The 308 family - capable of hunting anything in North America?

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buckchaser

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I'm thinking of assembling the family of 308 cartridges. I'm a big fan of short action cartridges and the lightweight rifles they come in for my style of hunting, which typically involves a lot of walking through difficult terrain. If my gun cabinet eventually has the calibers listed below, I think I'll be ready for anything in North America. Thoughts and opinions? Especially curious about the 358, which really intrigues me despite its lack of popularity.

243 XBolt - open country deer rifle
7mm-08 BLR - big woods deer rifle
308 Xbolt fluted - mountain rifle
358 BLR - close range big game

I have assembled the 7mm-08 and 308 to this point.
 
350 rem mag is really underrated,its not exactly 308 case but- tremendous knock-down power for a short action, decent frontal cross section.wouldn.t feel under gunned any wear on this continent.
 
Im just delving into the world of 308, soon to be anyway.

Ive been a Fan of the 7mm08 and also would of liked a 338 Federal.... So im splitting the middle.

WL
 
WhelanLad said:
Im just delving into the world of 308, soon to be anyway.

Ive been a Fan of the 7mm08 and also would of liked a 338 Federal.... So im splitting the middle.

WL
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Good choice. There isn't much out there that can shake off a .30 caliber 180gr Partition launched at 2700 fps.
 
Thinking from a legal definition of 'capable' will any of this family let you go bison hunting?
OP- cool project you have going. Interesting to see how you can separate the different calibers into different hunts.
 
That list could be trimmed back to 7/08 (or 260) and 358.

The 7mm could be 23-24" bbl for longer shooting and the 358 20-21" for close hunting deer and moose.
 
buckchaser said:
I'm thinking of assembling the family of 308 cartridges. I'm a big fan of short action cartridges and the lightweight rifles they come in for my style of hunting, which typically involves a lot of walking through difficult terrain. If my gun cabinet eventually has the calibers listed below, I think I'll be ready for anything in North America. Thoughts and opinions? Especially curious about the 358, which really intrigues me despite its lack of popularity.

243 XBolt - open country deer rifle
7mm-08 BLR - big woods deer rifle
308 Xbolt fluted - mountain rifle
358 BLR - close range big game

I have assembled the 7mm-08 and 308 to this point.
Click to expand...

IMHO, all that you wish to do can be done with either the .308 or a 7-08, but more rifles is always more interesting. Have you considered a switch barrel rifle? As long as you stay with the same family of cartridges suitable for the same bolt face, and the same contour barrel to fit the barrel channel of a single stock, all you need to do then is have QD scope mounts which allow you to have the most appropriate scope for any given mission. In addition to the cartridges you've already mentioned, you could add a .22-250, .250 Savage, 260 Remington, a .270-308 wildcat, .338 Federal, and a .366-308 wildcat. The initial rifle would be expensive, particularly if you initially ordered a number of barrels for it, but from then on, you would only have to pay for a barrel and fitting rather than for an entire rifle, You could wander the earth with your golf bag full of barrels, and simply select the one most prudent for any particular shot you wish to make, oh there's a prairie dog, oh there's an elk, oh there's a coyote, oh there's a grizzly . . .
 
jaydog said:
Thinking from a legal definition of 'capable' will any of this family let you go bison hunting?
OP- cool project you have going. Interesting to see how you can separate the different calibers into different hunts.
Click to expand...

In the NWT the restriction is 30 caliber and 200gr so yes they will. Whether they would be ideal is another matter. But they would do the trick, just wouldn't be my first choice. The '06 family and the .366 Wagner are better choices when flinging heavy bullets.
 
I shoot the entire .308 family in two platforms... I have M77 AW's in .243, .260, 7mm-08, .308, .338 Fed and .358 Win... I also have H&R Ultra rifles in three swap barrel sets, they are .243 & .308, .260 & .338 FED, 7mm-08 & .358 Win. I also have Ruger No.1's in .243. 7mm-08 and .308.

I am a fan of the .308 case... it is very efficient, miserly on powder with a proportionately higher return in energy... yes, the ought six case will get you a little more (I also have a .25/06 & .30/06 & .35 Whelen swap barrel Ultra rifle set)... but at the cost of more powder and a disproportionately lower return on the extra powder... if you are shooting bolt action rifles, then the .308 family is the way to go... In a single shot platform you can go with the ought six family... unless you are a "powder Scrooge," then stick with the OH-Eight group... as far as the .358 is concerned, you will really like the cartridge... it is lean and mean and hits like it means it, with very reasonable feedback. I will post some pictures when I get back to my laptop...

P.S - I am hoping to have Doug hook me up with a Puma (.23-08) ;) in an Ultra rifle.
 
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I have one .308. It's a Ruger M77 heavy barrel and it's the older model with the walnut stock and blued steel. In my humble opinion, it's all the rifle I need for anything in North America. Because I reload (as do many here), I can develop loads from 125 gr. to 190 gr., and with the range of .30 calibre bullets available to the reloader there should be no problem in working up an appropriate load for whatever game you wish to pursue. I do have other rifles that I like and they get their work-outs when I hunt. I still love the venerable .303 and the 7.62 X 39 has also served me well as an intermediate range game getter, but when I have an open field of fire I'll go back to my .308. I've shot the best group of my life with that rifle and it's put a lot of meat on the table over the years. I find the knock-down ability to be more than enough, depending on the load, for anything from groundhogs to grizzly bears.
 
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