king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

I n
my last article, I gave cartridge
recommendations for various
classes of North American game
animals. I also stated that the .30-
06 was a do-all cartridge that does
nothing very well. As anticipated,
the Sound Off (letters to the editor)
letters and e-mails started rolling
in from sensitive .30-06 fans. One
guy thinks I’m a punk and another
doesn’t like how I sign my name.
The author’s Remington 700 SS with
R-5 Milspec barrell outfi tted with a
Night Force NXS 5.5-22x56 scope
24 HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
SHOOTING
The .308 Winchester
The cartridge of the century.
Relative information? I expected a
much different response when I read the
letters and e-mails. I expected reasons,
experiences, and supporting evidence as
to why the .30-06 is so wonderful. What
I got were simply arguments about my
recommendations along with paralleling
cartridge choices of their own taste. Not
much was mentioned of the .30-06, thus
supporting my opinion. If the .30-06 is
such a great do-all round; then why the
need for all of these other cartridges?
With that said, I do appreciate all the
comments you readers send in. I like to
hear your views, thoughts, and criticisms.
Ideas for topics stem from reading your
feedback. In fact, that is just how I came
up with the topic for this article, the .308
Winchester.
The development of the .308
Win started shortly after the First World
War as a military endeavor to replace
the .30-06. Finally, by the end of the
World War II, the development started
coming together. With some tweaking
of the .300 Savage case, engineers
came up with the T-65 cartridge. The
T-65 gave performance close to the .30-
06 in a smaller package, thus usable
in short action weapons. Eventually,
after even more modifi cations, the T-65
was standardized as the 7.62 NATO in
the early 1950’s. In conjunction with
this new cartridge were the military
introductions of the M60 machine gun
and the M14 assault rifl e chambered in
7.62 NATO. Winchester jumped on the
bandwagon and introduced the new round
to the civilian market in their Model 70
rifl e and renamed it the .308 Winchester.
Are the 7.62 NATO and the
.308 Winchester exactly the same? No.
There are very slight differences in case
specs. Opinions vary on whether or not
5GUNS/OPTICS5
Carl Hermansen
.308 ammo should be fi red in guns
chambered for 7.62 and vice versa.
Make it easy; just shoot ammo your
rifl e is chambered for.
My passion for target
shooting and advanced reloading
techniques began with the .308
Win. My fi rst real paper gun
was a Remington 700 Police rifl e
chambered in .308 Win. This dog
would hunt. Some of my tightest
groups to date were fi red using this
rifl e. Once you’re hooked and start
fi ring tiny groups, the quest becomes
to shrink them even more. Tweak
this and adjust that. What generally
follows is a newer, better, and most
likely more expensive rifl e. I have
rotated through several .308s, some
more costly than others, but all of
them have been shooters. My trips to
the range always include two or more
rifl es. The fi rst gun I grab is my .308.
The other inhabitants of the gun safe,
such as the magnums and “gun of the
week,” take turns as second and third
grabs. This explains why I have fi red
more .308 rounds than any other case;
a lot more.
So I ask the question; why
the .308? Growing up, this case was
not the popular choice among any
of the friends and family members I
hunted with. We all shot .270 Wins.
And, still today, the only hunting
I have done with the .308 is that of
varmints and rabbits. As I have stated
before, I prefer long action cases
for big game hunting. I didn’t gain
appreciation for the .308 until I shot
one for the fi rst time. I then knew
why this cartridge has been touted by
many experts to be the cartridge of
the century.