Smaller caliber rifle opinions

[Faithful Retrievers]

If you were to get another rifle that would be a good varmit but still be good for the wife to shoot a deer with what would it be? I was leaning toward 243, but 308 crossed my mind. I have a 7mm08 270 7 mag and 300 short. The 7mm08 is a nice gun dont want to tote in truck or let others borrow who have kids. Would a 223 be a little small for someone that might not put a perfect shot on a deer?

[slim jim]

I shot a 260 this past weekend......i was very impressed

[Buckwabit]

I'm leaning toward a .243 myself. Just something light that I can carry

[duramax]

Lots of great options in the tweener calibers. .243 is a great all around load. Plenty for any deer down here. Plus ammo is very easy to get which isn't exactly true for 7mm/08 or .260. But both are great deer loads. 7mm/08 is a touch big for a true varmint load. Same obviously goes for a .308. If using it for 50% or greater varmint hunting, I wouldn't go bigger than .243 (6mm). If you want to get particular, a .243 wssm is psycho performance wise. It almost reaches 4000fps with a bullet for deer and the factory varmint 60gr load is over 4000fps.

My wife uses my varmint .223 for deer hunting. Both deer she killed with it basically dropped. A poor shot with a .223 is basically just as deadly as a .243 keep in mind. Only difference is you are more likely to get a blood trail with a .243 or larger. There was no blood with either deer she shot. Just a lot of red jello in the chest cavity when I opened them up. I'm convinced in hunting situations she's a better shot than me, so I have no qualms in letter her shoot my .223 for deer. If you want to get a .22cal gun, I'd lean to a 22-250. I know a guy in Canada that only shoots his .223 for black bears. Probably not the most ethical thing, but he's never lost one. He just waits until they are quartering away and shoots them right behind the shoulder and they don't go more than 20 yards.

[ACEINTHEHOLE]

I bought my wife a 243 WSSM 2 years ago. I took it hunting once to make sure it was enough gun to kill a deer good and came home that night and pulled my good scope off my 270 and now hunt with only the 243 WSSM. I killed 2 good 8 points with it last year and have killed several big hogs. It is an AWESOME little round.

[wingman21]

I was once skeptical of the 22-250 and I was hunting with some friends on the MS river one weekend when a youngster shot a hefty white tail and the damage was nasty. I now own a 22-250. You can get relatively cheap bulk/range ammo or you can get varmint loads that are crazy fast, and I have had plenty of success with some of the heavier loads on deer. not much recoil if any.

[uncleC]

I'm a .243 man, myself....100gr. Nosler Partition out of a .243 is like shooting a deer with a bolt of lightning....

[Odis]

I agree, my son(he's 12) has killed 20+ deer with a .243, I killed a few with it also. We've had real good luck with the federal loads in 85 grain Barnes triple shocks, always get a pass through and all but 1-2 have dropped where they stood, the few that ran fell within sight there has been a blood trail. I'm pretty impressed with the bullet, it's bad news for the deer we have around here

[Anatidae]

We (wife & I) bought a pair of Model 70 Fwt's (XTR) in .257 Roberts back in the 80's. She normally shoots a .270 and was pleased with the relatively lighter recoil of the .257.

I have use mine for coyotes and deer with good results on both. I like the ability to load from 90gr to 120gr loads and settled on 100gr load for varmits and a 117gr for deer. I believe you can get a 130gr bullet, but I'm not impressed with the published ballistics. The .257 is very pleasant to shoot and very effective on deer with proper bullet placement. I load my own rounds so I'm not sure about availabilty of factory .257 ammo.

Even though the .243 is very popular and many are pleased with the performance, we've always been of the opinion that it is a hair light (energy-wise) for whitetails. That's just us, though. My wife also shot a 243 in Africa and had a bullet deflect in tall grass. So, she switched to the .270 as it was not effected by grass as much as the 243.

We had a Styer-Mannlicher full stock with double set triggers in .243 - Very nice rifle, but it was actually painful in recoil, so we sold it several years ago because we never used it.

[Deltaquack]

[Anatidae]

You can get it at gun shows sometimes. Otherwise, most of your reloading supply catalogs have factory un-primed brass for .257 Robts. i know Winchester produced un-primed brass for all of their standard cartridges at one time, and suspect they still do.

When I had my .264, I found some old Herter's brass for it and bought 10 boxes. Herter's brass (from what I understand) was made for them by Norma. It was really good stuff and I sold everything (including the 3 lbs of H870 machine gun powder that shot well in it) when I sold the rifle.......a pre-64 Model 70 Std. 26" stainless barrel with a 1:10 twist. 'Wish I still had it now.

[lower14]

I shoot a .257 Weatherby Magnum, and it's a great round. Long, flat, and delivers a big punch, even at long ranges. Rounds for it are obscenely expensive, so learn to load your own, or be a real good shot.

[Northbigmuddy]

I shoot a .257 Roberts. The rifle is a sporterized German military action my great grandmothers brother brought back from WWII. It was dusted off and set up when I started hunting and now I carry it for the nostalgia. It will put a deer down and is easy to shoot. Factory loads are going to be in the 117-120 grain range and run a few bucks more than other rounds. Not outrageous, but definitely higher priced. Availability is a bit of an issue seeing as store don't carry alot of it.

[KWAKHED]

I have shot over 25 deer with a 243. 100 grain power points. They ranged from 90 pound does to a 210 pound buck. None of which went farther than 50 yards. Longest shot I took was on a coyote @ 300 yds. and he dropped in his tracks.

[BR549]