Is the .308 dead?

[ironglow]

  It seems like these days, some are already ringing funeral bells for the .308 Winchester. 
   While this man is far from calling it quits for the .308, others are saying such.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d59Pe3bc-g

  I am surprised that some would doubt the .308, personally, I think it is one of the great cartridges.. 
  just for further thought, how many years have folks been predicting the end of the 30/30 ?

[O-mega]

  It seems like these days, some arte already ringing funeral bells for the .308 Winchester. 
   While this man is far from calling it quits for the .308, others are saying such.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d59Pe3bc-g

  I am surprised that some would doubt the .308, personally, I think it is one of the great cartridges.. 
  just for further thought, how many years have folks been predicting the end of the 30/30 ?

Nah, there's folks shooting pre-WWII rifles, the .308 will outlast them.

[Lloyd Smale]

everyone wants the 6.5 creedmore these days. They think theres some magic in it. Fact is the old 308 will do everything and more then the creedmore will. Now i love the grendel because it fits in ar15s where the creedmore and 308 wont. I also have a 6.5x300wby i call the 6.5 crushmore which is fun but in all reality not that practical. But if i was for the rest of my life just hunting deer at under 300 yards there would only really be a need for two guns in my safe. Id always have an 06 and a nice light little 308.. Even with all the hoopla around these new cartriges that for the most part are bragged up just to sell guns a 308 is probably the most versatile rifle round on the market. Doesnt appeal much to the cell phone generation that wants to pretend to know guns but fact is it just works.

[neckisred]

Most of my life I've been a .22-.24 caliber guy. Just recently started shooting bigger standard calibers. The .308 and 30-06 are amazingly accurate and super easy to load for. So many .30 caliber bullet options.

[ironglow]

  I am not as up to date on the ARs as many here are, but I thought some folks are already running .308s in their AR frames..

[Dixie-Dude]

There are two AR platforms.  The AR-10 was originally 308, and the AR-15 was originally 223. 

In the AR-10 it will shoot the 6.5 creedmore, 7mm08, or 358 since they fit the magazine well. 

The AR-15 can shoot a variety of cartridges the length of the 223, such as 300B.O., 6.5 Grendel, 350 Legend, 458 Socom, 450 Bushmaster, and others.  The cartridges have to fit the magazine well and the barrels have to be changed for the caliber you are shooting.  Sometimes the bolt has to be changed for the base of the cartridge.

Both guns look alike, but the AR-10 is bigger and heavier than the AR-15.   

[orerancher]

.308 Win. is a Great Cartridge..I really Like It.   The Capacity of the Case is just about Perfect For Cast Bullets...

[Drilling Man]

  I really have no use for a .308, at least when a 30-06 is available.

  Yea I know about the long action-short action... and I don't care.  lol

  I can light load a 30-06 to make it into a .308, but you can't heavy load a .308 to make it into 30-06, especially if you like heavy bullets.

  SO, I've always chose the 30-06 over the .308 and I don't see any reason to change that...

  DM

[orerancher]

Why Settle for a 30-06 when You could have a Real Gun?     the .338-06!

[ironglow]

  I find the .308 fully adequate for anything around here, and probably across the 48 contiguous.
   From my experience, the .308 is marginally more accurate.
  The USMC chooses the .308 (7.62X51) as their standard build sniper rifle..  The USMC has a history with both the .308 and 30/06, so I suspect there is a reason.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M40_rifle

[Drilling Man]

Why Settle for a 30-06 when You could have a Real Gun?     the .338-06!

  I have a .338-06, I built it back when I was hunting bigger big game, all the time.

  DM

[Bob Riebe]

The latest greatest from print rags and electro rags suckers in the gullible,or those who just want newestest, bestest.

For decades  it was rare to see an article on the 9mm, now it is like a cancer.

[ironglow]

  It seems there is always somebody who wants to provoke contention..so I suggest again..remember the 30/30 !

  My grandson builds rifles for police dept snipers...most agencies select the .308.

[Lloyd Smale]

have to admit i prefer an 06 to about anything but the 308 is great in light compact rifles like my kimber montana and my model 7 rem. If im walking all day in the woods or crawling through the swamp a nice short light 308 is hard to beat. It will also take care of business if i step out into a field and a deer is 300 yards out. Years ago i would have said the exact thing you did. It didnt make sense to me when i could use an 06 instead but after using them i learned to really like the round. It isnt an 06 anymore then a 257 roberts is a 2506 but used where appropriate has its advantages

  I really have no use for a .308, at least when a 30-06 is available.

  Yea I know about the long action-short action... and I don't care.  lol

  I can light load a 30-06 to make it into a .308, but you can't heavy load a .308 to make it into 30-06, especially if you like heavy bullets.

