What you say is true, but the discussion is ".308 or .30-06." The '06 is just more versatile than the .308 Winchester because of its larger case. Some of us see little use for belted mags (and I am in that group), but that's not the subject here either.

That's just a fact of life. The sun rises in the east and the .308 has had better accuracy than the .30-06 since it was introduced almost 60 years ago.

Hell my 06 will shoot a 1 inch group at 300 yards. I can't shoot any better than that no matter what gun I am using.

I don't believe the .308 is inherently more accurate I believe it has more to do with the legth of the barrel versus the burn rate of the powder. The 06 uses slower burning powder therefore it needs a longer barrel to preform up to standards, I feel that during the burn time there is more room for shooter error to either move a lil off target or slightly flinch. The .308 on the other hand shines with shorter barrels and faster powders there for time of bullet time in the barrel is reduced leaving less room for shooter error.

I have both calibers and prefer the 308 but both are very close to each other.

In hunting rifles, any accuracy superiority of the .308 over the .30-06 would be difficult to conclusively demonstrate.

I believe the same can be said in a heavy target configuration as well, the main downside to the 06 is that in several stock designs proper cheek wield is interupted ( a big no no in target shooting) due to the longer bolt travel.

the 308 is indeed more accurate, when it came out it smoked the 06 to a 1000 yds and in between so much so the target size was cut in half because of the 308 and the 06 was left at home like a red headed step child

According to one of my sierra manuals the 06 has won more than once at camp Perry since the inception of the 308 win, leaving me to believe other wise. I believe it's probally still being used at this day and time as well but it and the 308 have been left playing catch up to the 6.5-284, 6XC and the big 7's.

And yet all the info in the article is anywhere from 30-60 years old, back when barrels and actions were bedded all the way down the stock and highly acclaimed M70 had a tension screw on the barrel. Nothing in that article is relivant to today.

This debate has been raging for better than 50 years. It certainly isn't going to get settled here!

Amen! Shoot what you like. Both are do-all cartridges in North America, and do well for all but the largest game all over the world. If you want to shoot competition or hunt in the mountains, then I would probably lean .308, but for average Texas hunting situations both are effectively equal.

.308

150 Swift Sirocco 24" barrel

Feet Per Second Muzzle 2820 100 yards 2611

Foot Lbs of Energy Muzzle 2648 100 Yards 2269

.30-06

150 Swift Sirocco

Feet per Second Muzzle 2910 100 Yards 2696

Foot lbs of Energy Muzzle 2820 100 Yards 2421

The difference isn't that much. There has been a lot more technology into .308 because that used to be the standard 1000 yard match cartridge.

It's a short action and provides 30-06 like ballistics. It does trail the 30-06 by 100fps on most loads and maybe 100 ft lbs of energy....

But the animal will not know the difference.

When the '06 is loaded up to the same pressure as the .308, it'll outshine it more than that. The trick is not overdoing it on the '06. But then again, not everyone handloads, do they? But you're right. For real practical purposes there's not a whole lot of difference.

There's something sexy about a .300 Whelen, though.

as said for most hunting there would be no differents shoot the rifle and scope that fit you best in the one you just perfer

This is a 200 yard group.



And here is a 300 yard group. Just a stock Browning A-bolt with hand loads. And I didn't even experiment with powder amount. This is just after trying different seating depths.

In The Corps... Hands on.. I've had the chance to shoot both and we had much better performance from the 308..

Flip a coin. I can say that using one rifle (Sig SHR976) and swapping the barrels back and forth (.308 and -06) I personally can't tell the difference.