I was looking through some published trajectory tables in the "Shooter's Bible". The highest published muzzle velocity for a commercially available .308 Winchester load at 178 grains is the 178-grain A-Max from Hornady with a muzzle velocity of 2,965 fps. The highest muzzle velocity I could find for a .30-06 178-grain bullet was somewhere in the 2,800 fps range. In general, the absolute top listed muzzle velocities at every given bullet weight showed the .308 holding it's ground against the .30-06. This makes absoultely no sense to me at all.
In fact, with the exception of the "Accelerator" loads, the flattest shooting (at 400 yards) .308 Winchester load was flatter shooting than any .30-06 load I could find. How does shortening a cartridge by half an inch, thereby decreasing case capacity, increase potential for muzzle velocity and flatness of trajectory?
In fact, with the exception of the "Accelerator" loads, the flattest shooting (at 400 yards) .308 Winchester load was flatter shooting than any .30-06 load I could find. How does shortening a cartridge by half an inch, thereby decreasing case capacity, increase potential for muzzle velocity and flatness of trajectory?