243 vs 260 for hunting?

.260 all the way

"Why do you think .264 bullets under 160 grain hard to find?"

That is what I thought. I've never had problems finding 6.5mm bullets.


"...and run close to $50.00 or more per box."

Again, what? Not sure where you are looking for/buying bullets but it is NOT where I do. Not much difference between same quality 6.5mm bullets and others of about the same size.

Even loaded ammo for the .260 has become much easier to find and, for the same quality bullets, just slightly more expensive...


"I was talking about factory ammo."

I have found .260R ammo, using the same quality bullets to be only slightly more expensive than the .243W. Ammo I have found is FAR LESS than $50.00 per box total let alone $50.00 more!:eek:

T.
 
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I was talking about factory ammo. North of Atlanta very few boxes on the shelves and pricey. Bullets to reload are inexpensive and can be found most anywhere.
 
I have extensive experience with both. Which will recoil harder will all depend on what weight bullets you want to shoot in each. Back in the days of poor bullet construction, I felt the 6mm was marginal for Whitetail. With today's bullets, the .243 Win. is now ideal for Whitetail.
 
Lot of great info given here fellas. I appreciate that. After doing some research for on cost for the 260 reloading components, I am currently leaning toward the 243 since I already have the dies, brass, and bullets. Apparently 260 brass is more expensive and not a large selection of die choices either.
 
I own two firearms in 243 and think its the bee's knees for whitetails.
The 260 has the edge in long range ballistics, and slightly longer barrel life.

I'd be happy with either.
 
If you're not hunting anything larger than deer a 243 is near perfect. If there is a chance of game larger than deer in your future the 260 would be more versatile. Personally I don't think recoil would be enough to matter between the 2. Both are very mild.

You'll find much more 243 ammo on dealers shelves so that is a factor that cannot be ignored.
 
It's here already, just can't hunt them. It will be a long time before they will allow hunting I expect, and only a very small number of tags.
 
I load and shoot both 243 and 260. The biggest difference is the 6.5mm/264 bullets in 140 gr are among the best for long range shooting. Recoil difference between a 243 95gr and a 260 120gr will be noticeable but just barely. As several other posts have mentioned, with modern bullets the lighter calibers like 243 are quite capable of taking down deer reliably as long as you select a bullet suited for the application. Of course that advice applies no matter what caliber you are shooting or what game/target you are shooting at. And the skill of the marksman trumps caliber and bullet choice in nearly all cases.
 
.243 is the answer, if you want to avoid recoil and extra expense.


But... I wouldn't be buying the Tikka, if I had any thoughts of shooting 'heavy' bullets (for me, that's anything over 95 gr).
In that case, I'd find a rifle with a faster twist barrel. Ruger and Remington come immediately to mind.





(It would be a Ruger, for me - I dislike Remington as a company. ;))
 
FrankenMauser said:
.243 is the answer, if you want to avoid recoil and extra expense.





But... I wouldn't be buying the Tikka, if I had any thoughts of shooting 'heavy' bullets (for me, that's anything over 95 gr).

In that case, I'd find a rifle with a faster twist barrel. Ruger and Remington come immediately to mind.











(It would be a Ruger, for me - I dislike Remington as a company. ;))
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Yeah, 95gr would be the heaviest bullet I'd be shooting. If I needed a bigger bullet, I'd just jump up to my 270.
 
If recoil is the biggest factor you should at least consider a semi auto to tame it. You can get a BAR in many assorted calibers that won't recoil more than a 243 bolt action. I fired a friend's BLR once in 30-06 and was amazed how much less the recoil was compared to my bolt action 30-06.

You can get an AR (please, not another nomenclature war, just for lack of a better term) in any of the 308 family which includes 243 and 260. I am haunted by an Armalite 243 I once saw in a gun store with OD green furniture.

I have a SCAR 308 that is reasonably lightweight and gets sub MOA with many loads. If I could change one thing about it I'd make it a 260 or 6.5 Creedmore.
 
I am honestly shocked that so many of you consider the 243 to be equal or better than the 260 for hunting. The only advantage the 243 has is ammo availability in out of the way places.

For the last couple of years, I have used the 100 gr Nosler BT in my 260, at a velocity of just over 3000fps. That's about the same as a 100 gr bullet in the 243. And, I have finally come to the firm conclusion that the 100 gr bullet is on the low side of adequate, particularly when compared to the 120 gr bullet that I shot in the 260 in the first couple of years.

Yes, the 243 will work Ok. It will not, on it's best day, be equal to or better than the 260.

That said, shoot what you want. I do.
 
For the last couple of years, I have used the 100 gr Nosler BT in my 260, at a velocity of just over 3000fps. That's about the same as a 100 gr bullet in the 243. And, I have finally come to the firm conclusion that the 100 gr bullet is on the low side of adequate, particularly when compared to the 120 gr bullet that I shot in the 260 in the first couple of years.
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That's interesting, would you mind sharing the details of your experiences? I've always been of the mind that a Nosler partition was a game changer bullet. Roy Weatherby knew and used this in his high velocity ammo for decades.

But I see you did not say Nosler partition, you said Nosler boattail. If you haven't tried Nosler partitions you should. My dad used them to very good effect in a Sako 257 Weatherby magnum rifle long ago.
 
Right there is the difference. Every time someone says one bullet is equal to another, the "Try an expensive bullet that will make the caliber equal" comes out. Either one will kill deer easily, and I have killed deer with both. The fact that you can shoot 160 grain bullets in a .260 pretty much leaves the .243 in the dust if you want to step up a little.
 
.260 Remington. If you don't reload, start. Just get an inexpensive single stage press. More flexibility, better ballistics, and powerful enough for any game in North America. It is basically a modernized 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser made for a short action as its based on the .308 case.
 
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