Should everyone own a 308 hunting rifle?

[Macchina]

I’ve hunted for about 30 years (big game for 25). I’ve never shot or owned a 308!

My first hunting rifle was a 300 win mag and I soon traded that towards a 7mm-08 Savage. I got a 30-06 Winchester Model 70 soon after. I’ve since added a mess of 357 Mag and 44 Mag rifles as well as few 350 Legends and a 6.5 Creedmoor.

I’m shopping for an ultralight rifle now and just can’t make an argument against 308. It seems like I’ve danced around this cartridge for decades and it’s the perfect cartridge in the middle of everything.

 

[hereinaz]

If you want another, go for it. It’s nothing special, and the 6.5 creed can do everything the 308 can. Big 308 bullets aren’t any better than big 6.5 bullets.

There are other reasons a guy might want a 308 but as an ultralight rifle doesn’t seem to be one of them. For ultralight there are better choices that recoil less. Another 6.5 would be a better choice.

 

[Steve300xcw]

It really sounds like you need a 243

 

[Kauaihunter]

If you have a 7mm-08 and an ‘06 you don’t need a .308 but if you want one I can’t say you shouldn’t.

 

[z987k]

If you want another, go for it. It’s nothing special, and the 6.5 creed can do everything the 308 can. Big 308 bullets aren’t any better than big 6.5 bullets.

There are other reasons a guy might want a 308 but as an ultralight rifle doesn’t seem to be one of them. For ultralight there are better choices that recoil less. Another 6.5 would be a better choice.

Agreed. Nothing about 308 says ultralight unless his definition of ultralight is in line with most and is not any lighter if not heavier than a factory tikka.

 

[Dmoua]

No. I hunted with a .308 for 6 years. I no longer own one and don’t miss it at all.

 

[MountainSide]

My Kimber Montana in 308 Win would be the last centerfire rifle I would ever part with, with my 223 Kimber Montana not far behind. There are times I miss when those two were the only centerfire rifles I had.

Caribou, sheep, black and brown bear, moose...the 308 is little fuss and easy to feed!

 

[DuckDawg22]

If you're the type to stockpile ammo, bulk 308 is relatively inexpensive compared to other "fancier" rounds. But it won't do anything better than what you already have.

 

[JFK]

Unless you really care about barrel life, the 06 and 6.5 you already own do everything better than the 308.

 

[Hondo64d]

I’ve hunted for about 30 years (big game for 25). I’ve never shot or owned a 308!

My first hunting rifle was a 300 win mag and I soon traded that towards a 7mm-08 Savage. I got a 30-06 Winchester Model 70 soon after. I’ve since added a mess of 357 Mag and 44 Mag rifles as well as few 350 Legends and a 6.5 Creedmoor.

I’m shopping for an ultralight rifle now and just can’t make an argument against 308. It seems like I’ve danced around this cartridge for decades and it’s the perfect cartridge in the middle of everything.

Formidilosus has put spelled it out about as well as anyone could.

Post in thread 'The Shoot2hunt Podcast'
https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/the-shoot2hunt-podcast.324852/post-3851369

My experiences with the .308 support his observations as well. I have never had a cartridge shoot as well as easily as the .308, and I’ve used a bunch of different cartridges. I have been able to get other cartridges to shoot nearly as well, but without exception, it took longer to find a combination that would do it. In recent load development efforts with two different .308s, I had one barrel put 5 shots with 5 different charges into .31” and another barrel put 9 shots of nine different charges into .495”. I’ve got several different targets with 5 to 6 ten shot groups all going well under 1”. My .308s are 5mph guns with most of the loads I shoot and 6mph gun with the most slippery bullets. My 6.5 Creedmoors are mostly 6mph guns and 7mph with the 147gr ELD. .308 barrel life is fantastic, more than 2x as much as a 6.5 Creedmoor, which leads me to shooting it more. With relatively slick bullets like the 168gr TMK or 178gr ELD-x it holds on to an 1800fps impact velocity all the way out past 600 yards. Trajectory is super easy with 400 yards needing 2 mils, 500 3 mils, 600 4 mils and 700 needs 5.1 mils. Terminal effects have never disappointed me and nothing lives through a well placed shot from it. Recoil is tolerable enough to be able to shoot it well in the weight class of rifles I like to shoot.

