.308 Winchester Cartridge: Love and Reverence

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My dad’s favorite hunting rifle was a pre-’64 Model 70 Featherweight chambered in .308 Winchester. He used it for almost all his big game, up to black bear and moose. Me, a child of the late-‘60s magnum craze, had a .264 as a teenager. I considered dad’s favorite cartridge underpowered and boring. It took 40 years before I properly appreciated the powerful, versatile, accurate and useful .308 Winchester.

It wasn’t that I had no experience with the .308. Aside from its stated attributes, the .308 is so popular that it’s unavoidable. Over the years, I messed with a lot of test rifles in .308 and accepted the gunwriter’s axiom that, if you wanted a test rifle to shoot tight groups, ask for a .308. However, after recovery from magnumitis, I discovered the .30-06 and became a lifelong fan.

In that, I joined Jack O’Connor. More outspoken in his preference for the .270, Professor O’Connor was also a .30-06 fan, considering it more versatile and more suitable for larger game. It’s difficult to love all cartridges and impossible to use a range of cartridges equally. I also love the .270 Winchester, agreeing with O’Connor that it’s marvelous for mountain game, adding that it’s ideal for most American deer hunting. For elk and the full run of Africa’s non-dangerous game, I prefer the heavier bullets and greater frontal area of the .30-06.

On average, the .308 is a very accurate cartridge. While I’ve seen many .308s that were tack-drivers, I’ve never been convinced the .308 was consistently more accurate than the .30-06. Friend Scott Rupp, editor of sibling publication Rifleshooter, was on the U.S. Army shooting team (thus unique among gunwriters with such credentials). Per Rupp, some of his team-mates preferred the .308; others the .30-06 for its velocity (thus wind-bucking) edge at 1,000 yards. Among those elite shooters, few ascribed an accuracy advantage to either cartridge.

Efficiency

However, the .308’s shorter case—2.015 inches against the .30-06’s 2.494-inch case—is unquestionably more efficient. The “short-magnum craze” at the turn of the millennium beat into us the powder-burning efficiency of the short, fat case. It’s real. Cases that are shorter and thus comparatively wider are more efficient, gaining more energy per grain of powder burned. To be fair, and to reduce letters to be answered, the almost-obsolete .300 Savage, introduced in 1920, was one of the first examples. 1952’s .308 Winchester is another. With less case capacity and a lighter propellent charge, the .308 produces about 93 percent of the .30-06’s velocity.

The .308 is nothing more, nothing less, than the .30-06 case shortened. Physics cannot be defeated; it loses velocity from reduced propellent charge, gains a bit back from increased efficiency. After WWII, the U.S. military wanted a cartridge that could be housed in a self-loading action shorter and lighter than the long, heavy Garand. Lighter, more compact ammo was a side benefit. Experimentation dragged on for years; Winchester introduced it as .308 Win. before its adoption as 7.62x51mm NATO.

As a .30-06 fan, I am quick to point out “the .308 is not a .30-06.” Although the gap widens with heavier bullets, with the most common hunting bullets from 150- to 180-grains, using modern propellants, the .308 only lags about 150 fps behind the .30-06. Provided you place your shot, no deer or elk will notice the difference.

With equal unfairness, .308 fans are likely to cite the .308’s lighter recoil. Be careful with this. Because of its popularity, the .30-06 came to define what we consider a “standard-length” action with a case length roundabout 2.5 inches. In the 1950s, the .308 defined the short action. This creates a snare, if not a delusion. Short actions are lighter than standard-length actions. Also, many .308 rifles have shorter barrels than .30-06 rifles, further reducing weight.

Light Recoil Comparatively

If gun weight were the same, then Sir Isaac Newton’s law of “equal and opposite reaction” applies: The .308 produces less recoil than the .30-06. In reality, .308s are usually lighter than .30-06s. Less gun weight, more recoil. Regardless of platform, the .308 is a powerful cartridge, not a low-recoil option. Want a light-recoiling rifle for a youngster or smaller-stature spouse? Forget the .308. Get him or her a 6.5 Creedmoor or 7mm-08 (or 6.5x55 or 7x57).

I still love the .30-06 more but recognize the .308’s capability as a versatile, hard-hitting cartridge. What eventually turned me to the .308 wasn’t its power level or trajectory compared to the .30-06. It is not as powerful, doesn’t shoot as flat. Rather, its enticement was platform availability.

I have my dad’s M70 Featherweight .308, a late-‘50s rifle that still groups sub-MOA, awesome for its vintage. I rarely shoot it. Right-handed bolt for left-handed me. It has a rollover cheekpiece, popular in the ‘60s. Dad loved that rifle; I didn’t care for the look. Worse, it is awkward and uncomfortable to shoot off the left shoulder. It lives in Kansas as a spare. Always sighted in and ready, it has accounted for numerous whitetails for visitors.

I suppose the shorter bolt throw of a short bolt-action (with bolt on the proper side) is a valid argument. However, I’ve never short-stroked a bolt-action in my life. Short cartridges also offer zero advantage in single shots. So, in a versatile, medium-caliber bolt-action—or a single-shot—I usually go with longer cartridges.

Does Well In Many Platforms

I am a lever-action guy. Ultimately, that’s how I (finally) learned to love the .308. By my count there have been five lever-actions that handled the .308 (and family), all with box magazines that allow the use of sharp-pointed bullets: Browning BLR, Henry Long Ranger, Sako Finnwolf, Savage 99 and Winchester 88. Regrettably, only the Henry and Browning are still manufactured. The excellent Sako is so uncommon I’ve never fired one. Savage 99s and Winchester 88s are readily available on the used gun market, with .308 being the most common chambering.

The 88 was a great rifle. Short lever throw, one-piece stock, forward-locking rotating bolt, often quite accurate. Except: It had a weirdly mushy trigger, apparently difficult to improve because few gunsmiths tried. John Wootters had a gorgeous M88 by Joe Balickie, now retired. Uniquely, our local Paso Robles gunsmith, the late Norm Bridge, made several custom rifles on the 88 action, all with reworked triggers that break crisp and clean. Wish I’d had Norm build me one.

An old friend Mike Ballew had one of Norm’s 88s, and I bought it from him. Naturally, chambered to .308 and sporting a gorgeous dark walnut stock, it handles like a dream and groups sub-MOA with just about anything. So far, we’ve shot some pigs with it, and I took it to Mozambique last year, where I had a ball. Running bushpigs at 50 yards, waterbuck on the floodplain at 300. Otherwise, haven’t hunted with it much, but I intend to. There isn’t much you can’t do with a good, accurate .308. Just like Dad told me 60 years ago.

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