  SO, I've always chose the 30-06 over the .308 and I don't see any reason to change that...

  DM

[Lloyd Smale]

police depts about all use 308s because they hit hard and there shooting is usually at much closer ranges then what a miltary sniper will encounter. As to the 3030 i dont use one much anymore but theres sure nothing wrong with one when the shots wont be out past a 150 yards. Ive got dads old marlin 336bdl that has a 22 inch barrel and will shoot winchester silver tips into an inch at a 100 yards. More then capable of 150 yard kills on deer. But that said most 3030s are 2-3 inch guns at best. But at a 100 yards the 3030 kills as well as ANYTHING on deer. Alot of that is because its about the only round i know of other then the 35 rem (another great deer round)  that has bullets made specificaly for it and the velocitys it produces. Some of the nastiest wound channels ive seen on deer were deer shot with 3030s. Especially with corelocks.

  It seems there is always somebody who wants to provoke contention..so I suggest again..remember the 30/30 !

  My grandson builds rifles for police dept snipers...most agencies select the .308.

[Drilling Man]

  Weight is no longer an issue, ULA can and will build a 30-06 lighter than you want to shoot, same as with the 308.

  There just isn't enough difference in action weight between short and long, to be a deciding factor...

  Military has other issues to deal with, including trying to save space and weight, that we don't have to worry about...

  DM

[Dixie-Dude]

After the ammo shortage last year, the first cartridges to come back were 308 and 223.  These two are sold more than any other cartridges for rifles.  Police departments, as well as the military use them.  9mm is the most common for handguns.  I have both 308 and 3006 as well as 35 Whelen.  99% of the time I grab the much lighter 308.  My 308 kicks harder than my 35 Whelen, but it is a lightweight composite stock version for all day carry.  I don't feel the kick when I kill a deer anyway.  I reload, so the 308 uses less powder than the 30-06.  Also, the 308 is able to handle a higher pressure, thus it is only about 10% less powerful than the 3006. 

[Drilling Man]

I reload, so the 308 uses less powder than the 30-06.  Also, the 308 is able to handle a higher pressure, thus it is only about 10% less powerful than the 3006.

  In a bolt gun, they both can handle the SAME pressures, so loaded to the same pressure, the 06 shines and the heavier the bullets used, the more it shines!

  I can't even remember the last time I fired a factory loaded center fire cartridge, surely more than 40 years??

  DM

[Lloyd Smale]

very good point. I was working with an 06 win post 64 featherweight last summer. Using book top end loads with a 150 hornady i was getting under 2700 fps. Sure not the 2950 they claimed. A 308 will easily do that. I wonder how many 06 guys that dont have a chrono know there running around with a mild 308 load in there guns. It ended up taking 3.5 grains over max book load (im talking the highest charge weight in any of my many loading manuals for 4350) to get to 2900 which by the way showed no pressure and probably could have been increased even more. So if you bashing the 308 and think the 06 is so much better i hope your not using factory ammo or calling a loading manual a bible thats words should not be broken.

I reload, so the 308 uses less powder than the 30-06.  Also, the 308 is able to handle a higher pressure, thus it is only about 10% less powerful than the 3006.

  In a bolt gun, they both can handle the SAME pressures, so loaded to the same pressure, the 06 shines and the heavier the bullets used, the more it shines!

  I can't even remember the last time I fired a factory loaded center fire cartridge, surely more than 40 years??

  DM

[ironglow]

  I always figureed the .308 to be a bit gentler on the shoulder than th e30/06.a bit more of apush than a alam..but that may be just me.

  Right now, I don't have a .308, My deer rifles are a .44 magnum and a .450 Bushmaster in a Ruger American, which I bought on a whim...  Now there is a kick!  ..But it is still manageable..

 The muzzle brake must help the recoil some, but it brings out what I think is the prime discomfort of the bolt .450 Bushmaster..that's the noise !  The brake blows it all back at you..

[Dee]

I had 2 Model 70s in 3006 I wish I had back. I had a Ruger 77 in 308 I sent back to Ruger due to a bad barrel. When I got it back, it was a tack driver. Wish I that one back.
I had 4 of the original Bushmaster AR15s with the chrome lined match barrels I wish I had back.

I'd sell the bolt actions, keep the Bushmasters, and buy 556 ammo with the proceeds. The 556 will do anything I wanna do.

[ironglow]

    I hear you Dee.. As I have often mentioned, i have given away to family, probably at least twice  or three times the number of guns as I now own.
  The last .308 i had was a Ruger American..great from the start.  Got a nice buck with it, then gave it to a grandson,

  Now I have this .450..and I think I would be as well off with the Marlin 30/30 that i gave to another grandson, years ago..
 
