waterbuck.

165 grain Trophy Bonded Tipped. Only recovered one in the Waterbuck quartering away.

Looks like an advertisement for the perfect bullet. The rest exited and all expanded,penetrated and killed very quickly

Picture of Waterbuck and recovered 165 grain Trophy Bonded Tipped bullet.

Intersting. I once did a test comparing a .308 load and a 30-06 load using rifles with 22" Barrels. The .308 a model 70 Youth Ranger restocked with a Ramline so it would fit me and the 06 in a Remington M700 BDL.
Amo was what I had one hand, Winchester brand with 180 gr. bullets for both cartridges. Shot were run over the chronograph and it was surprising that the .308 was on average 20 to 30 FPS faster than the 06. I ran the test several time with the same results. I've always wanted to try several other brands of ammo the same way and the different weights as well just to see if all the other brand run the same.
I also ran a few 30-06 through rifles with 24 and 26" barrels and the only one that came close to advertised velocity was the 26" Ruger #1B.
My favorite load for the .308 is the Speer 165 gr. Hot Core over 49.0 gr. of W760. The reason is my favorite .308 is a Ruger M77 RSI Stutzen with 18.5" barrel and is the only load I've found to give usable hunting accuracy. A bit slow at 2550 FPS but has take big Mule Deer as far out as 259 Yards. The same load is very accurate in the model 70 Youth Ranger so I just stick with it.
PJ