So if a .308 is as good as an '06, and an '06 is as good as a .300, how is a .308 NOT as good as a .300?

Truth is, one has more power than the next. The deer won't know the difference. But you are giving away 150-200 FPS with a .308.

My brother chose the 30-06 because he does not reload and he enjoys the ammo selection at about any store that sells ammo. That is about the only advantage I have seen is the kinds of available factory ammo, even at Walmart they have all kinds.

Personally I like the .308 better, but you would have to kill my brother to get his 30-06. To him, there is no other caliber in the rifle world.

There is a larger variety of bullet weights available in the 30-06 off the shelf. You can get anything from a 110g to a 220g I believe. Reloading is of course different because you can load the same weights in a 308.

I own a 308.

For deer either will do.
30-06 for the availability.

Example: Last year during the Great Ammo Famine of 2013, 308 rapidly shot up to $1.50 a round when it was available. 30-06 on the other hand was in EVERY Wal-Mart I visited that year with zero price spikes.

(Garand shooter here)

I'd pick the Springfield but like most above I'm a reloader.

It depends on where and how you hunt. If your longest
shot is 350y, which by the way is likely way too long
for anyone asking the question your asking, then the .308
works great with 165gr soft point medicine.

If you are sitting stands and pointing at feeders, just go
with the least recoil, .308 works great.

If you are walking senderos and have to shoot 400-500y then
the .30-06 can do it but only if you have the right ammo, and the .308
is iffy. That's a long shot standing, sitting, using stakes
or not; arguably unethical if your not practicing at that range.

The .30-06 also lets you go to a 180gr bullet and hunt Elk to about 300y
with confidence, hand loaders or specialty ammo could do that with a .308
too, though it's not easy out of a slower 20" barrel.

The .30-06 can also go up to a very heavy 200 gr + bullet and be effective
for dangerous game protection at low ranges under 200y.

Long story short, based on the fact you asked the question alone,
get the .308; the .30-06 is a tad more versatile.

I shoot .308

I look at the 30'06 as the "default" great average do all caliber...when you can only own or access one rifle.

Or as a couple old time deer camp buddy's allus sez during the inevitable 270 x 30'06 "discussion" the night before the Opener...
30'06's are the "Brown shoes" in the closet....30'06's are not the blondes or brunettes ya look for trolling the bars on Friday nite, but will go to church with you on Sunday morning...and you can take home to meet your folks....will put you to sleep while watching TV...but you better be home for dinner at 6 sharp yadda yadda yadda

Inna word...boring but reliable...
Ron

I guess failed to make my post clear. I was using the 308 as the base. The 30-06 is the step up with more speed and energy. Then in turn the 300 win mag was the next step up with even more speed and power. I was not intending to state the 3 are equal. Nor, was I trying to prove which is better. To determine which is most powerful is simple. Determine which is best is really impossible because to many variable come into play. Use, platform, size of shooter, weight, load (both factory and handload) cost and availability, and so on. Don't get me wrong I love the 06 (more than the 308, but less than the 300) but just because I love it and it goes faster and has more energy does not make it the best round of the three with every individual and purpose. I think the original post was asking if there is a real determined difference on the 308 and aught6 for the purpose of hunting and dispatching Texas sized whitetail deer. IMO there is no real difference beyond the individual hunters personal preference. My preference is to own, shoot, and hunt with all three.

...another "yep". Man can't have too many guns!

Is this like two trains leaving Chicago where one is travelling at the speed of .......

Dead is dead. Some people are not going to get hung up on 100fps-300fps. For me, I like to shoot and put in trigger time, but I don't want to get slapped around and/or develop a flinch when shooting. I see/have seen this way to often, and these are usually the people that say, oh well, its close enough to take a deer.

I once had a nice .308 and was shooting fly targets at 100 yards. Out of 20, the bullet hole covered a portion of the fly on more than half, but the others were about .25 quarter off and got rid of the gun. Probably shouldn't have, but wish I would have kept it.

One my closest friends was a gun writer and tv show host (passed away way before his time) and he always said that he hated a 30.06 for the simple reason that it was the perfect gun for North America. He said you can hunt anything on our continent with a 30.06. He went on to say that he liked a specific gun for whitetail, muleys, sheep, elk, etc. and if he owned an 06 there was no reason to buy another rifle. He gave me the only 30.06 he ever owned when he learned I as planning to take a 270 on my first elk hunt.

The .30-06 has been the most popular cartridge in the country every year hand-runnin' for nigh on a century. So something must be right.

