This will reduce the size and weight of the ammo, make it easier to design machine guns and rifle actions around it, and still retain .30/'06-like ballistic performance." So they did, and the result was the 7.62X51mm NATO (AKA .308 Winchester). The fact that Savage had already done essentially the same thing a quarter-century earlier (the .300 Savage, a nearly identical cartridge), seemed to go unnoticed.
Or even the 7.65x53 mauser which was being made by them wiley Germans about 60 years before the .308
[quote][ I'm hard pressed to think of any situation where the 308 is BETTER? /quote]
The .308 really outshines the '06 for accuracy in M1 Garand match rifles or high end custom bolt actions, but in a mass produced remchester with their crappy hammer forged barrel and with chambers cut by highly trained monkeys, you'll never realize a difference.