.308 is a nice cartridge, first experience

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CoalTrain49

CoalTrain49

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I was at the range yesterday with my neighbor who is a new shooter. He just purchased his first rifle and ask me to help him with the range etiquette and sight in. To begin with I don't own a real rifle. I have a 77/357 and a few USGI carbines. You could say I'm a straight walled cartridge kind of guy. I bore sighted the gun (Tikka T3/Redfield 3x9) and got him started on walking the string into the bullseye. He cleaned his bore after every shot for awhile and finally got his scope zeroed. I have to say for a guy that's never shot a rifle he did pretty well.

At the end of the session I ask him how it went. He said he was sighted in and could hit the 10 ring at 100 yds consistently. I thought that was a great accomplishment for a 68 yo new shooter. He then said I can hit that 300 yd gong also without too much trouble. The gong is a 12" dia. metal plate. Hmmm, this is getting interesting. Now he wants me to try it. I've never shot a .308 or even a newer rifle so I'm skeptical. Well the gong rang out loud and clear. Then another old guy takes a crack at it and bingo, another hit.

I'm thinking the new shooter has a very nice rifle and he's also a pretty fair shooter. 1 moa at 300 yds is about 3 inches. So he's shooting about 2 moa right out of the box.

I know this may not seem like a huge feat to some but we're all old guys without a lot of time on rifles. I may have to get myself a .308. It's a real pleasant cartridge to shoot and the T3 seems to be a darned nice 300 yd rifle. I'm wondering if this rifle is better than 1 moa.
 
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I started out with a 30-06 and used one almost exclusively for 40 years. I tried a 308 for the first time 5-6 years ago and haven't hunted with one of the 30-06's since.

The performance is so close no game animal will ever notice the difference. If a 308 is too small to do the job 30-06 isn't gonna make any difference. Recoil is milder and it comes in smaller, more compact rifles.
 
I love shooting my Remington 700 SPS tactical .308. I can shoot a 30 round string without even blinking, or getting a sore shoulder. Its an awesome rifle to shoot.
 
I'm a big a fan of 308/7.62×51, I have Remy 700 30-06 with jewelry triger, muzzle brake that shot amazing, but I wanna keep my denture attach naturally. So got a an argentinean FAL, then a Springfield M-14 loaded, soon after a CZ500 full stock.
I don't know how at home someone is building an AR10 in 308. Great performance, overall, only shade a little when I shot my other CZ500 on 6.5 swedish.
Ammo prices are helping lately.
Enjoy one of the most effective calibers.
 
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Also new to .308

I agree with JMR40, I picked up a .308 last year. I have been hunting White tails for more than thirty years, in the deep woods of Minnesota with either my savage .270 or my Winchester 94 scout .44 mag.
I added a PWS brake/comp. to the .308 and my oldest grandson took his first and his second whitetails from my ladder stand, last year. Both were clean hits to the pump house. Although he loves my/his Winchester, he has informed me that he will be using my/his .308 again this year. :banghead:
 
I have several rifles chambered in 308, two semi-auto and a bolt gun come to mind. When people ask me about shooting 308 Winchester or 7.62 x 51 NATO my answer is always the same, the cartridge is just a pleasure to shoot or I may say enjoyable to shoot. Really manageable recoil even in the Remington 700 bolt gun and in a good rifle the cartridge is capable of great accuracy. For the hand loader the cartridge is also one with all sorts of possibilities. You have to love the 308 Winchester (7.62 x 51 NATO).

Ron
 
.308 and 7mm-08 are really marvelous hunting cartridges for big game. Either one can be loaded for any North American game except bison and the great bears out to 350 yards (450 for the 7mm-08) even out of a compact rifle and that's about as far as I ever want to shoot. Most of the magnums don't expand the types of animals you can hunt, they just expand the range at which you can do it out past where I can get an ethical hit from field positions.

Coming from small straight wall cartridges, I can imagine the performance seemed pretty magical.
 
The Big D said:
.308 and 7mm-08 are really marvelous hunting cartridges for big game. Either one can be loaded for any North American game except bison and the great bears out to 350 yards (450 for the 7mm-08) even out of a compact rifle and that's about as far as I ever want to shoot. Most of the magnums don't expand the types of animals you can hunt, they just expand the range at which you can do it out past where I can get an ethical hit from field positions.

Coming from small straight wall cartridges, I can imagine the performance seemed pretty magical.
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Actually the 308 spawned some great rounds beyond the 7mm-08, like the 260 Remington and the 243 Winchester. Anyway, yes, the 7mm-08 Remington is another nice round and a flat shooting round.