On my first brown bear hunt, my partner--a great guy from the Seattle area--killed a B&C brownie with a mundane tang Ruger in .30-06, and using factory Federals loaded with 180 gr Partitions. No fuss, no muss.

Last year, I walked into a gun store in Nelspruit, South Africa, and saw more ammo in .30-06 than any other caliber.....and loaded by many manufacturers that I'd never even heard of. My battery on that hunt was my own .30-06 stoked with 180 gr Partitions that took 15 of the 17 animals that were brought to bag. My .375 Holland took the other two, a cape buffalo and an eland.

I shot my first North American sheep with a .30-06, also out of a tang Ruger. The Dall ram was taken in the MacKenzie Mountains, and I was hanging out over a cliff shooting straight down at the ram which was feeding on a shale slide. The angle was so steep that the 150 gr Partition entered near the top of the withers and exited out the sternum. The ram fell in his tracks so fast that a younger ram with him didn't even run and continued feeding. A few days later, I shot a near-book mountain caribou with the same gun, but with a 165 gr Partition.

You think the .30-06 is gonna have a problem with our little Texas deer? There's really nothing wrong with the .308, but the Springfield has gotten such a big head-start, that the .308 has been biting dust in catch-up mode since it was born.

30-06 was the US military cartridge for 50 years. Lots of companies built rifles that shot it and lots made the ammo. It was effective and inexpensive. That's where it's popularity in the US came from.
The 308 replaced the 30-06 for the US military, and most NATO allies. 308 is a short action round and more accurate than the 30-06. 30-06 might be the most popular hunting caliber in the US. The 308 is the most popular hunting caliber in the world. 308 kicks less than a 30-06.
Like said, either will work for deer. Get the one you like better.
What caliber has killed the most deer in the US? Most claim it is the 30-30. Hornady and Winchester say the 30-30 is still their top seller in hunting ammo.

I started out hunting with a 308. Then someone broke into my parents house and stole the 308. I then purchased a 30-06 and used it for 25 years. Decided to buy a 308 again and have used it ever since, finally sold the 06. I liked the big bang of the 06 but the 308 gets the job done. For the game you mentioned the 308 will do it, and so will the 06, you'll have to decide the one you like best.

Are you sure about this, Toxarch? I don't know with surety, but I'd guess the .308 Winchester isn't even in the top ten in world-wide popularity. In addition to the .30-06, there is also quite a following behind the .303, 7x57, 6.5x55, .375 H&H, .470 Nitro, and even .270. My gut feeling is that all the latter rounds, and perhaps others, are more commonly used for sport hunting across the world. And several countries ban current military rounds for hunting use, a policy that would tank the .308, .223, 7.62x39, etc.

But I'm just guessing, as I have no hard data. Maybe you mean .308 CALIBER, which would include the .30-06, .30-30, .300 Weatherby, .300 WinMag, and others as well as the .308 Win?

Dead is Dead , do your part and you are golden with either round.

MO

I read it somewhere a while back, but I've drank since then. Could just be the 7.62 caliber bullet in general, but I thought it was specifically the .308 Win (7.62 NATO). Maybe it was short action only.
Went googling and came across these:
Could just be opinion in this article. This says 308 Win is the the most popular hunting caliber larger than a 6mm in the world:
http://hunting.about.com/od/guns/l/aasttopriflecar.htm
This says the same thing:
http://www.imbmonsterbucks.com/info.php?id=150
This (review of article from American Hunter) says the .308 Win is the most widely used sniper round in the world:
http://www.shtfblog.com/top-ten-best-cartridges-calibers-for-hunting/

If you can handle the recoil, I say go with 7mm Rem Mag or a 300 Win Mag. Either of those shoot very flat and should kill any wild game in North America. The 30-06 and the 7mm Rem Mag have a similar recoil, but the 7mm shoots faster, flatter, and farther. I own two 7 mags. I was with a buddy who shot 2 hogs with one 300 Win Mag bullet at 600 yards.

Thanks for the links Toxarch. I had no idea the .308 Winny was becoming a world favorite. I'm never too old to learn new info!

FYI, for worldwide hunting, I'm partial to the .375 H&H, which I'm taking to Africa tomorrow for three weeks. For a light rifle, my faves are the .30-06, the 7x57, the 7mm RM, and the .300 WM, pretty much in that order. My PH (who has guided 88 elephant kills to date) loves the .300 WM for everything short of DG.

Good luck on the Africa hunt. One day I'll make it there myself.