.308 more than 30-06?

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First of all, as far as speed and energy, a .308 will do anything at 250 yards that a 30-06 will do at 300 yards. And thats not to say that you should not shoot over 250 yards. However, I have shot a lot of deer over the years and none of them were over 250 yards. Last week, I was hunting with four other hunters in West Virginia. Out of the five, three were using .308s and there was not one 30-06.

I keep hearing about buying ammo in any little mom and pop store. I have never gone on a hunting trip and forgot ammo. One person here said they buy there ammo at little stores on the way. Why in the world would you do that? You shoot your gun in with a specific ammo and take enough with you. If you use all your ammo and have still not got a deer, maybe hunting is not for you.

If there are more 30-06s than .308s out there, do you think it could be because the 30-06 has been around for over 100 years and the .308 for just over 50 years? My last purchase was a .308 and probably my next purchase will be a .308. You can kill anything in the lower 48 with one. And you are doing it with a short action gun. If there is a better deer caliber out there, I don't know what it is.
 
For those of us who live in rural areas, I think the reason some retailers stock the 30-06 and not the .308 is a mindset that goes back a couple of generations. There is -06 ammunition available over the counter in almost every store out here, where I hardly ever see the .308 on the shelf. Not that there is any reason for that, except that the 30-06 was a proven round for the WWII generation and it just has become the 'normal' round to shoot out here. Myself, I prefer the .308, because it is slightly more versatile when it comes to reloading. I said 'slightly'. I get my .308 online, because the increased price for special order also applies out here, regardless of how good a friend you are with the store owner. Maybe things will begin to change in a generation or two.
 
Dave/hoff, I don't think I denigrated your opinions at all although I may have disagreed. I'm 58, grew up in Appalachia and I don't remember ammo for almost anything being unavailable in any of the gun or sporting stores around. My point is, I don't think it was necessary for anyone to buy ammo at a gas station even back then and certainly not now.

Let me ask this - who on this thread will buy your next ammo at a gas station on the way to where you will be hunting? Who will buy your next rifle because the ammo is sold there? I guess I do think it's silly but then I thought the idea of Obama winning was silly and look how that turned out.
 
This thread is begging the question...(because many are stating the 30-06 is more popular by joe public, the uninformed, and the better informed hunter/shooter should go with the 308)

So, Which is better 30-06 or 308 and why?
 
When the zombies invade and you head to the hills, you can stop by the Mom -n- Pop store and buy up the rest of the 30-06 ammo....and better hope they've got a lot.
 
To get back to nachosgrande's opening post...

The price difference probably has to do with a special order of a single item, vs. some past bulk purchase. Just my guess.

If you don't handload, there's not a nickel's worth of difference between a .308 and a .30-'06 for 150- and 165-grain bullets. Those will do for any deer in North America. The '06 does better with 180- or 200-grain bullets just because of more room inside the case; the longer bullets protrude deeper into the .308's case.

As a handloader, I pay little attention to the specs for factory-cartridge pressures, so I may be out of date: The factory loads for the '06 used to be loaded to around 50,000 psi. When the .308 first came out, it was loaded to 55,000 psi. (This was before they went to the CUP pressure measurement.) That's why the equality in muzzle velocity in the common barrel lengths.

FWIW: The '06 is slightly overbore, and thus performs better with a 26" barrel. I can load to around 55,000 psi and beat a .308 by around 250 to 300 ft/sec. But, Bambi will rarely know the difference. I wouldn't bother except that I hunt in wide-open desert country, and really long shots are a distinct possibility.
 
If you don't handload, there's not a nickel's worth of difference between a .308 and a .30-'06 for 150- and 165-grain bullets.
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+1, and I have and load for both cartridges. Now, if you want to roll your own with the big bullets (190+ grains), there is a major difference in the performance of the two cartridges. Oh, and accuracy is a product of the individual rifle and load; not the headstamp on the cartridge. My .30-06 match load uses a 100% fill ratio to drive 190SMK's at 2900fps.

Don
 
Or compare the prices of Win. model 70s in 30/06 to the prices of the same rifle in . 243 or .264 or .270 - you'll see the 30/06s are not only much more commonly for sale, but are comparative giveaways.
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I partially agree, but that has to do with how scare the older .243's are. In the 70's and 80's the .243 was less popular than it is today, hence fewer made, hence higher prices for those guns today. Same reason that a Win M88 in .284 sells today for a few $hundred more than one in .308. That does not mean that today the .308 is less popular than the .284.

