The 308 is essentially a shortened version of the 30-06 Springfield cartridge used by the U.S. Military from 1906 through the late 1950s. All things considered, it’s an excellent all-around cartridge for big game hunting in New Zealand, Africa, or North America. Far less well known, however, is the other calibre that goes by the .308 title: the .308 Norma. If you’re into hand loading, then you’re also in luck because reloading components for both cartridges are widely available. The question then remains, how well do you want to master the art of shooting? While there are a few technical differences between the two, most refer to them simply as “the 308.” If you’re familiar with historic battle rifles like the M14, H&K G3, FN FAL or the M60 machine gun, then you’re f… Few topics seem to be as hotly contested as the 223 vs 308 debate. On the other hand, bullets designed for big game hunting (like the Nosler Partition and Swift Scirocco/A-Frame) are most common for the .308 Winchester. Though the .308 Winchester does have more stopping power, both cartridges are well suited for home or self defense, particularly due to the availability of well designed semi-automatic rifles and large amounts of high quality ammunition at a reasonable price. If your shoulder will take it, the 30-06 will do slightly better than a 308 at 1000 yards. https://thebiggamehuntingblog.com/556-vs-300-blackout-vs-308-winchester/. .300 Blackout vs 7.62×39: Everything You Need To Know. In this case, it’s the .243 vs the .308. In 1952, Winchester commercially released the .308 round along with chambering its Model 70 and Model 88 rifles for the cartridge. Use extreme caution when attempting to interchange the .223 Remington or .308 Winchester with their NATO cousins though. For more detailed ballistics information please refer to the exact round in question or contact the manufacturer for the pertinent information. vs. .338 Federal vs. .45-70 Govt. What Is The History of The 300 Winchester Magnum vs. 308 Winchester? The 264 winmag is just a little behind the 7mm remmag. The Big Game Hunting Blog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au, and other Amazon stores worldwide. .308 Winchester Overview. To learn more about the 6.5 Grendel and .300 AAC Blackout, which were also developed in an effort to improve upon the terminal performance of the 5.56x45mm cartridge, check out the articles below: 6.5 Grendel vs 6.5 Creedmoor: Which Is Right For You? And even took a caribou at 330 yards and one at around 400 yards. This load had virtually the same ballistics as the original .30-06 Springfield load (150 grain bullet at 2,700 feet per second), but due to advances in powder technology, the 7.62x51mm cartridge achieved that same level of performance while using a much shorter case (51mm vs 63mm). As the rounds move downrange, we do see the .308 Win rounds start to lose momentum at a faster rate than the .270 Win … As illustrated in the chart, .22-250 Remington rounds - on average - achieve a velocity of about 3790 feet per second (fps) while .308 Winchester rounds travel at a velocity of 2680 fps. the 264 win mag actually has more energy that the 308. Just like with ammunition, there are lots and lots of semi-automatic, pump, and bolt action rifles chambered in .223 Remington and .308 Winchester to choose from and virtually every firearms manufacturer produces rifles chambered in both cartridges. The more common term for these cartridges among enthusiasts is the Flobert. As a rule of thumb, when it comes to hunting, muzzle energy is what many hunters look at when deciding on what caliber of firearm / ammunition to select. If we’re really being honest with ourselves though, the two cartridges are best suited for radically different tasks: the .223 Remington for varmint and pest control and the .308 Winchester for big game hunting. As you can see, the table below comparing the 55gr Winchester Varmint X (.255 BC), 62gr Barnes TSX BT (.314 BC), and 64gr Winchester Deer Season XP (.282 BC) loads in .223 Remington to 150gr Winchester Deer Season XP (.392 BC), 168gr Barnes TTSX (.470 BC), and 180gr Winchester Power Point (.382 BC) loads in .308 Winchester, there is a pretty sizable difference in the ballistics and kinetic energy of each cartridge. Test Barrel Lost 22.7 FPS Per Inch (.308 Win Chambering) How much velocity do you think was lost, on average, for each 1″ reduction in barrel length? Please note, the following information reflects the estimated average ballistics for each caliber and does not pertain to a particular manufacturer, bullet weight, o The 7.62×39 and .300 Blackout split the different to a small degree, but (like always), there’s always some sort of trade-off. Generally speaking, .223 Remington ammunition is less expensive than .308 Winchester ammunition. At the end of a long and contentious design and selection process, the Army eventually picked the M-14 rifle chambered in the new 7.62x51mm cartridge to replace the M-1 Garand. The .30-06 Springfield round began its life when it was developed as the