Help! Talk me out of getting into .308!

[Jcann]

I prefer options! Been a .30 cal shooter since 1982 on deer. 6.5CM since winning a bolt gun last year at a DU banquet. Both drop a deer equally. Light and fast is my mantra. The 108 grain Lapua Scenar in the CM bullet took down a near B&C buck this deer season.
Prints nicely on paper too at close ranges. Have yet to take it past 300 though.
The AR-15 platform in .243WSSM will always be my go-to rifle though.

What is the twist on your 243WSSM, 1:8?

 

[Rickt300]

Shouldn't be a "maybe" there. Unless you're loading those .264 bullets backwards, that cartridge should out class the .308 everywhere past 500 yards...

...except for 'manliness'.






P.S. I once had a .260 too. My reason for leaving was Remington only brass at the time, and there was no .243 Lapua brass available anywhere. I was quickly handicapped and lost interest.

Whoever set up the machinery at Remington for making those cases must have been working part-time to save up for a cataracts surgery. About 20% of those cases were junk right off the bat due to misaligned flash holes. Not good when you buy 500 of them.

There is plenty of 308 Lapua brass available, yes Remington brass has reached the bottom for me. Starline is pretty good as is Sig.

 

[Fade2blue]

Anyone shoot criterion hybrid barrels? It looks like they have the lightest mid range barrels next to Faxon and Ballistic Advantage

 

[diggler1833]

Anyone shoot criterion hybrid barrels? It looks like they have the lightest mid range barrels next to Faxon and Ballistic Advantage

Not a hybrid, but have one Criterion barrel.

I could not get my rifle to cycle light ammo, and it never locked back on an empty magazine. Springs, buffers, gas blocks, and reassembling the upper three times and still no luck.

My 18", .308 barrel with rifle length gas had a .068 gas port when I measured it. Checking the interwebs, that seemed about .025 small. I called Criterion and was politely told that I was wrong...yet I still couldn't get the gun to cycle. They did tell me my buffers weren't heavy enough.

Finally on another forum, the owner of AR Performance messaged me directly and told me that I should have a .093 gas port, and walked me through how to open mine up since I have a drill press...really pretty simple operation as long as you're careful.

Rifle has never had a hiccup since.

I bought my last Criterion barrel ever.

The good news is that I got pretty proficient at disasseming and reassembling an AR upper.