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You yanks are lucky, In the north of ireland it was damn near impossible to get a gun at all, and then it was only a shotgun. it has relaxed since the end of the troubles so we can get our hands on rifles. so i have a .22 just for fun, and a baikel o/u 12 gauge. my first gun and i love it still. It weighs a tonne, but as boris the blade says ' heavy is good, heavy is reliable'. I use it for clay birds and rough game shooting (usually pheasants).
 
I live in some very open country. You can see for miles. With that said I have never took a shot over probably 200 yards at something other than a target. Hell I can hit targets at over 300 with a 223 AR.15..
 
I live in some very open country. You can see for miles. With that said I have never took a shot over probably 200 yards at something other than a target. Hell I can hit targets at over 300 with a 223 AR.15..

Why not?
 
I agree with that. However, shots out to 500 yards require much better optics and practice. Compensating for the bullet drop becomes difficult. My 7MM is 1" high at 200 yards, dead on at 300 yards, 3" low at 400 yards and so on. 2 years ago I shot a deer at 550 yards. At 500 yards all I do is aim at the top of the back and it hits in the boiler room every time. The reason for the need for flat shooting where we hunt is the average shot we have taken over the past 8 years is around 330 yards. I could use a .308 and be successful there, but it would require more time and money spent preparing. I also have a .243 I take as a backup. The problem with the .243 is at ranges beyond about 350-400. There is not enough energy at that point and the bullet drops much faster out past 300 yards. It is prolly my favorite 200 yard gun though. I shoot 90 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips thru it with lots of success.

I should also point out that we do all of our own handloading, so ammo versitility is really only limited by how much money we want to spend.

Tbox, what round have you had the most success with your 7mm?
 
Tbox, what round have you had the most success with your 7mm?


I use 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip and RL 19 powder. Not 100% sure of how many grains of powder tho. I have it logged in my book at home. I am shooting it out of a TC Encore. My gun will shoot around 3600 fps. My BIL has a 7MM in a remington ADL. His will shoot about 3500 fps. For some reason, my gun is consistently about 100 fps faster.
 
I use 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip and RL 19 powder. Not 100% sure of how many grains of powder tho. I have it logged in my book at home. I am shooting it out of a TC Encore. My gun will shoot around 3600 fps. My BIL has a 7MM in a remington ADL. His will shoot about 3500 fps. For some reason, my gun is consistently about 100 fps faster.

Damn, that's slingin' them pretty fast. I like it. I don't have a need for a 7mm but that doesn't mean I don't want one. lol Do you reload any 30-06?
 
I've used my Remington 788 in .243 for coyotes, whitetail, antelope and mule deer and have had good results. The 788 Rem is a great little gun, and I've had it since I was about 15. Now, my father's rifle of choice for antelope and deer is a .257 Weatherby Magnum, wowzer! I've also got a Beretta A390 auto in 12 ga. for birds and skeet, and a Remington 870 tactical for "just in case."
And I think its been said, but the .243, 7-08 both use a necked down .308 case (7-08 to 7mm and .243 to 6mm).
 
No love in here for the .270Win?
 
Damn, that's slingin' them pretty fast. I like it. I don't have a need for a 7mm but that doesn't mean I don't want one. lol Do you reload any 30-06?


yep. We reload 22-250 .243, 25-06, .257 Ackley Improved, .257 Weatherby, .264, .270, .280, 7MM Rem Mag., 30-06, .300 Win Mag, .300 Weatherby Mag, plus several more. Those are all the dies I can think of right now. Factory loads will work just fine, but we have all shot 3 shot groups inside a quarter at 300 with out hand loads.
 
No love in here for the .270Win?

I'm not a huge fan. Just don't see a huge benefit over the -06. Sure, you can sling a smaller bullet faster, but for those of us that don't reload, you have much less off the shelf options.
 
No love in here for the .270Win?

To me, it is a great deer rifle out to 300 yards. Much like the .243 and .308. The Ballistics just aren't there compared to many calibers just above and below it.
 
