308 vs 260 vs 243

I'm not one to help select a caliber. I just say buy one of each. Fudge it!

Do yourself a favor, if you want to plink/ target and will be shooting round after round, do not get a thin/ factory barrel anything. If it's only for hunting than no big deal. But you mention long range shooting which to me means more than one or two successive shots. Hot thin factory barrels are the detrimental.

.243 not first choice for a grand but I have done it with mine. I have no experience with a .260. Own a bunch of .308's but you don't need one since you have an 06.

Maybe research the .25-06?
 
Fourbour... I was the original poster. Was just curious why your buds switched to 243 instead of the other choices or away from the 260/25.05/7mm/6.5
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They wanted a lighter guns and both got the compac stainless model Ruger American in 243 and then ordered longer LOP stock. I heard the 243 was more fun. Lighter. Less noise. Maybe less noise, but; I don't believe that. We all, have early Model 7 with 18" blue steel barrels. I dont know if there is much weight difference either. I am keeping my 7mm and maybe they just needed an excuse to buy new guns or wanted to try stainless and plastic? Turns out the 243 does work.
 
There are no decent 25 caliber bullets available, at least compared to 6mm, 6.5mm and 7mm. While the 25-06 looks decent at the muzzle even a 243 out performs it beyond 200-250 yards because of the better bullets. Don't take my word for it, do your own research. With the best loads a 25-06 will shoot 115 gr bullet at the same speed as 243 will shoot 105's. Out to about 200 yards 25-06 has a slight edge, but the much better aerodynamics of the 243 bullets have more energy and less drop beyond about 200-250 yards. No game animal will ever notice .014" of bullet diameter.

Any of the 6.5's or 260 would be a great all around choice for longer range shooting and for hunting game up to elk size.

I own and really like my 308's. I have too much history with them to part with one, but if I were starting today a 6.5 Creedmoor might just take it's place. I may still add one. My brother has one and the caliber is calling my name.
 
6.5x55 Mauser.

Ever consider the 6.5 Swedish Mauser?

Soft kicking,accurate, and good enough to take down a moose.

Eh is my favorite middle power rifle cartridge.
 
take a look at the hornady 5TH edition and you will see that the 25-06 will shoot a 117gr BTSP at 3100fps and at 500yards it has 1984 fps with 1023 fpe. zeroed at 200yd, 300yd-6.5", 400yd-19", 500yd-38.8". if you want check the.257 90gr-100gr serria BTHP at 3400fps and compare that with the .243 with 100gr-105gr at 3000 fps and you will see the .243 doesn,t out shine the 25-06. eastbank.
 
6.5mm rounds are my favorite. .260 Remington, or 6.5x55 would be my choices. I reload, so it is a no brainer.
 
I've been a big fan of the .243 for many years. For a time, this cartridge was condemned for producing weak blood trails. But the advent of Premium bullets has solved this penetration concern. FEDERAL Fusion ammo is an affordable Premium ammo that has worked very well for me.

You can tame your 30-06 with Managed Recoil ammo by Remington or Hornady. Both feature reduced recoil but with lethal deer killing results.

Jack
 
The three caliber choices you have all have one thing in common...the 308 casing. You can reload 243 AND 260 using 308 brass, which we already know is everywhere. So if you don't already reload, that should be your first purchase.

The 243 and 260 would both be excellent choices. I favor the 243, but I don't shoot a high volume of rounds and I don't shoot past 300-400 yards all that often. 243 will be harder on barrels, with estimates of 1500-2000 rounds before a barrel gets to be "worn" for precision shooting. But if minute of pie plate is acceptable accuracy for you, then 4000-5000 round barrel life expectancy.

The 260 will be easier on barrels and will have a slightly better ballistic coefficient than the 243. It will buck the wind a little better as well. It would make an excellent 1000 yard rifle. But buying or finding factory 260 brass will be hard/expensive, so making your own from 308 brass would pretty much be required if you want to volume shoot your 260. But if you're talking about shooting out to 1000 yards, you should really be into reloading anyway.

The 243, 260, and 308 are all short action calibers, which I prefer over the long action bolt throw as well as the problems I always run into with scopes on long actions. The long action sets your rings farther apart. Put your scope tube in the rings and you find that because they are so far apart, you don't get much room to move the scope forward or backward to fit your preferences. I don't like long action anything, especially when nowadays you can find a short action caliber with just about identical ballistics.

These are just my thoughts and my opinions based on my years of shooting and experiences.
 
I have all three, .308Win, .260Rem and .243Win and also the .223 and .30-06 bookends.

