7.62x39 vs 308: Which Is the Best 30-Caliber for You?
 

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When it comes to the scholarly debate about the iconic rifle cartridges of the Cold War, the 7.62x51mm NATO (308 Winchester) and the 7.62x39 Soviet are always omnipresent in the discussion. One became a staple NATO round and the most prevalent big game hunting cartridge in North America, while the other became a symbol of pure, unadulterated ruggedness and dependability.

Both are excellent cartridges and will serve you faithfully, but which is the better choice will depend mostly on your intended purpose.

The 7.62x39 is a Russian designed cartridge that is most famously chambered in the AK-47. Having seen conflict on multiple continents, the 7.62x39 has cemented its legacy as one of the most innovative intermediate rifle cartridges of the 20th century. It is extremely popular today in the AK-47 and SKS platforms and has seen some integration into the AR-15 as well. Hunting with 7.62x39 has become more popular as well since the terminal ballistics of the round are similar to that of the 30-30.

The 308 Winchester is America's 30-caliber cartridge. Developed after the Korean War, the 308 Win draws its lineage from the 30-06 Springfield that carried us through two World Wars and Korea. Although the 308 Winchester closely mimics the ballistics of the 30-06, it was quickly discovered that the 308 was too big for a frontline battle cartridge and was eventually replaced by the 223 Remington/5.56 NATO. However, the 308 still remains one of the quintessential long range cartridges and has won multiple shooting matches and is one of the most versatile hunting cartridges available on the market today.

308 wins hands down. Longer case means more powder. More powder means more velocity and down range punch. If you are only hunting deer at a max range of 150 yards it probably doesnt matter. But get out to 250 to 300 yards snd it will.

This is spam for a pod cast that the guys know nothing.

It’s quite unfortunate that this can be a thing in our modern era.

But hey, if they’re willing to run ignorantly into the street, they have to accept when we run them over like a school bus for being so clueless.

the cartridges design parameters differ simply because the way each was intender to be used differs,
the 308 win cartridge was designed to be used in a full size battle rifle (M14) with the idea precise rapid accurate semi auto shots would be made at longer ranges,
each individual combatant was expected to pick out and engage individual targets rapidly and eliminate the threat,
basically an improved and upgraded M1 GARAND with a detachable 20 cartridge capacity battle rifle with the option to be used with full automatic fire capability, but it takes considerable practice to fire short accurate bursts and maintain hits past 75-100 yards.
shortly after WWII, the concept of each man is intended to be a skilled rifleman, was still the predominate US ARMY/MARINE concept.

the 7.62/39 was a totally different concept from its inception, from the onset the soviet idea was to equip large basically marginally trained personnel with a weapon designed to provide full auto suppressive fire ,with reduced recoil, and targets past about 350 yards were not really of concern,
and a weapon that could be handed out to people who might be far less inclined to provide routine maintenance at regular intervals.
they liked the concepted they saw in the nazi STG44, and respected its capability
soviet doctrine assumed most fire fights would be in areas like cities or places where shots past 350 yards would be handled with machine guns like the PK,RPD, or RPK, all larger machineguns chambered in 7.62×54mmR or artillery or tanks would be used to engage the threats. remember soviets equipped whole battalion's with the PPSH 41 pistol caliber carbines in WWII,
the soviets designed individual combatants weapons to provide a concentrated hail of projectiles but most of the combatants were not expected to be snipers, who are trained to provide longer range accurate fire,
thus masses of durable carbines with high mag capacity , necessitating a lower recoil cartridge with a bit less range to reduce recoil was designed.