7mm-08 or .243 in a Ruger #1

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drjjpdc

New member
I have a chance for a Ruger #1. I don't hunt as much as I used to. But I do a lot of Silhouette. I want something kind of flat to 300-500 yds to knock down those rams. Also moderate recoil would be nice but not essential. I reload and I checked places like Midway & there is lots of factory ammo and reloading brass too. I have calibers like a .223 and .30-30 and .45-70. I wanted something new in between. I was also looking at the .280 but I think the aforementioned choices are better.

Thanks in advance,
John
 
the 243 is a fine cartige, but it doesn,t have the knock down power to topple the rams on a marginal hit as the 7mm08 has. even for normal hunting the 7mm08 has been a better killer on less than perfect shots for me. eastbank.
 
Thank you one and all for your quick responses. I guess when a shooter has a handle that begins with 243 and he recommends the 7mm-08, I should listen. :)

John
 
Ram toppling Energy to 500? .280, hands down. You get out that far and you'll want efficient bullets for retained energy ..... that means long bullets. While you don't have to worry about magazine length with the No. 1, unless you get a custom cut throat such that you can seat those long bullets way out there in a 7-08, they'll eat up case capacity, giving you less potential velocity (meaning energy) to start with.
 
same weight rifle, bullet and speed, the lighter rifle will recoil more. the 280 has more horse power,but it comes a cost. for shooting the silhouette,s the 7mm08 will be easier on the shooter and as the ranges are know the 280 will not produce much better results. for hunting heavier animals at longer ranges the 280 with out preform the 7mm08 but not by a wide margin. eastbank.
 
same weight rifle, bullet and speed, the lighter rifle will recoil more.
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Wut?

lol.....

If you load the 280 to it's max, it'll kick more- more powder, more velocity ........ TANSTAAFL.

But in similar rifles (say a Savage 10 and 110) if you loaded them to the same velocity, I doubt the difference would be much....... the 280 might take a tiny bit more powder to attain the same velocity (longer case=less efficiency) ...... but the longer action (slightly more weight) would mitigate that, I would think.
 
If I remember right the 7-08 was made for silhouette shooting. If you're just hunting deer size animals the 243 would be my choice, but Rams?? 7-08

I never shot silhouette with a 243, but I have with a 257 Roberts. It worked until I got to the rams, they just bounced off.
 
According to Ruger's site the No. 1 doesn't come in 7mm-08 or .280. At least not a BNIB one. Did as a 'Light Sporter' though. Does currently come in 7mm Mauser with a 24" barrel at 7.5 pounds. 8.5 pounds for the .243 with a 26" barrel.
Recoil for a 100 grain .243 out of a 7.5 lb. rifle runs around 8.8 ft-lbs. A 139 grain 7mm out of an 8.75 lbs. rifle runs 11.7 ft-lbs. An 8 pound .280 with a 140 grain bullet runs 17.2 ft-lbs.
Heavier bullets have more energy at longer ranges, but also tend to drop more. That 100 grain .243 drops about a yard at 500 when sighted in a few inches high at 100. The 7mm-08 does too. The .280 runs about 6" flatter. A 140 grain 7mm Mauser drops 55.3" when sighted in 2.2" high at 100 with less than 1,000 ft-lbs. of remaining energy.
 
Heavier bullets have more energy at longer ranges, but also tend to drop more.
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Gravity is the one constant regarding all bullets: they all fall at the same rate. ...... the old saw about heavier bullets having more drop is only sort of true: all else being equal, heavier bullets start slower, and so are affected by gravity for a longer period of time at a given distance ...... and in the days before very efficient bullets became available, this was very significant.

Now, with the very low drag bullets available (and longer/heavier bullets being more efficient than shorter/lighter bullets) ....... at longer ranges, the opposite can be said to true: heavier low drag bullets retain velocity so much better than lighter ones, they could be said to drop less (not really- they all still fall at the same rate ..... the heavy bullet will just retain it's velocity better, and be in flight less time.


And since the OP is looking to knock down heavy steel rams at 500 yards, what he needs is energy ...... as much weight travelling as fast as he can get it to fly accurately........ more is better. Of the choices, 280 with a heavy, low drag bullet.
 
Jim,

I never was averse to recoil before. But I went to a CB lever event for 2 days in PA. Something happened to my sight on my Marlin 1893 in .38-55 and I shot the rest of the 2 days with my Savage 1899 in .30-30 and my Pedersoli Remington roller in .45-70.

I am also on blood thinners since I had an embolism in my lung. To say the next day that my shoulder was black & blue was an understatement. It took about 4-5 days to get the flesh color back. The recoil doesn't make me flinch or anything (I'm 6'5" and about 300 lbs.), I just would rather not go through that again.

I always rather not follow the .270/.30-06 crowd, so the .280 definitely appealed to me.

BTW, guys there are plenty of NIB Ruger #1's that dealers were still sitting on in their stores. Check out GB and GI. Decent prices too.

John
 
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