Ron
 
I'm well aware of them, but neither is really suitable as a general purpose big game round like the .308 is. If you're looking at deer or antelope only, then sure.
 
No doubt about it, the .308 Win is a great all-round cartridge, for hunting or target. I personally am still partial to bolt-actions.

I just gave my nephew his heirloom from me: a Winchester M70 Stealth chambered in .308 Win, with a Nightforce 3.5-12X56. We will switch that out to the Nightforce 12-42X56. I'll attach a photo below of the load we worked-up for it. I fired that shot at 100 yards, over sandbags, as the rifle is pictured. My nephew plans to use the rifle for 1,000 competition. He has the training and skill-set to win such matches if he decides to do so.

Here are the specs for the handload:

Brass: Lapua
Projectile: Lapua Scenar, 155 grain
Powder: Varget, 47.1 grains
Primer: Win LR
COL: 2.909"
Seating: Appx 7/1000s into the lands

Sounds like you had a fun day at the range! Congrats!

Geno

Sorry: Can't get the photo to attach.
 
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I got hooked on the .308 when I tried 165/168 grain rounds: sub-moa in a stock Remington 700.
 
The last year or so of Vietnam, the Army issued me a Model 70 (painted wood stock) with a 4 x 12 Burris at sniper training in the .308 caliber; it shot better than I could and I was put to shame by some of my fellow troops - great shooters and great rifles. I had not shot/ owned another .308 again until my late 50's - I have always wondered why I did not own one earlier in life - great cartridge.
 
I'm wondering if this rifle is better than 1 moa.
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All but guaranteed. Esp. in .308 Win. I have three different Tikkas - .270 Win., .30-06, and 6.5x55 SM. All are well under 1 m.o.a. rifles and the .270 is my high power silhouette rifle and consistently shoots 2-3/4" 5-round groups at 500 meters with 140 grain Berger bullets.

I currently have 3 different rifles chambered in .308. All are good shooters. .308 rifles are often very accurate with factory ammo. Handloading the cartridge is easy and there oodles and oodles of bullets and load combinations for it. Take that Tikka out to the 600 yard range. You might be pleasantly surprised at how well it will shoot. ;)
 
Here's something to think about...almost everyone who has posted in this thread talks about what a pleasant cartridge the .308/7.62 x 51mm is to shoot, and I heartily agree with them. I have a bolt gun and a semi-auto in the caliber and find them great fun to shoot. But, in the recent M16 vs. M14 thread, the poodle shooting crowd went on and on about the stiff recoil of the 7.62 vs. the 5.56. What gives?
 
But, in the recent M16 vs. M14 thread, the poodle shooting crowd went on and on about the stiff recoil of the 7.62 vs. the 5.56. What gives?
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I don't know. I'm extremely recoil sensitive to a point where I can't shoot too many large caliber rifles accurately. This 308 was pretty mild compared to some mags I've shot. Could have been the stock configuration maybe, but recoil was a pleasant surprise.

Coming from small straight wall cartridges, I can imagine the performance seemed pretty magical.
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It was indeed. I'm a pistol shooter mostly these days and I mess around with old carbines some. 300 yards seems like a mile.
 
johnnydollar said:
Here's something to think about...almost everyone who has posted in this thread talks about what a pleasant cartridge the .308/7.62 x 51mm is to shoot, and I heartily agree with them. I have a bolt gun and a semi-auto in the caliber and find them great fun to shoot. But, in the recent M16 vs. M14 thread, the poodle shooting crowd went on and on about the stiff recoil of the 7.62 vs. the 5.56. What gives?
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You got me. We're on our 3rd redesign of the basic 5.56 load to try to get decent terminal performance. Hell, we've got guys shooting short barrel door kicker type guns using the 77gr SMK load because the fairly random terminal performance of the Mk262 is better than the consistently bad behavior of M193 and M855(A1). You'd think people would stop worrying about a few extra ounces of magazine weight and whether the recoil is acceptable for 85lb females, and start worrying about whether the gun, you know, kills people when you shoot them with it. But apparently not.

Poodle shooters are going to poodle shoot. That's all there is to it at this point.
 
johnnydollar said:
Here's something to think about...almost everyone who has posted in this thread talks about what a pleasant cartridge the .308/7.62 x 51mm is to shoot, and I heartily agree with them. I have a bolt gun and a semi-auto in the caliber and find them great fun to shoot. But, in the recent M16 vs. M14 thread, the poodle shooting crowd went on and on about the stiff recoil of the 7.62 vs. the 5.56. What gives?
Click to expand...

