.308 or 30-06?

T

twoblink

New member
I'm looking to get a rifle, which caliber???

.308 has a flatter trajectory, 30-06 has more uummmf right?

All I know is .308 is a NATO round, and that's good, but 30-06 is made in every single config possible..

What are the advantages of each???

Not trying to start a flame (caliber) war.. Just want more info to make an informed decision...

Thanks.
Albert
 
.308 is more efficient than the 30-06. It is approx. a 1/2" shorter and requires less powder to do "Almost" the same job. The only area I know where the 30-06 definitely out shines the .308 is when you start using bullets above 180 gr in weight. Benchresters have proven/shown that short/fat cases make for more accurate cartridges(6mm PPC).The 308 is at least shorter than the 30-06 (little humor, folks) Having shot both (.308 & 30-06) in NRA matches, I'll stick to the .308.I have found that bullets between 150 -175 provide the best accuracy and that there are some 125s that are great for varmint. Now if I could just find an accurate load for the 8# of BLC-2 I have and 165 gr bullets !!
 
I've used both, although the 308 has many advantages I now only use 30-'06 for 30 cal shooting/hunting.

With bullet weights less than 165 gr the 30-'06 should have higher muzzle velocity than the 308, IIRC 100 - 200 fps. This would give the 30-'06 slightly flatter trajectory. The 30-'06 does a better job with 180+ grain bullets, if you only hunt deer this doesn't really matter. With limited experimentation my 30-'06 rifles were less accuacy sensitive to (re)loads than my 308 rifles, don't know if this was due to the individual rifles or the cartidge.

The 308 uses less powder, has a shorter action, surplus mil ammo is cheaper and brass is cheaper.

You really can't go wrong with either caliber, just match your bullet to your game and learn to shoot it in field conditions.
 
If you don't handload, go with the .308. Shooting is much cheaper. If you do roll your own, go with the .30-'06; it's much more versatile.

The .308 is "more accurate" ONLY in terms of competition. For hunting purposes, there is no practical difference. For instance, my '06 regularly shoots inside 3/4" at 100 yards. In a limited test on my 500-yard range, I got two four-shot groups of 4", and a ten-shot string with eight hits inside 6" and two called flyers which were two inches farther out. How much more accuracy do I need?

I have loaded everything from 80-grain to 220-grain in various '06s. All groups would have been sufficient to kill a coyote out to 200 to 300 yards.

FWIW, Art
 
Per previous comments, there really isn't much of a ballistic difference between the two; the .308 is arguably more accurate, and the 30-06 is arguably more versatile. If you reload, you can take advantage of the extra case capacity of the 30-06. But they use basically the same bullets up through 180 grains.

The two cartridges have significantly different form factors, though, the .308 being short enough to use in "short action" rifles. To some (including me), this is important. Given the similar ballistics of the cartridges and my preference for carbine length hunting guns, my choice was a Remington Model 7 in .308. Unless you are using the .308 primarily for long range accuracy, I don't see the advantage of putting the .308 in a long action/barrel rifle.

So if you can't decide based on the merits of the cartridges themselves (and I think this is basically a wash for hunting purposes), take a look at the various rifles chambered in .308 versus 30-06 and consider how well they fit you.
 
In many ways, the cartridge is almost immaterial compared to the fit, feel, comfort and shootability of the rifle. That is, from .243 through '06, they'll all kill critters in the coyote through deer size-range.

Lighter is better, if you do a good bit of walking-hunting in open country, or stalking through woods. You can get too light on the front end and it's hard to hold steady from the offhand position--particularly if you're huffing and puffing from working your way up a mountain. By and large, though, the .308 will be a bit "handier" for this style of hunting.

To get the most out of an '06, you pretty much need a 24" or 26" barrel...

If most of your hunting is from a stand, and the shots are typically less than 200 yards, then I'll go back to my first comment about the cost of store-bought vs. roll your own ammo.

Hope all this stuff helps...

:), Art
 
I love my 30.06, actually I have 2. I have a Savage rifle for hunting and a M1 Garand. I handload for both of these rifles. I handload an M2 ball load with H4895 for my M1 because that's what it was made to shoot. I handload for my Savage and have a custom round tuned for this gun and it is a tack driver if I do my part. I like the 30.06 very much and yes I do own a .308 (Cetme rifle) too but I feel I can do more with my 30.06 than a 308. Good luck and happy shooting.
 
