ORIGINAL: James B
The geat thing about the 308 is that most of them shoot great right from the box. No fancy frills or expensive options needed. My Browning A-Bolt shoots 1/2 inch from the box with Corlokts or almost anything else I have shot in it. This may not be a typical from the box rifle buts its close to a typical 308. Its never shot anything at more than one inch MOA. Thats not Bench rest accuaracy but its darn sure hunting rifle accuracy. I have never even tried working on a accuracy load for this one. Just shoot it and enjoy it. The only trouble is, its an A-Bolt synthetic light weight Stalker and it delivers plenty of punch ON BOTH ends.[:@]
This one has had the trigger done by a friend who does wonders with Browning triggers and he has it set at about one lb. Its really lighter than I wanted in a cold climate like ND. With any kind of gloves, I never feel the trigger until it goes bang. This is the best shooting rifle that I currently own. It will shoot 1/2 inch or better 3 shot groups every time out. I can bank on that.
Yes you are correct about no fancy things needed. Keep in mind, I compete with it and use if for a "ranch rifle." If you take an out of the box rifle to a match and shoot 60 rounds out of it in a hour and a half or so, your barrel harmonics are going to be messed up and your accuracy will decrease with each shot.
Without at least a 3/4 inch barrel, with bedding, you won't be able to do long distance competition.
Since that is not the predominant question here, James is right....an out of the box .308 (remington is my preference) is a great all around hunting rifle.
best of luck