Two NASCAR race cars. Which do you think would win going against each other? Both with same driver. Both top of their game but at different times. The second is an evolution to make it better and stay competitive in an evolving sport. Same with .308s being used years ago and now 6/6.5s perform better ballistically. You wouldn't see someone coming out and racing with Junior's car now would you? How do you think they would do?
I love the comparison.
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I shot .308 for nearly 10 years before transitioning to .260 nearly 4 years ago. I love my .308 and it is still a sub half MOA gun, but it has only been out of the safe twice in the last 4 years. I have been hanging onto my .308 thinking I will let my kids shoot it when they are old enough. But the more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that I should sell it and buy the kids a .243 or .260 when they are ready for shooting long range with me. My .260 is so much more fun to shoot than my .308. Slightly less recoil, higher BC which leads to significantly less wind drift and aids in bullet drop (both of which make the rifle much more forgiving to shoot).
I do a little bit of competitive long range shooting. I know there are many guys here in this thread that could wipe the floor with me. From experience, I can tell you that the .308 is at a huge disadvantage to the 6 and 6.5 caliber rounds. If you have to hold 3 mils wind and someone with a 6 only needs to hold .8 you have a much larger margin of error if you happen to call the wind slightly different than it actually is.
Below is a link to a match I attended last month. It was not a national match, but there were some fantastic shooters there. Looking over the list, I don't think there was a .308 shooter that finished in the top 10.
Rob Wilkinson: King of Powder Keg | Com-Link .308 is an okay way to get into long range shooting. 5 years ago, it was about the only way to get into the game without a custom or semi custom rifle. Now you can buy factory guns in 6.5 CM or .260, so why would you want to handicap yourself with a .308 if you know you are going to regularly shoot or compete at long range. Sure there is the argument that a .308 will make you learn to read the wind better, that may be a valid point. But from that same argument, a .22 LR would be superior to a .308 in learning to read the wind. I personally think reading the wind comes from experience in the field and can be learned with any any caliber.
There is a ton of knowledge to be gained by attending competitions. I attended the Silencerco Quiet Riot this year and had James Vick in my squad. He taught me a few things that have really elevated my game. My overall finish was pretty terrible at the Quiet Riot (Though I only happened to shoot one of the two days, it really wan't to terrible of a finish in my opinion). There have also been a bunch of local shooters that have really helped me improve my shooting over the last few years too.
I can tell you that there is not a single person at these competitions that would recommend that a shooter purchase a .308 if they wanted to regularly compete in long range matches (even the .308 shooters would give that advice). We have even had talk of putting .308 shooters in their own class or holding .308 only comps with no LRFs, wind meters or ballistic software (which sound like they could be lot of fun and that sort of match would absolutely show which shooter knows their stuff compared to the other members of the group).
There are lots of guys on this forum with years of top level competitive experience under their belts. They are great resources to go to with questions on gear or technique. Every one of them on this thread has not recommended a .308 for competitive long range shooting. I think that is saying something.
- Rob W.
