Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .308 Not Enough ???

I recently got into a little pissing match with a guy. He claims that a .308 Win is not enough for full mature Pa. bucks weighing 220 to 240 lbs. He stated that the .308 wouldn't break the front shoulders.


I called BS on this one. First off...why is he going for the shoulders if he questions the .308's effectiveness. Second...I believe that weight of deer in Pa. may be on the rare side.

BTW.....he shoots a .300 Win Mag.

The guy is a dipschidt.

He's compensating.

The .308 doesn't hafta prove a damn thing it just works and always has.

Well, to be fair, I dunno- I've never shot a PA buck.

But, it (.308) sure knocks the schit out of KS, MI, OK and MO bucks

This guy stated that his coworkers said the .308 was a "cripple"gun....LOL! He said he [bleep] at 2 deer with a .308 and they ran off.....never bothered to state whether or not he even hit the deer....or followed up trackin the deer.

I said it's all about shot placement....he said he was a machinist and that his precision carried over to his shooting abilities.

This guy stated that his coworkers said the .308 was a "cripple"gun....LOL! He said he shot at 2 deer with a .308 and they ran off.....never bothered to state whether or not he even hit the deer....or followed up tracking the deer.

I said it's all about shot placement....he said he was a machinist and that his precision carried over to his shooting abilities.

I am guessing he is about 5'3"?

Gee, and to think my wife has broken "front" shoulders on many animals weighing more than 240 pounds with a .308 Winchester, including an Alberta mule deer weighing at least 100 pounds more, and African plains game weighing around three times as much. Maybe she's just more precise....

^^^This^^^

I've never shot a deer from PA, but have broken shoulders on Bull Moose to keep them out of rivers, etc.

Wish someone would have told me I couldn't do that before I did it...................

Ah, but she's a mere mortal, not a machinist.

Genius has limits stupidity has no limits.

He's an idiot and knows nothing. Cartridges don't break shoulders; bullets do.

Sounds like that would slip past him.

What does JeffO find adequate to break the "rear" shoulders?

56 years ago my dad took me Woodland Caribou hunting in northeastern BC. We would also take a moose if opportunity offered one. Our guide was a little old German, Otto Elden, a bush savvy elf, tough as nails but with a great sense of humor.

The first thing Otto said to me when we mentioned the moose was "do you know a horse from a moose?". It seems that the hunters before us were some hard-drinking Texans. One of them had the day before shot Otto's Cree guide's horse out from under him and shouted he just killed a MOOSE! The Cree, Dolphus Caillou, also asked me the same question.

To the topic here, Otto, Dolphus, and his son Eddy all carried Savage Mdl 99s, Otto's and Doplhus' in 308 and Eddy's in 300 Savage.

Three nights later Otto killed a grizzly bear that had taken down a pack horse and was working it over. He used one shot with the 308; the bullet was a 180gr Rem Core-Lokt.

I've only shot 2 Pa. bucks that weighed over 200 lbs. and both dropped in their tracks from a hit from the .308's little brother, the .260 Remington. And that was using 120 gr. NBT's. Your machinist sounds like a real tool!

I once shot a nice 240 lb whitetail with the 308 and a 150 Speer Hotcore. Bullet punched through both scapula's and exited... not sure how much more a guy needs.

Course I've shot quite a few elk with the 308 too...

Hell, a .308 is a big gun where I come from....

Course where I come from the idiots are fewer and folks can actually shoot too...

First I have to say thank you for the laugh this evening.

Second, the Whitetail deer has not been born that can withstand a 308 round through the shoulders. I'd personally feel ok with the 125 grain ballistic tip on that shot, but I'd have complete confidence in a 150 most anything, or 165 grain anything out of a 308 case and using the shoulder shot.

Your Machinist friend is ignorant, and relies on the malinformed information of his co workers.

IF shoulder shot is required, I would rather shot a deer thru the shoulders with a 308win then a 300win. Higher velocity of the 300win would create more meat loss.