another .308, and then .243
Forgot my Savage .308 Scout. Had followed Cooper's scout rifle writings from when they first surfaced in the 70's. When Savage released their affordable scout, ( the early model w/o all the gadgets) I bought one and attached the obligatory IER 2.75x scope. I hunt it abit every deer season, shoot it a good bit more on paper for general practice, haul it in the truck, hung it on limbs on campsites, nearly all the roles a GP rifle was to fulfull. Lighter than the Hog Rifle by a good bit, the Scout goes up trees for whitetails, and I tote it about when just rambling some times. Actually got the Scout long before the Hog rifle. When I hunt the scout,it launches Sierra 150 spitzers, and I use bulk 147FMJ slugs (from Wiedners) for GP and practice.
I own a pair of .243's. One is my Dad's Savage 110, with 3-9x40 glass, the other a Mossberg 800M (mannlicher style stock) with fixed 6x36 glass. The Savage is a full size sporter, the Mossberg a shorter carbine. The Savage does not get out much, I hunted a season or two after Dad's passing, then bamaboy hunted it a while longer. What the Savage accomplished was to open my eyes to how easy the .243 was to shoot, and how well it dropped deer . I believe I've seen more bang/flops from the .243's than any other caliber. Most of these were deer killed by the boy when he was younger. The boy also poked a small buck way out there for a kid, a lasered 260 yds. That deer ran a bit, but not far. When the chance came to buy the Mossberg (I'd never seen an 800M) it did not bother me a bit it was .243 caliber. I've had some of my own .243 bang/flops since then. We shoot 100 gr Partitions from the .243's.
One against the other? Two of these rifles are heirlooms ( M88 and the Savage 110), and I am very selective as to the circumstances I hunt them. One of the .308's (F-TR rifle) is purely a bullet launcher and has a sole role (which I have not pursued in a couple of years or more...cost). Along that same line of thought, when shot in strings as is found in match shooting, the .243 is known as overbore and a barrel burner. The .308 in general will hold up longer under those conditions. (5000-6000 rds?). As hunting rifles, the .308 is more cartridge, with its ability to take heavy, tough .30 caliber slugs, I suppose you could take any game in NA, and other parts of the world as well. Not an ideal choice, but very versatile. Not that I will ever get to hunt anywhere but here in the U.S.!!! But the .308 is likely more gun than really needed for most deer hunting. I think this is especially true when conditions are somewhat controlled, like over food plots, feeders, and from shooting houses/towers with an available rest. In those conditions, one can often pick and choose their shots, and the smaller slug of the .243 is plenty deadly enough. That is how I hunt the Mossberg 800M. When shots are not as predictable, I take one of the shorter .308's. I am not concerned too much about angles with the .30's, and feel certain the 150-180's can drive through any reasonable angle I choose to shoot at on a whitetail. The Hog rifle with its bright 6x42 lets me see to shoot in the worst conditions, and under good circumstances, it is splendidly accurate and can work on game on ROW's as far out as the other deer calibers. The Scout is not so easy to work with past 200 yds or so due to its tiny scope, but carries easy, goes up trees easy, and I can shoot its IER scope better than irons, in worse light too.
Long posts, thanks all for your indulgence.