When Did The 308 Win Become Trash?

[hunter24605]

Did I miss something going on with the 308 Win? As of late it seems everybody is calling it junk, trash, and on and on. I read an article Ron Spomer wrote just to hate on the 308 Win calling it a dog, and that was the entire purpose of the article. I get that it may not be a favorite of some people, and that it may not shine as bright as some of it's offspring, but I can't see it all of a sudden being a trash cartridge. I'll admit it's not a favorite of mine, but I do think it's a great cartridge with more than enough going for it to see why so many people like it...It doesn't take much looking and there's someone calling for the demise of this junk cartridge..I sure bet there's a lot of critters who wish this would have came out sooner, so they would have known not to die from a bullet launched from a 308 Win.

 

[DrMike]

As with so many cartridges that appear to pervade the shooting fraternity, the .308 Win works. I always found myself picking up something else, just because it was so popular. Still, I recommended this cartridge as much or more than about any other to people looking to pick up a first rifle. Haters gonna' hate, and Internet experts gonna' pontificate.

 

[noslerpartition]

Over here it is the number 2 after the 30-06.
Granted - our distances are usually shorter and the game not as big. But it will do most jobs and with nowadays powders it does what the 30-06 did 30 years ago...

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[HAWKEYESATX]

I guess everyone likes to "pile on the dog" when it comes to the .308 Win.
I admit, it's not flashy. It's not a Lazer flat shooting round. It's not the biggest Boomer in the woods.
It just gets the job done! It's on par with the .30-06, and game animals don't know the difference when shot with a .308, or a .30-06!
It has been a proven national match round year over year, until the 6.5 Creedmoor came around.
The .308 is no slouch, and anyone that argues such isn't very well educated.

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[Blkram]

While I too admit that the 308 is not one of my favourite cartridges, it is an excellent round that has proven its abilities for accuracy and on game performance since its development.
Shot my first whitetail buck with a 308 (BLR) in 1989. Also took a doe and a moose with another 308 (Model 88).

Every rifle that I have purchased over the last 20 years in 308 has been used as the donor for a build in some other cartridge; 300 WSM, 7mm-08, 338 Federal, etc.
Actually looking for another in a lh Ruger M77 in 308 to do a barrel swap with a M77 rh 338 Federal I picked up.

Boring and common; sure.
Accurate and effective; Yes.
Trash; I think not!

 

[baltz526]

I think I will ignore the writers and continue to shoot the 308.

 

[FOTIS]

Nothing wrong with the 308 Win.

 

[Charlie-NY]

Show me a list of big game cartridges that will allow you to fire 5,000+ rounds and still shoot moa and drop game reliably. The list will be very short and the 308 will have few challengers for 1st place.

 

[djauofd]

Me as well. I love the 308 win in my LR308 with a 20” BHW 1-11 twist barrel. Does not shoot as long as the 260 Rem but 600 in the rifle is awesome. Ignore the haters. There are more 308 bullets and brass than you can shake a stick at. Something for everyone.


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[tddeangelo]

I went rifle shopping for my daughter, and she's not into handloading, so I wanted something that she'd be able to buy ammo readily for once I was no longer supplying her with handloads.

I settled on the 308 Winchester.

 

[Guy Miner]

I've worn out several 308 Win barrels - but it took a lot of shooting to do so!

Went to war with the military version. Did 12 years as a SWAT sniper with a 308 Win. Hunted with it a bit. Handloaded for it a lot.

Good cartridge. Very predictable.

Guy

 

[Anonymous]

The .308 is one of my very favorite cartridges and I've used it quite a lot.

It's funny, people who spit on the .308 but gush about the '06 often fail to realize that modern .308 loads exactly duplicate the ballistics that made the '06's vaunted reputation as a world wide hunting cartridge. I've had a bunch of them, I never found it wanting.

The .308 isn't new or flashy, but it just flat works. The hunter who killed the biggest Kodiak bear that I'm personally acquainted with used a single round from a .308...she's also killed everything else in AK with the same rifle.

 

[coop22250]

Ron Spomer only posts articles that cause controversy to get page hits. He posts on some pages I visit all the time. What’s the best X, why this one is terrible 7-08 is better than 6.5CM, etc Its almost click bait for hunters. I left a comment saying so and it was removed haha.

I have enough taxidermy on my wall from a 20” 308 model 7 that I may or may not have been threatened by my wife. Shot a 6’6” bear here in AK last year with 180’s at the crazy speed of 2650 FPS at the barrel. He made it about 15 ft before expiring. The best thing about a 308 is slow means no explosion with 165+gr. I went with a gun shooting 3200 FPS once.....once.

