New Rifle, 308 vs 270

[duramax]

Either are good. I have a .270 and love it. That being said, my next rifle will be a .308 (Savage 10FP tactical) because I reload, and I will probably buy a can for it. For less than 300 Yard shots, either is fine. People can say one performs much better than the other, but it's not the case. The .270 is very flat shooting and is very versatile. You can use it for predators with factory 100gr bullets (I've reloaded 90gr for mine), and you can use 160gr for elk. A .308 is a fantastic round. But if you have a 30/06 already a .308 would be an odd choice, unless you are buying a target rifle. For general hunting purposes, a 30/06 is a better round. Since you also have a 7mm/08 (which would be comparable to a lower velocity .270 round), it makes it a toss up.

I would either go bigger, or smaller. Either get a 300 win (or wsm), or .243win. (or 243wssm which is an awesome caliber). But with a gun to my head having to choose b/w a .270 or .308, I would get a .308 in a more interesting rifle like a heavy barrel gun, not a standard sporting barrel. You would just have guns that serve a similar purpose.

[jsthntn]

Like others have said, you need a magnum. I'd go with a 300 wsm and shoot 180 accubonds. Youve got everything else covered.

[peewee]

[msbigdawg1234]

I stick with my Boss 270 shooting Fed 130 Nossler BTip ..shoot em in the shoulder or neck ya dont need a blood trail ..they are there plowing ground...been shooting this combo since '94 and aint had one leave 30 yds yet...thats from 20yds to out to my best 453 yds (according to my buddy sitting with me rangefinder and dropped right in the tracks)....they are both great guns but dont need to fix something that aint broke..now if i was gona get an assault type gun it would be in a .308

[Matt S]

Both would do you fine. 308 is a nice round no doubt. Like others have said with the guns you already have get a magnum if you are wanting something flat. 300 will have some recoil and if you are looking for a little less but still flat shooting look at the 270 wby.

[hatchdaddy]

My two pennies are this, 308 all the way.

I own several and wouldn't hesitate to buy another. i have many other calibers and even have a 270wsm that I use when hunting really open fields with 500+ yard shots (not saying i can shoot that but gun is very capable).

Let me tell this story real fast because i found it interesting myself. I have a friend who has taken hundreds of deer and he told me when he was young he had an older guy tell him to keep a log of all shots so he has. His data has shows that over several hundred shots taken deer his average yardage is something like 53 yards. I found this very interesting and many of you may disagree with this and it may not be true for some of you but i would go to say that truthfully 150 yards would be a really good average for most including myself who grew up in the delta.

I personally think the 308 is the best whitetail round made.


Another story here, growing up in the delta alot of guys hunted with 300 win mags and alot of their mindset was it was more forgiving and would allow for bad shot placements. I was hunting with a 243 and felt little gun syndrome until i read an article in a national magazine about a man from Colorado who had gotten older and couldn't hunt with the big guns and went to a 243 and was killing elk. He said he had never had one run over 50 yards and it was all about shot placement. Someone on here has already mentioned that and I think that is the most important thing there is when shooting game.

All this to say 308 is an awesome round and if you get it shoot the snot out of it and know your limitations and gun because confidence equals success

its not the size of your gun its how you shoot it.

[Up2Early]

Ended up with the .308 and I've been pleased. It has put a thumping on two big does courtesy of my 14-year old son and has performed well.

In all the prior posts, I failed to mention that the .30-06 in my collection was my dad's gun that he used to hunt cut-over thickets in South MS. It is a Remington Woodmaster semi-auto with see-through mounts and it's just not an accurate rifle. I've never been able to get it to group at anything more than 100yds, so I opted for the .308 to get an accurate rifle in 30 caliber. Everything my son has shot so far this year has been 150yds+.

Thanks to all of you for the input.

[mlj300]