308 inherent accuracy?

[onlyfineknives]

The 308 win seems to be inherently pretty accurate and at least for me has always been easy to tune, but it isn't short and fat with all the pedigree that the ppc, br, wsm, etc have.

I'm curious to find out others opinions on why it seems to shoot so well and so easily?

Thanks

 

[Shynloco]

Gotta agree that the .308 is simply one of those things that rarely comes along which they got right the first time. In fact, it seems to me that until those other calibers you mentioned got popular in terms of setting records, less expensive to reload and all the other pluses that seems to make shooters happy, the 168 gr bullet in .308 seemed to fit the needs of hunters and target shooters alike. In fact, starting back in the early 80's, many Law Enforcement and Special Tactics Units started using the .308/168 bullets as the "go to" caliber for their Sniper Teams simply because the round was not only so accurate, it was controllable in terms of overall effect and wouldn't go through their target and keep on going like a 30-06 would often do. But the round (which was very dependable), as well as the rifle has always been fun to shoot and the recoil wouldn't limit most shooters ability and comfort to shoot the rifle, like say a 30-06 or 300WSM. Accuracy alone for the novice shooter made it the weapon of choice for many folks and it remains a rifle/caiber I enjoy shooting often and have fun reloading as well.

 

[KevinThomas]

well, they didn't exactly "get it right the first time", as it was the final product of some extensive and pretty exhaustive development during WWII. The goal wasn't primarily to produce an accurate cartridge, but to develop a shorter round that had the same performance as the then standard 30/06 service round. The accuracy was a bonus, but there were some throroughly run tests all the weay down that developmental line. Since then, it's had the benefit of serving as the National Match round since the time that the M14s ruled the roost on HP ranges, and got an awful lot of supplemental development there. The "short/fat" concept definately has merit, and has proven itself, but the fact of the matter is that there's an inverse relationship between case capacity and accuracy; smaller capacities tend to be more accurate, right on down the line, regardless of case configuratuion. As such, the 308 was more inherently accurate than the 30/06 it replaced, and the 30 BR will tend to be more accurate than the 308, and so on. Still, the 308 is one that just seems to have that "right" balance of all the desirable attributes that we as shooters want in one package. Hard to argue with success, and it's a great cartrdige almost anyway you look at it.

 

[GerryM]

one more thumbs up on the 308. The military did extensive testing to achieve the balance the 308 has. The olmpic team used to shoot 300 meters in running boar and did quite well. The 06 isn't a slouch either' The 06 is just a tad better out at 1000.

 

[jonbearman]

It is one of my absolute favorites as I have 3 heavy barrels in it and a armalite ar-10 and the mighty m1a as well .Did I mention I have 3 or 4 hunting rifles in it as well. It is just a hummer of a cartridge. The govt doesnt do stuff for fun,it is all utilitarian to develop these things. I say go with it.