I've got 2X bolt 30-06, one in pump & one .308 M7

Every one of them does what I want & have taken game through elk with each but I always use the M7 because I just like the feel of it better.

In all reality, the variances between two calibers is so minimal to make not a bit of difference.

One thing about the M7 is that it is light & (for me) tougher to shoot as well off the bags as are the standard size rifles - just doesn't have the mass to stay put. I've the 18.5" bbl & you do lose a bit of velocity versus the 20+"ers but in all practicality, it doesn't matter all that much.
 
I like any .30 caliber, that is shot-out of a rifle or handgun(.357, .38). BUT, I choose the .308, due to that it is widely available, reasonably priced when you buy the surplus bulks, short-action(makes a big difference), and WHEN the sh!t hits the fan! more people will have this round. Theres more, but it gets more technical. Give me any .30cal ammo, I'll make-it work for any situation, but I have the .308. Later.
 
I bought my first 30-06(Remington 721 bolt action) when I was 12. I'm 47 now and own four of them as well as three .308s. I reload for both and have bought surplus for both within the last year. Newest is a 7400 carbine. You won't be wrong no matter which you choose. MWT
 
since the .308 is obviously more popular than the '06, there has been quite a bit more testing done with it. All the playing around with ammo and such is really not necessary because its mostly been fine tuned for great performance. I have no technical reasoning, but in my experience the short cartridge allows for better performance in the 500+ range than the longer cartridges.
 
_YoYo_, you are on the edge of correct. A recent article in one of the gunzines had the rankings of sales of various cartridges; the '06 still leads the .308--but not by much. I imagine more people hunt with the '06 than with the .308; probably more people compete in target shooting with the .308.

The .308 rifles have certainly had more development work than any other, outside of the world of wildcats in benchrest shooting. A lot of this high-tech capability has come along in time to develop the abilities of the .308, and after the heyday of the '06 when the 7mm took over. (I'm not saying the same sort of development would make the '06 equal to a .308; it might, it might not...)

Don't forget that most folks at this website are not "just average shooters". What we use is not necessarily what "them other guys" use, nor do they generally do as much tuning, shooting for recreation or practicing for accuracy. In other words, not a lot of them are really qualified to make clean kills at 500 yards. The comparative accuracy among a whole bunch of cartridges is immaterial at the usual hunting ranges of under 300 yards.

Which is why I keep asking, "Whatcha gonna do with it?" when folks want to know "Uh, which is the best..."

:), Art
 
If you want to hunt, possibly a lot at a time, then I would say that game seldom complain about group size. Rather the hunter would complain about volume and weight of the rifle and ammo he has to lug around (which is also one of the main reasons the military went for .308 and now go over to .243, more bangs from the same weight and volume).
 
Less is more?

I say it depends on the use of the rifle. I would gladly concede that the .308 will best the '06 in terms of raw accuracy. But, IF you want to handload for the '06 and wring out its all-around potential, it stands head and shoulders above the .308 because of its increased powder capacity. If you're loading for something like a Remington 700 or Ruger 77, you can push the ol' '06 considerably further than all the lawyer-advised and castrated gun writers are willing to admit.

Would you pick the .22 Short over the .22 Long Rifle? I sure as heck wouldn't.
 
RiverRider,

I don't think that was a good analogy. Apparantly you did not understand what 'Gunter' was saying. He is saying that the size of the .308 cartridge is not at all necessary for military, and for what they are doing the .243 performs well. So it is only logical for them to use the smaller cartridges because they are limited to the amount of weight they can carry. So in their case, if the .22 short would do the job of course they would rather have the short because they would get more shots off.
 
Ledbetter: I hadn't thought about it, but since the force of friction against extraction of the case is a function of the total area of the case, the .308 should be "better".

However, feeding or extraction have never seemed to be a problem for such as the military BAR or a Garand...

FWIW, Art
 
Anybody have pictures of a .243 next to a .308?? I'd like to see the difference.

I hear what you guys are saying, I think both have advantages. I find the '06 to be more versatile, but the 308 to be more compact, and all my friends have them, so when the "fit hits the shan" as they say politely, I might have to go with the 308 because of availability.

But I hadn't thought of it, I will look at the .243 a bit more closely...


Thanks.
Albert
 
twoblink, the only difference is the diameter of the case neck and bullet...The .243 is about 0.065" smaller.

FWIW, Art
 
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