30-06 or 308?

[Guest chevyman]

I have never been much of a fan of a 30 cal. but started looking a few months ago for a 308 for long range target shooting and a heavy barrel 3006 caught my eye the other day and i was wondering what other peoples opinions where on the matter. I do reload and I might do a little big game hunting with it depending on how big big and heavy of a gun I end up with. I have always been a 7mm guy and if I could find a heavy barrel 280 I would be all over it, I just have had much experience with the 30 cal.. Any Thought? 

[wk05]

FWIW, I have personally found that sourcing bulk brass is FAR easier with .308 than when I loaded .30-06, as well as good Factory/Target .308 ammo.  Ive been on both sides of the fence, and am sticking with .308 currently for one BIG reason - Short Action. 

[Grunt67]

Unless you're going for the heavier bullets, not much difference between the two. I sold a 30-06 & bought a .308.

Happy with the switch. For factory ammo, Hornady American Whitetail 150 gr. shoots very well in my .308. Shot

better than the Rem. ammo did.

FWIW

The .308 is a Rem. Mod. 783.

[atlas3025]

Your in North Dakota? For 30 cal....why not 300 Win Mag? If you are shooting over 1000 yards (which is much more likely in ND I think) it's going to beat the pants off either of the other two. Between 308 and 30-06, I would agree with wk05. 308 is going to give you more options and the increased potential with the extra case capacity for 30-06 is not huge. Good luck!

[Guest chevyman]

A 300 is next on the list but honestly I need some time behind the trigger before I will be able to shoot that far. I have shot enough the last few years to keep me good enough to kill a deer in the woods of TN and AL but haven't spent much time on the range.   

[frankmako]

i shot long range high power rifle silhouette for many years back in the 80's when i lived in west texas.  i started with a remington 700 in 30-06.  by the second month i went over to the bull barrel remingtion 700 in 308.  no body was using a 30-06, it was all 308.  i kept the 30-06 as my backup rifle just in case i had a problem with the 308 during the match.  but i never did.  i put a weaver t-40 scope on the rifle and a timney trigger.  the scope was made in the garage of bill ackerman. bill was the plant manager of weaver scopes and had something to do with the t-scopes.  he made a t-35 for the 30-06 and a t-25 for my small bore silhouette rifle.  come to think of it everybody that shot any rifle silhouette in those day had a t-scope made by bill or a t-scope improved by him.  for some reason the 308 worked better during the matches.  both cals had the same knockdown power.  the 30-06 used a little more powder for the same load power.  the 30-06 kicked more.  after a 40 round match and 15 rounds warm up on match day than means something.   some of the shooters would take a savage bull barrel in 308 and gut the barrel down to 20 and/or 18 inches.  my shooting partner did that in my garage. man that gun was a shooter.  my other shooting partner shot a redone brit 303.  he was to cheap to buy anything else.  chris everheart shot with a 7mm-308 and i think even today she still does.  so you can not go wrong with a bull barrel 308 for long range matches and/or hunting. 

[Lowpower]

I shoot both well +1. I reload everything so I prefer .308 for lots shooting since I only use 43.1 gr vice 46.3 with the same bullet at 175 gr. 

I also shoot a 6.5-06 and that runs a bit over 50 gr in the case. I worked up the 6.5 so I wouldn't wear out my barrel in the .308 but I'm

paying for it by using lots more powder.

lp

[Tempest455]

A .308 will serve you just fine out to 1,000 if you find the right load and more importantly use the right bullet.

[Jonnin]

They are very similar.  The 06 gets a little more range, not much,  but at the end of the day the two are virtually interchangeable and I would recommend 308 if you plan to shoot a lot as, due to the AR market and military use of the cartridge, it is easier to get a bunch of ammo and even free cases at the range on occasion.   Both are accurate etc out past 1k, the 06 gets you a few (doubt its over 100) more yards but meh.  

 

 

If you reload your own anyway, you can pick from literally 50 or more cartridges that generally perform well at these ranges and are all very similar -- many of them sort of obsolete, but you can do it.   The big thing about 308 again is the ammo available and price, nothing more.  There is no reason you could not use something else, if you want a 280 get a 280, if you want a 7mm something, get a 7mm something.  However the reverse is true too... if it performs about like a 308, why get an oddball?   Only reason really is if you find an awesome gun that happens to be in an off cartridge..

[lshel]

308 does the job and more reloading brass is available. I have both but shoot the 308 SW M&P10 more than my 30-06 Garand.

[Guest tangojuliet]

30.06 of course this is coming from a milsurp guy who loves his big bore rifles now dont get me wrong 308 is a good round but it cant touch 30.06