Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The venerable 308

There is an Israeli Mauser kicking around here too. At least that fine little front sight gives you some pretty precise aim, although I can't shoot it to the same potential as I do the Criterion barreled M1 Garand sitting next to it. That thing belts! When I say potential I mean averaging slightly over MOA with 39.5 gr. 3031 under a 130gr TTSX in a Lake City case.

Those Mausers sure do handle and point well though. Carry a lot nicer. Jealous on the Win pre 64s. I did not know they were offered in standard configuration. That's not a rebarrel? If its factory, would love to find one of those!



When it comes to ballistics, 7mm-08 may be a better mousetrap but I'll never hunt or shoot far enough to see it.

Will it sling 155’s at 2900 fps?

In the whitetail woods here in VT/NH/ME - 44.0 - 44.5gr IMR 4064 behind a Horn 150 makes me happy every time. For me, it’s perfect in my fine old 77 RL tang safety .308. I have many other combos but this one I am particularly fond of.

My buy-on-the-spot rifle is any left handed good shooting stainless 308 with a threaded barrel for an affordable price. Which shouldn't be too much to ask but apparently it is.

Same load I use in my Sako. Deadly.

I have two 40-X’s and I bought my son a stainless model 7 many years ago. The 40-X’s do what they’re designed for and my son’s little rifle has accounted for lots of deer with either the 150 Speer or Nosler Partition and WW 748.

I recall scoffing at the stubby .308 in my youth, even as my aunt killed everything with her Savage 99 in .300 Savage. Over the years I picked up a Polytech M14S, then a M1A-A1 Sgringfield with an 18" bbl. Both very accurate w iron sights, but still toys. I bought an HK 91 that cheek slapped me to no end, I traded it for an AR10T with a Lothar Walther bbl. Thalt was the most accurate rifle I may have ever owned. I took a couple Antelope with that before I sold it in a moment of financial strife. I picked up an AR10a4 carbine during the '12 gun grab scare. It shoots, but that skinny bbl heats up quickly. Then, about 5 years ago, I kept falling into deals on Sakos. An AII Varmint with the benchrest trigger, then an AII Deluxe, and now an AII carbine. ( Not a great deal, but I had wanted one for a long, long time.)

I guess I'm a fan after all.

Did you say this FAL?

Cool gun hookeye! Good luck!

I used to be in love with speed. A 6.5 CM showed me what you can do with decent bullets at 2700 fps. I came across a great deal on a Tikka T3X Superlite stainless in 308 Win. That .308 Win is prob the last rifle I would part with. It is light, recoil is not a problem, and I can shoot great bullets from 130-180 grains at 3100-2600 fps. It will do everything I need done on North American game and there is all manor of great loads to shoot at targets. What’s not to like?

Expat

308 Win barrels last a while too.

You know, there's not a damn thing wrong with the 308 Winchester..............except it's not a 30-06.

Good. Much rather a 308 on a lightweight rifle than a 3006.

Acccording to Speer and Sierra data, it will beat that with 130 grain bullets, which are comparable sectioal density. And 140s run about 2850, with better sectional density.

I have a 99C in 308 that I should sell. Just too many extras, I guess. But it shoots well and recoil is mild.

The .308 is a reasonable hunting cartridge. The .308 AI is better for the reloader. The bore diameter is really larger than is needed/beneficial for most applications. 6,5mm or 7mm on the Creedmoor or .308 AI case seems more generally useful.

Exactly - the .30-06 is basically inferior to the ,308 - less efficient, worse shoulder, long action, and lower SAAMI max pressure. That's why .30-06 factory loads can consistently be duplicated int he .308 and then fired in a lighter, handier rifle.

My first center fire was a .30-06 and it just recoiled too much for my 16 year old frame. I got to reading and saw that the .308 did virtually the same thing at 100 fps less, but with like 20% less recoil. I've had a bunch of them and ended up making a perfectly good Ruger Mkll .308 into a more perfect 7mm-08 and now get to pay 50% more for my factory ammo if I can even find it. No deer would ever tell the difference. Now looking at the 2021 Big Game Rifle Roundup in the new issue of Rifle Shooter I see that the .308 cartridge is being chambered in 19 different rifles and the 7mm-08 in only 4. Oh oh.

Someone shoots factory ammo?

I guess I would simply classify the 308 Win as an extremely useful cartridge on 90+% of worlds game from coyotes to moose in America, to all plains game in Africa. Whatever shortcomings it has are only figments of someone’s imagination.

If factory loads are irrelevant then why cite them in your cartridge comparison above?