I've used my Remington 788 in .243 for coyotes, whitetail, antelope and mule deer and have had good results. The 788 Rem is a great little gun, and I've had it since I was about 15. Now, my father's rifle of choice for antelope and deer is a .257 Weatherby Magnum, wowzer! I've also got a Beretta A390 auto in 12 ga. for birds and skeet, and a Remington 870 tactical for "just in case."
And I think its been said, but the .243, 7-08 both use a necked down .308 case (7-08 to 7mm and .243 to 6mm).

We have a friend that uses this gun and it is freaking awesome. I would love to have one. Too bad he is terrible at shooting. In his case, it is DEFINITELY the indian and not the arrow.
 
I agree with that. However, shots out to 500 yards require much better optics and practice. Compensating for the bullet drop becomes difficult. My 7MM is 1" high at 200 yards, dead on at 300 yards, 3" low at 400 yards and so on. 2 years ago I shot a deer at 550 yards. At 500 yards all I do is aim at the top of the back and it hits in the boiler room every time. The reason for the need for flat shooting where we hunt is the average shot we have taken over the past 8 years is around 330 yards. I could use a .308 and be successful there, but it would require more time and money spent preparing. I also have a .243 I take as a backup. The problem with the .243 is at ranges beyond about 350-400. There is not enough energy at that point and the bullet drops much faster out past 300 yards. It is prolly my favorite 200 yard gun though. I shoot 90 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips thru it with lots of success.

I should also point out that we do all of our own handloading, so ammo versitility is really only limited by how much money we want to spend.

Oh, I certainly agree that the hotter cartridges like the 7 mags, .257 Weatherby and such are a superior round once you stretch things out past 250 - 300 yards. Still, I can't count the number of guys that hunt places where their longest shot is probably inside 150 yards, yet they think they have to use a 7 mag or lose their man card. I'm sure they all hit their PW 170 on the golf course too! Haha.
 
Oh, I certainly agree that the hotter cartridges like the 7 mags, .257 Weatherby and such are a superior round once you stretch things out past 250 - 300 yards. Still, I can't count the number of guys that hunt places where their longest shot is probably inside 150 yards, yet they think they have to use a 7 mag or lose their man card. I'm sure they all hit their PW 170 on the golf course too! Haha.

No need for the recoil. A .243 would be just fine.
 
I know a few of you guys mentioned how much you loved the .243 round. How about the .308? I know it's basically just a bigger 243 but I've never shot one. I know I can take down any deer in NC with the 243 but I have a few opportunities coming up to possibly travel with a friend West for some different types of hunting (pronghorn, mule deer, etc). Seems for a good all around caliber the 308 is a good choice. And then there's the good ol' 7mag..

Don't let anyone fool you the .308 Winchester is a great cartridge. The top selling cartridges are 7mm Mag, 30-06, .308, .270, and .30-30. The .308 is just versitle, I got 110 grain V-maxs loaded up for coyote and prarie dogs, and use 150 for deer, 175 Seirra Match Kings and 178 Hornady BTHPs for target shoot. Heck I can do just about anything with that rifle, I wouldn't be afraid to use it to take any game in North America with it, and the right load. And you could get the right load at just about any store because its that popular.

TBH, the cartridges that make me all giddy are the 6.5mm. Man oh man those things are special. To bad they are not very popular. Take the 6.5 Creedmore, this thing is great, it was designed for target shooting. However it would be a great hunting round, the number are outstanding 300win mag ballistics, kicks less then a .308. The Ballistic Coefficients and Sectional Densities are marvalous. Talking to guys who have shot the older .260 it's amazing. But ammo is hard to find. The 6.5 Creedmore is still new so who knows how long it will be around, luckily Hornady did it right it getting the target shooters on this cartridge fast and from what i hear from them it's going to stay around.



I agree with that. However, shots out to 500 yards require much better optics and practice. Compensating for the bullet drop becomes difficult. My 7MM is 1" high at 200 yards, dead on at 300 yards, 3" low at 400 yards and so on. 2 years ago I shot a deer at 550 yards. At 500 yards all I do is aim at the top of the back and it hits in the boiler room every time. The reason for the need for flat shooting where we hunt is the average shot we have taken over the past 8 years is around 330 yards. I could use a .308 and be successful there, but it would require more time and money spent preparing. I also have a .243 I take as a backup. The problem with the .243 is at ranges beyond about 350-400. There is not enough energy at that point and the bullet drops much faster out past 300 yards. It is prolly my favorite 200 yard gun though. I shoot 90 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips thru it with lots of success.

