KPB71
Well-Known Member
I have two 308 want to rebarrel one but dont know what to do any suggestions. Caliber,twist ..Thx
Rebarreling a 308
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codyadams
Well-Known Member
I'm in the process of re-barreling my Remington .308, I wanted to stay with the same bolt face for simplicity, and the most performance you can get out of a short action and that bolt face, and to be used for long range hunting. With those specifications, that lead me to the .260 Remington Ackley Improved. The O.A.L. will still fit in the short action (especially my Wyatt's detach mag, max coal of 2.880, instead of 2.830 in my standard Remington short box). In this cartridge, a 140 gr will be around 2950 or so, some get more some get less. That's a killer long range combo, bucks the wind way better than a .308, nearly half the wind actually.
A 7mm08 isn't a bad choice either, from the ballistics I have ran the .260 AI outperforms it for longer range somewhat, but getting brass and dies and such is cheaper/easier for the 7mm08 if your not wanting to go through the work for an AI case.
If you want all out balls to the wall performance in a short box, and don't mind putting the work into brass forming, get a bolt from PTG with a magnum bolt face, or have yours machined, and go with a 6.5 Sherman Shortmag. 140 gr pill around 3200 pretty easily if I recall correctly. Its a cartridge design by 'elkaholic' , a member on this forum. Good guy, really helpful and friendly.
My set up is a Krieger stainless medium palma contour (slightly heavier than a Remington varmint contour) that I'm going to have cut at 30", 1 in 8 twist, all I plan on shooting is 140's and the occasional 130. Its going on a factory Remington action that I'm going to have blueprinted when I take it in to be put together, Its in a B&C medalist stock. It's going to be a heavy rig, probably around 13 lbs, but its a dedicated long range hunting/steel shooting rifle. And I don't hike 13 gozillion miles up country to get to my hunting spot.
This is the rifle with the factory barrel.
A 7mm08 isn't a bad choice either, from the ballistics I have ran the .260 AI outperforms it for longer range somewhat, but getting brass and dies and such is cheaper/easier for the 7mm08 if your not wanting to go through the work for an AI case.
If you want all out balls to the wall performance in a short box, and don't mind putting the work into brass forming, get a bolt from PTG with a magnum bolt face, or have yours machined, and go with a 6.5 Sherman Shortmag. 140 gr pill around 3200 pretty easily if I recall correctly. Its a cartridge design by 'elkaholic' , a member on this forum. Good guy, really helpful and friendly.
My set up is a Krieger stainless medium palma contour (slightly heavier than a Remington varmint contour) that I'm going to have cut at 30", 1 in 8 twist, all I plan on shooting is 140's and the occasional 130. Its going on a factory Remington action that I'm going to have blueprinted when I take it in to be put together, Its in a B&C medalist stock. It's going to be a heavy rig, probably around 13 lbs, but its a dedicated long range hunting/steel shooting rifle. And I don't hike 13 gozillion miles up country to get to my hunting spot.
This is the rifle with the factory barrel.
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MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
7mm-08 AI or .260 AI gets my vote.
Michael Eichele
Well-Known Member
Nothing wrong with the 308.
260, 708 are good choices as well. The 260 AI is a sweet cartridge.
There are ways to hold the same windage as a 260 with a 308. The notion that the 260, even the AI has half the wind as a 308 is not quite accurate. There are 308 loads that are within 10" of the highly esteemed 6.5-284 running 140 VLDs at 1000 yards. 30 years ago yes, 1/2 the wind. Today, No. Maybe it's half the wind compared against a 150 ballistic tip but not modern high BC projectiles.
The trade off is recoil. If you can take the recoil of the 185-215 grain bullets, the 308 offers the same and in some cases better windage than the 260/140 combo. Much higher energy too. Better barrel life to boot. The downsides are recoil and trajectory. With laser range finders, trajectory means little. The only real downside is recoil.
None of those choices beats the pant off the others in any category. None of them make the obsolete. Each has pro's and con's. You just have ask yourself, which pro's are more important to you.
260, 708 are good choices as well. The 260 AI is a sweet cartridge.
There are ways to hold the same windage as a 260 with a 308. The notion that the 260, even the AI has half the wind as a 308 is not quite accurate. There are 308 loads that are within 10" of the highly esteemed 6.5-284 running 140 VLDs at 1000 yards. 30 years ago yes, 1/2 the wind. Today, No. Maybe it's half the wind compared against a 150 ballistic tip but not modern high BC projectiles.
