New to long range! .308 winchester any good?

[Thomas George Kontou]

Hey people,

new to this forum and have read a lot of the posts, seems like you all know a thing or two about long range hunting .

I am also new to long range hunting which brings me to my question. Looking to set up a nice long range rifle and have the .308 winchester caliber in mind. I figure if its good enough for the US army snipers it should be good enough for a humble little deer and goat hunter down here in Australia.

Does anyone have any input as to wether or not this is a good caliber for this sort of thing. Is this caliber capeable of taking game out to (or close to) 1000 yards (834 meters), accurately and humanely?

thanks all,

take care.

 

[bwaites]

Thomas,

The .308 will take game at extended ranges, but that kind of range is really more appropriately done with the Magnum and larger cartridges.

Others will soon be along to give you more ideas.

Bill

 

[James Jones]

I personaly think that the 308 is one of if not the best caliber for a new guy to get into LR shooting as its not a realy fast of flat shooting round so it forces you to learn to range finding skills and wind reading skills as well , it will make you apperciate what wind can do at extended ranges.
anothe plus is the amount of great match quality ammo that is available without having to reload. You can get to 1000yds with factory loaded ammo.
I'm not sure what kind of ranges your wanting to shoot goats and deer but I will say that I have killed several deer out to and just past 500yds with the longest being 618 yds with a factory 175gr SMK load from Blackhills.

If your looking for a budget rig to get started the LR game. I have setup a couple guns for guys using a Rem 700 in their varmint model or tactical chambered in 308 , let them shoot it for a while then rechamber to 300WSM and let the lead fly a bit further and hit a bit harder with little cost increase and after a season of shooting that and they have to bug for LR realy bad then rechamber in a good quality barrel

 

[Desert Fox]

+1 on 308. Versatile, easy on the pocket book, readily available, easy to reload, accurate. What more do you want?

 

[Thomas George Kontou]

Thanks for the input fellas.

James Jones, i totally agree with you, magnum cartridges would be a good place to end up but didnt want to head that way straight up. Like you said, using the .308 as a platoform to maybe launch myself into something with more oomph later down the track is what i was thinking.

again, thankyou all for the input.

 

[bwaites]

Guys, his question was if the .308 was capable of taking game at 1000 yards!!!

While the .308 is a great platform to learn on, do any of you think it is a 1000 yard game rifle?

Bill

 

[eshell]

Guys, his question was if the .308 was capable of taking game at 1000 yards!!!

While the .308 is a great platform to learn on, do any of you think it is a 1000 yard game rifle?

Bill

No. Although there is a lot to be said for the .308, 1k isn't one of them.

 

[James Jones]

With the right bullets the 308 will kill deer at 1000yds. I personaly woulden't use anything but the most fragile bullets like the178gr A-max and 168gr and up Bergers with the meplats trimmed nice and flat.

IS the 308 the best choice for shooting deer at 1000yds , no but it will do it.

If old mossy horns walked out in a bean field and their was no way I could close the gap and all the conditions were right then I woulden't hesitate shooting him but If the wind were blowing a bit or he was moving a bit more than feeding then I would pass.

 

[mikebob]

why not go with 300 mag and just load down a bit. still use heavy bullets to reach out there a ways. When comfortable load up for the long haul. My 300 mag with a muzzle brake and 190 bergers kicks about the same as my 243. My 12 year old son shoots it at targets without any problems.

 

[Eaglet]

IS the 308 the best choice for shooting deer at 1000yds , no but it will do it.

+1

 

[Huntinfool]

Well!!!

I shoot the .308 and I'm not comfortable shooting over 750 to 800 yards my load goes subsonic at about 850 if not a tad sooner.

I've shot targets at 1000 and the groups were twice moa size. Not really the kind of accuracy one looks for when hunting.

Now it's a different deal at 800 yards I can keep them near moa. So in my opinion a .308 is a great cartridge but one must know it's limitations. Unless your load is a lot hotter than mine it won't do 1000 yards very well.

I believe the US armed forces consider 800 yards about max for the cartridge also.

Chuck

 

[James Jones]

Chuck , what bullets are you shooting? I assume that your using 168's if they are going subsonic before 1000yds ,thats the main reason I like the 175gr and they tend to shoot a little better than the 168's out of my guns. , either that or you have a pretty low muzzel velocity

Try some higher BC bullets like the Berger VLD's or heavier SMK's and A-max's. Shooting the 208gr A-max or 210 Berger out at 2400-2500fps will get you well past 1000yds

 

[Eaglet]

Huntinfool,
my friend, it's my understanding that the 308 Winch. has many many many victories under its belt at 1000 yards, even the 30-06 envies the accuracy of the 308 Winch. at 1K...

 

[bwaites]

Eaglet, punching paper is one thing...

The question was;

Is this caliber capeable of taking game out to (or close to) 1000 yards (834 meters), accurately and humanely?

The .308 has somewhere around 500 foot/pounds or less of energy left at 1000 yards, depending on which projectile you are using, which is just not enough energy to humanely do the job, at least in my book.

For targets, and for learning, it is superb, and with all the available data, perhaps THE best caliber for learning.

But for taking game at 1000 yards, I just don't feel it is enough tool.

Bill