Should everyone own a 308 hunting rifle?

[sharps54]

My collection has widdled down over the years. Currently for serious hunting guns I have a Howa 6.5 CM, a T/C Renegade, and just picked up an Encore pistol that so far has 45-70 and 30-06 barrels. Do I need a .308? Nope. Do I want one, kind of.

I have always been tempted by Cooper's Scout rifle concept (I'm in my fifth decade and grew up reading about it) but honestly if I built one it wouldn't be in 308, it would be in 6mm ARC. I think that would easily meet all the criteria since he offered the option of 243 as a last resort caliber option. I found the 308 clone I shot, the original Savage Scout, kicked more than I like although that was over 20 years ago.

I'm not sure what 308 I would get today, probably a bolt action with a 16" barrel and a can.

 

[LazyP]

A good .308 fed with 155 Scenars is handy to have around.

 

[Boarmaster]

Some guy on another forum made the comment that everyone should own a 30/30.
I put this question in the same file labeled “WHY”. I own both a 30/30 and a 308 but I wouldn’t think every hunter should own either one. Im 63 and haven’t shot either one of those rifles in 20 years or better. The right situation comes along I would probably give them to a young relative wanting to get into hunting. A guy shooting whitetails could do quite nicely with no regrets with a 270, 6.5 cm or a 7mm08. Probably plenty of other chamberings as well.

 

[Wilderlife]

I had one as my first rifle asround 15 years ago and I shot truckloads of animals with it. I gave it to a friend a handful of years ago to kickstart his hunting journey and I never really missed it, but now I'm wanting one again.

We do a lot of culling here, so something with lots of factory bulk options is preferable over something I might be handloading for. Most things I point a .308 at can be tackled with 130gn HP loads, and if not, 150gn soft point loads are easy to come by. I'm talking mainly feral goats, fallow deer, and lots of pigs. Even a red stag would be fine with either of those two loads, but I'm not really culling them.

I think a lot of people like to get caught up in the idea that the 6.5 Creedmoor does everything the .308 does, but better. I don't really buy into that idea, unless you're definitely shooting beyond the 400 metre mark. If you're just killing bul;k animals inside 200m, and even 300m to a lesser extent, the .308 is usually going to hit a little harder, and the sectional density gained in a 6.5 projectile for that application may not necessarily be a good enough trade off to the larger frontal diameter of a .308 bullet. Again, I'm talking inside reasonably close distances, which is my application.

I could have a .308 with a 10 round magazine and be shooting pigs froma quad bike in huge numbers on one day, then mount it to a tripod with a torch and shoot more at night with a thermal, and then shoot a fallow deer at 300 metres the next day, all with some decent bulk factory ammo. The 6.5 Creedmoor doesn't have the same bulk factory ammo here but I'm sure we'll see some of it in the future.

Here's a video I made for the magazine I write for, about a new .308 to the market. I may buy one if I can get around some of the ridiculous new laws our NSW state government has brought in.

 

[JimIsland]

I own 3 .308's . One safe queen, 1 lightweight 20" barrel, and the other a heavier 22" variant. They're all accurate, they all kill, and ammo is abundant and cheap. If I need something spicier, I have bigger calibers with high BC, etc. Also, have a couple Tikka's in 6.5CR and they're fine.

Calibers are like colors. Some folks like blue, some like green! If you want one, buy it! You never know, it may be your go to one day.

 

[TimberRunner]

What a time to be alive.

 

[sierracharlie338]

I’ll never be without a 308. Just a personal preference and you can’t change my mind despite any of the other cartridges I may own.