SONS OF THE .308 WINCHESTER

Thinking back to my childhood days in a small town in what was then the Northern Transvaal, there were very few hunters and shooters in town or on surrounding farms that did not own a rifle chambered in .308 Winchester. Almost every one of my father’s acquaintances owned one (usually a Musgrave rifle of sorts). Without fail the reason why the .308 was so popular, was the fact that the army’s commando system was still in place then, and ex-military .308 ammunition meant for use in R1 rifles was reasonably freely available. In most instances, the military had no idea how its ammunition came to be ex-military, it must be said as well, however...

As a cartridge for hunting, the .308 Winchester certainly has much going for it. With heavier bullets in the 165- to 180-grain weight class, it does well in the bushveld and a handloader can boost the velocities of the lighter bullets considerably for a flatter trajectory in more open terrain. Sporting use notwithstanding, the .308 Winchester’s roots are firmly settled in the military.

ENTER THE T-65

Experiments with what eventually became the .308 Winchester commenced in the late 1940s at the US Army’s Frankford Arsenal. The cartridge