Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 308 Hunting rifles - your top pick and why

I have the same gun in 7MM/08, with a VX-lll 2.5x8. I LIKE it!

Only 308 left here is my wife's Win M70 Classic Compact. Sweet little gun. Wears a Leupold 3-9x40. She loves that gun and will die with it being her only rifle. She tried 243 and 257R and killed deer with both, but the 308 is her favorite. She took her big caribou bull with it and factory 180gr PowerPoints.

Love my M1A! Culled hundreds of deer with it (legally) on a local plantation over the years....takes me back to when I carried an M-14. My M1A is accurized by the AMTU at Ft. Benning and has an original contour McMillian match barrel. She shoots under 1/4" with boring regularity.

Hope this takes, never posted a pic before. Savage wears a Leupold MK4 long range Chinese clone. It now wears a Japanese Tasco 6-24x44 World Class.

57 - that's ONE accurate semi!

DF, nice loads

Whelen, about time to scope that Kimber!

The 308 is an excellent cartridge to have a light, handy hunting rifle. We carry them forever it seems to get one shot.

The Kimber Montana 308 stands out as a landmark rifle! It has many of the features I want at times in a game rifle. They include light weight, 3 position wing safety, CRF, SS.

Here is how the 308 Kimber proved it stayed sighted in at 200 yds.

I have a 2-10x42 Zeiss HD5 RZ600 sitting here for it.

I was needing to let one rifle go, and it was one of 3 under consideration.

It is staying, so the scope will go on this weekend, assuming medium Talleys clear the heavier barrel.

My dad bought a BLR in .308 in the 70's, that my son now owns and uses. We've both taken mulie bucks with that rifle and it is a keeper.

The only other .308 in the family is a late 50's 99F that I just purchased. But I have three 99's in .300 Savage that aren't going anywhere.

Expect it to clear, give us a range report

Henry, typically hear those BLR's shooting around 1" groups, nice handling, great in scabbard if on horseback.

I've always been a fan of 308's and dare say it's my favorite cartridge for deer. I've had several rifles that fit the favorite category but my latest seems to be the best of the best.

It's a Remington Model Seven AWRII. The stock is Bell and Carlson and it's a dead ringer for the older McMillan AWR stocks with the rounded grip cap but it's charcoal gray with black flecks. It has a medium contour 20" deeply fluted barrel and the barreled action is stainless with a black Trinyte finish.

It weighs 5.25 pounds bare and scoped with a Leuply 2.5-8x36 VX3 it weighs in at just a touch less than 7 pounds.

I shoot a 165gr Accubond backed by a compressed load of Varget and a Federal GMM primer.

I haven't run it across the chrono but other model 7's with the same length barrel turned out a respectable 2800fps.

Light, easy to handle, pleasing to the eye, and more accurate than a light rifle has a right to be.... What's not to like?

Bob

My favorite is my Tikka T3 stainless.

I trimmed the barrel to 20"s, and mounted a 2.5-10 compact Nightforce on it, using Talley lightweight rings.

It has been a deer and elk killing machine.

I pretty much exclusively shoot 165 grain Sierra hollow point Game Kings in it.

It is a true tack driver.

but i heard on the campfire that those boolets dont kill elk??? sounds like a great setup. i MAY be a fan of those sierra 165's, too

I'll weigh in, I have two but my favorite is a mod 88 Winchester with a 4X post& crosshair steel weaver and tip over mounts. For having such a poor trigger, it is an honest 1" gun with 180 Hornady round nose for 5 shots! I am pretty sure I just load it with H414.

The middle rifle is a M7MS in 308. It is the perfect swamp, small stand deer rifle. The bottom is a hard to find M7FS in 308 a great summer carry rifle.

A H-S Precision PHL which I bought new at a steep discount from a friend who reps their rifles. It's H-S's lightweight offering and with a VXIII 2.5-8 weighs about 6.5 lbs. My go to load is a 150 gr Barnes TTSX over N202 which gets a tad over 2,800 fps from a 22" barrel, and "3 bullets holes touching" accuracy @ 100 yds.

Quote: My Marlin XS-7 carbine has shot the smallest group I've even shot with a deer rifle with a hunting load. .101" for 3 shots. 7.25ponds loaded and field ready it shoots far better than it's price says it should. UnQuote

I have a Marlin XL 7 in 30-06 that does the same thing, in CA, with Tax, I paid less than 300 dollars for the rifle. Light, and great trigger pull, and accurate. What more can you ask.

Really liking my 700 SS Mountain Guide. The trigger has been tweaked and I bedded it. Bolt fluting and a Campfire knob from Karl adds some bling! Under 7 1/2 Lb. hunting weigh(scope, sling and 4 rounds) and shoots 150 TTSX great, what else do I need!

Have had and still have a lot of 308s. Best for me is the Montana; pretty much given up on finding anything better from a factory rifle.

Best bullets have been any good 150 mono. Has worked well on everything from mouflon to moose and grizzlies.

The 150 T-TSX shoots really well in my 84M.

Kimber 84M shoots very well with the 165TSX.. Light weight, stainless, and compact enough to around in tight areas