Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Where does .308 Winchester excel?

Recently I've thought about buying a Tikka CTR in .308 as I no longer have a rifle in that caliber after selling my model 10 and already have a 6.5 Creed in a bravo. But it's got me thinking, with all the cartridges that are out now, does it really make sense to buy one new? The ballistics are worse than It's smaller caliber derivatives, it has more recoil, and any animal I would feel comfortable shooting with .308 I'd also shoot with a 6/6.5/7mm and .223 given a good projectile in it's effective range. The biggest points in it's favor that I can think of are
1. Ammo cost relative to the 6/6.5/7mms although those seem to be coming down a bit
2. Ammo ubiquity compared to 6/6.5/7mms
3. Potentially a good trainer as it drifts more in the wind, but I feel like the same thing could be done with .223
What am I missing? The point of this thread isn't to try and **** on .308, I just can't think of a reason I should get one even though I'm likely going to eventually.

We have a rifle sub-forum here that is a good place to discuss rifles.

The 308. is a good all-around round.

I've never seen the utility in the .308 as a hunting cartridge. But I shoot 7mm, .300 WinMag, and .338 WinMag for North American game so a .308 does not offer any advantages.

But the Tikka CTR is a nice rifle so there is that.

Avalibity ammo.

Before the china19 flu ammo crunch hit,

Every mom and pop country gas station had some core lok .308’s on the shelf.

308 excels in efficiency, accuracy, shootability, and comes in a short action. Hard to ignore it.

Esox...yeah so does the 6.5 Creed. When I went to the range my son said the 308 had more recoil than the 6.5 but I guess is not that bad if you shoot say 20 rounds! In looking at Cabelas they have about equal number of boxes of 6.5 and 308 so there must be some that have this 308...

This.

If I could only own one rifle it would be a 308 Win.

I have never owned nor seen a need for any rifle more powerful than the .308. That's for me, do understand. I did not hunt Kodiak bears nor Cape buffalo. The 100 fps or so it lags behind the .30-06 is meaningless in any practical hunting situation, and nobody sneers at the .30-06.

There was a time when a fella could get a 308 chambered in some cool rifles. Like the Savage 99, Winchester 100 and 88, BLR’s (good luck finding a new one).

If you shoot 308, 450 BM , or 350 Legend Walmarks has enough ammo to overthrow the volunteer fire department.

Supposedly it’s advantage to begin with was good ballistics out of a short action rifle, but I myself ever thought that a little longer bolt stoke was a disadvantage.
My first rifle was a .308, and I was fine , but while I was in the Army, my Dad started using it and fell in love with it.
So when I returned home, I bought myself an ought six and the .308 became Dad’s.
Anyway, Since it’s adoption as a military cartridge, it’s success was assured.
Were I hunting deer sized game or Black Bear, I wouldn’t feel undergunned with a .308, but if I was after Elk or Grizzly, I’d want something a with little more oomph.
But then, killing power isn’t as important as placement, so a good shot with a oh8 is still way better than a bad shot with a .300 Winny.
All things considered, the .308 is a fine cartridge.
7mm

Who gives a cshit about need, what you want is the important thing. I bought a Savage Hog Hunter for a suppressor rifle, but was impressed with how well it shot with 150 gr GameKings. My boy and I started using that rifle in the piney woods of East Texas. Along about that same time I bought my first 99 from Roy, damn if that rifle doesn’t shoot very well also. My boy uses it exclusively now. The 308 performs above its weight class in my opinion. If I had to get down to one, I could live with a 308. We have 4 now, all shoot that load great.

My personal but limited results on game with 6.5 CM using Hornady 143 Eld X were less than impressive! Target shooting, I would agree with you that the 6.5 is better. On game I will take the 308 win everytime!

.308 is my go-to hog gun.



Night or day.

It's a great mid-range cartridge.
More than enough power for 99.something percent of all N American hunting.

It's not a .270

Thank God.

Despite being a "big bullet" cartridge , I use my .308 for predators when I encounter them too.