Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters So Why the 308?

Because new .300 Savages are hard to find 😀.

I am more or less am a recent .308 convert. Dont get me wrong, I love my 7mm-08s and will continue to use them. The 7mms are sweet and I feel comfortable using them on any deer hunt and some elk.

Anyway, I started using a Daniel Defense AR-10 .308 and have enjoyed it, especially suppressed. It's a big gun but simply fun to use in fixed deer stands.

Why the .308? It works well for most hunting situations in CONUS. For me, the performance for 90% of hunting, mainly deer is awesome BUT ammo/components were a driving factor of why I am getting a bolt gun built for the round. I want a setup that I "should" be able to get ammo for in most situations so I can hunt, if I cant for other cartridges.

Ive not had any issue with elk and deer using my 308 scout rifle. Recently picked up a 30-06 Hawkeye to use as a dedicated 200gr Nosler Partition launcher because i can and wanted one. Ive only used a 30-06 maybe twice and it was a few decades ago when i was in my early 20's so im going to get reaquainted. In that time that passed ive had no issues taking game with the ho hum 308win and i couldnt be happier. I wanted to throw 200gr bullets around for the least imvestment and so the 30-06 coupled with the campfire thread aboit 200gr bullets helped make up my mind and sealed the deal.

I only have one 308 presently but it has been a good rifle and the round has shown to be very capable. Easy to load for, accurate and not a bad kicker in a light rifle. There are many cartridges in the same category, I don't really put the 30-06 outside the realm of what I would use a 7-08, 308, 270 for. Everything I have shot with a 308 has quickly succumbed and I even took some shots at around 400 yards with it. As far a slinging the heavier bullets the 308 pushes them faster than many old time much heralded cartridges like the 300 Savage and 30-40 Krag, both of which have accounted for many Moose and Elk. Where I like my lighter 308 over the 30-06 is in hunting rough hilly or thick forested areas for game up to Elk. My 24 inch barreled 30-06 does get more speed than my 20 inch barreled 308 so in more open country the old 06 gets the workout. In fact I often carried both rifles on the same hunts. For backup or for different terrain.

I wonder if Finn Aagard simply figured out that if you put the same bullet style, say a Nosler Partition, with similar sectional density, from anything from a 6.5x55 to a 30-06, in the same place, at the same range, on the same game animal, you get the same result? Make the cartridge even more similar, as 308 vs 30-06 and there is mostly not enough difference to tell about.

I never cared much about the.308. I’ve been loading it for my brother since the mid 70’s, but never had one of my own until 10 or 12 years ago. A guy waved a nice 1B at me for a good price so I bought it, even though it was a.308. It was easy to make shoot well. It has killed deer for me with boring efficiency.

Some time back, I got one of Remington’s “Extreme Conditions Rifles “ in their “Compact Tactical Rifle “ version. It’s a 9 twist .223 and very accurate with the same 65 grain SGK load I use in my AR’s. More than a couple of times I’ve wished I’d also gotten one in .308 which was the other caliber they were offered in.

I really think that the 7mm-08 is a slightly better mouse trap than the 308, but that's just me.

Have come full circle on the 308 Winchester as a primary hunting rifle/cartridge. Never strayed though, when it came to a target rifle.

I got one of those in 308 back when they had the real 40X trigger. It's a sweetheart.

Now that I've taken deer with both, I would be in tentative agreement, if only that the 7mm-08 gets the job done with less recoil.

That's why the Finn Aagard quote intrigued me. I wasn't sure if he found any deficiencies.

The 308 has logistical advantages.

Sorry about your dog. That is tough. My 308 is a remington 7600 carbine with 18.5 inch barrel. I like it.

Better long range ballistics as well.

List those if you would?

Until the recent overall shortage one advantage was widespread availability of broad variety of cartridges to cover just about any purpose to which the 308 is suited. The general shooting public isn't as dense with handloaders as is the population of this site.

Just about any short action rifle is regularly chambered in 308.

The widest variety of off the shelf reloading dies include the 308 in the lowest price tier for the given type of die.

The best brass becomes available in 308 before many other cartridges.

Shaman, I'm honored I got included in your Christmas celebrations

Sometime in the 80's/90's Finn got intrigued by Jeff Cooper's Scout Rifle concept. The 308, due to its NATO/Military status, was Cooper's primary choice as a chambering for the Scout Rifle. So, Finn started using the round more and more, and I suspect being a practical Norwegian (think cheap - I'm 75% Norwegian), he probably latched onto it for its preeminent practicality. Hardly anything is cheaper than 30 cal bullets and 308 brass. He also appreciated it did everything the 30-06 did, but kicked less. He used the 308 in the last few years of his life competing in the Keneyathlon (a practical, field shooting competition). I think Finn just liked "things that work." And the 308 does.

I agree with BWalker, I think the 7-08 is the slightly better mousetrap - but not in terms of wide availability. In that case, the 308 wins all the marbles. If I lived in an isolated rural setting anywhere in the world, and lived off the land (by the rifle) I'd take the 308 over anything.

My Armalite AR-10 likes handrolled .308s.

For Shaman... Finn's last article. On the 308 of course!

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...s-last-article-shots-with-the-308#UNREAD

It's me too.

I like the .308, and have a nice one in a LVSF in a mcm hunters edge, but I'd take a 7mm-08 over it if I had to choose.