[tahunua001]

and the 308 is not one of them. You have to have >1800 fps remaining at impact. I suggest that most of you need to google for some ballistics charts. Also, boattails bullet shapes tend to have problems holding the bullet together, point forward, for deep penetration in flesh, and plain based bullets lose velocity rather quickly. So do the "non-needlepoint" sort of reliable expanding, deep penetrating big game softpoint.

nobody here is suggesting 1/4 mile kill shots, we are trying to tackle to of the OPs criteria including both hunting and target shooting at 1000 yards. it's hard enough to hit a 4 foot steel plate at 1000 yards without having to worry about hitting a 4x2 deer that's walking around at that distance... it's just not going to happen. kill shots generally happen within 400 yards, for a newb, I'd suggest limiting it to less than 300 yards. I've seen it done with a 30-30 so a 308 can definitely handle it.

A non-expanding bullet can of course EVENTUALLY cause the death of an animal, even with a poor hit, but you are a slob to risk such an inhumane thing! Almost any rifle bullet takes 1/2 second to cover a 'mere" 500 yds, and any animal can take a step in 1/2 second. Presto, you have gut-shot that critter, and it may well travel a mile or more and suffer for an hour or more before it dies.

again you are confusing 2 separate topics of discussion. also in some places like central Idaho, hunting Elk at ranges of 500+ yards is a necessity, nobody does it with a 308 mind you but such is a way of life for many people and yes game gets away, just this fall my little brother got his first elk, a cow with an atrophied shoulder from being hit and escaping the year before. botching shots is a fat of life. eventually it happens happens to everyone especially when dealing with illusive game.

The Garand has long been noted for not handling commercial 06 ammo well. Such rds bend that long operating rod, (or so I have heard, at least). I know for a fact that the M1A tends to take chunks of lead off of the sides of softpoint noses during the feeding stroke. That hurts long range accuracy quite a bit. So you probably will have to use the "gameking" series of big game hp's, from Sierra.

this is for the most part correct however in the case of the M1 garand it has almost nothing to do with soft points, bullet weight or velocity(though a combination of such can be a contributing factor). it has to do with the burn rate of the powder and pressure at the gas port, it's not hard to hand load for the M1 and there are a few varieties of M1 safe hunting ammo if you know where to look.

I don't know why anyone would want to lug around a 12 lb (scoped, bipoded) M1 or M1A just to hunt, tho. The alloy version of the sporting, commercial BAR, (Browning) or the Remington 748,etc, are at least a couple of lbs lighter, if you want fast repeat shots with your hunting rifle (which is a hellva good idea, in my book) And they cost about 1/3rd what an M1A does, too. :-) Just because you have an autoloader does not mean that you should be "spraying lead" in rapidfire, either!

also a good point but judging by your rants of long range hunting earlier it is safe to assume you are still talking about those shots that take half a second to reach the target, a follow up shot, if needed will be made at a target that is now at a full run and it's hard to imagine anyone that can make that shot. fast follow ups are not necessary and I do prefer bolt actions to semis for hunting as the do tend to limit the weight a lot. a good Ruger M77 would serve quite well.