Savage vs Remington and 308 vs 30-06

[GaDawg]

I am in search of a new hunting rifle. Do I want to go with the 30-06 which is what I have been hunting with or switch to new age 308. Yes I know ballistics are very close and yes military is 308 now and surplus blah blah blah. So not sure that is going to be a big deal may just come down to cost in the rifle I want and if it is chambered one way or the other oh well. Now the hard part is the rifle. I am not trying to go crazy with the cost but I want a good rifle that will last a lifetime and then some to pass down. I want past entry level but not crazy priced because I am going to have it in the woods. I have owned a middle ground remington 700 in 30-06 and liked it. I wouldn't mind going that way again. Savage rifles are just kinda appealing to me right now. I like the accu trigger and the accu stock.

I know I am opening a big can of opinoin here but hey someone has to start some kind of discussion.


LET THE OPINOINS FLY!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[superjoe76]

I would go .308 and Remi 700!

Thats what I own so I am biased!

 

[den57]

Remington 700BDL in 30-06

 

[starbreather]

Neither, go Grendel.

 

[Fordtough25]

I enjoy .30-06 myself, and I like it in semi auto form. I did hunt with a friends Savage .30-06 bolt action one year though in KY and it was very nice.

 

[ruger1800]

Only advantage the 06 has over the 308 is the ability to shoot the heavier bullets a bit faster.

 

[sloughfoot]

The new age 308. It think it might just catch on.

Caliber choice is easy. The rifle is all about feel. I like both the Savage and Rem 700.

 

[avboiler11]

30-06 is good for at least 100fps more velocity, across all bullet weights, over its wimpy kid sister the 308 pushing the same bullet. It does (obviously) have more recoil than the 308 and requires a long action, which may or may not be a factor for some.

I have two Savage centerfires in my safe, another in the process of being built, a M700 Mountain LSS in 260 Rem and have an on/off again relationship with a 700 BDL DBM in 30-06 that collects dust at my father's home.

I'm a HUGE Savage fan but 700s are fine rifles too...but IMO the 308 is grossly overrated in terms of, well, pretty much everything other than component cost and "SHTF ammo availability" (which is a stupid factor in buying a bolt gun, IMO).

Bottom line is anything you can kill with a 308, you can kill just as dead with a 243 or a 260 or 7mm-08...or a 30-06. But a 30-06 is simply going to have more "ass" behind it. If you need/want that is up to the nut behind the trigger...

<but I digress>

 

[sgreen3]

The 308 will probably take down anything you would want it to I would say. Now the rifle its self eithyer brand will give you a fine rifle. Im kind of bias so I would say go with the savage, for nothing more than more than Ive seen the out of the box accuracy with these rifles. Savage has alot of nice hunting models out now, you might look at their "Hunter series" of rifles. Or maybe their new Hog Hunter.

 

[Bumsi]

I own a variation of both and I vote Remington .308

 

[dmil12]

I like 308 more than 30-06; cheaper and more accurate out to 800 yds or so. I also prefer remington 700, but look for a good used one here or the other online sites. I have bought several (better than sps models) in the $5-600 range that are nicely broken in but not abused and shoot 1/2 MOA without modification (I use gold medal match). You just have to be patient and wait for a good deal to come along. I usually see a decent deal every couple months or so.

 

[c3d4b2]

Ran across this a few years back and found it interesting.

.30-06 vs. .308 (Bart Bobbitt)

Thomas Woolman (woolmata@dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu) wrote:

It's been my opinion that the venerable '06 has been getting unfairly : knocked around recently by the .308 proponents.

Unfairly knocked around? What is unfair about it? If thousands of shooters find out the .308 produces better scores in competition than the '06 ever did, seems to me that's very fair.

I haven't heard of this unfair business about the .308 since the late 1960s. During the early 1960s, when the .308 was fully entrenched as `the' highpower competition cartridge of choice, the top several scores at many matches were the same. Tie breaking began to be a tedious job and most folks were fed up with it. The old military A, B and C targets had rather big scoring rings based on attainable accuracy dating back to around 1900. For the .30-06 cartridge, they were suitable because the accuracy levels the '06 could deliver resulted in a reasonable spread of scores from the top down. As the .308 easily shot about twice as accurate (about half the group size) as the .30-06, it was not easy to discriminate shooting ability amongst the top shooters. So, the NRA changed the highpower target's respective scoring rings in '66 to about half their original size. Finally, the ability to discriminate shooting skills was much easier and much more fair to everybody.

But a few folks didn't like that. Those who chose to keep shooting the .30-06 found out that instead of shooting perfect scores or only dropping a point or two like they did on the old target, they never shot perfect scores any more and dropped one or two handfulls of points in each match. A lot of these folks cried `unfair' about this. Some of them even tried to disallow anybody shooting a .308 in their local club matches. Some even protested to the NRA about this so-called `unfair' bunch of rules that allowed the .308 and targets with smaller scoring rings to be used.

An old timer in his 90s told me many years ago that the folks who liked to use the various size black powder target rifles at the turn of the century cried `unfair' when others began shooting the .30-06 and getting better scores than they did. BB​

 

[U.S. Patriot]

I have a Mossberg 100ATR in .308. They retail for just over $400. The trigger is very comparable to the Savage accu-trigger. On a good day I can consistently shoot 1/2 groups with my reloads. With the rifle, scope, rings, and bi-pod. I have roughly $750 invested in the setup. Mossberg made me a believer in their rifles.

 

[Packrat67]

I have a 700 BDL in 30-06. No way am I giving it up. It's light, accurate and hits real hard. plus with the flexibility of the 30-06 as to powder loads and bullit weights it can bring down anything in North America

 

[bthomas]

I had a stevens .243 it was a nice shooter. I replaced it with a rem 700 vtr .308 and I love it. I really love the xmark trigger. I just got my membership to the Farmland conservation club last night and I plan on trying the 300 yard range today. Pat who took me through orientation told me that there are possible plans of a 600 yard range.

 

[Mike H]

I have a Savage 116 .243 All Weather Warrior with accu stock and trigger, topped with a Leupold VX2 3 X 9 X 40mm. It's a shooter.

 

[fireball168]

Winchester Model 70, CRF, 30-06.

 

[GaDawg]

I don't know I think at this point it will come down to either gun or caliber. Which ever I find the best deal on.

 

[rw496]

Since you will be hunting and not target shooting I would say '06

 

[Titanium Man]

06 because of its variety of sizes and uses. You can load it down for varmints, or up for big game.

I was using Savage weapons, when it wasn't cool. Don't get me wrong, Remington has some pretty neat stuff, and they're getting the message on price point, so I'd shop around and get your best deal on either one. I really do like the accu-trigger on Savage weapons, and if you look at their website, they have some pretty nice firearms.