Thoughts on .308 ?

[Boss .300 winmag]

My youngest daughter shot a deer with mine at 30 yards, it didn’t now what hit it 👍. I carry it when I get tired of packing a heavier rifle.😉

[yorketransport]

I guess I'll be the odd man out here, but I think it's an over rated cartridge. It's great for the fact that inexpensive components and ammo are available but that's about it.

For target shooting it's been surpassed by a number of ballistically superior chamberings, including the 260 and 243 which are just necked downed versions of the same case. As a hunting round it's adequate for everything but not really great at anything. The 338 Federal and 358 Winchester have an advantage for medium to large game like bear or elk at moderate ranges (under 250 yards) with bullets in the 200-250gr range. For deer sized critters the smaller 243-7mm cartridges work great giving reduced recoil and flatter trajectories if you're shooting a little longer range.

I think that just like the .223/5.56, the 308/7.62 owes most of it's popularity to being a service round. Even then, I can't think of anybody I know who's using a 308 in a work gun if they have a choice.

[bullfisher]

 
It's not that the 308 is incapable of anything. There's just so many superior flavors out there.

[bobcat]

It's really splitting hairs to say any other cartridge is "superior" to the 308 Winchester. Yes, some may have slightly less recoil, and some may have one inch less drop at 300 yards, but for an all around hunting cartridge, you really can't beat the 308. I don't even own one, and never have. I have a 270 Win. and a couple of 30/06's, but I sure don't feel I'd be at a disadvantage with a 308 instead of what I currently have.

[b23]

As a hunting round it's adequate for everything but not really great at anything.

This pretty well sums it up in my opinion.  I don't necessarily have anything against the 308 but IMO there is just sooooooo many, better, cartridges available.

[Taco280AI]

Better in what way? If one were to hunt to a max of 300 yards, realistically under 200 yards in the wet side, I don't think there is "better." There's different. There's bigger, faster, more recoil, more impressive on paper, but animals aren't impressed by paper stats.

The bullet itself is far more important than the cartridge. Choose the right bullet for your hunting and fill your freezer.

[C-Money]

It's really splitting hairs to say any other cartridge is "superior" to the 308 Winchester. Yes, some may have slightly less recoil, and some may have one inch less drop at 300 yards, but for an all around hunting cartridge, you really can't beat the 308. I don't even own one, and never have. I have a 270 Win. and a couple of 30/06's, but I sure don't feel I'd be at a disadvantage with a 308 instead of what I currently have.

Well said Bobcat... .308 is a stone cold killer for sure. Excellent cartridge. Much proof to back it up.

[ctwiggs1]

I don't think anyone could knock a .308.  I'll never get rid of my first rifle, a  Mossberg .308.  It'll be a dead mans gun - I got it when a guy died and my kids will get it when I die.

I did bump up to a 7MM this year because I'm looking at two things:  an Alaska trip in the coming years and working on some long range shooting.  The .308 would really be sufficient for both, but I liked the 7MM a little more and thought it would be fun to try something new.

[mountainman]

Better in what way? If one were to hunt to a max of 300 yards, realistically under 200 yards in the wet side, I don't think there is "better." There's different. There's bigger, faster, more recoil, more impressive on paper, but animals aren't impressed by paper stats.

The bullet itself is far more important than the cartridge. Choose the right bullet for your hunting and fill your freezer.

👍For sure! Well said!

[yorketransport]

Better in what way? If one were to hunt to a max of 300 yards, realistically under 200 yards in the wet side, I don't think there is "better." There's different. There's bigger, faster, more recoil, more impressive on paper, but animals aren't impressed by paper stats.

The bullet itself is far more important than the cartridge. Choose the right bullet for your hunting and fill your freezer.

You can apply that same perspective to every other cartridge out there. The 308 isn’t popular because it’s so great, it’s popular because it’s popular. Same applies to the 270, 30-06, 300 Win Mag, 223 and 7 Rem Mag. They aren’t the best in their class at anything. They’re popular because of their widespread acceptance and availability but the acceptance and availability are there because they’re popular. The 6.5 Creedmoor is a great modern example of this. It’s not “better” than anything else out there. It’s popular because it’s available and it’s available because it’s popular.

I’ve had At least 6 308s over the years and none of them were anything special. They do make excellent low cost donor rifles for more interesting projects though. 

[bobcat]

Depends on your definition of "better," I guess. The headstamp on the cartridge is about the least important factor. More important is the actual quality of the rifle itself, the reliability of the scope, and as Taco280 said, the BULLET.

[ctwiggs1]

Depends on your definition of "better," I guess. The headstamp on the cartridge is about the least important factor. More important is the actual quality of the rifle itself, the reliability of the scope, and as Taco280 said, the BULLET.

That's for darn sure.

[Russ McDonald]

I believe that a .308 is a great all around gun.  By the way no one has said but most police snipers have .308's. I grew shooting a Remington 740 Woodmaster.  Only long gun big game rifle in my safe.  I would hunt anything out here with it but I only do archery now.   I do take it out to the range and put some down the pipe.  Still very accurate for being a 50+ year old gun.  Yes you can spend lots of money and make any gun in any caliber a tach driver.  The unfortunate thing to the OP is your going to a get a millions of opinions. 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[DOUBLELUNG]

Last week in Wyoming, two .308s among three hunters made 4 1-shot kills on 3 mule deer and a pronghorn, at ranges from 80-360 yards.  No tracking required.  Entirely "adequate" for hunting big game, as are nearly all modern centerfire cartridges.  For the big game hunter who buys ammo by the box rather than reloading, one of many excellent choices. 

[bullfisher]

As mentioned before, the 308 win, is the direct parent case for the 243, 260, 7-08, 338 federal and 358 win. There are even "improved" variations of each. Each have there own small improvement of ballistic coefficientcy, sectional density, weight, speed, wind call and terminal expansion. Based on what your trying to achieve, one will be "better" than the other. If you want more of some of those factors from a given bullet, you can just choose a cartridge with more powder behind it (comparing equal rifles of course). Theres lots to choose from. Maybe "better" isn't the correct word to describe a round for what someone is trying to achieve. But to say that you can't get "better" of some factors than a 308 win is just false!
308 is a standard baseline round to me. Nothing wrong with it. To each there own.