Would anyone else care to give praise to the .308 ?

It has its place in the field for sure as do many others in the safe. I hunt with one quite often, but not exclusively. Just depends on what I plan to expect and game I'm hunting. In my head I have a hard time convincing myself that hunting moose inside 200 yards I'd be better off with a 308 vs a 375.
 
Practically bounces off of animals… I kid

Good on-game performance with very tolerable recoil, excellent and ubiquitous ammo and component availability, very good trajectory to sane distances. What’s not to like?
 
Parent cartridge of some other great calibers. 243 is not a slouch. 260, 7-08, 358. This 308 rocks, hell, its the reason they invented AR10's and their damn fun to shoot. I have to admit I have not harvested any animals with one yet but the key word is yet. It will be around a long time.
 
My .308 gets the job done. It's the only rifle other than a .22 that I've ever owned though. I've taken deer, elk, antelope, and black bear with it.
 
I've lost count number of times my EX Witched about me bringing home another deer with my 308. My Dad bought a Rem 600 for me when I was 16, didn't let me have it until I was 35. Then the 10 yrs. of carnage began.

I will never dissuade anyone from a 308, great Great GREAT cartridge !

However......I've hunted with a 7mm/08 these past 20+ yrs. Ain't going back.
 
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I am relatively new to hunting, only been at it for 5 yrs now. I started with an LR308 just for range shooting and ranch defense. When I decided to start hunting, I stayed in 308 with a Kimber Classic to keep ammo common between platforms. Seemed like a good idea. I have taken three mule deer and two bull elk in that time, all with 165 gr TBTs. Not a one of them went more than 20 yds. As others have said, shot placement is key. Great caliber, lots of bullet choices, relatively easy to find ammo, and ammo isn't insanely expensive ...
 
You used to be able to buy the cheap Federal ammo for $5-10 a box. Also seems like any bullet you feed it, it will shoot it at 1moa or less.
 
My "go to, do all " load for my Sako .308 are factory Barnes 150 grain TTSX going just under 2900'/sec with a BC of .420.

It is so close to my .270 the diference has no real hunting world significance.

For deer close up in the brush , I loaded some 150 grain Barnes 30-30 bullets at 30-30 velocities and they work great with next to no recoil and less noise.

The cheap lead 30 cal bullets are a great small game load. Was tempted to shoot a turkey once with that load but it would not have been a legal firearm so I didn't.

My Sako has the 1/11 twist which would handle some of the much heavier bulllets. Some guys like to shoot game animals a 1000 yards away, I could do half that max with the .308, but mostly I am a stalker and my game animals have been taken so close.

I never shot an elk farther than 200 yards, did take a successful cross canyon shot a deer at maybe 325 yards. All within range easily of a .308.

Probably the only place my 308 would have been weak an short was shooting big wild boar in huge flat barley fields.
 
Like so many of the cartridges we see It's a good hunting round. Accurate and reasonably powerful. You can also easily get ammo on the shelf right now for it. I think where it really shines is in shorter barreled carbines. I think a lightweight 18.5 inch barreled 308 is a hard gun to beat for many applications.
 
One of the all-time bests. When my daughter stepped up to bear hunting, bought her a .308.

I've since stepped up to .338, but the .308 gets field time every year. The only standard action cartridge I have a soft spot for is the .270.
 
I'm a huge fan of the .308 cartridge as offered in lever action rifles. Very handy to carry all day yet has the power, reach, and accuracy to down big game animals within reasonable distances. - TR

Savage 99 doe.JPG
savage 99 hog.jpg
 
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Mustangs Rule said:
I had a 99 featherweight in 308. Good heavens did it kick!
Click to expand...
A good friend of mine had a 300sav in the same. The stock configuration and lack of recoil plays a huge role. My dad has a M70 featherweight in 308 and aluminum recoil pad, that SUCKS to shoot. I have a Kimber that's 2lbs lighter and a pussy cat, no break, bare rifle is 5lbs 14oz. I do warm up on something larger though, that really takes the flinch out of the lighter rifles. haha
 
I’m ashamed that I went with a 6.5 instead of a .308 last year when buying my first rifle but here in Il I could only find 6.5 ammo.
 
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