Reasoning for a 308 rifle

Gotcha! Thanks for the wisdom gentlemen. Have a great New Year. I'll post up pics and range report once rifle is assembled.

Please do. I'm a big Howa fan. I have two nearly identical heavy barrel setups, in 308 and 223, and my first CF hunting rifle was also a Howa 1500 stainless sporter in 30-06. That one shot awesome once I tossed the cheap plastic stock and bedded it to a Bell & Carlson fiberglass stock