New Rifle question

[crunch14]

I currently use Federal Premium Nosler Partitions in my Rem. M700 .30-06 for Deer and Elk, and carry a few rounds of .30-06 tracer ammo for grouse in the trees.

I was thinking of getting an AR-10 in .338 federal for Elk with a .308 upper for deer. In the area I hunt Elk the longest shot we'll see is 200-250 yds but mostly 50-130yds, where it seems the .338 Fed excels. But where we hunt Deer shots could be anywhere from 50-400 yards.

I was thinking of getting something new for a couple of reasons... I am more familiar with AR style from my military days. LOTS of reliable/accurate experience in Iraq. The .338 will be harder hitting than the .30-06 and just as accurate at that range

With the .338 was thinking of a fixed 4x scope.

With the .308 it's a bit flatter shooting and I can get steel NATO ammo for birds easier. Was gonna get a NIKON Buckmaster 3-9X scope.

What do y'all think? Any questions, comments or snide remarks are appreciated.

[Springville Shooter]

No snide remarks here, I think that you laid out a great plan. I am a firm believer that you need to find the rifle that you are most comfortable with and that you will have the most confidence in. I will admit that I would never choose this rig, because coming from California and having no military experience, I never held an AR type rifle until I was 34 years old and lived in Utah. I have since added one to my collection and have been working on making friends with it. I still have a long way to go. I do like your choices of caliber though and my only thought is that you might not need both. I think that you could get loads for either the 338 fed, or 308 win that would handle all of your hunting needs. I would choose the 308 because of the wide variety of loads available. The 308 with a stiff 165 or 180 will lay out elk nicely. Choose a 150-165 with a high BC and you can shoot as accurately as your rifle will allow out to as far as you want.----shooter

[crunch14]

Thanks for the input Springville. I've always heard that .308 was a bit on the under powered side for elk? With only 5 days between deer and Elk season, and work, I don't have time to sight in a different bullet for each.

Now I just need to get the $$ for a new rig. Either that or hope my other weapons magically breed . First one will be the .308 AR-10, .338FED upper is later.

[Coloradobuck]

.308 is a great gun for elk and deer thats what i use and it has suverd me well in the past few years. i usually shot a 180 grain bullet it does well

[primal215]

The .308 is a very accurate round and will kill any animal in north America but I would ask you to think twice about hunting with any automatic-looking firearms. If the anti-hunters see that or worse film that then they will think we are out there unloading on the animals and taking careless shots. I'm sure your an ethical hunter but I believe that others will think different and we have to be aware of the political aspects of hunting.
I'm a fan of (in my opinion and many magazine artical) the best all around hunting round for North American big game, the 30-06 if you can only have one. It is also the most used which is good if your 50 or 100 miles from a sporting goods store, theres a good chance that somebody in your camp or another camp can share some bullets if you forget them or dont bring enough