I'm going to try and keep this as focused a thread as possible. So that there are no confusions:
1) I like 308 WIN. My Opening Day GOTO deer rifle is a 308 WIN
2) I'm not trying to throw shade on any other chambering
3) I'm not trying to elicit everyone's opinion on 308 WIN, just Finn Aagard's
4) I'm especially not trying to start a 308 WIN/30-06 argument. That would easily go 10 pages and get nowhere.
This thread starts with a quote from the recent Finn Aagard/7mm-08 thread
Finn's book is a compilation of his American Rifleman articles from the 1980's... if you read him through the 90's up until his death in 2000 you'll notice a small bit of evolution in his thinking, and he was comfortable enough in his own skin to say when he'd changed his mind on a previously held position.
His rifle of choice at the time of his death was the 308 Win with various 150 gr. bullets, and he'd shifted to variable power scopes.
This thread has a convoluted motive. It includes a dead dog. You see, we had to take our beloved Jay for his last ride a few weeks ago. I took that Finn Aagard book with me. That sounds stupid, but we'd been told only one person was allowed in the vet's at a time. I said my goodbyes to Jay in the parking lot and then went back and sat. I tried to read, but I doubt anything really sunk in. Later, KYHillChick came out and said they were making an exception for us. We quickly got as much of the clan together as we could and Jay went out in good style surrounded by family. That ended a 14 year run for Jay and a 70+ year run with that vet. This is the first time the family has been dogless in all that time-- 3 generations of us/ 2 generations of vets.
At any rate, I wasn't feeling too good. I left the Finn Aagard book in the car for a couple of weeks. I finally dragged it out yesterday, along with Jay's collar.
This aforementioned quote from Brad had stuck in my head.
In the meantime, the tribe assembled for Christmas. Angus, Moose, and I were discussing deer rifles, and our deer camp just concluded. They were asking me for my thoughts on the 7mm-08, and they were all positive. I managed to mention Brad's post.
[Yes, Brad. You made it into our Christmas celebration.]
Their question in return was WHY? I didn't have an answer. I also realized that the answer lay back before any of my sons were born, and all my American Rifleman's from that period were lost in the divorce. Yikes! I went back and read through
Hunting Rifles and Cartridges, but there were no answers there. The only discussion of 308 WIN was in regards to a 308 WIN carbine Aagard was liked.
Yes, Brad. I do remember that Aagard preferred 308 WIN. I've forgotten exactly why. At the time I read the relevant articles, I was heavily vested in 30-06 and really didn't link about it further. However, we're now approaching a point in our deer camp where the 2nd Gen are starting to break out of the mold that Gen 1 forged for them. They're now looking for their second deer rifle-- the one they want to buy on their own.
So why DID Aagard gravitate to 308 WIN?