I should also point out that we do all of our own handloading, so ammo versitility is really only limited by how much money we want to spend.

Compensating for bullet drop is easy. All it takes is knowing how much it drops. Gravity, velocity, and BC are all constants. For the most part your bullet drop is going to be constant, provided you use the same bullet. There are a bunch of variables but they are easily factored in. As far as the .243 only being good to 400 yards i'll call bs on that all day long. Using you 90grain Nosler BT at a average velocity of around 3100 fps it retains 450 Ft/lbs of energy out to 700 yards. There is a reason i use that 450 ft/lb number, and that is because it is usually the minimum ft/lbs required by law in most states to take a Whitetail with. And I would the .243 could take game farther then that with good shot placement, though would never recomend it.


No love in here for the .270Win?

Great round. I don't like the bullet choices but the new interest in that caliber should help that.

I'm not a huge fan. Just don't see a huge benefit over the -06. Sure, you can sling a smaller bullet faster, but for those of us that don't reload, you have much less off the shelf options.

The bullet choice are the worst part, but luckily the 6.8mm (Same as .270) has seen a rise in popularity since that's what seems to be the round that will end up being the new military cartridge. Though some of the bullets might not be designed for the speed the 270 will push them at.

To me, it is a great deer rifle out to 300 yards. Much like the .243 and .308. The Ballistics just aren't there compared to many calibers just above and below it.

The .270 Win has arguably the best ballistics out there, especially considering the limited bullet choices. The cartridges with better ballistics usually are magnums, and kick like mules. The number I look at is MPBR (Maximum Point Blank Range) and even then magnums only pick up about 20-30 yards over the .270.
 
Because if you can't get within that range you should be doing something different. I actually prefer bow hunting because you have to get close. In my opinion anyone can shoot something at 200 yards. What's the challenge in that?
 
Compensating for bullet drop is easy. All it takes is knowing how much it drops. Gravity, velocity, and BC are all constants. For the most part your bullet drop is going to be constant, provided you use the same bullet. There are a bunch of variables but they are easily factored in. As far as the .243 only being good to 400 yards i'll call bs on that all day long. Using you 90grain Nosler BT at a average velocity of around 3100 fps it retains 450 Ft/lbs of energy out to 700 yards. There is a reason i use that 450 ft/lb number, and that is because it is usually the minimum ft/lbs required by law in most states to take a Whitetail with. And I would the .243 could take game farther then that with good shot placement, though would never recomend it.

I will agree with the first bolded part to a certain extent. I really feel that if you want to use a slower caliber, you need a higher quality scope that you can adjust for bullet drop. I can't spend that kind of money on scopes. That is the main reason we always hunt with faster loads. Less factoring is involved. As for the second bolded part, I understand the numbers and it will kill at that distance. The problem is, wind plays hell on it at that distance. Also factor in that the bullet will shed half its weight on impact. A slower bullet that loses half its mass makes it more critical for the exact shot placement. A faster bullet will also produce more hydrostatic shock. Now if I could get Barnes bullets to group well out of that gun I would not be as hesitant. So far that has been a failure compared to the ballistic tip.
 
Because if you can't get within that range you should be doing something different. I actually prefer bow hunting because you have to get close. In my opinion anyone can shoot something at 200 yards. What's the challenge in that?

To each their own I guess, but I think there is more of a challenge in shooting a deer out at 400 yards versus a deer at 100. It takes a better quality shot.
 
To each their own I guess, but I think there is more of a challenge in shooting a deer out at 400 yards versus a deer at 100. It takes a better quality shot.
For me it's more about the hunt than shooting the animal. I'm actually considering buying a longbow so I'll have to call them in even closer.for me anyway getting one within 50 yards takes some planning and usually calling them in. The way I see it is if I was driving down the road and seen a big elk off in a field 400 yards away. Sure I could hope out and shoot said animal.. However if I had a bow I would have to stalk it and get close enough to make that shot. Which one would you consider more of "hunting"?
 
