Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada 308 winchester

Just curious, is the 308 popular in Canada?

It has replaced the 303 Brit for the rifle used by the Canadian Rangers or home guard. Im certain it has a large commercial following as well.

A few years ago a fellow I know went to newfoundland to hunt moose. He said every resident he talked to used a 308.

.308 is still very popular.

I reckon 308win and 30-06 are about as popular or common as it gets with a good deal of 303 and the 30-30 trailing behind.

You bet. The 308 Winchester is a rimless copy of the 303 British. The 308 will never attain the success of its parent, but it works.

thumbcocker;
Good afternoon to you sir, I hope Christmas was a good one and this last Sunday of the year finds you and those who matter well.

It's likely a bit of a regional thing, but when I wander through the ammunition section of say a Canadian Tire that's not really into firearms but does sell a wee bit of ammunition, in south central BC there will always be the following

- .22 rimfire - usually a few varieties.
- 20 gauge and 12 gauge - again usually a smattering of bird shot types
- .243 Winchester - a few choices
- .270 Winchester - a few more choices
-.30-30 Winchester - usually only a single type/weight
- .308 Winchester - usually as many choices as the .270
- .30-06 Spfld. - again as many choices as the .308 and .270

The store may also have .303 British, but less and less out here and not many choices if one does find it. As well there might or might not be a box of 7mm Rem Mag or .300 Win Mag.

Again this isn't a sporting goods store or gun shop, just a chain store that's handling some ammunition.

That's more or less what I've seen in the past 20 years out here. We have a few gun/sporting goods shops in the south valley here, but not half the number there used to be and since Wholesale Sports and Grouse River closed in Kelowna, there's no large stores closer than 2½ hours or so for us here.

Anyways, that's the view from the south Okanagan more or less as I recall seeing it.

All the best to you in 2021.

Dwayne

Thank you! You too.

I suspect that I'm not the only one who chuckled at this. Thank you sir!

Guy

It’s pretty common knowledge outside of one or two Canadian backwaters that the 308’s parent is the 30-06, not the 303.

But I’m guessing you knew that...

If you want to know which cartridges really are popular, then this is where you look.


Okie John

Well, that's what some people think, but spies took the design and sold some drawings to the Germans and the US.

The 303 scared the Germans and PP created the Mauser.

The US Army tried the 303, but called it the 30-40. Then they saw those Mauser cartridges, used 308 bullets and came up with the 30-03. A lot of people think it's called the 30-03 because it was designed in 1903, but actually, it was named after the 303.

The Brits just stuck with the 303 because the round was already perfected. The rest of the world just kept trying new designs, totally dazed and confused.

In the 1960s, a song was written about that. Stairway to Heaven.

Very popular. With good bullets it will do just about anything. A good friend of mine even stopped a wounded grizzly at about 10 feet some years back with one. Another trapper friend who lived down on the Stikine swore by the 308 and 200 grain slugs.

.300 winmag is all the fetish where i am it seems. But the .308 remains all you would ever need i reckon. That or the .30-06. Other than as a "stopping gun" for bear safety.

Lol, great analogy!

Seems the answer is yes. Here's some more Canadians the ".308" is popular with:

New rifles for Canadian forces snipers

Very popular in this household...except somewhere along the line one of my offspring and one of his offspring continually spout the merits of the .270 Winchester. We are not related as far as I know to "St. Jack" so who knows where this heresy came from!

Happy New Year to all

Paul

I really like the 308 Win cartridge - I shoot one in a Rem M600 and a Savage 26 " HB Varmit rifle - My fav bullet is a 150 gr in it !

I'd guess the .308 is the most popular cartridge over .22 caliber with Canadian hunters and shooters. Followed by the .30-06, .270, .243, 7mm Rem. magnum, .300 Win, .303, .30-30, et al. - or a lineup very very similar and in that approximate order. The .223 and 7.62x39 have a large and growing following among "shooters" but not necessarily hunters, varmints excepted.

My buddy dropped a brown bear with a .308 and a 125BT. I wouldn't worry too much