by mausermate » 25 Oct 2014, 11:58 am
I would not go so far as to say the 308 is no good as a hunting cartridge, it is, after all, possibly the most widely used hunting cartridge in the world, they can't all be wrong, but I will say that there are many better cartridges and "no" I am not trying to rev things up. You might think I have "no clue" bully for you.
As I said in my previous post "horses for courses" and IMO you need to match the cartridge to the application. Yes, we do not all have the funds to place an arsenal in our gun room to match every hunting situation we may encounter but I have found that using alternatives brings a whole new meaning to hunting as the 308, in many situations is left wanting. Particularly here is AUS.
Further to that, Mil dot and other tactical reticules, exposed and ballistic turrets and other gizmos that have turned up on our shop shelves these days do nothing for me. Most of the people I know that have them, can't use them, find their turret has been moved in the field, forget the settings or spent half an hour working out the distance to the animal, got their chart out fiddled around and the animal has run away.
If I may offer any advice to those that are looking to purchase a hunting rifle and are interested in good hunting, bagging your quarry and want to know something about trajectory........ you need a flat shooting cartridge (sorry, the 308 is not a flat shooting cartridge), match the cartridge to the animals you wish to hunt to provide a clean effective kill every time, don't load yourself up with gadgets, keep it simple and concentrate on the hunt and pulling a good shot. Sight your rifle to provide the best "point blank range" for your cartridge so that you aim dead on the animals vitals every time. If it is out of your maximum PBR, try and get a little closer. That is what "hunting" is all about. IMVHO.
Now that's been said, who's coming for a shot?