I am partial to the .243Win as it is more versatile for varmints and paper and you can get a flatter trajectory and more speed (wind calls)...BUT, at least as of today, there is only 1 true target load and it is $2/round. Then again, there are only a few rifles that have a twist capable of utilizing the 105/107/115 loads where it really shines. So, much as I like it, when paper is in the mix and reloading is not on the table, cross out the .243Win. People balk about barrel life, and if you hot rod it, yes, 1500 rounds. If you are reasonable and don't use the speed unless you need it, you can easily get 5-6K out of a .243 barrel, but then again, better suited to reloading.

The .260 is a great cartridge and it goes up and down in popularity. Ammo is readily available for both hunting and match grade at reasonable costs. In fact there are more loads available for the .260Rem than the 6.5CM. I have shot matches with targets out to 1200 yards with it and game out to 700. Of the three, this would be my recomendation based on your criteria.

The .308Win, IMHO is too close to the .30-06 bookend and the recoil is higher defeating a few of your stated desires. It is more expensive to shoot, especially with match grade ammo. I would not even consider it. My boys shoot an Encore in .308 for Elk, but the older one now uses a .30-06 and a .243Win, so will the younger in a few years.

I would not suggest the .30-06 based cartridges as the weight goes up and no need for it. I would also stay away from the 6.5x55 and the 7mm-08 for the ammo availability. If you reloaded, they could be in the mix.

Much as it pains me to suggest a cartridge I do not own, the 6.5CM is likely your best bet. When Ruger chambered it in several of their rifles they gave the 6.5CM a huge boost. You can get really good hunting and match ammo for it without reloading. It is very similar to the .260Rem and was actually designed to work better in gas guns than the .260, but it has a solid foothold with bolt guns as well. There are some new loads coming out in 2017, and I would bet a few more guns chambered in it. Based on your criteria, the 6.5CM is the best choice to fill in your gap between the .223 and .30-06.

IF you decided to reload (you should) then you could really dissect all the nuances of the 6mm and 6.5mm cartridges and pick the rifle and cartridge that you think is the best for you.
 
MarkCO

What if the gun was mainly used for hunting medium sized game (smaller than deer) and once in a blue moon shot paper? Would you stay partial to the 243?
 
Anyone have any suggestions on what reloading kit to purchase? It seems like reloading is the way to go. If I'm mainly a hunter and target shoot once every couple months is reloading worth it?
 
What if the gun was mainly used for hunting medium sized game (smaller than deer) and once in a blue moon shot paper? Would you stay partial to the 243?
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Most definitely. I shoot more .243 than any other caliber except .223, and I shoot a lot.

Anyone have any suggestions on what reloading kit to purchase?
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Yes, it is worth it even if you only shoot 100 rounds a year. Less than that, maybe not. There are a lot of ways to go with reloading, but less than 3 or 4 K rifle rounds, a single stage set up is the way to go. While Dillon is NEVER a wrong answer, they don't make a single stage and they do cost a bit more.

I have a RockChucker and Dillon, but if I was going to suggest a kit for someone, it would certainly include a digital scale, reloading manual and an adjustable powder measure.

This one is the best, all in one kit on the market right now, at least IMHO: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/749997/hornady-lock-n-load-classic-single-stage-press-kit

Not saying get it from Midway, just used the Midway link so you can see price and reviews. If you order from Hornady direct, you get 500 free bullets, but it is like $80 more.
 
Outdoorsmin said:
Anyone have any suggestions on what reloading kit to purchase? It seems like reloading is the way to go. If I'm mainly a hunter and target shoot once every couple months is reloading worth it?
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Check out the reloading sections on this forum and other pulsar gun forums.

I would say don't buy a "kit". If you get knee-deep in it you'll probably end up replacing everything in the kit except the press.

For a single-stage press either a Rock Chucker or Lee Classic Cast will work great. If you have deep pockets and want the best, a Forster Co-Ax is tough to beat.

Buy a decent scale (most recommend beam but I use electronic), set of calipers, and PERSONALLY I would buy the Hornady cartridge comparator set and the bushings for both shoulder setback and base to ogive measurement for the cartridges you will reload.

I use dip and trickle to charge cases weighing every charge. Most guys would rather use a powder measure but for my volume it's not much help.

I use a hand-priming tool to prime. I remove primers with a universal depriming die before cleaning brass. I have a rotary wet tumbler for cleaning brass. You'll also need case trimming, debur/chamfer tool, primer pocket cleaning tool. There's a very nice Frankfort Arsenal case prep center that does all of that but I use cheap hand tools and get the job done but at the expense of cramped hands and more time.
 
