Blasphemy!

It won't do what an ought six will do, it wont do what a Win Mag will do, but it'll do a hell of a lot more than a thirty thirty will do. It has a niche and always will.

308 is an excellent caliber but that particular setup is not really an all around gun like you stated. More of a bench setup. If it's a good deal as far as trade then I would jump on it. If you don't like it flip it and get more of a sporter setup. standard stock and standard barrel. That would be a better choice for wife and kiddos in my opinion. I have a 243 win with the heavy varmint barrel and I hate that thing. Too heavy and cumbersome to me and doesn't shoot any tighter groups than my 243 with standard barrel.

I'd remove the brake if possible and put a better recoil pad on if it isn't a good one. Then use one of the managed recoil loads that are available.

Here's one from Hornady. http://www.hornady.com/store/308-Win-125-gr-SST-Custom-Lite/

Whats the niche? slow and steady wins the race?

Yep, that is EXACTLY the .308 niche. It does an excellent job at taking medium to large game (whitetail to moose) at average distances without any muss or fuss.

About 3-4 weeks ago I screwed on my custom Bartlein 308 Win switch barrel to my Surgeon I have had for years when I first build my rifle. It has only been screwed on 1 other time for some load work up with my 308 ammo. In the last 3 weeks, I have put over 400 rounds down this barrel with my 168 A-max load. I've been plinking with it for fun, and having a blast with it. I've gone out to Jason's place twice with this rifle to shoot out to 800 yards with the 168 A-max with two separate friends shooting long range. It is the most fun I have had shooting in the last couple of years. The 308 is a great round. I go through stages, and right now I'm in the keep it simple stage of shooting. And a 308 is a great, simple round to shoot to have fun and practice with. Sure, there are other 6.5mm and 7mm rounds that shoot flatter and have less wind drift. But, a 308 is a 308. It will always be around. If you want to learn how to shoot long range, it is a great round as a teacher. It will teach you drop and wind drift. I will most likely keep this barrel screwed on for hunting season to use for laying prone on a ridge top to cover a large open area at our deer lease. My other barrel for this rifle is a 6.5x47, and it is the most accurate round I have ever fired.

As Chad just posted it is probably "The" cartridge to learn to shoot precision with. It will give you no forgiveness on a bad wind call or not factoring in DA and temp ouside 500 yards. But since it doesn't recoil too bad you can see where the bullet landed. It's still a killer, too. The best feature of a 308 Win is that I know of nothing else that has a longer barrel life. Don't even go into the discussion that that doesn't matter. I've cooked two barrels out of two different cartridges. Barrel cost and waiting on a smith is necessary but not pleasant. There's volumes of data to shoot and load for a 308. Hand me just about any 308 and it wont take much testing and I can make it shoot very consistently.

I don't have a 308 Win rifle in service right now but I do still keep a barrel I can switch to. If a guy wanted a centerfire to hunt inside 500 as well as a rifle to just plain shoot as much as he wanted to I know of no better cartridge. (back to the barrel life point) If a guy wants performance in a short action there are many better options than a 308, but you may HAVE to hand load and you will have a shorter barrel life in the other ones.

I did see Chad hit my 1 MOA steel at 600 and 700 yards repeatedly. That's small shooting for such a POS cartridge.

Sounds like you rediscovered an old friend, Chad!!

For younger kids (who would outgrow a small rifle in a few years), take a look at the managed recoil Core-Lokt. I had to order them online. They are quite effective for shorter ranges.

I believe that the 308 win is an outstanding caliber for your needs. As far as having a brake on a 308, I think thats uncalled for so I would have to weight that option carefully. I like a 20" barrel on the 308, seems to be plenty for my needs out to about 350-400 yards as I seldom will take a shot further than that.

I shot over 120 rounds of full power 308 with 168 A-max at 2760 fps in about 2 hours before I put my brake on the rifle. My rifle is about 14#. I'm no wuss when it comes to recoil, but my shoulder felt like it went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson when I was done. But, my main reason for the brake was seeing my impacts. Without the brake, the rifle kicks up and moves to the left and takes me off target. I've tried to keep it on target, but it is a challenge. Now with the brake installed, I can watch my impacts (or misses) on target at any distance, even at 200 yards on steel. No way I could do that without the brake.

I'm all about that brake, bout that brake,...

Best rifle I ever had was a .308, 20" with no brake I think about that thing every time I miss a pig wishing I still had it

^^^^ That's not that M1A, is it?

Lol no way! That was my H-S precision pro series HTR it was scary accurate once I found the correct load..

.308 haters are crazy!

Ok, good! B/c I was going to make an offer on your M1A if it was! I've never seen one shoot that good!

I've gone simple on my shooting lately. I've been shooting a lot of my 308 with 168.

no recoil

Hahahaha!

Holy hell you two...

Good shooting killer and that is a hella nice 308.

308 is all we hunt with...none better...way more manageable than 243 or similar loads

I have a host of 308s my long range tac-t-cool is a McMillian g30 set up right now with a vortex razor. Good gun...I also have a ruger gunsite scout with a AAC SDN-6 hanging off the end, set up with a n550 pulsar digisite-for some night piggie hunting, my last one is a barrel for my Sauer 202, is is my other go to whitetail rifle now. I cut it to 17 inches and threaded it, I use SDN-6 on it too..works like a charm. Yep the 308 is the round, does everything pretty good, and nothing really foul.

Ed