The 308 based cases are just about the right size for the 15" Encore barrel in MHO.

Yepper, I agreee, but you're missin' the best one - .358 Win ;-)

And for those that prefer a rimmed cartridge, the .307 and .356 Win.'s

Now, are all of these direct descendants of the 30.06. I don't know how I left out the 7mm 08. I guess I thought it came from somewhere else. We do get to look at the 358 win now. I also don't know if they make a 30.06 Encore barrel.

Yeah I am, have you got one? Send it this way. LOL<LOL I also need a 22 CHeetah MKI or MKII or both. I have heard rumor of an 808, 8mm on the 308 but have not really found any solid evidence YET. I'll keep digging. I'm sure someone has done it. The 8mm IHMSA is close but less case capacity than the 300 savage and that's a little less than the 308. A 348/308 might be cool if there were bullets available.

YUP they do.

I agree 100%!! It is hard to beat the 308 family for the Encore. I have a 22-250 and 708, with the plans on acquiring a 358 barrel.

30-06, Parent case with children

308, Grand child, with siblings

Would that make the 22-250 a great grandchild being originally based a shorted 243 case?

Duane

Wasn't the .22-250Rem based upon the case from the 250Savage? Same size shell holder but more body taper than the .308Win family.

A couple years ago, I bought a used Savage Striker and had it rebarreled to .308Win with a Vais comp. 15.5" barrel without the comp keeps it legal and the comp keeps it pleasant. Fitted a Rifl Basix trigger group and a Burris 2-7X scope on it myself. Can't say enough nice things about the improvement of the Rifl Basix trigger over the OEM. Haven't shot it as much as I might like, but the project was successful and it's a nice firearm.

Ok, like the 7-30 compared to the 30-30. I used some left over 243 brass to make some extra 22-250 rounds. But sense the savage was introduced in 1915, I guess that makes the savage well before his time.

Duane

Correct the 250 Savage was way ahead of the 308, it even came out before the 300 savage. One could guess that it's a shortened 30-06 case( same head dims).

If you want a true 22 caliber 308 based case look at the CHeetah MKI or MKII. The C&H are capitalized for a reason. That's the first intial of the 2 guys that came up with the CHeetah, but right now for the life of me I can't remember thier names and I'm not at home to look it up in my books. The 270/308 is also been done more than once. Redding necked down the 308 to .277 and increased the shoulder angle to 40*, thus making a 270 Redding. It has been written up a few times over the years. The one in the picture (270/308) has the standard 20* shoulder.

I am obviously not looking in the right places. When did the 308 come out? If I remember my History Channel right, it was developed by the military to replace the 30-06 after WWII and then became the NATO round. No, I went to Navy boot camp. They didn’t teach us that.

I thought about wildcating a 308 to a 25 call one time. I think that the 25 call is a lot better multipurpose caliber than the 6mm. Thought some would disagree. But I realized two things. First, that I would be competing with the 257 Roberts, 250 savage, and after looking at MGM’s website, it has basically been done. I also realized that I could match a 117-120 grain 25 cal ballistics by shooting a 120 grain bullet from my 708! Second, there is nothing wrong with shooting varmints with a 708, 308, 30-30, 7-30, etc. I have shot more varmints with a deer rifle than a varmint cal. I have realized that dead is dead. To me, my 708mm is as good as a multipurpose round as it gets.

Food for thought. Most people don’t know that the 25-06 was created in 1920!

Duane

It is my understanding that the .308Win came out of Winchester's development of ball propellant. Being more chemically efficient, ball powder did not need the charge volume of the earlier smokeless propellants and cartridge length on the military .30 round could be reduced almost half an inch with about the same performance. While this did make the ammunition lighter (and more could be transported), the real weight savings was in the firearms with half an inch of receiver and bolt weight removed. Additionally, the shorter charge column could be more readily ignited, lending to the .308Win's reputation as a fine precision target round.

Thank you very much. Would you say that, in a small way, that would contribute to the inherited accuracy of the 308 family, the addition of the ball powder?

Duane

I don't have my books right handy but I will ballpark the 308 as coming onto the scene in the mid 50's, 1954 sticks in my mind. But hey I could be loosing my mind. Check the Hornady or Speer loading manual they have the date in the wrightup.

From what I can remember, it was after WWII, which would concur with your estimate.

One of the reasons the 06 was so popular was because of the amount of people that saw what it was capable of in the service.

Duane

I would say it has more to do with the shortened cartridge case with a little less taper making for a shorter more easily ignitable powder charge. I say this because IMR 4064 extruded powder is by far the accuracy choice and ball powders in general are more temperature sensitive with pressures that can go all over.

I don’t know about the taper. But what I can say is the burn rate! With the new technology in burn rate in powder, cartridges could be shortened and became more efficient. Think of the progress that has been made with powders in the recent years. Old cartridges are getting new sting and holding there own a little better than expected. Moreover, cartridges like the Federal’s new line are giving the old 06 cases a run for their money.

Maybe less powder which makes it just slightly more consistent. There must be something special about that case. Like the 44 mag, it just performs exceptionally well.

Wikipedia had the date of 1952 for the 308

Hodgdon Data Manual, 26th Edition
Said that soon after World War II, the U.S. government issued contracts to Winchester and Remington for assistance in the development of a replacement cartridge for the .30-06. The result of those efforts was a shorter version of the .30-06 called T-65. Later the name was changed to 7.62mm NATO.

Duane