223 vs 308

[samoconnor123]

hello
im looking at buying a varmint 308 and have been researching varmint and tactical rifles, and none ive seen (in my price range) seem to be as accurate as my tikka t3 lite stainless in 223.

most rifles that are about $1000-$1500 USD are doing well to shoot .5 moa at 100yrs, while with my lite weight tikka i can group at least .25 moa at 100yrds!

-what accuracy should i be able to expect with a 308 in that price range?

-also my friend keeps telling me 308 sucks (hes a bit of a egg) and i should get a 7mm 08 or a 6.5x55. what is the the most accurate round out of these three?

thanks

 

[PurdueRifleman2008]

what is the the most accurate round out of these three?

I'm not always convinced it's the round that's inherently more or less accurate, rather, it's the rifle from which the round is fired. Having said that, I have a friend who regularly shoots sub .25 with a custom built .308 M700 that he picked up for around 1500 before optics. So I'm not sure what "sucks" about it unless you plan on getting out beyond 800yds.

7-08 is flatter shooting, I believe, as is 6.5x55 which would definitely be an advantage for varmint hunting. But if you don't plan on reloading, .308 is a lot easier to find and tends to be less expensive.

 

[stubbicatt]

The 308 is considered to be an inherently accurate cartridge by some authorities. Other cartridges using that case are also considered to have a leg up on accuracy, so your 7mm-08 should also be quite accurate.

I am not entirely familiar with the 6.5x55 other than the old military rifle I once had in that chambering. It shot OK, but I've never done all that well with irons.

One aspect of the Remington 700 series that I've noticed is that they tend to throat their barrels a bit long. While a given rifle with a longer throat may shoot very well, one would tend to think that a standard chamber with the shorter throat might tend to shoot a little bit better. The quality standards of the 700 have definitely deteriorated over the years. --Heck, even my 40X had horrific mill marks on the area around the sear under the rear receiver ring. Very poor.

There are other options, so keep your eyes open and don't be in a rush to buy just something. Perhaps Tikka makes a 308 that you can also afford? If yours in 223 easily does .25" groups at a hundred, that is an exceptional rifle, whoever manufactured it, and you must be quite the accomplished marksman. I suspect with your marksmanship skills you could blow a spitball out of a Bic pen and outshoot most on this board!

I know for certain you could outshoot me.

Maybe there is a Tikka that will meet your needs?

 

[Fumbler]

-what accuracy should i be able to expect with a 308 in that price range?

You already answered that yourself. For a $1000-1500 308 you can expect a consistent 0.5MOA
Emphasis on consistent.
My T3 Lite in 308 is a consistent 1MOA with a few loads, but it also shoots 0.2-0.3MOA groups here and there.
I don't call it a 0.2MOA gun just because I shoot a few groups that small.
Those higher end guns will shoot smaller than 0.5MOA, but you can pretty much bet it will do 0.5MOA or better almost all of the time.

Another thing to note is smaller calibers, like the 223, will often shoot better than larger calibers. But, if you stretch the range out then the bigger ones do better because the lighter bullets are more susceptible to wind drift and lose velocity faster.

-also my friend keeps telling me 308 sucks (hes a bit of a egg) and i should get a 7mm 08 or a 6.5x55. what is the the most accurate round out of these three?

308 does not suck. If it sucked then target shooters, military, and police wouldn't use it.
Factory match ammo will be easy to find in 308 too as well as cheap plinking rounds.

Having said that, 7mm-08 won't be bad either as long as you handload.
7mm-08 would let you use bullets with higher BCs for their weight and could give you a little more accuracy at farther distances.


Last thing...
You don't have to spend $1000-1500 on a good target rifle.
You already have a T3 Lite, just pick up a T3 Varmint in 308 for $700.
Or you could pick up a $500 heavy barreled savage and spend a little more for a nice stock.
Either of those will do 0.5MOA at lower cost.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

the .308 has so many choices of bullets while the 6.5 mainly has 120-140 gr. bullets. less recoil makes it easier to shoot also. for the price check out the Remington SPS also I have a Savage 12FV, tack driving .308 and the heavy barrel tames the recoil lots.