Thread: Interesting view on the 308 v new calibres

Hi I found this article quite a good read. Maybe a little one side but food for though anyway

Not really a reason to have one is it But I do love my little 3 banger.....and target shooting aside a nice compact 308 slinging 150+ at deer under 200 is pretty hard to beat

Its a fair article. 308 won't go anywhere anytime ever. My bet is that it will remain in the top three selling rifles for years to come. I love mine, always have, always will. The ability to run them as lightweight carbines, a heavy bullet and expecting to use it as a snap shooting carry-all-day rifle is a major plus.

It's the recoil part that makes the most sense for me. Shooting my 6.5 on a steep Taranaki hillside covered in thistles and sheep shit, unable to find a decent rest, animals are at awkward angles... and trying to work out what the fickle wind is doing... last thing I need is a .30 cal recoil. 6.5 just works better all round in that kind of application, no brainer for me.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Its a fair article. 308 won't go anywhere anytime ever. My bet is that it will remain in the top three selling rifles for years to come. I love mine, always have, always will. The ability to run them as lightweight carbines, a heavy bullet and expecting to use it as a snap shooting carry-all-day rifle is a major plus.

It's the recoil part that makes the most sense for me. Shooting my 6.5 on a steep Taranaki hillside covered in thistles and sheep shit, unable to find a decent rest, animals are at awkward angles... and trying to work out what the fickle wind is doing... last thing I need is a .30 cal recoil. 6.5 just works better all round in that kind of application, no brainer for me.

Yep I have a leupold vx5 tattoo in my eyebrow that can attest to this. Must say love the 308 in the Bush though. They are a hammer with the right projectile

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Its a fair article. 308 won't go anywhere anytime ever. My bet is that it will remain in the top three selling rifles for years to come. I love mine, always have, always will. The ability to run them as lightweight carbines, a heavy bullet and expecting to use it as a snap shooting carry-all-day rifle is a major plus.

It's the recoil part that makes the most sense for me. Shooting my 6.5 on a steep Taranaki hillside covered in thistles and sheep shit, unable to find a decent rest, animals are at awkward angles... and trying to work out what the fickle wind is doing... last thing I need is a .30 cal recoil. 6.5 just works better all round in that kind of application, no brainer for me.

Ah yes, the perfect pairing. 308 for in the jungle, 260 for the rest

It works, so it stays.

I won't be selling my 308. Wifey wants something in the near future and I'd like to have something to ring gongs out to 800y.

My solution- hand load 168gr TMKs and put a VX5 2-10 CDS ZL2 on her as opposed to trying to build a dedicated rig. That way it can do both hunting and gong ringing.

One of the reasons I love 308 is it's simplicity.

Yip I get the recoil thing, I don't have a 308 at the moment but had a one years ago and liked it, but then got caught up in the Latte version fad before the current 6.5's came out. Now I find myself wanting to go back to 30 cal not sure why.

Anyway the point of posting this was the other day we were at our range doing our monthly 300m club shoot and I noticed a guy watching us, I asked him if he wanted a go and he said nah nah I only got my 308 with me I came down to sight it in at 100- if I brought my Magnum i'd give it ago. I though to myself "really" he obviously didn't take notice of the 2 x 303's in the mix with the rest being 223's 243's and a 7-08. So I said to him that the 100m is free go for it.
That little conversion just got me thinking do people these day really think that a 308 is only good for a bush gun and you need 6 - 6.5 wizz bang or a magnum to hit a target at 300m ?

Originally Posted by Rock river arms hunter

I won't be selling my 308. Wifey wants something in the near future and I'd like to have something to ring gongs out to 800y.

My solution- hand load 168gr TMKs and put a VX5 2-10 CDS ZL2 on her as opposed to trying to build a dedicated rig. That way it can do both hunting and gong ringing.

One of the reasons I love 308 is it's simplicity.

Me too looks like a rebarrel might be on the cards soon

Originally Posted by winaa

Yip I get the recoil thing, I don't have a 308 at the moment but had a one years ago and liked it, but then got caught up in the Latte version fad before the current 6.5's came out. Now I find myself wanting to go back to 30 cal not sure why.

Anyway the point of posting this was the other day we were at our range doing our monthly 300m club shoot and I noticed a guy watching us, I asked him if he wanted a go and he said nah nah I only got my 308 with me I came down to sight it in at 100- if I brought my Magnum i'd give it ago. I though to myself "really" he obviously didn't take notice of the 2 x 303's in the mix with the rest being 223's 243's and a 7-08. So I said to him that the 100m is free go for it.
That little conversion just got me thinking do people these day really think that a 308 is only good for a bush gun and you need 6 - 6.5 wizz bang or a magnum to hit a target at 300m ?

Yeah of course. 308 bounces off deer after 200m.

The author sums it up well at the end of the article; its super user friendly and super versatile. Add that to our unique NZ situation of lots of forested public land AND allowed suppressors, and I agree with him...its not going away any time soon.

I have a .308 and 6.5 CM. For me the .308 with a Leupold VX 3i 3.5x10 scope is my general bush hunting red deer rifle and certainly for the huge red stags in the pine forests where I live, loaded with 180gr .30 calibre bullets. The 6.5 CM with a Leupold VX-5 2-10 is my light deer open area rifle. Kaimanwa and Kawekas for Sika and also fallow out Whanganui way. Both are very accurate rifles.

7mm08 not even mentioned in the article, I'm crying in to my latte

Originally Posted by winaa

That little conversion just got me thinking do people these day really think that a 308 is only good for a bush gun and you need 6 - 6.5 wizz bang or a magnum to hit a target at 300m ?

I've shot .308 out to 600m, and people do shoot further. The drop is something like 3 yards so you're really mortaring them. Great fun. I was holding 4 MOA accuracy which I didn't think was too bad for a blind guy through aperture sights.
They'll stay super-sonic past 1000 yards so if you know your dope there's plenty of twack in em.

Does what I want it to do pretty good and that's put meat on my plate. Personally I don't see the point of spending more money on another fang dangle new cal for the same outcome. But that's just me. I respect other people's reasons for changing from the 308win however. Each to their own.