I’m in the 19th year of a love/hate relationship with the 307, and hoping for more good times now that Hornady’s Leverevolution’s are starting to be available for reloading. My experiences with the 307 vs thoughts on the 308 Marlin are:
Plus…..The 307 used the same 30-30 shell holder(RCBS, others differ) and 308 Win dies I was already using. Easy leap to make. The 308 Marlin differs a few thousandths and needs a unique die. Wish marlin had done the 307/308 (and 356/358) commonality thing that Win had originally done. If Marlin and simply offered the 307/356 again instead of the 308/338 Marlins we’d probably have two good cartridges enjoying a second life instead of two more seasonal/expensive rounds soon to be in the history book.
Minus…..The original 307 offerings were a half solution. Near 308 win numbers at the muzzle but sub 300 Savage numbers before 200 yards. 180’s look like 200+ yard round, but sometimes disappoint re>expansion as velocity bleeds off downrange. I describe 150’s as a 200 yard round….. really a 250-275 yard but don’t use the first 50-75…. Purple jelly to edible meat ratio is bad when you push 30-30 bullets that fast.
Plus…. to the Marlin for the Leverloution tips ability to preserve the muzzle advantage, and provide legit 300 yard performance. 160’s look like a nice compromise between 150’s and 180’s.
Minus… to the Marlin until now because the advantage of the Leverevolutions was a onetime good deal that reloaders could not duplicate. I think they blundered taking too many years to make the bullets available to reloaders…. We’ll see in a few years.