I’ve posted several times here on Rokslide that no one needs a .308 over your cartridge of choice, but everyone needs a .308 in addition to their cartridge of choice.

John

 

[freezerfull]

Since you already have a 06 it’d be pretty redundant. However if someone wanted to only own one standard 30 cal cartridge the 308 win is the one I always recommend. Lots of hunting ammo options, quality match factory ammo, NATO worldwide availability, very easy to load for, and moderate recoil.

 

[grfox92]

As a guy who's owned a few .308s, the answer to your question is no. Id rather own a 7mm08 over a .308 any day.

Sent from my SM-S931U using Tapatalk

 

[Wolfshead]

I was looking to get a 7-08 during the pandemic until I could not find any ammunition for it anywhere.
So I picked up a 308 and haven’t looked back.
Get the 308, and enjoy it.

 

[Wrench]

A 308 with a 155 scenar is a LOT more capable then the internet would suggest. A lot.

 

[Speaks]

I always keep thinking my next gun will be a 308. Largely because I had something like 7k rounds that I bought real cheap 2 decades ago for guns I no longer have/use. Thats a ton of low cost practice.

But my hunting / training rotation is 223 -> 6cm -> 6.5 prc. I have a 6.5cm as well which is kind of redundant but it shoots really well and I have a bunch of aac ammo. I feel like the 6.5cm in many ways is what the 308 was always trying to be. Then when adding another gun the 22cm just filled more of an interesting niche than the 308 again.

I sold off half that lot of ammo so even less need for a 308 now...... I have been thinking though I should find a cheap take off barrel. When my 6.5 is shot out I can spin a 308 on it and once that ammo supply is exhaused I can spin a 6.5 back on it again.

Nothing wrong with a 308, it can do just about everything and has a long barrel life. Just not real excited about anything it does compared to other options. Its down to being pretty nitpicky about performance differences though.

 

[bnewt3]

Short answer: NO

Long answer: This is unpopular due to all of our opinions and preferences, we like what we like but that has zero bearing on what works. Virtually any centerfire cartridge will get the job done on any animal we choose to take as long as you use the right bullet for the job and within the effective range of that combination.

EVERYTHING is a compromise.

308 is a GREAT cartridge, its not fancy or "modern" or exciting, but it works.

There are ALOT of other GREAT cartridges too.

"Ultralight" is a term open to interpretation. To some 8lbs is ultralight, to others 5lbs is ultralight. 308 is at the high end of what I consider "mild" cartridges and in a 5lb rifle 308 would not be fun to shoot for most people.

 

[BradArnett]

I have 2. One is just a no frills rem700 w/a fixed 6x that is sighted in with 155 scenars. The other is an old GAP build with a nightforce 3.5-15x that only shoots 175smk's. Haven't shot either of them in years. But i have no doubt in picking up either them and taking them on a hunt if they were needed. Everytime I pull them out and think about selling them I just put them back in the safe

 

[TaperPin]

308 makes a great light rifle, that’s been true as long as the 308 has existed, and every light model from just about every maker has had a 308 option for a reason. To somehow poo poo its track record overly discounts its achievements. It’s also very shootable in 7-1/2 pound rifles. I don’t think recoil will kill you. As 15 year old high school kids we were stacking bullets into quarter size groups with one wearing a 4x scope and cheap Remington ammo. No specialized training, no building positions, no bipods, no fancy trigger, no nothing, just kids resting over sandbags made from blue jeans filled with kitty litter shooting a 30 year old beat up rifle.

I load it with 165s for everything.

 

[Wprinkle]

Why do you have to get Form all twitterpated this early in the morning....?