Are there better rounds? Yeah. Is it still my favorite? Yeah.

The same people will then tell you get a 300 WM, it can kill to 800 yds. At 300 yds it’s about the same as a 308 speed, and no one ever says there’s not enough ooomph at that distance because you have a large case, big boom, hero round.

On a side note, 308’s are pretty cheap right now and I like it! Same gun in CM will run couple hundred more. 260 is cheap too.....


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[hunter24605]

I went rifle shopping for my daughter, and she's not into handloading, so I wanted something that she'd be able to buy ammo readily for once I was no longer supplying her with handloads.

I settled on the 308 Winchester.

We did the same thing. My daughter out grew her youth model rifle and I/we picked a Winchester XPR in 308 Win. Started her off with 125 AB's, and as she gets comfortable with the recoil, I'll up the bullet weight. Though, I'm about positive that no deer is gonna walk away from a 125 AB making 3130 at the muzzle.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

I get the same raft of $#!£ about shooting a .30-06 quite regularly, in fact I’m the only one on our ranch that doesn’t own and dote upon a 6.5 Creedmoor.

That’s my biggest problem with this up and coming generation of shooters is that they have no respect for anything made before 2000. We need to come up with ballistics charts illustrated like graphic novels and maybe then they would get it.

I have a Savage 99 .308 that sees some action every few years, it’s a great combo. No flies on the .308 and I would take one in a heartbeat over a lot of the latest reinventions of the wheel, including the 6.5 Swedemoor.

It’s strange to me that Ron Spomer would pen something like that. It’s been my experience that most .30-06 guys (Ron Spomer for example) respect the .308, despite its attempts at dethroning the Lord’s caliber whereas .308 guys are usually wanting to flush the old government cartridge. There’s enough room for both I believe.



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[wvbuckbuster]

A .308 was what I used to kill my first deer. Moved on and tried other calibers. Last year I wanted to get into our clubs 300 yd bench rest matches so I bought a Savage mod 10 pch in a .308 just because. The gun and caliber has more going for it than my ability but it's fun for me to shoot and I might try to kill a deer with it this year. I'm an old school kind of guy and I like the .308win. Dan.

P.S. Still have a few others too.

 

[HAWKEYESATX]

Ooooo! I know I'm going to get some of the young haters ire up here, but I shoot a Savage 99 in .300 Savage. Yup, the middle brother of the .30-06 head sized clan. It's not that far behind the .308, and/or the .30-06.
With its 24 inch barrel, it can shoot 150 gr bullets to original .30-06 specs ( which was 2700 fps ) way back when.
With 180 gr bullets, it shoots a shade over 2500 fps, and yes, that's all safe pressures, and powder charges. Not bad for a cartridge that came on the scene in the 1920's, I'd say.
Plus, that's what the military based the .308 Win off of to begin with.
So there aren't any flies on any of those cartridges, and they all just simply get the job done.

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[coop22250]

2500 FPS, I heard on the interweb those would bounce right off the hide........

I went through the loundenboomer phase, then just decided I like shooting and enjoying it. I have big ones but I sure don’t enjoy them much. I just Sam an old VSSF 308 come up for sale, if I can just convince him it’s junk maybe I’ll help him out and take it


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[HAWKEYESATX]

2500 FPS, I heard on the interweb those would bounce right off the hide........

I went through the loundenboomer phase, then just decided I like shooting and enjoying it. I have big ones but I sure don’t enjoy them much. I just Sam an old VSSF 308 come up for sale, if I can just convince him it’s junk maybe I’ll help him out and take it


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Coop22250,

LOL

Well.... don't tell the big mule deer I shot with the .300 Savage it bounces off the hide. I guess it didn't get the memo that day, and succumbed rather fast after being hit by it.
I hope the .308 doesn't get any wind of my shooting it's older brother, and taking big game with it.

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[ShadeTree]

Nothing wrong with the 308. Nothing. Great cartridge with plenty of punch on game, and tons of options with factory ammo. I prefer an 06 because they have comparable kick and I have more options with an 06, but I have used a 308 in the past and would do so again in a heartbeat.

Coop22250, I've gotten into the same disagreement with friends who must have turned into stout evolutionists, because they now apparently believe deer have developed armor plating as a defense and can only be killed with magnums, and 308's are nothing but cripple sticks.

Somehow defying all physics, a 300WM is a vaporizing laser at 400 yds, yet a 308 is a cripple stick at 100yds, even though the 308 is going an average of 300fps faster at 100yds then a 300WM is going at 400 with the same 150-165 bullet weights used for deer.

I can't for the life of me understand how normally smart people can ignore simple math in favor of tale's and stories derived from the head stamp on a cartridge.