Starting with the .308 Winchester it spawned some really great cartridges like the 243 Winchester which we could call the 6mm-08, the 260 Remington or 6.7mm-08 and the the 7mm-08 Remington. Personally I like the 7mm-08 Remington but any spawn of the .308 Winchester or the .308 Winchester should fill the ticket for what you want.

As to reloading or hand loading? Many reload to save some money and many reload simply to make very accurate ammunition custom tailored for their guns. I likely fall into the latter group. For the average person who hunts and only hunts they typically use less than a box of ammunition a year, reloading likely is not practical. For the serious target shooter running a few hundred rifle rounds in a day at the range reloading is everything. When considering the cost of getting started one must ask if the end justifies the means?

Ron
 
Outdoorsmin said:
What if the gun was mainly used for hunting medium sized game (smaller than deer) and once in a blue moon shot paper? Would you stay partial to the 243?
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If you are mainly hunting with whitetail deer being your biggest animal, then the 243 wins hands-down. The 243 is a real sweetheart to shoot, great for younger, smaller shooters as well as men who don't appreciate getting slugged in the shoulder hundreds of time at the range. I also shoot the 243 more than any other rifle round, aside from 223. For guys that really know their rifles and their shooting abilities, the 243 is just about the perfect all-around caliber.

Now for reloading, I'm going to go against the conventional recommendation of a single stage press. And here is my experience why. I started out reloading on a turret press, a Lee Classic Turret, and it wad a great press for many years. Zero problems, zero maintenance. I got bit by the bug of speed and quantity, so I sold my turret and bought a Dillon progressive. Fantastic machine, but expensive and slower to change over calibers than my old Lee turret. I still have the Dillon, but only break it out when I'm going to be running at least a thousand rounds through.

Then for my rifle reloads, I bought a single stage press. It took me all of about an hour to realize I made a huge mistake. Doing a batch of 50 cases one stage at a time was incredibly boring and what I considered a waste of time. If I wanted to load single stage, I could have used my old turret press just like a single stage. And I frequently get interrupted, someone at the door, my wife needing something quick, or my son needing me. So having to walk away from the bench with a batch of 50 cases partially completed and trying to figure out where I left off was difficult and frustrating.

So what did I do? I bought another Lee Classic Turret press just like the one I sold and I'm back where I originally started. With a turret press, you take one case and do all the stages on that one case until you have a completely finished round. Then you grab another case. If I get interrupted, I take a few extra seconds and finish loading that one round and then I can walk away from my bench without a problem. I come back and I'm ready to start fresh on a new case. I kept my single stage press because it might come in handy some day, but it's a waste of time in my opinion and it collects dusts now.
 
To me the best middle of the road caliber is the 7mm-08 in that range selection.
I prefer the added 40-50gr of bullet weight over the 243, and longer barrel life.
It can be used with Hornady lite's ($23 box) to bring down to 243 recoil levels if needed so all ages could use it. It was originally designed for long range shooting.

You wont find 7mm08 at the wally world, but if thats a problem ya dang sure dont need a 260 as I hardly see it anywhere in stock and if I do its only one offering to chose from and its no where near as cheap as 7mm-08. Most every outdoors chain box store, Academy sports, D*cks sporting goods,Gander mt, Cabelas, basspro all have at least 3 or 4 choices of it on the shelfs in stock.

I buy 99% of my ammo online when I find it on sale. Id say average cost of 7mm08 is about $15-17 a box for me including shipping.

In Hornday american whitetail 7mm08 is $1 more a box than 308. ($20vs$21)
In Fusion its about $3 more a box than 308. ($23vs$25)
Remington core lokt in 7mm08 is going to be $7-10 more per box than those two and not worth the added cost over them IMHO.


Catch on sale and they are much lower than that.


http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/7mm-08+Remington.html
 
kids

Another soft-kicker is the 7 x 30 waters.

FYI, it's a necked down 30-30 and uses 120 to 140 grain bullets.

I have one in TC Contender with a 22-inch barrel and used it for deer and boar
with great success.

I have yet to fire a second shot at any game downed b y this cartridge.
 
ammo.crafter said:
Another soft-kicker is the 7 x 30 waters.

FYI, it's a necked down 30-30 and uses 120 to 140 grain bullets.

I have one in TC Contender with a 22-inch barrel and used it for deer and boar
with great success.

I have yet to fire a second shot at any game downed b y this cartridge.
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That's a reloader's cartridge for sure! Not a lot of choices for factory rifles these days either.
 
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