caliber for the Springfield M1903 bolt action rifle, which was adopted into widespread serviceby the U.S Army in World War I. Some bullets (like the Hornady GMX and the Nosler E-Tip) are available for both cartridges. For a more detailed discussion on the .308 Winchester and how it compares to the .30-06 Springfield, read this article: 308 vs 30-06 vs 300 Win Mag: Which Cartridge Should You Be Hunting With? Buy some quality .223 Remington hunting ammo here. Cast your mind back to the days Clint Eastwood’s movies, the days of American short action movies, this rifle was used to enhance these trends. Indeed, that dispute spans over five decades and really took off during the mid-1960s when the US Military started replacing the M-14 with the M-16 service rifle. While there is a small overlap in their capabilities, the two cartridges represent two vastly different ways of thinking: smaller, lighter, and faster vs bigger, heavier, and slower. First, lets start with the areas where the .223 Remington and .308 Winchester are similar. I want the .308 for the power but the .223 for the cost to run and lack of recoil. The .308 Win is undoubtedly one of the most successful calibres of all time. Not surprisingly, users of these cartridges have plenty of choices when it comes to good quality guns as well as surplus military, target shooting, and hunting ammo. Great article. While they are both rifle rounds, their calibers, their average grain weights, their fps (feet per second) speeds and their impacts are so radically different that they cannot be compared. Indeed, the .223 Remington and .308 Winchester rank right up there with the .270 Winchester and .30-06 Springfield at the top of the list of the most popular centerfire rifle cartridges in the United States. Even the American armed forces have a long history with the 308. Shooters, hunters, and preppers use both cartridges extensively, so just about every major gun manufacturer produces rifles chambered in .223 Remington and .308 Winchester. 7.62 NATO vs .308 Winchester – Headspace Last but not least we get to the real difference. It’s loaded to a higher pressure than the M855 load and is designed for optimum performance out of the short barreled M-4 carbines commonly used by the military these days. In this post, I’m going to investigate the 223 vs 308 debate in detail and provide some insight into which cartridge is better suited for various situations. We offer a 100% Authenticity Guarantee on all products sold on our website. The original M80 ball load for the 7.62x51mm NATO fired a .308″ 147 grain full metal jacket (FMJ) bullet at 2,750 feet per second (2,469 foot pounds of energy). The M855A1 load uses a lead free 62 grain bullet made from copper alloy with a steel penetrator. ‘Karamojo’ Bell, the famous elephant hunter who was a proponent of the 7x57 for the pachyderms, stated the shorter bolt throw would have made the .308 Winchester the best elephant cartridge ever. This load penetrated much better than the M193 load, but complaints about the terminal performance of the bullet from Soldiers eventually spurred the development of another ball load (the M855A1) during the Global War on Terror. Note: while the case capacity figures listed below do give a good indication of the differences between the two cartridges, exact case capacities vary slightly according to the brand of brass used. Both cartridges are also extremely accurate and have seen extensive use in the hands of military and police snipers and designated marksmen as well as competition shooters. This round was originally brought to be in the form of the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge, but Winchester commercially produced and sold it as the .308 Winchester. Generally speaking, the higher the muzzle energy, the higher the stopping power. The .308 Winchester is one of the best big game hunting cartridges around and it holds a clear advantage over the .223 Remington when it comes to hunting medium to large sized game. The shell casing was designed to ease case extraction and cartridge feeding in bolt action rifles as well as machine guns. and the .308 Win. At the same time, the military appreciated those same characteristics in the 7.62x51mm and it gained widespread approval for its performance in designated marksman/sniper rifles as well as machineguns. Also check out the 7mm-08, 260, and 243, they are based on the 308 case. Buy a really good .308 Winchester hunting rifle here. are great chamberings for a hunting rifle. In this article, we will be taking a look at two very popular cartridges in the US and the world, the .243 Win and .308 Win. Indeed, the typical .308 Winchester load still has as much or more energy remaining at 400-500 yards as the .223 Remington does at the muzzle. Which one of these popular rounds will be named the best all-around black bear hunting cartridge Knowing the history of the .30-06 and .308 is important because the two rounds are directly related. That being said, not only does the .223 Rem have a flatter trajectory at short range, but