Practical hunting with 308 Win

ATOM said:
My hunting partner - a better shot than I am - took out a fat whitetail doe a couple of years ago with an Accubond at a measured 350 yards - the bullet went right through and took down the almost-mature fawn behind her. No joke. The doe dropped on the spot and the fawn was down for the count when we got there.

Figures on paper are nice, but they don't put food on the table. The .308 ain't fancy amd it's easy to sneer at Mr Stubby, but there's lots of meat taken each year with it. That's all the proof I need.
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I certainly agree the 308 is effective! I was just unsure of how it would fit my hunting style, we hunt between thick bush with cutlines and farmland, as well as praries. Shots can be from 10 yards to 500+ yards. Some of the newer powders look like they take it to a new level, so I will give it a try and see where it ends up. Most people that hunt similar country to me shoot 7mm's 270 wsm's or a 300. I have seen the difference in hitting power for sure, just didn't want a really hard kicker in a 5.5 pound rifle.
 
ATOM said:
My hunting partner - a better shot than I am - took out a fat whitetail doe a couple of years ago with an Accubond at a measured 350 yards - the bullet went right through and took down the almost-mature fawn behind her. No joke. The doe dropped on the spot and the fawn was down for the count when we got there.

Figures on paper are nice, but they don't put food on the table. The .308 ain't fancy amd it's easy to sneer at Mr Stubby, but there's lots of meat taken each year with it. That's all the proof I need.
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I lived in South Saskatchewan for 11 years. Although the locals almost had me tempted to purchase a 270 or a 25-06, I stayed with my 788 in 308 Win topped with a Leupold 3.5x10.
Plopped right around thirty WT deer with that fine rifle using plain vanilla factory 150s.

Our freezer was always full of tasty venison for a growing young family. :)
 
I've hunted with a .308 for about twenty years, and IMO, for medium big game like deer and black bear you should be fine out to 500, at least, and out to 400 for bigger big game like moose. This is IF you can deliver solid shot placement with appropriate bullets.
 
I loaded up some 168 grain ballistic tips with a mid level load to test. It significantly changed the recoil from the 150 grain factory stuff I had. They shot into about 1.5 moa, so need some devolpment, but not a terrible start.

Hopefully will get some test loads made up this week.
 
Got a couple 308's. Don't hunt with them much as I use a larger calibre lever gun being in the woods mostly. I find the 308 and 30-06 might be similar in ballistics however the 308 is way nicer to shoot. 30-06 seems to just kick the crap out of ya!
 
.308 Win is one of my faves!
I've had success using it on muley's & whitetails with 165gr Hornady BTSP and last year a 200gr Lee cast boolit on a cow moose all with my Win 88. My 88 has a simple Leupold VXI 3-9x40 which IMO is perfect for all my hunting needs from bush to plains.
This year I'm setting out with my Savage 10 and 168gr Nosler BT.
Other than this favorite caliber of mine my .280 Rem is a super close runner up!
 
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Northern Amateur said:
Got a couple 308's. Don't hunt with them much as I use a larger calibre lever gun being in the woods mostly. I find the 308 and 30-06 might be similar in ballistics however the 308 is way nicer to shoot. 30-06 seems to just kick the crap out of ya!
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There are ways around this: Voere 2185 in 30-06. A semi-auto rifle soaks up plenty recoil forces.
 
TheCoachZed said:
One of my dad's friends hangs around with natives quite a bit when they are moose hunting.

He lent one of them his Savage 99 in .308 one year. He claims to have seen it down a moose at a GPS-verified 600 yards.

I wasn't there, so I cannot corroborate.
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Are they like our Natives?

as long as its in sight and theres rounds in the mag, if the lead doesn't fly the big thing wont die? type style hahaha


Maybe that's just cos ours hunt big Buffalos but I have seen some wild offhand shooting at a fleeing Boar across a floodplain with a .325wsm....... haha dust fell 200m behind it by the time it disappeared over the horizon LOL and my mate (owned the gun) was watching hes limited supply of .325wsm rounds disappear into remote Oz.

the rifle was soon givin back and I remember hearing something about "out of bullets" an interest was soon lost in the .325


LOL

WL
 
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