Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Do you own a 308, a 30-06 or both?

Savage: They are lighter;that is for certain.

I have both.

I own one of each but am going to sell the 30-06... I love the little Kimber MT in 308. It's accurate and such a pleasure to shoot and carry it's really hard to justify a 30-06, which is heavier and is really too close to the 308 to justify. If Kimber made a LA 84 Montana in 30-06 I'd sooner have that. Will prolly grab another Kimber 300 WSM MT and call it good...

Thanks Bob. OK, I get all that, BUT, what's the downside of smaller cases with higher pressures?

I've owned the same Remington 700 30-06 for the last 36 years, and it's the first big game rifle I ever purchased, and at age 15 no less.

I've owned lots of other 30-06 rifles in the years since, including many other Remington 700s, as well as pre-64 Model 70s, post-1963 Model 70s, Browning Safaris, Browning A-Bolts, Weatherby Mark Vs, Sakos, etc. The only one that I currently own, though, is that old Remington 700 ADL.

The 30-06 has been an incredibly accurate, highly shootable, and easy-to-work-with cartridge in my experience, and it's always been a good killer on everything from blacktails to elk. It's not given me one day's trouble, and my only regret is not actually hunting with it more than I have. It feeds like a dream, too, and that's a carefully-calculated design feature oif the 30-06 and not just some happy accident.

I agree with Bob's points about the 30-06 versus the 308, and for the most part, I'd rather just stick with the 30-06.

With that said, I think that the 308 has really come into its own (as far as hunting rifles are concerned) in recent years in the form of compact, marvelously lightweight production rifles like the Kimber Model 84. That very rifle, plus other flyweight 308s from the good ol' days, such as the old, pre-1972 Sako Forester and the "pencil barrel" Browning Safari (Sako action) were what the 308 was all about in terms of hunting guns, and they were accurate as well.

Hill Country Rifles offers their own special McMillan stock just for the short-action Model 70, and I've been sorely tempted to send them a short Model 70 action and have them build a custom 308 around it. It would be a heck of a rifle for local blacktails, as well as Hill Country whitetails.....

AD

Wow! Selling the M70.

I think a .308 and 300 WSM Montana is a near-perfect pairing... to make it perfect, just go to a .325 WSM Montana <g>!

-jeff

Ive owned both (a few of each) and liked them. Dont own either right now. Will again in the future because I have complete loading equipment for both. Just waiting for a sweet deal to come along I guess.

I think you are the number 1 fan of the 325 on this forum and I am a close second.

I'm probably the only guy stoopid enough to own TWO of the dang things!

-jeff

6 30-06's, 1 .308

I find it fascinating that the the 30-06 is automatically assumed to be the "standard" by most posters here and how often the comment is that the .308 just doesn't quite "measure up". It doesn't have to - it has set it's own standard. The .308 is very well balanced, accurate and efficient, it is a more modern design and more versatile to fit in various action types. The 30-06 offers a bit more bullet speed, but more speed is not always better! I think the 30-06 is a wonderful and versatile chambering, but I stopped searching for "all around" rifles a long time ago. Now I prefer specialized tools for each job. If I'm after really big critters, one of my 35 Whelens or a hot loaded 45-70 gets some hunting time. Small varmints and furbearers is what a .22 centrefire was made for. For long range, deer & antelope, I use a 25-06. But for medium sized game at medium distance, and in lightweight rifles, one of my .308's is "just right"!

Both:

308 - Kimber, Winchester M70 Classic Compact;

30-06 - Sported '03-A3, Interarms Mauser, Weatherby Light Sporter.

The 308s shoot just OK - good enough for deer. Neither 308 likes 180 grain bullets of any flavor. The Kimber does pretty well with 150 TSXs and Varget, though I haven't yet shot any game with that combination. I have used 165 grainers on deer, but I prefer 180s.

The Interarms and Weatherby '06s are fantastic shooters. Both like 56gr H4350 and every jacketed 180 grain bullet I've tried. I'm currently shooting plastic-tipped Hornadys at deer and paper. I bought a bunch of them as seconds. The '03-A3 is my scopeless gun. It has a Lyman peep and a Marbles white bead.

-

When I started dreaming about my first big game rifle it was 1964 and I was 14. My dad and I poured through the shooter's Bible and argued ballistics endlessly, he was proponent of the 30-06 while I was influenced by Jack O Connor and wanted a .270. One of my reasons was the 30-06 was so common, every kid's Dad had one, and back then the .270 was a little different. Plus I was a little kid, less than a hundred pounds and I was a bit afraid of recoil.

To this day the 30-06 still seems common, but now the .270 is common to. I never considered these calibers might be common because they are universally recognized as being so good. Anyway, never had a 30-06. I did buy a .308 Model 660 Remington for my girlfriend back in 1968 though.

Montana Marine,

Sweet looking rifles. I have a 308 Rem tactical rifle with a dark camoed, graphite-composite stock. Off of the bipod I can shoot 2 and 1/2 inch groups at 300 yards (if it's not windy).

It's a pleasure to carry (joke), but it is nice to be able to consistantly hit a pop can at 200+ yards in the field.

Mine sports a Springfield Govt. Model 2 scope, which works pretty well for me.

Had both, buy currently have a .308 Win.

Ed,

Do you have descriptions of those rifles and maybe pictures?

The 325 sure impressed me! A 200 grain tsx blew right through a 12" log and (at least) 12 inches into the soil (that's where we stopped digging--never found it).

Serous elk round.

BMT

I forgot about that! I love informal penetration tests.. heh heh.. that's one of the fun things about shooting up in that wild and wooly spot, eh? You'll love your AR in the gravel pit up top, next time.

Was up there today getting the plates all re-hung and re-painted. I forgot my damn cell phone here at home, and I'm useless without it, and once I'd driven all the way back home it seemed silly to do anything other than go shootin'...

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! The .325 is rockin' with 200-gn Partitions out to 500 yards now, BMT, by the way... I've settled on that "obsolete" bullet.

Word to the wise: this BMT feller is a bad man with a 44 mag revolver!! The man belongs in the wild west.

-jeff

Fishanado:Because at the same pressures for each, I get more velocity from the 30/06.There isn't a downside if you prefer the lower velocities of the 308,in exchange for the "advantages" of a short action.I've found over the years that larger cases give up the velocity easier than smaller cases loaded to higher pressures;if I have choice between a 165 at 2900+ vs 2750, I'll take the ballistic advantage of the faster cartridge, that's all.If you are satisfied with the velocities of a 308, fine.I know it works,I just have never had a soft spot for the thing.The 06 beats it all day.

My present FW 06 goes 7.5 scoped;I don't consider that at all burdensome.

Ive had several of both,a few ruger RSIs in 308 that were tolerable to shoot,I had an RSI in 30-06 a few years back and I wont make that mistake again,sucker would just beat you into uncomfortably numb,when the military knocked the 1/2" off the 30-06 they called it the T65,it gave the military moore storage space in the ammo can,I read where a military engineer said the 7.62x51 was an effective 1200 meter combat weapon,some of this countries big reload gurus say that with a bullet of 150 gr. bullets on down and the right powder you can load a 308 to velocities equal to or slightly over the 30-06,where the big dog shines is with the heavy bullets and the 308 cant run with the big dog in that class,I have both and like both........