Well I'll share my take on it. The first rifle many shooters here and other gun forums get is a AR15 chambered in the traditional 5.56 NATO (223 Remington). Many never fired a larger or more powerful rifle cartridge. In the case of the AR15 we take a rifle that shoots a small cartridge having very little recoil to begin with and buffer it down to about nothing.

The AR-15/M-16 rifle, as do all self-loading rifles, needs a recoil spring to cycle the action. Due to the lightweight design of the AR, the spring also requires a buffer, or extra weight. The earliest buffers were simply plastic tubes that rode inside the tube and in front of the buffer spring and gave the spring a bearing surface against which to work on the carrier and bolt. The carrier and bolt, blown off of the gas tube by the gases, cycle back into the buffer tube inside the stock, compressing the buffer spring. Once the energy of that action has been absorbed by the springs’ compression, the spring then uses the stored energy to push the buffer, carrier and bolt back forward.
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The link just gets into more detail.

Those going from a bolt gun shooting 30-06 or 308 or even a rifle like an M14 (M1A) gas gun will view the typical 223 rifle as having very little to no recoil. However, those shooting an AR15 and eventually picking up a 308 or 30-06 bolt gun will certainly perceive a much greater felt recoil than they were accustomed to. I see it as just being a matter of point of reference. Me? I find the 308 to have light to moderate recoil but that is in comparrison to larger cartridges I have shot. If I had only shot 223 and someone handed me a 308 bolt gun I would likely say "wow, this has some serious recoil". Point of reference....

Ron
 
I agree - it's a matter of a point of reference. Our army used to be drawn from a nation of riflemen who (depending on time period) had shot things like .30-30s in light lever actions before entering the army and considered that normal. A .308 in a heavy autoloader is no worse.

Now we're drawing from a pool of people the vast majority of whom have never shot a hunting rifle. If they've shot rifles at all, they were AR15s. Many are non-shooting urbanites, and about 15% are women. The new normal is now that big game level cartridges are SCARY!
 
My 308 is heavy, over 9 lbs with the bipod, scope and 20" bull barrel. Its got the Hogue stock with a jello feeling recoil pad. This thing is like shooting a 30-30, even with full power loads, its awesome.
 
I know this may not seem like a huge feat to some but we're all old guys without a lot of time on rifles. I may have to get myself a .308. It's a real pleasant cartridge to shoot and the T3 seems to be a darned nice 300 yd rifle. I'm wondering if this rifle is better than 1 moa.
Click to expand...

Age is a lame excuse, sir! I was 40 something when I got my Remington M7 stainless .308. It shot 3/4 MOA out to 300 yards then, and it still does now even though I'm now 63 years of age. My eyes have gotten a little worse, but that really doesn't matter with the Weaver scope. :D

That gun is great on game, too. Hogs and deer are DRT with a proper shoulder hit. AND, unlike my 7 mag, you can eat right up to the hole. It's maybe 7 lbs with the scope, or a tick over, light in the field, yet light on the shoulder. It is short, handles well in a box blind in the woods, yet has the accuracy and power to reach out 300-400 yards across a New Mexico canyon if you can shoot. :D

Yeah, as a hunter and as a shooter, I like the .308 a lot.
 
For me, it's all about the rifle. I can shoot 30-06 and others with nary a complaint. But the German G3 in 7.62 kicks me like a mule.
 
I can shoot 30-06 and others with nary a complaint. But the German G3 in 7.62 kicks me like a mule.
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I have a German M88 Commission rifle rebarreled for 7.62x57S (.323 bullet) that I bought back in the 70s for $27.50. It's in real good shape, shoots a might high, but shoots well. BUT, it kicks like heck because of fit problems, light weight, and steel butt plate. These things were re-worked in German arsenals during the war for the Volkstrum units, old farts with guns. I pity those poor old fart Nazis, think the gun bit about as bad on the back end as the front! I keep it as a curio, but haven't shot it in years.

Now, I have an Egyptian Hakim, 7.92x57, weighs about 10 lbs, semi auto gas impingement. It's got a muzzle break on it, too. Real easy to shoot, no recoil.

Yeah, for the recoil sensitive, the gun does make a difference. :D

But, ya know, that little light M7 isn't bad. It fits me well and has a recoil pad, but it's REAL light. Still, I can bench it all day, no problem.
 
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