270 vs 30-06 vs 308

[JMikeyH]

Time for a new rifle and considering a change of calibre from .243 for a "one rifle does it all" approach. I live in the Midlands so I'm not shooting reds or boar, would the 3 larger calibres still be capable foxing rounds? No saying it'll kill it please, of course it will kill it. I'm talking trajectories and dependable shooting to 300 yards - ballistic charts can only show me so much.

I am not opposed to staying with the .243 but with lead-free getting some momentum I'm thinking of a future-proof rifle for whatever I may do in the next few years

 

[palmer_mike]

Toss a coin, they’ll all do!

 

[Jax]

Keep the .243 for foxing and get the .308 for deer with lead free bullets.

6mm is recommended for longer range foxing in home office guidance if I recall correctly. There’s your good reason. Dedicated fox rig for high seat and lamping and separate deer stalking rifle. That’s assuming you lamp and have deer permission etc

not saying the 308 is no good for foxing, but I’d much rather take a 6mm out foxing, especially lamping with lighter bullets. 100 - 250 yards with 58 grain v Max is pretty much point and shoot

 

[Woodsmoke]

.270. All day long. Yes, I shoot one. And no, there's nothing wrong with the other calibres, but I have no experience of them. The beauty of the .270 to me, lies in its potential to be tailored to your exact requirements, especially if you handload. You have limited choice of bullets, which to my mind is a huge advantage as you're far less likely to the yourself up in knots. I use the 130 grain softpoint for all my shooting, with a relatively gentle load of 54 grains of h4831, and it's good enough to cleanly kill roe out to 300 yards. I don't shoot reds at great ranges, but it will still drop them on the spot at 200-plus.

It's an absolute beauty of a calibre, that's stood the test of time across the globe. I've not yet experimented with copper, but suspect 110 grain will be the way to go when I finally get around to it

 

[Muntybuck5803]

No matter how hard I try and look for something ‘better’ I don’t think anyone could ever be dissatisfied with the .308
Yeah it’s not new, not niche, not cool but it’s definitely proven, accurate and available.
At further ranges the .308 drops like a howitzer but out to 300 I believe you’d only be looking at an inch or two difference with the calibres stated and the .308 will generally be cheaper to shoot and practice with than the other two mentioned. Learn your drops and that becomes a nonissue. All three stated will do the job but my vote goes with the .308 as a do it all- as it usually does, IMO you cannot go wrong with a .308

 

[fresh slots]

Agree with you there Munty buck- love the .308

No matter how hard I try and look for something ‘better’ I don’t think anyone could ever be dissatisfied with the .308
Yeah it’s not new, not niche, not cool but it’s definitely proven, accurate and available.
At further ranges the .308 drops like a howitzer but out to 300 I believe you’d only be looking at an inch or two difference with the calibres stated and the .308 will generally be cheaper to shoot and practice with than the other two mentioned. Learn your drops and that becomes a nonissue. All three stated will do the job but my vote goes with the .308 as a do it all- as it usually does, IMO you cannot go wrong with a .308

 

[Muntybuck5803]

Agree with you there Munty buck- love the .308

Can’t go wrong freshslots

 

[shakey jake]

308 and 30-06 are same calibre just more power, if you want longer range 308 loads of bullets and popular with target boys so must be accurate

 

[User00040]

30-06 if you reload.

Most versatile cartridge out of the 3, can be loaded up to way beyond what the .270 is capable of or even down to subsonic if you want.Weight range from 100 (not ideal) to 220+.

30 cal has the largest range of projectiles although 6.5 is catching up.

If I started again I would go for this over the .270 which I have, great flat shooting round but heavily restricted by the .277/6.8 projectiles.

Depends on what your FLO will approve though.

 

[Acm]

if you reload id take the .308 out of your runnings against the .30-06 unless you really like short actions.at any weight range of projectile you'll get more fps from the .06 ive had one 6 years now and shot muntys to moose with it. ive never shot live targets at 300 metres but im sure if you put the time in you'd not find it lacking

 

[Limpet]

Anyone of them will do the job for you.

I struggled to see what the 30.06 has over the ,308 for practical use in the field. Yes it has around 100fps more and about 20 M more point blank range but is that meaningful in the real world when you have far more felt recoil and use lots more powder? a .308 will still fire a 220 grain bullet and these will generally be for something relatively close like boar. So to me (and not everyone will agree) a .308 is the one to go for out of these 2.

Then look at .270 vs the 308. The 270 does a great job with 130 grain bullets but is not so versatile as the 308 which has a far wider bullet weight range and choice of bullets.

 

[enfieldspares]

CABERSLASH I could have pretty much written what you've just said word for word. I shot my first deer in 1989 with a Churchill .270 and its quick detachable sidemounted Pecar 4x 'scope. I bought the first ever .30-06 I've ever owned in 2012 or thereabouts. If I had my time again I should have chosen a .30-06 and saved wasted time and money on this, that, and every other calibre but that.

