Jared Rowberry of Boise, Idaho, with his first deer taken this fall with a .308.

In about ’79 or ’80, my father was looking to upgrade from his trusty old .300 Savage to something with a bit longer legs. At Nydam’s (then Coast to Coast) Hardware, where many legendary gun stories seem to begin, he found what he was looking for. My mother bought it for him for their anniversary that year. The rifle was the best of both worlds as far as Dad was concerned. He got more power without having to sacrifice the handling characteristics of his beloved Savage 99 levergun. It was chambered for the .308 Winchester.

In the 1950s, Army ordinance officers began to look for an alternative to the .30-06 for its standard service cartridge. The T65 experimental cartridge had began life as a .300 Savage and, after some major alterations, became the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. Winchester, seeing an awesome opportunity, “borrowed” the NATO design and released it for civilian usage with the headstamp “.308 Winchester.” The rest, as they say, is history.

While gun sales soared, and a devoted cult-like following formed nearly overnight, the .308 even today has yet to completely replace, supplant or dethrone the hoary .30-06 in the hearts and minds of most American hunters. While there are unabashed fan clubs for each cartridge that frequently fling mud at each other, I for one happen to think there is room for both. I own, use and admire both cartridges. And I must admit, although my favorite rifle is by far a .30-06, if a semi-auto, pump or lever-action rifle are preferable to a bolt action to you, then the .308 is probably the way to go. This is not to say there is anything at all wrong with a pump action .30-06 or a bolt action .308!

It’s a perfect cartridge for shorter barrels (18-22 inches) and short actions. It is at home in an AR platform. Ammunition of every kind and style is available worldwide. The .308 case is slightly more efficient in that it uses nearly 10 grains less powder than the .30-06 to accomplish nearly the same ballistics. The .30-06 can be handloaded and in factory form is loaded to outrun and outhit the .308 with its greater case capacity and heavier bullet range if it sports a 24-inch or longer barrel. But the real world difference is negligible, and I guarantee none of the deer or elk shot with one or the other each year in Grant County can tell the difference.

The .308 is not merely a hunter’s cartridge. For years, it held many long-range accuracy records, and even when Uncle Sam decided to arm his grunts with the M16, the .308 survived and is still used today as a sniper cartridge. Even though small-case 6.5 cartridges or ponderous magnums seem to cast a shadow on either side of the .308, it is still as alive and well as ever in civilian, police and military applications.

Dad filled our freezer with his .308 for years and, in 1997, used it to take his biggest bull elk. I myself have used his rifle, now mine, to take elk, deer and Russian hogs. It works, simply and reliably. As the old saying goes, “Don’t fix it if it isn’t broke.”

Are you a .308 fan? Please write to us at shootingthebreezebme@gmail.com!