.308 vs .223

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caliyotehntr

New member
how much farther of a shot could you make with a .308? what advantages does one have over the other? any help will be appreciated.

thanks,
caliyotehntr
 
this is like comparing a vw to a porsche.there are guys that shoot yotes past 1000 yds with a 308.i would say max would be aroud 400 on the 223.
 
Good competition shooter, 1,000 yds with the 308. 223 I would think would be good out to 4-500 yds. Problem with the 223 is bullet weight. Farther out you get the wind really causes you problems even with the heaviest 69-77 gr bullets. Figure a 308 match load is usually 168-175 grs. Realistically it depends on what you're going to be shooting at.
 
With the right twist barrel and proper bullets they are both good to 1000 yards. The 308 has more retained energy. Neither are a good choice for hunting at 1000 yards.

Jack
 
The new military Special Purpose Rifles and Squad Advanced Marksman rifles - both in 5.56, are getting ranges of 600-800 yards, and scoring kills on man-size targets. The SPR is using a high power scope, while the SAM-R is using a 4x ACOG. That said, the energy drop is high and the .308 maintains far greater energy at those ranges, as well, as noted, with less wind drift, but it still is not known as a stellar long-range performer. You need a bullet with a high ballistic coeficient to get really stellar performance at range.

I'd decide on the kind of ranges I expect to be shooting, and then pick a caliber accordingly.
 
One thing to keep in mind with the .308 is that it is not that stellar of a round when it comes to trajectory.

The round is inherently accurate, but at longer ranges (400-500yds+) the arc gets pretty big! While repeatable, and very accurate under controlled circumstances such as on the firing range, they do not make the best hunting rounds.

Reason is that big arc and the slowness of the round. If you are wanting a bigger hunting round... the .25 WSSM would be my pick of the litter. If that is not big enough, then a 300 win mag or something of that nature should do the job.

For a varmint/coyote gun... I want a flat trajectory... and a .308 doesn't fit that description.
 
It really depends on how far you plan on shooting. Everything said about the 308 is right on. It works for a competition round because of it's accuracy, but folks that compete at long range use something like the 6.5 by 284 or the 300 Win mag.

If your looking for a long range big game gun, say to 800 yards or so the 7mm Rem mag, the 7mm STW, the 300 Ultra-mag, the 8mm Remington mag along with some of the old standby's such as the 270 work well.

For a long range varmit rifle the 25-06, and even the 243 work well to ranges of 600 yards.

Most folks make more misses than hits on game at those kind of ranges. I think you'll find most long range coyote hunters are using rifle in the 22-250 and 243 class and long range on a coyote is 500 yards. With an 6 or 8 inch target zone these animals can be a real challange much past 400 yards.

My long range big game gun is an 8mm Remington Mag shooting Sierra 220 grain Spitzer boattails at about 3100 fps. I've killed elk and deer with that at just past 600 yards and thank goodness for a rangefinder, cause I missguessed the range all to heck. Nothing like a rangefinder to make a guy re-assess his range finding skills.

Anyway my 2 cents.
 
If you want a flat shooter that fits in the AR platform, take a look at the 6.5 Grendel.

http://www.65grendel.com/
http://www.65grendel.com/graphics/grendelballistics.pdf

It's comparatively new, but designed specifically to give the M16 variants M14 range and hard-target ability. Les Baer has announced rifles in the caliber, and both Black Hills and Wolff are online to produce ammo.

Any bigger game than coyotes, and I agree with IDBob- get a real long range caliber (heavy magnum) in a bolt action.
 
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this is like comparing a vw to a porsche.there are guys that shoot yotes past 1000 yds with a 308.i would say max would be aroud 400 on the 223.



with a fater twist (1:7 or 1:8) you can put 80-90g bullets out of the .223rem that will perform very similar to the .308 with 155g bullets out to 1000yds easily. Of course I would never try to hit game game at these distances.


Have a look at the 6 or 6.5 x47...........
 
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Guys in theory shooting a 70-80 grn from a .223 at 1000 is wonderful but Im not that near good enough !
Im one of the best when talking but Im sorry when doing past 300yds /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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Even one better than IDBob said is the 7MM REM ULTRA MAG, it shoots flatter than the 300 ULTRA, it drops just 2.7" at 300 yds. when Zero'd at 200 yds. with factory ammo! but it's "picky" when it come's to bullet's & hand loads. I've got this caliber in A REM SENDERO, and It shoot's flatter than any rifle I own. 1/2" MOA right out of the box at 100 yds. Heavy barrel of course. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Hey caliyotehntr, just in case your interested, the .308 stats are as follows in hunting loads, 200 yrd. zero, shooting at 300 yds., Energy: 1700, Drop: 7.8", Recoil: 14.8
 
Personally I think it has alot to do with trigger time.

If you shoot your gun enough at all ranges you're gonna know what it does. I love my 223 and my 308 but I just don't get enough trigger time at 1000yds to be sure of where they're hitting. The only gun I know of where its shooting at 1000yds is my 45-70 Sharps...I ain't taking that heavy thing yote hunting.
 
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Remington is still making the 55gr. accelerator for the 308, it shoots very flat if conditions are right. ...blue

wher can i get this shell i like to giveit a try
 
Ammohouse, one way to do the thousand yrds. is gallon milk jugs with water. I took my dsa-fal (308) hunting one winter and after we were done, we set jugs up to see what it would take to make a fal hit them, (1000-1200 yrd.)i found that i needed to be about 4 feet high with that rifle to hit them, but after we figured it out it would hit them everytime. ...blue
 


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