 

[Utectok]

No matter how hard I try and look for something ‘better’ I don’t think anyone could ever be dissatisfied with the .308
Yeah it’s not new, not niche, not cool but it’s definitely proven, accurate and available.
At further ranges the .308 drops like a howitzer but out to 300 I believe you’d only be looking at an inch or two difference with the calibres stated and the .308 will generally be cheaper to shoot and practice with than the other two mentioned. Learn your drops and that becomes a nonissue. All three stated will do the job but my vote goes with the .308 as a do it all- as it usually does, IMO you cannot go wrong with a .308

Good barrel life too

 

[enfieldspares]

I struggled to see what the 30.06 has over the .308 for practical use in the field.

Class and history. The rifle that fought at Meuse-Argonne, at Bastogne, Iwo JIma and on Pork Chop Hill.

But in practical terms I respond that the advantages depend on the rifle it's being used in. So if you've a long action such as a rifle based on a Mauser 98 then .30-06 makes sense. If you've a shorter action built for those .308 Winchester based cartridges such as .243, 7mm-08, 338 Federal and 358 Winchester then they, and .308 Winchester make sense.

The other supposed advantage is the longer neck of the .30-06. I am slighly "anal" about preferring a bullet that is "all in the neck" and not half of it sticking out below where the neck joins the shoulder into the powder space of the cartridge. I think also that more usable powder capacity is a benefit with bulky stick powders like Hodgdon 4831.

 

[Muntybuck5803]

Good barrel life too

+1 And minimal recoil especially moderated.

 

[User00040]

CABERSLASH I could have pretty much written what you've just said word for word. I shot my first deer in 1989 with a Churchill .270 and its quick detachable sidemounted Pecar 4x 'scope. I bought the first ever .30-06 I've ever owned in 2012 or thereabouts. If I had my time again I should have chosen a .30-06 and saved wasted time and money on this, that, and every other calibre but that.

Aye, wish I had some more advice at the time but work has a .270 and that steered me. Thanks for selling me those .270W L.E Wilson dies though!

Having read Jack O' Connor's books, he was actually a big '06 guy ( I think he said his wife preferred her 30.06 over his .270's!) but Winchester's marketing jumped on his fondness for the .270 for sheep and antelope hunting, the fact he was Field & Stream's main man for so long and going on exotic hunts to Iran, Africa and India probably did more to promote the chambering than anything else.

 

[User00040]

Class and history. The rifle that fought at Meuse-Argonne, at Bastogne, Iwo JIma and on Pork Chop Hill.

But in practical terms I respond that the advantages depend on the rifle it's being used in. So if you've a long action such as a rifle based on a Mauser 98 then .30-06 makes sense. If you've a shorter action built for those .308 Winchester based cartridges such as .243, 7mm-08, 338 Federal and 358 Winchester then they, and .308 Winchester make sense.

The other supposed advantage is the longer neck of the .30-06. I am slighly "anal" about preferring a bullet that is "all in the neck" and not half of it sticking out below where the neck joins the shoulder into the powder space of the cartridge. I think also that more usable powder capacity is a benefit with bulky stick powders like Hodgdon 4831.

The Tikka T3 is the perfect platform for this as well, being a 'long action' base.

Not many 30-06 users in the UK, but Lapua do make brass for it (meaning it is a good chambering)!

 

[Edinburgh Rifles]

I'm talking trajectories and dependable shooting to 300 yards - ballistic charts can only show me so much.

zero them all at 200 with the same bullet weight and the difference at 300 is negligible (by that I mean most people wont be able to demonstrate the advantage/disadvantage of one or the other!)

One is not flat
One is not loopy

.30-06 factory ammo doesnt excite me enough to consider it an advantage over the .308
.270 in factory form should stick to 130gr for optimal energy/trajectory etc
.308 can shoot the same range of bullet weights as the .30-06 - 110gr screaming VMax for your foxing desires through 180gr+ thumpers for bigger lumpier stuff.

By the one you like and can feed with ammo locally or buy whatever and reload to get the best out of them

I grew up shooting .270
its great
I still have one

I use .308 for everything...well mostly.. for the moment

 

[Dunwaters]

The 3 rounds you’ve picked are pretty much identical for stalking or hunting use, if you plan to do a bit of target work too then it has to be 308.
Lots of really nice rifles out there too.

 

[andychas]

zero them all at 200 with the same bullet weight and the difference at 300 is negligible (by that I mean most people wont be able to demonstrate the advantage/disadvantage of one or the other!)

One is not flat
One is not loopy

thats a key point, theres an awful lot of guff written about a particular chambering being "laser flat" or "like lobbing a brick". Have a read up of the various methods of MPBR, and a good play with a ballistics calc. Other factors like availability of ammunition, whether or not you reload, how much flexibility of bullet weights you want etc etc, probably have more bearing.
All 3 calibers are fantastically capable, having stood the test of time with great pedigrees. In your position and if you reload, Id be tempted to keep the 243 and make it the foxing rig, then get a 30-06 purely from the range of bullet weights that it can comfortably handle (of course Im bias as that's what I have)