To each their own I guess, but I think there is more of a challenge in shooting a deer out at 400 yards versus a deer at 100. It takes a better quality shot.
More challenging shot yes. More challenging hunt? No.
 
For me it's more about the hunt than shooting the animal. I'm actually considering buying a longbow so I'll have to call them in even closer.for me anyway getting one within 50 yards takes some planning and usually calling them in. The way I see it is if I was driving down the road and seen a big elk off in a field 400 yards away. Sure I could hope out and shoot said animal.. However if I had a bow I would have to stalk it and get close enough to make that shot. Which one would you consider more of "hunting"?

Depends on the situation really. We do plenty of spot and stalk where we hunt. I have hunted places where it is not that hard at all to get within 50-75 yards of a deer. But now you are comparing rifle hunting to bow hunting. Those are completely different. I do a ton of bow hunting and really enjoy that aspect of hunting. But as far a rifle hunting goes, I think a long shot is more of a chllenge.
 
I will agree with the first bolded part to a certain extent. I really feel that if you want to use a slower caliber, you need a higher quality scope that you can adjust for bullet drop. I can't spend that kind of money on scopes. That is the main reason we always hunt with faster loads. Less factoring is involved. As for the second bolded part, I understand the numbers and it will kill at that distance. The problem is, wind plays hell on it at that distance. Also factor in that the bullet will shed half its weight on impact. A slower bullet that loses half its mass makes it more critical for the exact shot placement. A faster bullet will also produce more hydrostatic shock. Now if I could get Barnes bullets to group well out of that gun I would not be as hesitant. So far that has been a failure compared to the ballistic tip.

Ok I can agree with both of those. The scope I have on my .308 is the Vortex Viper PST. It was fairly expensive. I can understand how some people are reluctant to spend money on quality glass, or are just unable to cost wise, I've certainly been there.

I haven't tried Barnes bullets yet, I am planning to this year since I have a land owner that doesn't want us to use lead on his land. Kind of a pain but it is his land. I have heard with their design they don't like to be jumped very much, which is a bit of a problem for me because I have a Remington with mile long free bore. I have heard great things about them though. And I like that they make a 130 grain, which i think will work better for whitetails. I was going to order 100 of the 130 TTSX in .308 today actually.
 
I agree with what others have said: 308 is a good round, but nothing 'flashy' about it. The Savage 11 I mentioned in a previous post is in 308 but it never really gets shot.
Given what you have said, I think you would be happy with the 243. The 243 is going to be far superior to 308 when it comes to coyote/varmint hunting. Also, like you said, that gives you a reason to get something like a big heavy 300 or 7mag for when you go out west. You can never have too many guns!!!!!

No love in here for the .270Win?

I love the 270Win I shoot now, but its my Grandpa's. I talked with a guy today and think I've decided on the TC Venture in .243 - on sale for 350$ right now and while I really liked the Tikka the more I look at the TC the more I like it...plus I can use the extra money on some really good glass.

Gonna go pick it up next week!
 
I love the 270Win I shoot now, but its my Grandpa's. I talked with a guy today and think I've decided on the TC Venture in .243 - on sale for 350$ right now and while I really liked the Tikka the more I look at the TC the more I like it...plus I can use the extra money on some really good glass.

Gonna go pick it up next week!
Nice man! TC makes a great rifle!
 
Ok I can agree with both of those. The scope I have on my .308 is the Vortex Viper PST. It was fairly expensive. I can understand how some people are reluctant to spend money on quality glass, or are just unable to cost wise, I've certainly been there.

I haven't tried Barnes bullets yet, I am planning to this year since I have a land owner that doesn't want us to use lead on his land. Kind of a pain but it is his land. I have heard with their design they don't like to be jumped very much, which is a bit of a problem for me because I have a Remington with mile long free bore. I have heard great things about them though. And I like that they make a 130 grain, which i think will work better for whitetails. I was going to order 100 of the 130 TTSX in .308 today actually.


I have actually been pretty happy with the scope I have on my rifles. It is a Bushnell Banner Dusk and Dawn 6x18x50. For $100, it is hard to beat. It is definitely not a Zeiss or a Swarovski, but not bad.
 
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