Favourite 308-Based Cartridge?

[jason1290]

358 win
338 fed
308 win
7mm-08
260 rem
243 win

In that order.

I have more kills with 243 and 308 than all the others but have been fascinated with the performance of the 338 and 358 the past few years. Wish I’d known about them sooner. The bigger frontal area on those particular calibers just flat out put game down! Oh and I like full penetration and blood trails.

 

[PJGunner]

"7-08 has always seemed closest to perfectly efficient in a power/projectile match. I guess old Paul Mauser knew what's what when he came up with the 7x57 eighty eight years previous to commercial introduction of 7-08."

I think you're right. The only problem with the 7x57 is they keep in downloaded regarding powder because to the weaker rifles still in use. Frankly speaking I think they may be full of prunes. I doubt that any Mauser rifle including the 1893 and 1895 as made by Mauser i anything to worry about regardng strength. I will agree they don't handle escaping gas very well but proper handloads wouldn't be the problem. Some of the 1893 Mausers as made by Spain however may be a problem but I think the 93s made by Oviedo in 1916 should be OK. I once had a 1916 Oviedo Mauser but because I lost the only deer I ever shot with it I sold it off in a hurry. I've since learned that the problem was the downloaded ammo
along with a bullet too tough for the low velocity was the problem and not the rifle. It's one rifle I regret selling.

I've been playing with the 7x57 lately in a Winchester M70 Featherweight, Ruger #1 and a custom M98 commercial Mauser by FN and running loads using 7-08 data. Recoil is still quite mild and accuracy has been superb.

Interesting fact that I've noted reading the American Rifleman magazine some from the mid 1930s all of the 1940 and well into the 1960s where there were outfits selling ex military rifle and ads by Remchester and Winnington stating that those military guns were not safe and one should buy a rifle from Remchester or Winnington. AFAIK, the only rifles that were unsafe were some Remington rolling blocks made for a Latin American country marked 7x57 but had a totally different chamber. Shooting a conventional 7x57 round would be catastrophic. There was a sidebar in one of the Rifleman magazines that stated as such and recommended that if one bought a Remington RB to have a competent gunsmith do a chamber cast before ever firing a round in that rifle. I forget which decade it was in the 1950's or 60's and I don't have time to go through 20 years worth of magazines to find it again.
Paul B.

 

[walkinhorseman]

I started hunting with a Sako L-579 243. I still have the Deluxe that I shot my first buck with. I then acquired a Sako L-579 Old Standard Grade and used that rifle for many years. From that one, in 1984 when REM made the 7-08 SAAMI, it started using a Sako AII Hunter 7-08 that eventually went into a McMillan Sako Hunter stock. That original L-579 Old STD Grade action wound up in one of the 308 sporters. That current 308 Sporter had a ER Shaw 338 Federal barrel in it for a while. I shot one buck with the 338 Federal but never got the precision from that barrel that I wanted so it became a 308 Win. I currently also have an H-S Precision 2000 SPL rifle in 7-08 because I think a 140 grain 7mm bullet is optimum for my deer hunting.

I liked my hunting rifles to weigh in at 8 to 8.5 lbs scoped so medium length actions were my preference for a still hunting rifle in the woods. If scoped with a2.5x8 Leupold in low mounts, they were quick in the hand.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

7mm08

 

[358Goat]

I've had a 25 plus year love affair with the.358 Winchester in a steel framed BLR-81. I've found that those mid weight 35 caliber bullets hit hard and I've yet to recover a bullet. But I also find that I've been hunting with a left-handed A-bolt Micro Hunter in 7mm-08 a lot too. I've shot nothing but 140gr Accubonds in it up until now. I've got test loads made up with 154gr RN bullets that I looked high and low to find. In general it's my experience that those round nose bullets hit harder. Very likely this is just my subjective perspective.
My vote: 358Win, 7mm-08Rem, 308Win, 338Federal, 260Rem and the 243Win.

 

[FOTIS]

7mm-08
I’ve said it many of times my favorite non-magnum cartridge.
Easiest cartridge to take a bullet and find a load for it.

This by far.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

I would go 7/08 since I'm a big fan of 7mms. They're accurate, easy on the shoulder, and have high BCs and SDs which all translates to good things downrange on targets and big game. Why I got the wife one, so I could play with it haha.

 

[Alaska]

Easy 308 Win !

 

[diverdown]

7-08 all the way. Been hunting with my model 700 Short action Titanium for many years and it is perfect for Deer.

 

[PJGunner]

358Goat said, "I've got test loads made up with 154gr RN bullets that I looked high and low to find. In general it's my experience that those round nose bullets hit harder. Very likely this is just my subjective perspective."

Maybe not.There's an interesting book titled AFRICAN RIFLES AND CARTRIDGES but an old elephant poacher by the name of John Taylor. It's an excellent read and although he favors the larger cartridges suitable foe elephants and the like, he does cover quite a few of the smaller cartridges of the day. He does favor the heavier bullets even when hunting game for the thot. I forget offhand if he was discussing the .318 Westley Richards or the 9x57 Mauser cartridge when he said he preferred the 250 gr. round nose bullet with the "big blue nose."
I have one, maybe two boxes of Winchester 175 gr. factory loads that I've been sitting one for some time. Winchester discontinued them so long ago that I forget exactly when but that bullet has that big blue nose. Federal still sells the 7x57 with 175 gr. bullet but the exposed lead at the nose is such and the jacket heavy enough that that load acts more like a solid than a soft nosed bullet. Loads that I've chronographed are noticeably slower than advertised.
About the best round nose bullet I've found for the 7x57 is the now long discontinued Sierra 170 gr. bullet. Using 7-08 data I can push it to about 2550 to maybe 2600 FPS which is a lot better than the 2440 factory advertise velocity. Now, all I have to do is sit down and do a load work up and see just how far I can take it. Finding the bullets is the hard part. They were discontinued well before Sierra's first load manual was printed and that was in 1971. I got lucky aand found some at a gun show.
Paul B.