it recoils a whole lot less than the .308 Winchester. The following ammunition cartridge ballistics information and chart can be used to approximately compare .22-250 Remington vs .308 Winchester ammo rounds. For all the strengths of the M-14 and the 7.62x51mm NATO, leaders in the military wanted a lighter rifle and cartridge so Soldiers could carry more ammunition and more easily control the rifle when firing in fully automatic mode. First, though the .223 Remington and the 5.56x45mm NATO are technically different cartridges (the same goes for the .308 Winchester and the 7.62x51mm NATO rounds), the practical difference in performance between the .223 vs 5.56 (and the .308 vs 7.62) is very small and doesn’t make any difference for the purposes of this article. For starters, 18-22” barrels are the norm, although rifles made for long range shooting may have longer barrels still.Under 18” and you start wasting powder and don’t develop the full potential of the .308 round. This helps support the blog and allows me to continue to create free content that’s useful to hunters like yourself. This showdown, 30 06 vs. 308, will be hard to call! However, recoil from the .223 is virtually non-existant. Using a 140 grain bullet, it is a FINE elk gun. It is a well known cartridge, capable of travelling long distances with lots of energy to knock down your intended target. Of course, this is all in addition to the large quantity of full metal jacket military surplus ammunition for both cartridges that’s currently available. Released by Winchester in 1952 (and adopted by NATO in 1954 as the 7.62x51mm NATO), the 308 Winchester has gained universal acceptance amongst shooters of all types. Are you looking for a cartridge to hunt predators and small game animals with? For a more detailed discussion on the .308 Winchester and how it compares to the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge as well as how the .223 Remington compares to some other popular high velocity cartridges, read the articles below: 6.5 Creedmoor vs .308 Winchester Debate Settled, 22-250 vs 223 vs 204 Ruger vs 220 Swift: Clash Of The Speed Demons. That is to say, .22-250 Remington bullets travel 4.3 times the speed of a 737 airplane at cruising speed, while .308 Winchester bullets travel 3 times that same speed. Again, the above is for comparative information purposes only, and you should consult the exact ballistics for the particular .22-250 Remington or .308 Winchester cartridge you're looking at purchasing. Felt recoil will vary from shooter to shooter and rifle to rifle, but free recoil energy is still a useful way to compare the two cartridges. The 308 is actually the commercial designation of the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. Combined with the fact that the .308 Winchester uses a much longer case, it has significantly more case capacity than the .223 Remington. To put this into perspective, a Boeing 737 commercial airliner travels at a cruising speed of 600 mph, or 880 fps. There are also lots of good quality FMJ, hollow point, and soft point .224 and .308 caliber bullets to choose from, so you shouldn’t have much trouble working up a custom load that shoots very accurately in your chosen rifle. On the other hand, since it shoots heavier, larger diameter, and generally much better constructed bullets, the .308 Winchester has a clear advantage when hunting larger species like deer, caribou, elk, and red stag. Ballistic data for the 5.56x45mm and 7.62x51mm cartridges were obtained from Inetres. Offered in the Model 70 bolt-action, Model 100 semi-automatic and the Model 88 lever-action rifles, the .308 Win. I prefer 22”, but 20” would be a better compromise in lieu of 18” for me. We have a variety of deals on Rifle Ammo, Handgun Ammo, Shotgun Ammo & Rimfire Ammo, as well as ammo for target practice, plinking, hunting, or shooting competitions. Just took delivery of Czech .223 today and now, like previous person, figure that I need. We offer cheap ammo and bulk ammo deals on the most popular ammo calibers. The decision for which round is better for a given application should be made with complete information, and this article simply serves as a comparative guide, not the final say. Make sure you follow The Big Game Hunting Blog on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. The .308 Winchester is a good all-around big game hunting cartridge with moderate recoil and ample power for most species. All in all, the M855A1 has been well received and has a reputation for being more accurate, penetrating barriers more effectively, and having better terminal performance than the old M193 and M855 ball ammunition. Are you very sensitive to recoil? Heck, the .308 Winchester is so much larger that it can almost fit an entire .223 Remington cartridge inside its case. Truth be told, the .223 Remington is still just a borderline big game hunting round (at best) and can’t hold a candle to the .308 Winchester in that regard. Is there another option? 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