And, it is obvious that some poster's opinion are based soley on their favorite carthridge, without consideration to other important factors.

I live less than a mile from a country store, and there is not another store of any kind within 12 miles. You can buy a country ham there, along with homemade candy, and Remington ammo. I'll check next time I'm there to see which calibers they have. I have not bought any there because I do not need any right now.
 
My head is still swimming. Are we saying we believe there are actually people out there who will buy a rifle because they think ammo for it might be available at the Podunk Gas 'n Go but the "other" might not be? A-and that's important because Podunk is on the way to where this mythical buyer hunts and he is worried he might leave home with all his hunting gear but forget his ammo? Really? I thought this line of (dare I call it 'reasoning?) got started because it was argued that surely the 06 is the most popular BECAUSE it is available at the gas station, that proving the point?
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That's funny! You know, I think these bolt gun guys just like to argue.
 
I have one of each but I prefer the .30/06 because it was used in WW I, WW II and Korea
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I have one of each but I prefer the .308 because it was used in vietnam and the sandbox wars. :neener:
 
There is -06 ammunition available over the counter in almost every store out here, where I hardly ever see the .308 on the shelf.
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That is my experience as well. It IS true that the .30-06 is far more available, no matter how much the denyers try to deny this undeniable FACT. Maybe not in all areas of the country, but in some or most areas. Whether this is material to anything is another story.
 
:uhoh: OP said he made his decision...what are we all standing around here for? We swayed him back to the dark side (chanting: Ought Six, Ought Six, Ought Six)!
 
So I checked out the small ammo shelf at Kittrell Grocery up the road. Some 38 Special, lots of .22LR, one box of 30-30, one box of .280 (I was surprised), no .308 and no .30-06. I asked about both and they don't carry the .308, sold out of .30-06, more expected in a few days. Of course, this proves nothing, just like our individual opinions! :)
 
sold out of .30-06, more expected in a few days
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Actually, it proves that they carry .30-06 but they don't carry .308, just like I and many other said, and just like hundreds and hundreds of places across the country. Not to mention that being sold out shows it's very very popular.
 
Actually, it proves that they carry .30-06 but they don't carry .308, just like I and many other said
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(Chuckle!!) Of course it proves that for this grocery store, which should be obvious to anybody who read the words I wrote. But what it does not prove is that any one poster's personal opinion is more 'factual' about which caliber is the most popular. My opinion is .30-06, but just like yours, opinions are biased and offer no proof!!
 
30-06 is more popular than 308 for sure.. the last many many hunters i've talked to all said they hunt with a gun that chambers 30-06..
 
Time to enter the which is best, Ford or Chevrolet controversy. From the military viewpoint the .308 was developed for several reasons by the US Armed Forces. They are shorter rounds, you can carry more, and they are almost equivalent to the 30-06 in most instances.

I have three '06s, a Winchester Model 1895, an 03A3, and a P17 sometimes called an Enfield. The Ammo is readily available, you hit it, it goes down for the count, ditto .308, wheres the beef?
 
I just thought I would add my 2 cents. I stopped by the local Alco on the way to hunt yesterday afternoon and checked out their small ammo collection for sale. Of the rifle cartridges they sold, they had 2 boxes of .270 left, 3 boxes of .243, 0 boxes of .30-06 and 0 boxes of 7 mag (both sold out). There was NO spot on the shelve for .308.

Rifle season started Wed here in KS.

But that's just another 2 cents.
 
We should all sell our .308s now. Before long the only way to get ammo will be to deal with unsavory characters to get brass then reload it yourself :)

I don't recall anyone in the thread ever saying that .308 was more popular. All I recall is that the ability to buy ammo at some gas station instead of driving to a real store or using the mail to get the small number of rounds used in a YEAR is not a very good basis for picking a caliber. The whole notion of availability as a criterion is suspect since if any of them become truly unavailable they will all be unavailable. The concern about availability should logically lead to stockpiling not picking the gas station queen of cartridges.
 
I don't recall anyone in the thread ever saying that .308 was more popular.
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Oops!! Then you must have gotten to page 3 without reading pages 1 and 2. Or missed 24kshooter, woof, shawnee, et al...:)

This thread is worthless, but lots of fun!!
 
Nope. I don't see popular. In fact popular isn't even defined. By the way I checked my little country store and they have .303 British. I had no idea it had become so "popular."
 
There might be more rifles out there in 06 but I would bet more are sold in 08 each year. I would also be that more 08 ammo is sold.
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My fault woof, I though this was your direct reply to the more popular question, .30-06 -vs- .308.
 
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