Call me silly if you will, but I feel insulted when a magazine publishes a photograph of someone pointing a firearm directly at me. However, I can recall many years ago when just such a photo was one of my favorites. Only the muzzle and front sight of the rifle were in focus, and the caption at the bottom of the photo said it all: “The new .264 Winchester Magnum–it makes a helluva noise and packs a helluva punch” (or something like that).
And it did just that in the hands of hunters all across America until the 7mm Remington Magnum came along four years later.
The .264 Winchester Magnum was the second American-designed cartridge of its caliber to come along. Back in 1917, rifle designer and manufacturer Charles Newton introduced his .256 Newton, which was the hunter’s .270 Winchester about a decade before that cartridge came along. On the slightly shortened .30-06 Springfield case, it was initially loaded with a 123-grain bullet at 3,100 fps and, later, a 140-grain bullet at 2,900 fps. Despite the fact that the Western Cartridge Company loaded the ammunition, the .256 Newton enjoyed but a short life.
Other cartridges of the same caliber have fared better in other countries. The 6.5 Swedish, for example, was once the apple of every Scandinavian hunter’s eye, and while quite a few still use it, each time I hunt there I see far more people using rifles in .30-06 and .308 Winchester. My guess is the 6.5 Swede has also long been the most popular cartridge of its caliber among American hunters, due mainly to the importation of thousands upon thousands of military-surplus rifles of excellent quality at bargain basement prices.
Even though I did not until recently become a fan of 6.5mm cartridges, I have owned a number of rifles chambered for them through the years. And I have used some of them to take a few head of game.
The first one, purchased while I was still in high school, was a Japanese Arisaka in 6.5×50. It was fairly accurate with Norma ammo, but I hated its awkward safety and horse-traded it away.
In those days, my high school chums and I were really into military surplus rifles, and our addiction was made possible by the fact that many were only slightly more expensive than dirt. But not all were, and the one we lusted over most but could never afford to buy was the handsome little Swedish Model 94 carbine in 6.5×55. With its 171⁄2-inch barrel and Mannlicher-style stock it ranked just above Marilyn Monroe in desirability, but none of us ever got one.
My next 6.5, purchased many years later, was a Model 1909 Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbine, one of the most handsome firearms ever built. I still own that one, and through the years its slowpoke 160-grain bullet has accounted for a dozen or so hogs and a couple of whitetails.
Just bought a new hunting rifle for myself and was wondering what would be the best scope to mount to it, Red field is no longer in business so I was thinking a Leupold II Mark 2 3-9x40mm T2. Just trying to see what other people thought.
im thinking about getting a Remington 700 sps 308 but i was wondering which is better .300 ultra mag or .308 winchester ps : i am in training to be a marksman or sniper for my police dep. in my city ) plse help tanner
It is understood that gravity acts upon all objects at the same rate 9.8/m squared. I was recently looking at a ballistics chart for my .308 rifle; the carts show a rise in the projectile at 100 meters. I was under the impression that gravity would be pulling a projectile down as soon as it left the barrel. This ballistics table assumes that the bullet is fired on a flat plan. Take a look at the trajectories at 100 yards, there are a lot of “pluses”, how could this be.http://www.gunsandammomag.com/ballistics/308_winchester.html
For semi-automatic firearms such as the AR-15 style, AR-10 style, M1A(semi-auto only clone of M14), and anything else that can accept a detachable magazine because they are soooo dangerous. What about High Power competition? especially Service Rifle since that has to be cosmetically identical to the current issue M-16A2/A3 type but only capable of semi-automatic fire.how about 3-gun competition?or just any kind of recreational shooting? Thousands of autoloaders are used for hunting wild game ranging from small varmints to deer and even larger game such as elk, bear and moose. and to those who say magazines over a certain capacity are bad: How does the number of rounds a weapon holds affect the power of the cartridge? I’m pretty sure a .223 Remington has the same power whether it’s a single shot or a semi-auto with a thirty round magazine. Same goes for a .308 Winchester or a .30-06. Or for that matter the tens of thousands of handguns out there that are perfect for competition use in IDPA or USPSA. They were designed to kill people? Using that basis allows the ban of pretty much every firearms design of the past two centuries including 18th century muzzleloaders, as almost every new or modified design was asked for, thought up by or immediately adopted by military forces. http://www.alabamaservicerifleteam.com/id18.htmlhttp://www.nrahq.org/compete/highpower.asphttp://www.uspsa-nationals.org/http://www.idpa.com/http://www.ipsc.org/Come on people would you help me out? Explain why people wish to ban items that are no more dangerous then another weapon just because it looks different? Is it lack of knowledge? If that’s their reason why don’t they want to learn anything?
I found this gun and I am just starting out so I don’t know much. http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/36_385/products_id/53827If not a good gun for big game what would be a good one for starters. So far I have found that a 308 is better than 30.06. LY