.308 Popularity????

M

Muscrat

New member
I've been shooting for a lots of years and have always shot a 22-250 and a .270. As of about a year ago I wanted to start long range shooting(up to 600 yds) so my research lead me to a .308. So I bought a Remington 700 tactical .308. Once I started shooting and learning the ballistics of the round I learned that .270 WSM was way way better than the .308.

So my question is why is the .308 the go to round for this application. I would give 2 toes and a testicle to have this gun I have chambered in .270 wsm!!!
 
Anytime this country adapts a military round, that round becomes quite poplular with the civilian market.

The Army developes these rounds, their marksmanship unit plays with them a bit and end up with a good accurate round that we civilians can grab hold of.

Look at the '06, 308, and 223. As the army matures (on the firing line) we are quick to follow.

We shot '06, then 308s and now 223s accurately up to 1000 yards.

I haven't shot the 270WSM much but understand its a pretty good round.

I don't think it would cost all you offered to rebarrel your 308 to the 270WSM, A simple barrel job would work much cheaper.

Why not just spend a couple hunderd bucks and modify your rifle to what you want/
 
Lots of rounds have better paper ballistics. The 308 is a well balanced round giving good accuracy, light recoil, and long barrel life. The 270 WSM is faster, as are many other rounds, but shooting one is much more expensive and it will probably be less accurate.

You made a good choice in the 308. Don't second guess yourself.
 
270 WSM will burn through a barrel 3-4 times faster than the 308 which is a great round, however there is a reason the smaller capacity, easier to shoot well, high BC rounds like the 6.5 grendel have gained huge followings. The more I compare the more i'm of the opinion there's nothing the traditional 30's can do that the mid bore efficient newer calibers can't do better/cheaper once terminal ballistics are off the table & you don't need much to kill paper.
 
So my question is why is the .308 the go to round for this application.
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If you ever have to ask the "why" of a thing, the answer is usually money.

The .270 WSM has better ballistics*, but is more expensive to shoot and wears barrels faster (which is yet more $$$ in the long run).

Me, were I shooting to 600, I'd use a .260 or 7-08 Remington .....





* it is flatter shooting .....which is not terribly important on a known distance range...... you just dial in the right dope for your distance and load and the wind, if any...... the dope for the faster, sleeker .277 bullet would be smaller, and the bullet would get there a few hundredths of a second sooner, but it ain't a race, it's an accuracy competition ..... the economy of the .308 round would allow for more practice .....
 
I would give 2 toes and a testicle to have this gun I have chambered in .270 wsm!!!
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You are selling your parts pretty cheap ...... I saw a couple of .270WSM rifles on the used racks yesterday ..... they were going $100-$200 less than similar rifles in more common calibers..... the grass is always greener on theother side, 'til you are the one payin' the water bill.

Me, I am not parting with a toe or testicle, unless it pays off my house or buys a brand spankin' new work van......
 
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magnum caliber vs standard caliber, apples to oranges. For an all around versatile round you will find it hard to beat the .308.

If you want giddy up and go the 270 WSM wins that wrestling match but I can think of other choices that would be a little easier on the gun and on your wallet that will shoot 600 yards just as well.
 
Not many long range shooters use factory ammo. For handloaders, cost per round is virtually equalized between ANY of the many cartridges that use common bullet sizes.

There is NOTHING inherently more accurate about the 308 over the 270WSM or virtually any other center-fire rifle cartridge. "Inherent accuracy" is mostly nonsense. There are a few cartridges with ARGUABLE inherent accuracy advantages but far and away not most, or the 308 in particular.

Regarding barrel life, most people will never shoot out a barrel. Most people who do, might do it in 10 years. If a barrel is $400, that's $3.33 a month. If you shoot it out in 2 years, it's $16.67 a month. During that time, you'd be shooting at least $30 per month worth of handloaded ammo, and more like $60 or more per month if you use factory ammo.

Kraigwy is correct. The 308 is popular because it's a military round. That means thousands and thousands of people are "indoctrinated" to love it during their service. It also means that the round is produced at a rate that few non-military rounds can match, which makes it "cheap" in terms of factory ammo, used by almost all shooters who aren't serious hobbyists.

There's nothing special about the 308. There's nothing particularly "wrong" with it either but it doesn't offer anything that you can get from dozens of other cartridges... any one of which could well be less of a compromise for your intended purpose that the 308.
 
Regarding barrel life, most people will never shoot out a barrel.
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Because most people are not going to shoot much.... Competetive rifle shooters, OTH ....

