by Today is March 8th or 308 Day!
Derived from the .300 Savage, the .308 Winchester was introduced as a commercial cartridge in 1952. It predated the similar but not exactly the same 7.62×51 NATO round by two years. The US Army’s Frankford Arsenal had been tasked with experimenting with a standard Cal. 30 bullet into a .300 Savage case. A change in powder had resulted in the .30-06 having excess pressure issues. This experiment eventually became the T-65 or .30 Light Rifle.
When Winchester introduced the .308 Winchester commercially in 1952, they offered it in their Models 70, 88, and 100 rifles. It has grown to become one of the most popular cartridges ever for hunting, law enforcement, and military (in 7.62×51). For hunting, it is suitable and has been used for most North American game animals as well as plains game in Africa.
Winchester offers loadings for the cartridge in everything from 120 grain up to 180 grain bullets. Chuck Hawks states it has been loaded with everything from 100 to 200 grain bullets with the 150, 165, and 180 grain bullets being the most common. No longer just a Winchester product, virtually every ammunition manufacturer, both here and abroad, now offer one or more loads of the .308 cartridge.
Michael Dickerson, writing for Outdoor Life, said the .308 Winchester will probably never die. Its military roots helped it succeed much like its military predecessor the .30-06 Springfield.
There’s a certain poetic symmetry in this because the .308 Win. is, for all practical purposes, a shortened .30-06. The .30-06 can launch bullets a little faster, but the 308 Winchester can do just about everything the .30-06 can do in the field, using less powder and producing less recoil, while conveying the benefits of a cartridge that fits in a short action. It is, in some ways, a more efficient cartridge, and that’s just one of many attributes that helped make the .308 so popular.
Looking at my own collection of .308/7.62×51 rifles, they range from a Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle to a FAL from Imbel parts mated with a DSA upper. Probably one day I’ll add a PTR-91 to the mix as I have 100 plus G-3 magazines purchased when they were dirt cheap. CMMG had experimented at one time with using G-3/HK-91 mags in an AR-10 but they unfortunately couldn’t solve the feed lip issues. Nonetheless, if anyone tries it again, I’m prepared!
Finally, the SAAMI spec drawing for the .308 Winchester is below.
