.308 vs .300 Win. Mag
Doug and I were discussing rifles for Africa. We know the game is tough and Doug said ranges can be 200-300 yds., in some instances, hopefully closer, but what if. We both have big rifles and get the snot kicked out of us playing on the bench. It’s tolerable and for the “money shot” you’d not notice anyway. I have my delicious .416 Rigby that is tamed a bit with proper stocking and brake. I can just shoot 350’s and hammer anything big or small. Doug’s 9.3 is a slick rig and well proven worldwide too. On his trip he used a .300 Winchester too and was impressed for the plains critters. It is a nice caliber but do you really, really, need the extra zip over the more domestic standards many of us already own?
I have a delightful little .308, a classic Remington Police Model or Varmint Special 700 HB with proper bedded synthetic stock. It’s a shooting machine capable of ½ MOA with the right loads. It nominally pushes a 180 gr. bullet at 2600 fps. They make the same gun in .300 Winchester. For the 40% increase in powder capacity you garner 13-14% more velocity. Looking at ballistics you indeed gain 25% more energy and ballistics have a 200 yd. head start. But it’s literally the same 180 gr. bullet. That edge is maintained with distance. So a 300 yd. hit with the .300 is the same impact as the .308 from 500 yds. A hit at 500 yds. with a .300 Mag. is still pretty substantial. Does it really matter with game? Also shooting characteristics come into play. The 10 lb .308 does not recoil to a notable degree, the .300 Win. mag in the same format recoils a lot more and is accompanied with a big blast using 75 gr. of powder compared to 45 grs. It’s up to the shooter to tie down that difference in shootability and harness the ballistic edge.
So does the .308 sniper rig take a back seat to the .300 in the hunting fields or is it more up to the shooter? Will a tough animal notice?
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you betcha. I have seen big African animals like the Blue
Wildebeest take 4 rounds of 378 GNR and still need a finishing shot with the 510 GNR. I saw another Blue Wildebeest take 6 rounds of 450 GNR and still try to get up. And the shots on both these animals could be covered by your hand on the point of shoulder and just behind the shoulder. In my opinion African animals are much tougher animals than No. American game.
One of Colleen's girlfriends took a 308 with her to Africa in 2019 and took several shots per animal and the shots were in the right spot whereas Colleen used her Colt Sauer in 300 Win Mag and all were single shot kills. I know some folks have taken African animals with small calibers but that depends upon perfect bullet placement. Just like my 41 GNR on 2000 lb water buffalo or 6X6 bull elk and so on. If I screw up then I have a wounded animal on my hands but in most cases with the right shot placement the animal drops with one shot.
on one of our Africa hunts Colleen shot a
Springbok (65 Lbs) with a 270 she borrowed from the Ph (her guns hadn't arrived yet. They got there on the 3rd day). It hit the animal just behind the shoulder. The animal slammed to the ground, got up and ran he ran about 200 yards before piling up. When we got to the place where he fell at the shot, his heart was in a bush behind where he stood. He ran 200 yards with no heart in his body.
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An another hunt in Africa we jumped a big Impala. the PH told me to shoot him as he was record book quality. The animal was at a fast trot straight away from me at maybe 50 yards. I put a 375 grain bullet up his ass and at that he ran like he was on fire. We followed the blood trail and the animal had jumped over some dead brush and his entrails must have been hanging out and caught on the sticks in the dead brush. All of his guts were ripped out and were on the ground where he jumped over them. The Impala ran for maybe 100 yards before dropping and all that with no guts inside him.
That's how tuff African animals are.