It's a chambering that will allow the shooter to fire upwards of 5,000 rounds before needing rechambering for competitive matches at 800 to 1000 yards and many more than that for MOA accuracy at shorter ranges (600 yards or so).
There's no end to the supply of loaded ammo or components easily picked up for free (cases) or at reasonable prices.
It's easy to load for and there's always store bought match ammo that's adequate for most shooters.
F T/R class has quite a following and these shooters are mostly 308 Win with some 223 shooters.
It has NO problem getting to 1000 yards with a bullet of decent characteristics (BC .496 or so and about 2600 fps at the muzzle) and has minimal recoil in a match type rifle (fun to shoot).
It's great to learn on, there are tons of shooters familiar with it and you really can't go wrong buying one for beginning competition. (If you shoot F T/R you can shoot the same rifle you hunt with, scope and all!)