The trade off is recoil. If you can take the recoil of the 185-215 grain bullets, the 308 offers the same and in some cases better windage than the 260/140 combo. Much higher energy too. Better barrel life to boot. The downsides are recoil and trajectory. With laser range finders, trajectory means little. The only real downside is recoil.
None of those choices beats the pant off the others in any category. None of them make the obsolete. Each has pro's and con's. You just have ask yourself, which pro's are more important to you.
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
Couldn't agree more. With modern component technology and super-high BC bullets...It's not the same old slow .308 Win it once was.
My 210 VLD load stacks 5 inside of 1 ragged hole @ 100 yards...I haven't had the chance to stretch it out yet, but according to my ballistic charts, it's looking impressive. And Bryan Litz just won a shooting comp a couple months ago using a .308 Win with the Berger 215 Hybrids.
Michael Eichele
Well-Known Member
Couldn't agree more. With modern component technology and super-high BC bullets...It's not the same old slow .308 Win it once was.
My 210 VLD load stacks 5 inside of 1 ragged hole @ 100 yards...I haven't had the chance to stretch it out yet, but according to my ballistic charts, it's looking impressive. And Bryan Litz just won a shooting comp a couple months ago using a .308 Win with the Berger 215 Hybrids.
If Hornady's claim is true of the 208 ELDM being .67G1, it'll really shine. The 208AMAX in the 308 is already a proven combo. Using Hornady's original BC or Bryan's BC for the original AMAX was impressive. Using .67 is spectacular. Assuming the new value is valid.
Comparing the 208 at 2600'sec against the 140VLD at 2950'sec, 5000' elevation, 59F, the 208 delivers over 200'/# more energy at a grand, and is within less than 3" of the 140 in a full value 10mph wind.
It does have 55" more drop and noticeably more recoil. Again, those are the down sides.
I will always stand by my statement that it boils down to which advantages means more to the individual trying to select his cartridge.
SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
One deciding factor of why I like the venerable 308 is, if I go on a hunt and somehow loose or misplace my handloads (shitte happens), a trip to Wally World or a local hardware store will net some more ammunition. It may not be as good, but it is useable in a pinch.
You won't find calibers like 338 or 7mm 08 at Wally World or the local hardware store....
and... every bullet manufacturer makes a wide variety of 30 caliber pills in just about every design imaginable.
You won't find calibers like 338 or 7mm 08 at Wally World or the local hardware store....
and... every bullet manufacturer makes a wide variety of 30 caliber pills in just about every design imaginable.
SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
Couldn't agree more. With modern component technology and super-high BC bullets...It's not the same old slow .308 Win it once was.
My 210 VLD load stacks 5 inside of 1 ragged hole @ 100 yards...I haven't had the chance to stretch it out yet, but according to my ballistic charts, it's looking impressive. And Bryan Litz just won a shooting comp a couple months ago using a .308 Win with the Berger 215 Hybrids.
That was Brian shooting with Team Pierce. Pierce has built the last 3 sticks we have. 2 308's and one 300 Win Mag.
Of course Pierce Engineering is local for me but, local or not, their rifles shoot lights out (with some help from the reloading bench of course).
codyadams
Well-Known Member
I should specify, MY .308. My rifle has a 1 in 12 twist, and I cant get the heavier bullets to shoot well. I'm also limited on velocity, as I only have a 20" barrel. I use 168 A-MAX bullets (bc of .475) and about the best velocity I have been able to get with accuracy is 2675. A 208 A-MAX sure as heck wouldn't be going no 2600 out of my gun ha ha.
My current rifle, compared to a 260 AI with a 30" barrel like I'm getting, is a big difference. My bad, I should have specified.
.308 w/168 A-MAX@2675 1000yd Ballistics:
6600FT elevation
Elevation MOA: 32.25
Windage MOA (10MPH): 7.21
Retained ft-lb: 747
Retained Velocity: 1415
260 AI w/140 VLD@2975 1000yd Ballistics:
Elevation MOA: 22.17
Windage MOA (10MPH): 4.39
Retained ft-lb: 1107
Retained Velocity: 1887
Not quite double, but still a large difference from my rifle to what I'm building it into. Sorry for the confusion
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
lightbulb
With those new rifle and load specs in place, it's FAR from an apples-to-apples comparison...
20" .308 with low-BC 168gr bullets, vs 30" .260 AI with high-BC 140gr bullets...
That's 10" more barrel to build significant velocity with much higher BC bullets... I would suspect you're correct that your windage would be nearly half when compared to your original setup.
