Need a light weight hunter, stuck on caliber.

[hawk45]

Hi guys. Looking to get something compact and lightweight, around 8lbs scoped. Everything I have is 12lbs or more and over 26" bbl. Looking at Tikka and Savage (open to others) but biggest quandary is caliber.
Where I plan to hunt there won't be many wide open shots and if there are, not many shots longer than 400 yds at best. Mostly white tail.

I reload for .243 (H4350), .260 (RL22 & H4350), .308 (Varget, 8208XBR), 300WM (H1000). Powder and brass are still hard to find, though not as tough as past 5 years, so I'm trying to keep within these calibers. That is unless there is another caliber out there I can find brass and powder. Sticking with one of these would also save me a ton of money in reloading setup for new cartridge.

I also like calibers it's easy to find factory ammo availability too in a pinch. So .260 lacks here.

I can go up to the .308 in a light rifle, but after that I'll probably go with a brake. My 12lb 300WM with a brake feels like my wife's 10lb .260 without one. I'd share the .260 with the wife, but my LOP is 14.5" and hers is 12.5", so we cut her stock down to fit.

Would the 300WM be over doing it? Is the .243 sufficient? Is .308 the right choice?
Do the pros out weigh the cons with the .260. Other options?

Thanks for helping a brother sort though this..
Cheers,
Hawk

 

[MudRunner2005]

If you want to keep it a short action, 7mm-08 would make a nice addition to your collection.

 

[ohiohunter]

Being as you want to be conservative with this gun, I'd buy a Mcm edge or Manners EH stock for your wife's 260 and swap it out. Unless your wife is hunting w/ you. Otherwise I'd go w/ a 308 as I know it is not uncommon to have to bust through some brush from time to time in ohio..... wait, where in ohio are you rifle hunting deer? I think they just legalized straight case rifles, but not full blown rifles????? Depredation hunt?

 

[hawk45]

Being as you want to be conservative with this gun, I'd buy a Mcm edge or Manners EH stock for your wife's 260 and swap it out. Unless your wife is hunting w/ you. Otherwise I'd go w/ a 308 as I know it is not uncommon to have to bust through some brush from time to time in ohio..... wait, where in ohio are you rifle hunting deer? I think they just legalized straight case rifles, but not full blown rifles????? Depredation hunt?

We've tried swapping before and it's more of a pain then it's worth. I'd rather spend some money, have it setup for me and know when I pull it out I have one or two sighters and I'm ready to roll.

Actually I won't be doing any any hunting in Ohio unless it's with my bow, more the surrounding areas (IN and KY). I have a place in WI I've gone with buddies, it's very similar to where I live in the OH.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

I'd do another .243. Enough bullet to kill deer cleanly and wont beat you up in a light weight gun. I have a 6# 6.5-284 and it really kicks. Not any fun to shoot at all.

Aaron

 

[RT2506]

I would go 308 Winchester with a 22" barrel and load a 125 Nosler Ballistic Tip to 3000 fps and work out the drop to your 400 yard max and not look back. I have used the same set up with 125 BT and 46 grs IMR4895 out of my 21 1/2" barrel it does 3000 fps and I have killed 50+ deer out to 350 yards with no problems. Mostly BANG FLOP. Recoil is about half that of full house 150 gr bullets. I have a Leupold VXII 3-9x50 scope that I had target turrets put on it that I use with this rifle to make dialing easy. Mostly I just sight in with the POI 3" high at 100 yards and it will not be above or below line of sight 3" point blank to 280 yards.

 

[Rich Coyle]

You can get a Savage and a Weatherby that weigh 5 3/4 pounds without a scope. There may be more. The Weatherby is a Mark V six lug action and comes with a 24" barrel.

 

[J E Custom]

If you want to keep it a short action, 7mm-08 would make a nice addition to your collection.

+1

The 7/08 is a great deer cartridge, and with the brass and bullets being readily available plus the fact that you can use 308 brass. (Lapua makes great brass in 308 That I like to neck down to 7mm/08). You can also neck up the 260 brass to 7/08 easily.

The bullet selection is great and the 7/08 is capable of 600+ yard shots on deer.

It is my favorite deer cartridge in both rifle and pistol.

Look at the ballistics of the 7/08 and you will see the attraction. Accuracy can be off the charts
and can shoot less than 1/4 MOA when loaded correctly.

J E CUSTOM

 

[hawk45]

I'm pretty set on going .308 with the availability to shoot lights and heavies. I have a ton of .308 brass already and the competition dies too.

What bullet and powder do you recommend for 7-08? I'll see if I can find any powder out there, probably wouldn't need more than a few pounds. Should last a good long time for a hunting rig.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Powder... I recommend Varget. But if you can't get that, then use whatever powder you use for .308 Win.

Bullet, would be either a Berger 140 VLD or 168 VLD.

 

[hhack]

I will chime in on the 7-08 with 162 amax or 168 vld. To get to this level of BC with the 308 you have to go 208-230, more cost for the bullets and more kick from the rifle.

If you want to share the 260, the solution could be an mdt lss chassis system that uses adjustable AR buttstocks.