.308 effective range

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The question is are you hunting are target shooting? The 308 will remain stable out 800 yards with a 26" heavy barrel, military sniper rifles are 24" medium barrels. But do you want to haul a heavy rifle into the field. The 270 is a very flat shooter and fully cable of taking anything on this continent; one rifle i recommend considering is the new Winchester Model 70 Coyote in .308, comes with a 24" fluted barrel, but really need more info on your purpose?
Hope this helps!!
 
Depending on the exact load and bbl length .308 will remain supersonic and therefore reasonably accurate beyond 1000 yards + or - a few


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.308 will stay supersonic past 1000yds. if you want to shoot long go with a .308, normal hunting distances without adjusting for drop, the .270. They are about equal as far as killing power.
 
Remington factory 150 grain Scirocco Bonded's and Core-Lokt's have 1863 and 1611 fps, respectively, at 500. 1560 fps for 150 grain Express ammo. So it depends on the ammo. As mentioned, the rifle and barrel plus your purpose matters too. Don't even think about taking a 500 yard hunting shot with any rifle unless you can hit a 9" pie plate every time at that distance. Don't take one with any .270 either. Not enough energy left and the bullets drop like bricks past 300. Do does factory .308" ammo.
However, 150 grain match bullets are usually used out to about 300, 168's out to 600 and 175's past there. Energy isn't a big deal for long range target shooting, but the trajectory is. You adjust the sights.
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id like to get into long range targets but i would use it mainly for hunting.
at some point im going to start reloading soon as well if thats of any importance
 
500 is a moderate range.

You'll still need to go out to the range and learn how to adjust your scope for drop, and any wind at that distance though.


Reloading will definitely help realize the full potential of that round.
 
do you realy think a .270 140gr boattail bullet at 3000fps has no energy or drops like a rock at 300 yds? at 500yds the 140gr 270 bullet still has 2024fps and 1273 fpe,with a 300yd zero it drops 34 inches at 500yds, the 30cal 165gr boattail bullet at 3000fps has 1924fps and 1356fpe at 500yds and drops 36 inches with a 300yd zero.(hornady vol. 2,fifth edition). i don,t think a animal or target will know the difference between them. eastbank.
 
Yeah, they drop fast.. Have you ever fired a .308 past 200 yards?, My current load drops nearly 11" from my 100 yard zero to 300 yards but is dead accurate.
.308 is good out to 1000 yards, the variables are you and your rifle..
 
i have fired a whole lot father than 200yds with the 308 and many other rifles(1000yds at williamsport pa.). the post said the 270 would drop like a rock and not have enough energy past 300 yds,well it sure has the energy and flatness. by the way most regular rifles(243,7-08,260,308,270,280,30-06) will shoot 9-11 inches low at 300yds with a 100yd zero, the magnums will do better. the BC of the 140gr 270 bullet is .486 and SD is .261, a 30 cal 180gr BT has a BC.452 and a SD.271,at 500yds or more they would be about equal if you could get 3000fps out of a 180gr bullet out of a 308, i only get 2620 out of a 26 in rem 700lvs with 44grs varget and a 180gr bt bullet . eastbank.
 

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270 is marginally flatter shooting, and I KNOW its deadly out past 300 yards on deer, even with a fairly short barrel.

If I was in the market for a semi auto, I'd go 308.
308 will give you lots more choices in general.
 
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How much will barrel length effect velocity? I've read that it would be around 25fps give or take. Is this a good estimation?
 
Initial velocity seems to have a large part to play in velocity loss due to barrel length reductions. But for the 270 and 308, 25-40fps is about what i would expect. Also given my druthers id prefer the .270 to the .308. Unless of course I was perticularly set on a short action, or specific rifle. ive seen loads from 26" tubes that scratched 3k with 150 sirrocos, hot load for sure, but nearly as flat shooting as my 7mag.
 
For a 24" 1,000 yards supersonic is possible. Even a 16" .308 Carbine will be supersonic out to about 800 yards.

Now as for taking game at 500 or more yards, that's more a load and software question. Like others have said, can you put rounds inside a 9" target at 500 yards to cleanly and humanely take game? That is going to be the deciding factor if 500-yard hunting is for you.
 
sureshot said:
id like to get into long range targets but i would use it mainly for hunting.
at some point im going to start reloading soon as well if thats of any importance
Click to expand...

Then I would NOT concider the 270

Why?

They'll both kill the same animals just as deAd inside any sane hunting range. But on the first part of that quote the 270 does not have ANY factory match ammo choices and very very such suitable component bullets. Striving for top precision with a hunting bullet is a complete crapshoot.

As to 270 shooting flatter, IT DORSNT MATTER out beyond your max PBR range you MUST compensate for drop. At that point what does it matter if you come up 13 or 16 clicks?


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all i know is i shot a .308 150gr out of my semi auto M1A battle riffle with a 22" barrel and iron sights and connected with a 400yd target. the bullet seemed to look back at me and laugh so i hit the same size target out 600yds no problem. i would have taken it further but i dont have a range that big.

i know if a .308 will do that in an automatic rifle, then i could only do better with a bolt action and longer barrel with heavier loaded match .308.
 
260 Remington!

Better ballistics than the 308, excellent bullet selection for hunting & target shooting (with Lapua brass on the way), and deadly on game animals (the 6.5x55, which has ballistics almost identical to 260 Rem, has taken moose in Europe for decades).

Drink the 6.5mm koolaid, it goes down easy...
 
For very long ranges, you'd want bullets with higher ballistic coefficients. Generally that means heavier, pointier bullets. It turns out that with heavier, pointier bullets (180 grains and up), the 7.5x55 round is a little better (more velocity and energy) with the same bullet than the .308. But there are no sporting rifles that I know of in 7.5x55. I'd like to see a .308 rifle with a 26" barrel rechambered to 7.5x55. Oh, well, with my next $mil!
 
If you are going to shoot long range(400+yds/m) anywhere other than the range, I would highly suggest typing up your ballistics table in a succinct manner, printing and laminating, then you can shove it in a cargo pocket, or rubber band it to your stock, and it is right there. Then it comes down to your range estimation, which is very important as well, and I agree that you shouldn't hunt at that range unless you really are sure your rifle/bullet/shooter combo can do the job every time. I can do a shot like that every time on the range, but have never felt comfortable enough with a shot in the field to go past 300, maybe someday...
 
Sure with the right barrel but with a standard sporter 22 inch or under barrel no
 
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