Best Target Caliber under 300 yards

Staying inside your post of 300 yards- No change, Still 243. Now with reloading you have just made it more level. 7-08 is very good, 25-06 another good choice.
Myself I would still hang with the 243
 
Inside of 300, you and the rifle itself are much more of a factor than the caliber. Anything 223 or bigger will suffice for target work to 300. And once you get into reloading, ammo availability and price becomes less of a concern. So pick your poison, I don't see you go wrong with any of them. But since you asked for a specific recommendation, I'll vote for the 243 since you like lighter recoiling cartridges. If shooting longer distances might be an option, 260 Rem is a great choice. My target rifle is a 260 Rem.

As for hunting, I would say 243 is good to 300 yards on deer, but probably not farther. That's a generalization, and some might disagree.
 
I'm fond of the .25-06 or even a .30-06 of you intend to reload. Loaded with light bullets and somewhat reduced loads, you can get the .30-06 down to .30-30 level recoil.

I have a .243, .308 and .30-06 and I like them all. I had a .25-06 and I sold it a while back when I was desperate for cash. I miss that rifle and I intend to replace it either this year or next.

Tony
 
Reynolds,
He's talking about people who forgot the deer hunting part of the original post.

Some people have recommended the 6mm BR. I've never heard of that caliber actually... What's it like?

Thanks for all the help guys! This is a huge response, much more than expected!

F23
 
F23- 6MMBR-- You need to check it out. Could be used for a deer rifle, but on the heavy side. I have one I use for F Class. Unreal accuracy and all. One could use that baby for hunting fly's at 400 yards if you want.:D
 
Some people have recommended the 6mm BR. I've never heard of that caliber actually... What's it like?
Click to expand...
Think of it as a "243 Short"

It's just a shortened 308 case with a 6mm bullet and a small primer

He's talking about people who forgot the deer hunting part of the original post.
Click to expand...
And those suggesting cartridges with as much or more recoil as a 308
 
I'm going to cast a vote for the .243. I've taken decent sized deer in Norther Wisconsin at well over 400 yds with my Savage, so i think it is plenty adequate for deer. It has a nice relatively flat trajectory.

Oh and it works inside 300 yds as well.
 
I was also talking about the "not reloading (yet)" part, and the "Savage" part.

Does anyone make an off the shelf 6mm PPC, rifles or ammo?

You can get a 6mm BR from Savage, in their top of the line rifles (3 options), but none are really suited for deer hunting, they are big Varmint or F-Class rifles that are about 14 pounds with glass.

There is 6mm BR ammo available, but all of it is match ammo not suitable for hunting, and it is also over $2/round.

6mm BR would be a fine medium game round if you handload, because it is ballistically pretty much identical to .243, which is readily available in both rifles (35 offerings from Savage) and ammo (22 options in stock at Midway at the moment, compared to 1 for 6mm BR at half the price or less).
 
Formal NRA style target shooting or just shooting for fun? Makes a difference. Of the cartridges you mentioned, only the .223 is a formal target cartridge. The rest are hunting cartridges, any of which will be fine for fun shooting.
The .223 may be illegal for deer in NY, but with the right bullet(Deer bullets rarely seen in factory .223 ammo though) it'll kill deer. Check the legalities.
 
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