Undecided .308 or 30-06

View · by **rugershooter6823** on Sat Oct 17, 2015 7:05 pm

I'm torn, I'm purchasing a new hunting rifle. Can't determine on which caliber. Will be mostly used for White tail, maybe elk someday. Where I white tail hunt my max shot is 100-150 yards, but lots of brush. I'm drawn to the .308 but I'd like to ask others opinions. Ready Go!

View · by **crbutler** on Sat Oct 17, 2015 9:26 pm

For whitetail, the .308 is great, and would work a lot further than 150 yards.

If you are after elk, the .30-06 is a better mousetrap. It will handle the heavier bullets better. Personally, I would consider a 180 gr bullet the minimum for a .30 on elk.

The 06 can do everything a .308 can a bit faster but it is a bit bigger package and will weigh a bit more. As far as a hunting gun is concerned, the two are equal in accuracy potential and (at least to me) perceived recoil.

For ammo, both are reasonably priced and available, but the .308 does have cheap milsurp available occasionally, and a lot of good target ammo available. The 06 is a bit less available in target ammo, but is there.

View · by **OldmanFCSA** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 1:47 am

+1, on all points listed above.

View · by **minnesotatv** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 4:29 am

My suggestion - buy a new or recent production Savage 110 or 111 or 116 in 30/06.
Shoot it. If you're okay with it, you don't need a .308. It won't make any difference to
Bambi if its shot with 30/06 or .308.

If you still want .308 for some reason, get yourself a .308 barrel for Savage and
learn to swap barrels (its easy with the right tools). Then you'll have both calibers.

At some point in the future if you want another caliber - get another barrel and
screw it on - properly.

View · by **clemmac** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 6:56 am

Simple solution I think. Get a nice 308 Win rifle now, then later when it's time for "maybe elk someday", you'll have an excuse to get another rifle

rugershooter6823 wrote:I'm torn, I'm purchasing a new hunting rifle. Can't determine on which caliber. Will be mostly used for White tail, maybe elk someday. Where I white tail hunt my max shot is 100-150 yards, but lots of brush. I'm drawn to the .308 but I'd like to ask others opinions. Ready Go!

View · by **Rip Van Winkle** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 7:31 am

I disagree with the above. The .308 can run toe to toe with the 06 up to 180gr bullets and is fully capable of handling any North American big game animal up to big bears. The .308 is easier to accurately reload for, and is in a short action receiver which IMHO is easier to manipulate under field conditions.

Buy the .308 and enough ammunition to how learn to shoot it. You will become the deadliest hunter in the woods.

View · by **yuppiejr** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 8:24 am

Either cartridge is a good choice, the differences really are negligible for most applications. If you hunt in heavy brush you might want to focus on investigating factory loads in the 160-180 grain range and pick the rifle from there.

.308, .270, 30-06 and 7mm Rem Mag are all capable of taking any game in North America with plenty of easy to find factory ammo and reasonable recoil. Focus on finding a rifle that fits you well and a quality scope, tons of good deals to be had right now.

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View · by **clemmac** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:00 am

Rip Van Winkle wrote:I disagree with the above. The .308 can run toe to toe with the 06 up to 180gr bullets and is fully capable of handling any North American big game animal up to big bears. The .308 is easier to accurately reload for, and is in a short action receiver which IMHO is easier to manipulate under field conditions.

Buy the .308 and enough ammunition to how learn to shoot it. You will become the deadliest hunter in the woods.

Of COURSE you're right.

I'm just hoping to give the original poster an excuse to BUY ANOTHER GUN in the future. The 308 Winchester is a dandy cartridge and one that I've decided to settle on for my limited hunting. I sold my 270 Win a while back, got two 308's in the safe now and I'm super happy with them.

I'm an old coot, I've had the enjoyment of a very large assortment of rifles from Hornet to 460 Weatherby Magnum (most down the road now), I've reloaded for all of them and shot game with many of them and I'm very happy that I've had the chance to mess with them.

I want the original poster to buy more guns, I want all of you to buy more guns, I'm hoping that those acts will somehow discourage the despicable anti-gun, sicko folks out there in the world.

