Like many rural Americans, I grew up where the 30-06 Springfield was king. Any other cartridge was just a "little brother, a wanna-be, an over stuffed pig or just an annoyance". Anyone who hunted with a rifle chambered in anything other than the 30-06 just didn't quite have it figured out. Sound familiar?
As I grew into my teen years, some influential people including My uncle Dave, ( A Marine during Vietnam, A Marine Corps Weapons Instructor, and later a Law Enforcement Officer / Weapons instructor) furthered my indoctrination that the 30-06 was the true battle rifle and the best you'll ever get.
He repeatedly explained that it (the 30-06 based rifle / M-1) was the true sniper rifle, capable of 1,000 yard kill shots. You could drag that rifle through the mud, run a rod down the tube and do it again! The only reason the marines ever switched to the 308 Winchester or 7.62x51 NATO was because of the pressure from all those "new hippies in the White House". "To Hell with the Navy, Army, Air force, and all the other jokers out there! They can do what ever the hell they want!" (Slamming the heal of his hand, while somehow holding a cigarette loosely between his lips.) "Marines get the job done Dammit!" He would then say. "I guess we just got tired of all the head-aches and people telling us we just want to be different". I never asked him what he thought about the M-16 and the the 5.56 NATO. I knew my ears wouldn't handle the repeated abuse! I also knew that I couldn't point out that a lot of his family and kin (my cousins, brother, buddies) were joining the Army, Navy and Air force as well as the Marines.
I began shooting more regularly at about 17 years old. I began shooting different calibers and different case sizes trying to find the ultimate "kill em all rifle". It seamed like every third or fourth person I talked to said, "You should try the 308! That's the best performer you can find!" And as you can guess, my reply was never Okay, I'll do that. I could never think of the 308 as anything other than that ugly wanna-be that's got everyone fooled. Thanks Uncle Dave...
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About three and a half years ago I started out on a project. I wasn't sure where I was going with it, or what was going to happen. (I never would have guessed that because of this project I would have written a book. And no way-never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed I would learn to really love the 308 Winchester, but it happened!). I began comparing cartridge performance, versatility, bullet availability, bullet selection, powder efficiency, recoil generation vs. energy produced , standing ballistic data for different environments, overall comfort in shooting, ability to adapt to the cartridge and how proficiently and predictable I could adjust my point of aim, hold over, or doping. I wanted to find the holy grail, and if I couldn't find it, I wanted to find the best all around performing cartridge and rifle that a guy on a budget could shoot. (Never mind the mint I was preparing to spend in finding it.)
So here I am three and a half years later. I now own a few different rifle platforms chambered in a 308 Winchester and I am even looking for another. I have not found the "Holy Grail". But what I have found that there are a handful of cartridges out there that fit my search criteria very well. In my opinion they are awesome. And yes the 308 is one of them.
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Be safe, Shoot Well, Defend Better, and do your part!
Andrew C.