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EDITORIALFebruary 2020 G&A 13The .308 Winchester is still a winner.DEER HUNTERAS A YOUNG MAN, I met disappoint after watching the1978 war drama “The Deer Hunter,” starring Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken and John Savage. I enthusiasticallypicked up a copy on VHS after mining through a discountbin of used video tapes. I flipped over the box to read thesummary and was impressed by the picture of De Niro carryinga Remington 700 BDL —a left-hand model mind you.Filled with intrigue, I thoughtI had spent my hard-earneddollars on an AcademyAward-winning film about anepic whitetail adventure. Oh,how wrong was I.I’m often distracted fromthe tried-and-true whiletesting new introductionssuch as rifles chamberedin 6.5 Creedmoor and.300 PRC, but I’ve foundmy way back to the .308Winchester. It’s a versatilecartridge whose case hasbeen used as the parentfor the .243 Winchester, 7mm-08 Remington, .260 Rem.,6.5 Creedmoor and .338 Federal, among others. After35 years of shooting, my conclusion is if you could onlyown rifles in one caliber, a strong argument can bemade for the .308 given modern bullet technology.I’m on a lifelong quest to try and take a deer inall 50 states, a Grand Slam I invented for myself.As I continued this pursuit in Kansas last fall, I wasreminded why I love the .308.Last year, I hunted a lot with a selection of newSavage rifles, including a 110 Lightweight Stormtopped with a Bushnell Nitro 3-12x44mm. Thestainless action and adjustable stock are imperviousto weather, affordable and as versatile as the .308. InKansas, I hiked across a cut, slushy corn field to mystand at the corner and toughed out a bone-chillingdrop in temperature for three days. One morning,before the sun crested the trees, I sawantlers begin to creep out. Ididn’t trust my eyes and pulledup a pair of binos to accuratelyERIC R. POOLE@GUNSANDAMMOMAGidentify the buck. I started counting to myself, one, two,four, six, eight … until I couldn’t believe I was still tryingto count his points. He was a shooter. I thought to myself,You’re wasting time! He is not going to stand there forever!With his head turned away, I quickly picked up the Savage,zoomed up to 6X and shot a 165-grain Barnes TSX (loadedby Federal Premium) intohis shoulder — or so Ithought. It sounded like agood thwack, but he turnedand dove behind a tall pinetree. In that same moment,a group of deer took offup and over a hill into thetrees. I imagined my buckwas among them. Seedsof doubt around my shotgrew. Did I get him?Minutes later, I washorrified to only find a smalldrop of blood where he’dbeen hit. For more thanan hour, the outfitter and Ihiked and retraced each setof tracks until we couldn’t. Deciding to take a break andleave to fetch another searcher, we caught a whiff of thebuck’s scent and saw him piled up in a thorn bush justunder a pine tree. He had been just a few feet fromwhere was shot. Relief and excitement ensued.He was a non-typical eight with a drop tine and atotal of 16 measurable points — plus trash. It’s themost character I’ve ever found in a deer, especiallyone taken by a single shot. This hunt serves to remindme that the .308Winchester isstill a capablecartridge, especiallynow withimproved bullettechnology. Theadventure containedall of theFEDERAL PREMIUM BARNES 165-GR. TSX, 20 CT.: $30drama I had hoped to watch in“The Deer Hunter,” one worthyof an award.