View · by **MJY65** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 10:31 am

I like the 308 a lot. Ballistically, it will do just fine for Whitetail, target, etc. Not the best at everything, but good enough. The short action gives you a few more options with scope placement if you don't want a rail.

I think if I were going on an elk hunt, I'd skip past the 30-06 and just get a 300 Win Mag.

View · by **Ghost** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 12:48 pm

Personally I think both are excessive for whitetail. Shot my first MN deer with an 06 and it was brutal. I'd be looking for .243 or .270 in a bolt gun. Run 6.5 Grendel in my AR and it's plenty for both whitetail and Elk.

View · by **aht_six** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 1:51 pm

rugershooter6823 wrote:I'm torn, I'm purchasing a new hunting rifle. Can't determine on which caliber. Will be mostly used for White tail, maybe elk someday. Where I white tail hunt my max shot is 100-150 yards, but lots of brush. I'm drawn to the .308 but I'd like to ask others opinions. Ready Go!

I have both...The .308 does generate almost as much velocity as the .30-06. But, I see no benefit in settling for almost. I don't think the longer action of the 06 is an issue in the field. I don't even notice the difference in the length of stroke, and it's very seldom I take more than one shot. Hunting is no place for spraying and praying.

I have many choices, I often carry a 30-06, my .308's collect dust.

View · by **Erud** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 8:12 pm

In my opinion, the .308 Winchester is the greatest cartridge ever developed.

View · by **goalie** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 8:55 pm

Rip Van Winkle wrote:I disagree with the above. The .308 can run toe to toe with the 06 up to 180gr bullets and is fully capable of handling any North American big game animal up to big bears. The .308 is easier to accurately reload for, and is in a short action receiver which IMHO is easier to manipulate under field conditions.

Buy the .308 and enough ammunition to how learn to shoot it. You will become the deadliest hunter in the woods.

I would listen to this advice.

I would also keep in mind that deer are not that hard to kill. I have used a 44mag, .223, 243, 270, 30-30, 308, 375H&H, arrows and round balls out of a muzzle loaders to kill a few dozen deer.

They all work if you do your part. And they all worked WELL for me.

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View · by **aht_six** on Sun Oct 18, 2015 10:26 pm

goalie wrote:
I would also keep in mind that deer are not that hard to kill. I have used a 44mag, .223, 243, 270, 30-30, 308, 375H&H, arrows and round balls out of a muzzle loaders to kill a few dozen deer.

They all work if you do your part. And they all worked WELL for me.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Deer are not hard kill, a perfect shot from any round will get the job. I've also had success with many different rounds (44mag, 45 Colt, 243WSSM, 25WSSM, 25-06, 260 Rem, 270 Win, 270 WSM, 7mm Rem Mag, 30-30, 300 Sav, 30-06, 300 WSM, 300 Win Mag, 300 Weatherby, 12 gauge slugs, and probably few more I forgot), but I've seen far too many not quite perfect shots with small caliber projectiles leave wounded animals. Personally, i don't use anything smaller than .25 caliber on deer anymore.

View · by **Ghost** on Mon Oct 19, 2015 4:22 am

aht_six wrote:
goalie wrote:
I would also keep in mind that deer are not that hard to kill. I have used a 44mag, .223, 243, 270, 30-30, 308, 375H&H, arrows and round balls out of a muzzle loaders to kill a few dozen deer.

They all work if you do your part. And they all worked WELL for me.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Deer are not hard kill, a perfect shot from any round will get the job. I've also had success with many different rounds (44mag, 45 Colt, 243WSSM, 25WSSM, 25-06, 260 Rem, 270 Win, 270 WSM, 7mm Rem Mag, 30-30, 300 Sav, 30-06, 300 WSM, 300 Win Mag, 300 Weatherby, 12 gauge slugs, and probably few more I forgot), but I've seen far too many not quite perfect shots with small caliber projectiles leave wounded animals. Personally, i don't use anything smaller than .25 caliber on deer anymore.

Many people will shoot the smaller calibers better due to less anticipated recoil. I witnessed a deer take eight 12 gauge slugs once. Placement of the shot is far more important than what you are using.