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350 m range - .223 or 308?

Which one:

  • .223

    Votes: 19 36.5%

  • .308

    Votes: 24 46.2%

  • Non, buy 7,62x54r Tigr

    Votes: 3 5.8%

  • Other..

    Votes: 6 11.5%
  • Total voters
    52
  • Poll closed .
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B

Bohemus

Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
439
Location
Mater Urbium, Bohemia
A new 350 m range was opened relatively close to my home so I am tempted to use it as much as possible. 350 m is roughly 383 yards.
Its obvious that my favourite 50-150m plinker, and the only "rifle" i own - vz.58, is rather ineffective at such range.
And the question now is - what should i get?
Iam settled at some kind or 20" AR clone either US or local made but iam not sure about whether i want .223 or .308. I can buy surplus ammo for allmost same price but which is better - more consistent and resistant to e.g. gust at this range? Or is it such a short range that 55 grain bullet wont make any difference and its not worth the .308 recoil?
 
223 is more than adequate at 350 yards, actually at least double that. If you were buying to shoot farther or to hunt with a 308 starts making sense. For the same money you will get a lot more rifle and ammo staying with 223.
 
Do you plan on doing anything else with the rifle you would purchase? That information would help greatly in allowing people (yourself included) to make a decision.
 
Your vz58 will hit within a torso size target easily at 350m. If you want an AR I would go with .223/5.56. AR10s are generally much more expensive and(in my opinion) to bulky.
 
You can certainly get hits on a steel plate 10" or so in diameter with a 16 inch 223 carbine, but if you want bullseye precision you want a good optic and a free floated barrel in either caliber.
 
7.62x51mm will hit far harder at 350 yards. Both will punch paper just fine.

But, since this is THR, you must buy both.
 
223 if you are punching paper within 600 yards. Any further out or if you plan to hunt deer etc then I say go 308.

If you go ar15 then it might be able to double as a defensive rifle as well, probably better than an ar10 since they are are often a bit cumbersome.

223 makes a fine target rifle at that range. My 18 inch bolt will put fist sized groups on steel at 500 yards very consistently with hand loads.
 
I guess I'm the only 7.62x54R vote. :)

Heck, any of the 3 would be fine at 350 yards. I reload for 7.62x54R and have a couple of guns that will do really well out to 400 yards on steel and stuff like that. Surplus is a little less accurate.

but, as tomrkba said, this is THR.... buy both. :)

223 is going to be cheaper and will kill paper with anything else at that range.

Matt
 
.223 will be more available at better pricing, both rifle and ammo. it's plenty for that range and will actually teach you to be more of a rifleman and read wind better.
 
I consistently shoot at a 6" steel railroad plate at my parents farm with a Remington .223 (55 grain) without problems. I recommend very good optics. No point in shooting if you can't see your target.
 
Like already mentioned, since this is THR, you must buy both :) However if funds are insufficient for two guns, get a .308 if you plan on getting into anything more then paper punching or want to shoot farther than that and have better accuracy. A 223 is still pretty accurate at extended ranges, but is much more affected by factors that affect bullet flight and has a lot less power
 
either one will do 350 well.

the 308 however will do it and then some.

as has been stated before by Nom de Forum...get you a swappable unit perhaps?
 
If you are limiting yourself to surplus ammo, either will ring a plate, and neither will be very precise. If you are talking about making the smallest groups possible, either caliber with good loads will be on pretty even ground at that range.
To me, its a toss-up with the nudge going to the 5.56 for availability of accessories and parts.
 
Why not just buy one those new Colt's that can be switched back and forth from 5.56 and 7.62
Click to expand...

I concur with this. Get the Colt901 which is both 223 and 308 in one package.

If your budget is limited, then just get a 223/5.56 rifle with a longer barrel i.e. 20".

If you have money to burn and plan to shoot farther than 350m in the future, then 308.

For the purposes of the Poll, I voted 308 since it has more potential for longer range
 
I apologize, I answered the poll before reading the OP's post. When longer ranges are considered I answered thinking of the .308's advantages in terms of long range ballistics.

As a matter of fact, jmr40 is correct, and you are not asking the bullet to do much when it gets there. For your purposes, I will change my vote to .223.
 
.223/5.56. 350m is no problem for the caliber, ammo is cheaper, and every freedom loving American needs at least 1 AR-15! Wolverines!!!
 
The ability of your chosen rifle to mount an optic and hold zero is much more important than choice of caliber at this distance, IMO.

.223 will probably be more pleasant to shoot from a bench.
 
Sorry, I should have explained my situation better.
I can get Remington R15 and R25 for more or less same price, Czech made LA-15 (20" .223) for bit less. I can get brass cased 7,62x51 ammo for bit better price than 55gr. .223. When it comes to reloading e.g. 77gr .223 bullet (just the projectile) costs the same as forementioned surplus .308 -$0.39.
Ive tried the ammo in G3 at 150m with good results.

Colt rifles are unavailable, Bushmaster and DPMS are more common, LUVO is made locally.

Point of the rifle is long(er) range plinking. No benchrest but i would like to hit soda bottle at the distance. No hunting, thats quite time and money consuming activity here. At the same time one can never rule out (im)possible SHTF scenario and then .308 is better. :-D
On the other hand .223 will be more fun to shoot.
 
Heh, didn't look at the OPs location. The "wolverines" used AKs anyway :eek: I guess .308 then since you'll be shooting surplus ammo and it costs less, that definitely isn't the case here in the US. That said, the rifle becomes very important, what are your local .308 semi-auto options and how reliable are they? Can you mail-order AR parts?

Reliably hitting a soda bottle @ 350 will require high quality (if not match) ammo or hand loading anyway. If the surplus ammo is 2.5 MOA which would be pretty good, then your group @ 350 would be ~9" so a hit on the soda bottle is luck within the 9" dispersion.

What about other .308s, FAL? S&W also has a very reasonably priced .308 AR also if you can get it there.
 
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