Caribou Gear

Who here is a .308 Winchester hunter?

Agree on shot placement. I have only ever hunted with a 308. Last bull I took this past fall was at 182 yds through a keyhole opening in the aspens. He dropped where he stood. Last muley two weeks later was at 335 yds; put the round right behind the shoulder and took out both lungs. He went 45 yds into the brush and dropped. The buck in 2020 was at 225 yds in southwest Wyoming. Hit him low in the boiler room and took out the heart and one lung. He stood where I shot him for about 20 seconds and then just dropped. All three of these were with a 165 TBT. Devastating round that I can get 0.8 MOA accuracy with. Shot placement and high performing bullet works every time. With rangefinders and CDC systems on my VX6, compensating for bullet drop isn't an issue and my 308 is light and soft shooting. Can't beat that combination for high country Colorado hunting.

I would trust my 308 anywhere. But I do use my 300 out west due to the fact we have never shot under 300 and routinely shoot in the 5-600 range. With said same grain of rounds the 308 drops around 14in at 300yds and 60in at 500yds, where as the 300 drops 8 at 300yds and 38in at 500 yds. So quite the difference.
 
Only caliber I’ve ever shot at deer. Every time I’ve bought a new rifle I tell myself I’m trying something different, but always end up with another 308.
 
My 308 is probably the least picky rifle in existence. It’s just a cheap Weatherby Vanguard that I traded for a 204 Ruger. My 308 doesn’t care what brand of brass I use. Lake City military brass isn’t even stamped .308 win. The walls on it are even thicker. My 308 doesn’t care. Factory loads and handloads all seem to hit in the same place. It’s magical. 150 grains groups with 150 grains and 180 grains group with 180 grains. The low variance is mind boggling to me. I have an abundance of loaded Hornady SSTs for it and when I switch to elk I’ll shoot Interbonds. 150 grain bullets seem to be the ticket for it.

Any other rifle if I change seating depth, powder charge, powder brand, bullets, factory loads, brass brands, or primers. I am unscrewing the turrets on the scope of my rifle.

My 308 will hold groups with any 150 grain bullet out to 200 yards. We‘ve even tried to mess it up with seating depths. It just doesn’t discriminate. There is something about the balance of the caliber.

In contrast I have a 7-08 that needs bullets sticking way out into the rifling to group best. So much that I had to Dremel the box magazine to accommodate such long rounds. Then I have a 6.5 Creedmore that only likes accubonds. Both rifles took hours and hours to tame to find refined groups. My 308 doesn’t group as tight as the other 2 rifles and yet it is still the one I use for everything, because I have so many rounds for it and the difference is minimal.
 
I have a Rem 700 ADL Varmint in 308 that I had the barrel cut down to 20" wth a recessed target brown. Still in the factory plastic varmint stock, but incredibly accurate. Only thing is, when I take it out I see NO deer. Take the 300Win out and I get my deer.
 
My favorite caliber for deer is .308. It just works. Been thinking it may go on my next elk hunt too!
 
I have a Browning x bolt in .308 and it has worked well on whitetail and mule deer so far. Still working on figuring out the best all purpose ammunition for it. Looking at trying 165gr partitions this year if I can find them!
 
I loved my .264 win and .300win , bought a 308win , it will be my killing machine till I can buy a 6.5-284 norma , till then the easygoing recoil and easy to find factory loads 308 is staying put
 
When I bought my first hunting rifle I was deciding between 30-06 an 308. I went with 308 and have been happy with my decision. Lots of ammo availability, big enough for any North American game, yet the recoil is manageable. I have taken 4 elk, 6 deer, and 1 antelope with it. Ever animal has gone down within 50 yards of where I shot it. Looking forward to adding bear, sheep, goat, and moose to my list of animals taken with my 308.
 
I bought my .308 when I was only hunting whitetails in Nebraska. After moving out west I wish I would have went with a 300.
 
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