Whitewolf mentioned the 308 in another thread & it got me to thinking about how long its been since I had/shot a 308. I had a tanker garand in 308, what a great shooter. I put a lock bar rear sight on it & an adjustable gas plug. That rifle was never picky about the bullets being used & it loved bullets that were 70 thousands off the lands & grooves. I see that it’s a popular caliber for the f-class 600yd shoots. I see there’s the classic battle between 308 & 223 going on. I’ve been kicking around making a 40x in 308, that’s why I kept all my brass/dies, ECT. A rifle like that could get interesting real quick.
It's no wonder the .308 is popular among target shooters. Every one I have shot shot extremely well. My last .308 was in what I consider to have been the best production rifle I have ever owned - a Husqvarna L-51. It was a lightweight, sleek and beautiful and still shot like a .308 is really capable of. I also owned a Ruger Ultra-Light in .308 and, as long as you let that needle-like barrel cool between shots, the targets would have made one believe they had been punched with a 12 pound varminter. I have never owned a heavy .308 or an auto, but the light bolt-guns I have owned have all been excellent. I stuck with Sierra 110 grain HPs and Remington 150 PSPCLs primarily, but those two bullets covered a lot of ground. The Sierra 110s do not look like they would shoot well, being sort of "stocky," but I got excellent accuracy with them and they did incredible damage to woodchucks. I miss the .308, but had to choose just a couple that I could continue to care for and feed. The .308 is a classic round in my opinion. I still know a few fellas who resent the "new" cartridge because "it won't do what the '06 will," but it's still hard to argue with a 150 grain, .30 caliber projectile started at 2900 fps that seems to seek, find and snuggle up with its siblings centered on the target. I kept my dies too. Maybe I'll have another someday.
Guys, I figure this is as good a place as any to post this up as it has to do with the .308!! On this year's vacation we went out to New Mexico and Colorado for some shooting and fishing and my buddy was in dire need of a serious sighting and a zero in. A very nice, old Win Model 70 in .308. As he spent the better part of the afternoon sighting and getting the trigger set, when it was all done, I asked if I could squeeze off a round, just to say I had shot it before he takes out a buffalo or something in Africa later this year. He' says OK. So, it was only 200 yards and I was shooting FREE STANDING as in no tripod or truck body or tree to assist, I figure it did pretty good. The last thing I heard before sighting in the target was "Hold the POA about 1" low as the bullet will still be rising at that distance". The very light trigger kind of caught me by surprise as it was very light, I never even had a chance to jerk or flinch during the pull. Here's the results. My buddy Dan, who can almost figure out how to hold a camera, also added his comments. You have to give Dan a little bit of slack as he's a bowhunter and anybody who kills things with sticks and a string can't be all bad. AD [video=youtube;SG60iaslBts]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG60iaslBts&hd=1[/video]
Bragger! But really that is a damn good shot. So did you enjoy the .308? That's my favorite caliber in rifles, so much power and just spot on.
Like I said, that was my first and only shot with the Win 70 /.308 and it felt GOOD. I'm sure if I was a srious hunter, I'd have one of those fast it would make my wife's head spin! AD
