medium cartage for varmint hunting and deer hunting

D

djm

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I am looking for a medium cartage for varmint hunting and deer hunting. Recoil if a factor I don't want something that will beat me to death. I was looking at a .243 and a 25-06. Any suggestions would be appreciate.
 
I prefer the short-actions. I own two .243's, one a Win. 70 Classic Stainless Synthetic with BOSS; the other a Rem 700 VLS. With .243, you can go from true varmint bullet sizes, like 55gr @ 4000fps+, to over 100gr.

I'm really pleased with the .243, and it won't hammer your shoulder like a 25-06 will.
 
For your stated purpose, I wouldn't go below 6mm, nor above 7mm.

There's at least on thread on the .243 now ongoing.

try the "Search" feature for comments about several cartridges which would be suitable for what you have in mind.

Regards, Art
 
Sounds like the .25-06 would be the cartridge of choice. Try shooting that through the 24" heavy barrel of a Savage 110FP and it should do you just right...
 
Heavy barrels are fine if you're shooting off a bench, but for hiking the fields and woods, I'd prefer a light, short action. My fourteen-year-old son does fine with a Remington Model 7 Youth in .243 - no complaint about recoil - and has used the same on both deer and chucks. Remember that felt recoil will be greater off a bench than when shooting from field positions, with the possible exception of prone.
 
Anything the .243 can do the 25-06 can do better. As far as recoil I have a light weight (sporter barrel 24") Rem 700 and no matter what bullet weight I am shooting (75 to 120) the recoil is not noticeable as far as being objectionable. The barrel jumps a bit, but that's the extent of it.
 
All of the following are excellent choices...

.243
.250 Savage
.257 Roberts
.260 Remington
.25-06
.270 Win.

6.5x55
7mm Mauser


Of the above, I'd be inclined to pick the .250 Savage. I've got a .243, but the .250 is one of those wierd cartridges that seems to give so much more than it should.
 
Short actions may have their advantages, but I do not believe that there is a better deer cartridge than the .25-06. The fact that it pulls double duty as a varmit gun is like a bonus. You will not be disappointed with the .25-06.
 
Don't ignore the 7mm-08, or even the old 7x57. Both are excellent choices in that range and the former is usable in short actions.

Jim
 
Go with the 25.06 My brother in law owns one and it has taken several deer with no problem. I reload the shells for him and have great luck with the 117 GR bullets on deer and 87 gr bullets on varmits. I am seriously considering getting one for my collection. My opinion is that it is a better all around caliber than the .243 I have shot the 25.06 before and recoil was real mild. Good luck on this decision.
 
Get a .270 there are different bullet weights and velocitiesand you can get a bullet at 150gr that will stop a deer humanely, or use a 100gr or 130gr on Varmits. Ammo sells for $12 a box at wally world.
 
It depends on what you mean by varmint hunting. If ground squirrels and prairie dogs are your definition I would go with a light kicking round like the .243 and load it up with the 55 grain ballistic tips.

But if coyotes and other larger vermin are part of the plan then I choose the .270 Winchester. 130 grain BTs for the deer, 150 grain Premiums for moose and black bear and 110 v-Max for the coyotes.
 
When a fella sez "medium cartridge", I don't tend to think of a .25-'06 or a .270 and suchlike. Not in the context of North American hunting, anyway. At the very least, these excellent cartridges are on the high end of "medium"--and I'm more prone to consider them the low end of "big", along with the .308 and '06.

I think of the .243, .257 Roberts, 7mm-08, etc, as "medium".

Hokay?

Art
 
When I finally scrape up the funds, I'm gonna have George build me a "Cub Scout" in .250/3000 Ackley Improved. This is the .250 Savage with a different shoulder angle, and improved ballistics. It can also still fire standard .250 Savage rounds.

It's a great round if you want something a little different that works well.
 
"Will the 25-06 shoot a 55gr. varmint bullet at 4000 f.p.s.+? I just wasn't aware that they'd do that."

Was that something that needs to be done, I just wasn't aware that this was necessary. :)
 
The 243 has a big advantage over the other cartridges that were listed, with the exception of the 270. The advantage is this: ammo is available just about everywhere you go. The same can't be said for some of the other less popular calibers. That alone makes it worthwhile, plus the fact that it's easy shooting, flat shooting, and more than adequate for its intended uses. SamC
 
If you want a varmint gun that you can take deer hunting then you want the 243 win or 6mm Rem.

If you want a deer gun that you can take varmint shooting once in ahwile then the 25-06 makes sense with factory loads or a 257 roberts or 260 rem with handloads. Maybe with a little luck we will see factory varmint loads for the 260 soon, but I don't think anyone factory loads it with varmint bullets yet.

***
Wups Remington does load the 120 Ballistic tip for the 260 Rem, not a true varmint bullet but not bad for chucks and coyotes. And it has almost the same trajectory as Rem's 125 partition load does.
 
Another vote for the 7mm-08. Doesn't get the press it deserves, IMO. Light recoil, and light rounds available for it, but also has the capacity to go heavy enough to match the .308 if you ever decide you want more potent rounds. It's a nice "fill the gap" rifle that does equally well on varmints and on large game, depending on your plans for that weekend.

To compare, the .243 is basically a .308 necked down to accept lighter .243 caliber bullets. The 7mm-08 is a .308 necked down to accept not-quite-as-light 7mm (.284) caliber bullets.

In the same vein, the .25-06 and .270 are both based on the larger .30-06 case: .25-06 is necked down for .257 caliber bullets, the .270 necked down to .277 caliber bullets.

(And remembering that the .308 is a just a short .30-06, and fires the same .308 caliber bullets from a shorter case.)

There may be a little bit of overgeneralization in the above, but its a good way to get the big picture on the relationships between these calibers. Bottom line is that they're all great deer cartridges, but the necked-down .308 bullets (.243, 7mm-08) and similar cartridges (e.g. 6.5x55 Mauser) are closer to what I think of as "medium".

FWIW...

DL
 
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