pro's and con's of using .308?

To me, the whole varmint/predator rifle thing is all about 22 and under cartridges. I know that many use 6mm and .257 cartridges with great success and that's fine. However, once you get much over 25 caliber you are leaving, at least IMO, the realm of varmint/predator rifles and are entering into the big game domain. It's purely subjective; I'll give you that.

Anyway, more power to you if you want to go the 308 route. You shouldn't have much trouble finding an accurate load with that round.

As far as disadvantages are concerned, if you care anything about fur, you are not exactly picking the best option. Other than that, have at it.

Landrum
 
As long as you have a safe shot with plenty of backstop, I don't the coyote will mind too much /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowingsmilie.gif If you handload you can make pretty good loads using 110gr bullets, I have shot 110gr in my .308 and both my 30-06s all at the range though. I haven't had the chance to try one out on a coyote but I wouldn't hesitate to do so.. I don't want the fur and I am sure not going to eat it.

Dave
 
The big con is that most varmint bullets are designed to destruct when they hit something. A 308 bullet of standard construction can bounce a long ways after it hits or misses a target. There are some lightly constructed varmint bullets built for the 308 such as the 110 or 125 grain bullets, but use of match bullets or standard hunting bullets designed for 30 caliber big game rifles give you much more bounce capability.

The pro's are good 308's are very accurate and deliver plenty of energy to kill coyotes or any small game.
 
Years ago, I had a long barrel'd 308 that I shot 110's through with a max load of H322 with amazing accuracy and velocity. The load would cut a coyote up like a chain saw.

Quite a few 308's will shoot the 125g bullet at 3200 fps into a tiny ragged hole with a load that will vary from 49.5-52.0g of 748.
 
Good stuff, I've put together some 110 VMax for the yotes. Have not shot them at the range yet. Looking forward to see how they group with my normal 200yd zero from the 165 TSX loads I use for elk. I also bought some 168grn SMK's for the range and some 165 Game points I thought might be good for the yotes too if the 110's did not pan out. I think my .308 will do good as it's only 9lbs fully loaded.
 
I shot a 110 grain bullet from my 300 Win mag, but not at coyotes yet. They are the most accurate round I have ever put through the gun with three shoot groups in the sub .5" range. They Chrono at just a tad under 3700 fps. But I shoot Hornady SP not V-max. I loaded up some 110 grainers for my friends savage 10FP and it really liked near 48g. of Win 748, just about 3300 fps and MOA 5 shoot groups from that gun.
 
One con....at least in Colorado... you must use smaller than .243 for hunting small game and varmints during big game rifle seasons....or they consider you a probable poacher and you win a fine and your gun gets taken away.
 
Quote:
One con....at least in Colorado... you must use smaller than .243 for hunting small game and varmints during big game rifle seasons....or they consider you a probable poacher and you win a fine and your gun gets taken away.



This is a good point. During this time of year I will be hunting elk so a switch over to the TSX rounds, a license and good to go to hunt either animal.

I wanted to get some feedback before moving forward with the .308 just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Once I get the 110VMAX rounds on paper I'll report my findings. I may still buy a smaller rifle later but the bang flops I get with this one should be good! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 


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