Interesting Info On The .308 Winchester

I read an article recently comparing the 308 Win to other cartridges such as the various .300 Mags (.300 WSM. .300 Win Mag, .300 Weatherby Mag etc.)  as it holds up as a LONG RANGE hunting rifle for game such as Whitetail deer, Mule deer, Elk, Black bear etc.

Comparisons were out to as long as 800 yards. The article was interesting and informative, however it didn't mean a lot to me personally. My hunting these days is confined to mostly whitetails in the N/E USA and perhaps an occasional black bear hunt over bait.

The .308 is entirely adequate for both species with a variety of bullet weights from 150 grains up to 180 grain loads. The reason is that shots where I hunt are pretty much limited  at the outside to 250 yards and 90% of them are under 125 yards.

The article mentioned that the .300 Win Mag as an example, with various loads did considerably better than the .308 Win for reduced wind drift in a (10 MPH crosswind), high retained energy at all distances, and considerably less drop at the 500 yard marker.

I try and remember that the .300 mag does that with added expense for factory ammo, greater recoil, and reduced barrel life. I have NOTHING against the .300 Win mag. If you read my blog you will know that I once upon a time owned a Ruger Mdl 77 Mark II in that caliber and have regretted letting it out of my stall a few times over the years. I did take a moose in New Foundland a few years ago with that rifle and was very happy with the performance. Even that shot was as I remember was shy of 125 yards.

I have never been a fan of real LONG RANGE shots at big game. IF I had grown up in the great state of Texas or even cut my teeth on deer hunting with bean field rifles down south, I would probably feel differently.

I simply do not need a .300 Mag where I hunt. Most black bear hunts over bait are less than 50 yard shots with perhaps a few stands out to maybe 75 yards. Most N/E whitetail hunts in mixed cover farm lands are well under 200 yards. That doesn't mean one cannot set up over a BIG cornfield where the corn has been harvested and sit in a hedge row tree stand and make 500 yard shots........(I am just not looking for that type of hunting).

My Savage Weather Warrior .308  with accu-trigger which wears a Bushnell Elite 3200 3X9X40 scope with Rain guard and Firefly reticle easily handles all my N/E deer hunting chores and shoots exceptionally well with a variety of 150 grain loads.

I do own a very accurate .270 Win that stretches that 250 yard limitation a little, however experience has taught me that I simply don't need an extra 50 to 75  yards 99.9% of the time. I am more concerned over threading the needle so to speak between branches and sapling etc. and the .308 with 150 grain loads will all shoot under an inch out to 150 yards or better.

Have a great day,

Dan