My dad’s favorite hunting rifle was a pre-’64 Model 70 Featherweight chambered in .308. He used it for almost all his big game, up to black bear and moose. Me, a child of the late-‘60s magnum craze, had a .264 as a teenager. I considered dad’s favorite cartridge underpowered and boring. It took 40 years before I properly appreciated the powerful, versatile, accurate and useful .308 Winchester.
It wasn’t that I had no experience with the .308. Aside from its stated attributes, the .308 is so popular that it’s unavoidable. Over the years, I messed with a lot of test rifles in .308 and accepted the gunwriter’s axiom that, if you wanted a test rifle to shoot tight groups, ask for a .308. However, after recovery from magnumitis, I discovered…