As big a game as we have around here, are deer and black bear..both easily handled by a 30/30 in our eastern woodlands ranges...
   Only one of my many deer, was taken just beyond 100 yards, the rest mostly between 40 and 80 yards.

  Curiously, the  over 100 yard deer was taken with an H&R .44 magnum Shikari..

[Drilling Man]

  I can't even remember the last time I fired a factory loaded center fire cartridge, surely more than 40 years??

  DM

  I want to add to this.  First off, I forgot about .223, I have shot factory loaded .223's and also some hardball 9mm in recent years...

  But I also want to add, I have no problem with a 308 for deer sized game, but I spent much of my life hunting moose and brown bear.  Heavy bullets are needed for those bigger big game animals, and for me, that removes the 308 from the equation!

  In 30 cal., the 200NP is a fantastic bullet, it will expand some on smaller animals but will drive in deep with bone busting power for the big stuff.  I want what the 30-06 will do with that bullet and in a bolt gun, I don't want the velocity loss of a 308.

  I really like the "one bullet for everything" in my hunting guns, so I tend to use heavier bullets that will work very good on BOTH, big and smaller animals.

  DM

[ironglow]

There are two AR platforms.  The AR-10 was originally 308, and the AR-15 was originally 223. 

In the AR-10 it will shoot the 6.5 creedmore, 7mm08, or 358 since they fit the magazine well. 

The AR-15 can shoot a variety of cartridges the length of the 223, such as 300B.O., 6.5 Grendel, 350 Legend, 458 Socom, 450 Bushmaster, and others.  The cartridges have to fit the magazine well and the barrels have to be changed for the caliber you are shooting.  Sometimes the bolt has to be changed for the base of the cartridge.

Both guns look alike, but the AR-10 is bigger and heavier than the AR-15.

  Thanks for that info DD, I read that Nick Irving (the Reaper) used an AR10 during his  'hunting season' in Afghanistan & Iraq..

  Nick irving (8 mins)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg8vHNYT_Mg

   BTW;  Today's snipers (or overwatch) in some ways, have a tougher job than snipers in previous wars.

[Ranger99]

JMHO-  I've killed animals with one
humane shot from tools that many
would consider inappropriate for what
I did with them.
Use whatever you can accurately make
a one shot kill with is how I feel

[Lloyd Smale]

guess I think of it a bit different. Id ask why use something marginal. Yup you do have to hit the target with ANYTHING. But its like buiding a house with a small ball peen hammer and a hand saw. Yup it will work but why leave the real tools in the garage if you have them.

JMHO-  I've killed animals with one
humane shot from tools that many
would consider inappropriate for what
I did with them.
Use whatever you can accurately make
a one shot kill with is how I feel

[Mule 11]

The 30 is my favorite. Don’t tell the rest in my stable/safe. My last five kills were .375 swc Slow Win chester errr straight wall case. All dropped within 40 yds except 1 Buck that after flopping a bit got back to his hooves and made it another 25 yards. All pump house shots...

[Ranger99]

guess I think of it a bit different. Id ask why use something marginal. . . . .

Oh I've never used anything marginal.
It's more like other people would consider
them marginal.
I can remember one of the trips we made some
years ago to one of the places we used to get to
cull hunt. One of the other employees at my job
was ragging me for carrying a Marlin 30/30, and
was carrying on about the wounded deer, how
it would drop past 100 yards, blah blah blah etc.
The buddy I went with carried his oldest son for
his first hunt and used a single shot 30/30 that
had belonged to me. We used my handloads
( back when it was actually cheap) and I tagged
out with 5 deer for 5 shots, and him and his son
brought back 4 , one of which was the boy's 1st
deer, killed with 1 shot each.
The other people on the lease that weekend
were more "appropriately " armed with all
identical 270's and premium federal ammunition.
Either 6 or 7 of them, and they took 1 deer with
however many a browning stalker 270 holds
plus a reload.
You have to know how to kill an animal.
That's why I always say that an apocalypse
won't kill off the game. Even in relatively
ideal conditions not everybody with even
top drawer equipment can make meat.
I got a squirrel for stew today with a 110 bg
trap and didn't fire a shot

[jedman]

I hunted Wyoming for 17 years straight mainly for doe antelope. Back in around 2009 I came across 2 guys shooting mule deer on state land I was hunting and they were Government employees shooting deer for CWD testing. I seen two deer that they shot with rifles with Hi End range finding equipment and shooting from bench rest like conditions and both deer were in excess of 600 yards from where they were shooting from.  Guess what caliber they were shooting ,  308 Winchester.

So I own rifles in over 40 different calibers and don’t hunt with many of them but the 308 is not dead. It really is one caliber that has done it all.

jedman

[JeffG]

No.