Why doesnt Savage make ...

[vern748]

The 308 is a good round. In its day, it was still just a good round. It does not have the knock down power of the 30-06, nor its recoil. It does not have the distance or trajectory of the 6mm / .243 critical for a varmint round. It is just a good round in a world of readily available great rounds. It’s a jack of all trades but master of none.

If I owned only 3 different calibers, .243, .308, and 30-06 and was going hunting, the 308 would be left home more often. Going sheep hunting in Montana, I will take the 30-06. The 308 will work almost as well, but will be my backup, but I’m not taking 2 rifles. If I am hunting prairie dog in Texas, I’m taking the .243. Once again the .308 is my back-up.

If I have to choose just one caliber, it would be the .243. One of the most versatile calibers available. Sorry .308

[mini14gb]

The 308 is a good round. In its day, it was still just a good round. It does not have the knock down power of the 30-06, nor its recoil. It does not have the distance or trajectory of the 6mm / .243 critical for a varmint round. It is just a good round in a world of readily available great rounds. It’s a jack of all trades but master of none.

If I owned only 3 different calibers, .243, .308, and 30-06 and was going hunting, the 308 would be left home more often. Going sheep hunting in Montana, I will take the 30-06. The 308 will work almost as well, but will be my backup, but I’m not taking 2 rifles. If I am hunting prairie dog in Texas, I’m taking the .243. Once again the .308 is my back-up.

If I have to choose just one caliber, it would be the .243. One of the most versatile calibers available. Sorry .308



Vern, your logic makes very little sense the .308 and 30.06 ballistics are almost identical. I own both calibers so its not like I have a problem with .30-06 BTW I live in Missoula, Montana and have seen big moose dropped cold with a .308

I realize those are your personal preferences and thats cool. Interesting that you picked the .243 as your All-Around Cowboy go to rifle considering that it is based on the .308 design.

[vern748]

hi mini14gb

It is all about personal preferences. I have no doubt about the capabilities of the .308, the M60 was my favorite weapon, but that is a different story. Is the 308 a match for the 30-06, you bet. Will it outclass the .243 ( a necked down .308), more often than not. Its just not my go to round when there are other tools available that will do a better job for the given job.

If I'm building a house, I'm using a proper framing hammer with a good checkered face.
Doing body work, I'm using a ball-peen hammer. The standard claw hammer will work almost as well in all situations, but I am going to go with my tool of choice.

[r29l20]

Can we say hijacked & off topic again. Sheeeeesh. Sorry I just had to. ;D

[sinman]

you can argue a few hundred fps here and there so if a 308 is almost ballisticly the same as a 30-06, a 30-30 is almost the same as a 308, so why not a 30-30? and the 30-30 as taken well more game then the 308 since it has been around almost twice as long as the 308.

[GaCop]

Basically gentleman, we can agree to disagree. Shoot whatever you like and ignore what other people say. Sadly, caliber choice is one of the few freedoms we still retain.....................for the moment. Enjoy whatever you have in the safe, cabinet, rack.

[lomfs24]

The availability of a wide selection of cartridges is what spurs debates like this. This cartridge will do THIS better. Yeah, well this cartridge will do THAT better. I personally don't own a .308 right now... not entirely true, I own a .308 barrel that's not installed on a gun right now. But as has been pointed out it's all about priorities. I want lower recoil, you want higher velocity, he want's bullet selection and she wants to be able to go into any store in the country and buy ammo.

I have a 260 Rem and love it. I just put a 6.5x47 Lapua barrel on my kids gun and that is proving to be a real shooter. But if the chips were down and I had to pick one and only one gun, it would be a standard cartridge I could get anywhere like a .308, 223 or 30-06 and most likely, if I had to pick one and only one gun it would be a 22LR for a variety of reasons.

[nomosendero]

I am glad that is a decision we don't have to make.

[philkryder]

One thing that informs this discussion here in CA is the "lead free" zones to protect the condor.

One solution is to "up-caliber" a bit to use the copper bullets.

Thus a move from 243/7mm-08 to 308 or 338 Fed.

[lomfs24]

Are you telling me that a condor hit with a .338 lead free bullet won't die. LOL! ;D ;D ;D ;D
I know what you mean. I am just joking. It's just that every time I hear something from CA I have to smile quietly to myself.

[TitanX]

I can see it as a target caliber but it is anemic as a hunting cartridge. I wouldn't build a 308 for hunting when considering all of the other choices available unless it was in an AR platform. The AR crowd is being sold a bill of goods with the 338 Federal because it doesn't offer any meaningful energy or trajectory advantage and unless you opt for the 225 or 250 grain bullets you don't gain any terminal performance advantage either. This is why we have never really seen any successful non magnums above 30 caliber because it really takes more steam to push the heavier bullets and only the longer/heavier bullets offer any better terminal performance. The magic of Ballistic Coefficients and Sectional Density. This reflects right back at the 308 when compared to the 7mm-08. The 308 only offers better performance over the 7mm-08 when using 180 and 200 grain bullets. Once we get into the 150 to 160's the higher ballistic coefficient and sectional density figures favor the 7mm-08. Then the 260 dominates with 120-140 grain bullets.

This does not make the 308 a bad choice only that one should make it knowing the limitations of it, as well as, the advantages of the other choices available.


whatcha huntin there hoss? elephant, moose, polar bears, godzilla? .308 will flatten an elk, and on whitetail deer borders on too much bullet when it comes to tissue destruction. I'd not call it anemic, except for the kind of critters i listed. Though i do not disagree with your paper assessment of BC and SD, but when it comes to real world implementation, it doesent really matter in 99% of circumstances.