The .308 Winchester is an excellent cartridge. Plenty of power, minimal recoil, and moderate blast / noise. Opinions vary on rifles. I don' t like Ruger at all. Remington, Winchester, and Savage get the nod for me - wit h the Savage being the most accurate. I like the action of the Winchester the best though. I just wish they would make a left handed short action in .308 or 7mm/08 for guys like me.

Be careful with surplus ammo. The 7.62 x 51mm NATO and the .308 Winchester are NOT the same thing. The case dimensions are very very similar but just enough differnt to cause headspace issues in some rifles. The topic has been beat to death on many military surplus rifle forums and pages. Not to mention some of the milsurp ammo can be corrosive, so you best study up on how to deal with corrosive ammo.