As for cost per round being equal for handloaders... not so:

A quick check of Cabela's and Midway told me that Winchester brass in .270 WSM will run between $.64 and $.70 each depending upon quantity ..... while .308 WIN will run between .$38 and $.46 each.... add to that the fact that the WSM brass will wear out faster (higher operating pressure) .... the cost of brass is not comparable at all..... .30 bullets are much cheaper, more readily available in bulk packs, and .277 target bullets are darn hard to find....... and the .308 will burn about 20-30% less than the 270 WSM .....

Somebody that competes in NRA High-Power want to chime in and tell us how many rounds you shoot in a year?
 
Jim,

The pressure difference is 3,000psi. Less than 5%. The 308 is 62,000, 270wsm is 65,000 barrel wear starts becoming a factor at about 58,000. That 3,000psi is not a major difference in brass or barrel life.

In regards to reloading prices, the 270WSM may be a bit of an aberration. Most cartridges do not differ in per round cost to a great degree. Maybe a couple cents in powder or case life or bullets. Maybe one has cheaper bullet but uses more powder. There are differences, but they generally are not that great.

Your 260 ain't the cheapest thing in the world to shoot, BTW.;)

Also, "I decided to get into long range shooting..." is not "someone who competes in NRA high-power".

I agree about your cartridge choices for 600 yard shooting. The 7-08 is the cartridge with the overall best balance of capabilities and the least compromises, IMO.



Point is, there's nothing special about the 308. In that regard, there's nothing particularly special about the 270wsm either. In fact, I wouldn't buy either one.
 
So is the .300 WSM and especially the 7 WSM. The .270 and .270 WSM for that matter as said is more expensive to shoot, wears on barrels faster, and honestly doesn't touch the other WSMs in long range performance IMO. It only puts shame to the .308 because it's ability to outweigh it in powder and have one or two high BC bullets that it can push fast. Where the .308 really stops at 190. The .27 bullet selection isn't very good either.

7 WSM with 180gr bergers have plenty recordings of 2000yd shots.

.308 as kraig mentioned is a Military round so thats part of it but another is, it's super accurate, easy to load for, and ammunition is plentiful for not too high $$.
 
So is the .300 WSM and especially the 7 WSM.
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Cost of brass at Midway is relatively the same for all the WSMs ....

Those two certainly solve the "lack of match bullets" issue that the .270 WSM has .....

Your 260 ain't the cheapest thing in the world to shoot, BTW.
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Agreed, loaded ammo for that is outrageous .... but components are only slightly higher than what .308 stuff costs ..... and cases can be formed from .308 brass. Plus the most efficient bullets for it are not going to be so heavy as to kick the hell out of you after four 10 shot strings..... and it's not my .260- I don't own one .... yet......

Also, "I decided to get into long range shooting..." is not "someone who competes in NRA high-power".
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Sorry, I made an assumption .....

As of about a year ago I wanted to start long range shooting(up to 600 yds)
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I can't imagine what else he'd want to shoot at "up to 600 yards"......
 
Because .308 is a great round for dropping people sized targets at up to 800m.

Very stable very predictable (though it drops a bit), relatively low recoil with devastating effects on target to that distance (with good effects ontarget out to 1200m).

It's been around for a long time, and is pretty much the chevy truck of military rounds. Nothing flashy, but it will get the job done reliably every time.
 
.308 is popular, because it's popular. It is now a self sustaining cycle. The military adopted it, civilian market followed en-masse and now you can walk into any reasonably well stocked gun store and find factory ammo in multiple different bullet weights, softpoint/ball, from multiple manufacturers not to mention gobs of cheap plinking ammo in .308. You cannot find this in .270WSM.

It's the 9mm of rifle rounds.

When a cartridge is readily available, inexpensive and effective on everything from ground squirrels to moose with the added benefit of being an excellent combat and target round you can bet it will be popular.
 
I wanted a .270 WSM in my new rifle (Remington 700 SPS Buckmasters) but when I looked at the ammo prices on the shelves I decided to be satisfied with a normal .270 Win. Unless you handload the .270 WSM is WAY to expensive to shoot alot. And if you don't handload you might have a harder time finding some to shoot. Compare the standard .270 to a .308.
 
Its popular because its military but the military is slowly weeding them out with better rounds. I have a feeling within 10 years it will be more of a rare round due to the knew calibers that are so much better than it is. Personally id like to see the 30TC round take off and be offered by all manufactures
 
God bless the 260...

Rifles001.jpg


:rolleyes:
 
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