.243,6mm,or .257 Roberts?

.243, 6mm and .257 Roberts, while different calibers, are all about the same. You would essentially be buying a ballistic twin of what you already have.

I'd look at 7mm-08, .308 or .338 Federal. All are based on the same parent case as your .243Win, the .308Win. Those all step up to a better choice for Mule Deer or Bear and even elk.

My 15 year old son shoots a .30-06 and he is about the same size as you are. A .30 caliber is a logical next step from the .243Win.
 
Since you already have the .243 it wouldn't make sense to buy another one, or its near twin the 6mm. I would advise to make the jump to a significantly different round. .270, .280, .7-08, .308. I would also suggest a bolt action because it gives you many more caliber choices. I still have a .7-08 and a .280 Rem both are excellent.
 
The .257 Roberts is a wonderful deer rifle, one of my good friends has four of them. He uses it very successfully year in and year out on Mule deer. When it comes to elk he is usually carrying around his .30-06 though. The .243 is a wonderful deer cartridge as well that works equally as well on Mule deer as the Roberts.

Both cartridges will work on game as big as elk as well. However, on game that size I recommend a little bigger bullet diameter and heavier bullets. If I had to choose between the .243 and .257 for elk hunting I'd choose the .257 simply because I can get a 120 grain Nosler Partition vs. the 100 grain in the .243 Win.
 
243 and 6 mm rem are same diameter bullet, cases are diffrent, 6mm gives +/- 200 fps more speed.

Dad had a custom 6 mm rm that was his varmint rig.
I wanted to see what it liked to shoot the best.
It ended up being a 87 v max over a near max listed charge of imr 4064.
(3425 fps) 3/8" 5 shot group at 100 yds.

It took me a while to find some brass to load for it.

Parent case is a 8 mm mauser.

The 243 is far easier to find brass for as the parent case is a 308.

To be able to get the best performance and bullet selection from what you call a odd caliber gun you really need to reload for it.
If you don't reload the common calibers are the way to go.

in 6 mm, I have 243, 6 mm rem, and 6 mm mongoose. I load for all of them.
 
Thanks everybody for the input I'll look into the 308 cause they still make em in the 7600 so they're easier to find and cheaper
 
The 243,6mm, and 257 Roberts have all been successfully used on animals up to elk. They will all handle even a large black bear with appropriate bullet and placement. The 257 Roberts is difficult to find ammo and brass for but you can neck down 7mm Mauser to make 257 cartridges still not the easiest to find. The 243 and 6mm Remington are as close as it gets to identical ballistics with the 6mm having a minor advantage. Since you own the 243 you have the ability to take 90% of the game in the lower 48. The only game I would feel under gunned with are the large bears, grizzly and polar bear.

I have two 257 Roberts rifles and it took a couple of months to find enough brass to reload for it. I fired some factory ammo through them with very poor results in accuracy. I would recommend the 308 for the next gun. Much like the 30-06 ammo can be found everywhere and it is not expensive. The 308 has the same bullet selection as the 30-06 and a lot of factory ammo available with different bullets for different uses. If you are sensitive to recoil the get a heavy 308 and put a good recoil absorbing pad on it. Light weight 308s will kick hard.
 
Absolutely the .243. The 6mm Rem(Remington chambers nothing they make in the 6mm. Not currently chambered in .243 or .257 either.) is difficult to come by and the .257 is expensive. Midway, for example, lists 4 brands of 6mm Rem ammo. Three of 'em are on Backorder or "Not available.". The .257 starts at $31 per 20 and averages $45 to $50 per 20.
Only Hornady brass is listed for 6mm. No$ler or Jamison only for the .257 with the latter on back order.
Neither will likely be found in small places at all. The .243 is everywhere.
"...6mm gives +/- 200 fps more speed..." 100 fps more with like bullet weights. Parent case is the 7mm Mauser. It's 5 thou shorter and has a slightly different shoulder angle.
"...None of those are bear calibers...." Not Griz, but any of 'em will kill a black bear with no fuss.
Your size has nothing whatever to do with anything. Had a 5 foot nothing female Army Cadet who shot circles around most of the biggest guys with either a 12 pound 7.62/.308 FN or a .303 British, No. 4 Lee-Enfield.
 
My next recommendation is that you read the book, "The Hunting Rifle", by Jack O'Connor. Until you seriously take up reloading, stay away from calibers that aren't most readily available at the best prices, as I previously mentioned.
 
Ok,I went around to 3 or 4 gun stores today and none of them had any 257 roberts! Not even just the brass
Click to expand...

That's why everyone says to stay with the "normal" calibers.

308 Winchester is in every gun store in the world.
 
Well, you did say you had a .270 which is more than adequate for game out west, excluding, possibly the Grizzly Bear.
Your .243 is good to go on Mule Deer as well. Just put the bullet in the right place.
I load and shoot the .243, 6MM Rem. and .257 Roberts but basically they're all the same with a slight advantage to a properly hand loaded .257 Bob.
Your thought of upgrading to the .308 is a good one but also consider the 7-08. Recoil is a bit milder than the .308 and the cartridge is accurate. I don't own one but have shot others belonging to friends and if I didn't have three 7x57 Mausers that I handload to 7-08 specs I'd seriously consider buying one. I may yet.
Paul B.
 
Your 243 is about ideal for deer. It is far from ideal, but with good bullet choices is adequate for bear or up to elk size game. Since you already have a 243 and want to stay with the 760/7600 platform I'd move up to 30 caliber in a 2nd rifle. I really like 308 a little better with lighter more compact rifle, but there is no advantage to choosing 308 over 30-06 in that rifle. So with with that criteria in mind I'd be looking for a 30-06. Or if you find a 308 at a good price why not. 30-06 is just a lot more common in those rifles.
 
Maybe the first thing to do is find out what cartridge's the pump you want comes in! Then check on ammo availability in your area. The only 25 cal that's easy to find here is 25-06.

Your going to be limited by the pump action to what to get and I'm not so sure many store's carry pump action CF rifles.
 
Uhhhh, as mentioned already, I wouldn't recommend a 243, 6mm rem or a 257R for bear. LOL, remember a cousin of a gent I shared a deer lease with back in the late 60s. Cousin had driven down to Texas from where he lived in Wisconsin, to hunt our whitetail deer.

He arrived at our lease kinda late at night and brought his gear into our hunting cabin. He sat a box of cartridges on table I was sitting at. It was a big box. Curious, I opened the box and took out a cartridge and stood it upright on the table. Didn't bother to look at the rim to see what it was. I stood a 30-06 and a 308 round next to his. His dwarfed them. I would ask him, just what the heck are you shooting. The cousin, shrugged his shoulders, saying I only hunt bear back home, so all I have is a 375H&H rifle. I kinda laughed, saying yea, that ought to kill one of our whitetail deer.
 
Not in the same caliber range.
I think you can still get Colt Lightning pump reproductions but they are only in pistol calibers marketed to the Cowboy shooters.
 
How many guns you going to buy over the next few years? If many, then you're fine to have a narrower range of capabilities for what you're buying now. If fewer guns, then, you're probably better thinking in terms of buying a caliber that can give you more. Are you going to try handloading? Again, that can expand your range.

As for me, of the three you mentioned, I would probably nix all of them! I would consider a .308 for the pump, and a 7 X 57 or .270 for a bolt action.
 
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