Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting New hunt area. 243, 7-08 or 308

I'm hunting in a new area this year. I've been hunting in South Georgia and as thick as the "jungle" is around here you could probably kill deer with a hammer. I've invested in a new club this year in middle Georgia and there are a lot of clear cuts that are maybe 300 to 400 yards apart. The clear cuts are bottoms and are surrounded by ridges. You can easly sit on a ridge and see the deer in the clear cuts. Some shots may be out to 300 yards. I'm not real comfortable shooing further than that. I can't decide on what to use. I have a Rem. Model 7 in 7-08 shooting 130 grain Federals, Model 7 in .308, using 150 gr. Feds. and a Ruger Model 77 International in 243 shooting 100 gr Feds. Also I have a Model 600 Mohawk in .308 and a couple of Savage 99's in 308 and .300 Savage. In yall's opinion what would be the best for a 250 to 300 yard shot as far as trajectory and terminal killing power at those distances. I am most comfortable with the .243 having shot a couple of large does (170 lbs.) at about 250 yrds. with it a few years back. The bucks in this new area may range up to 200 lbs.

At 300yrds any of those will do. Pick the one that you have the most confidence in, then take it out and shoot at the longest distants expected from field positions. Confidecne in your ability is key and the only way to get confidence is practice!

If you do not reload take the 7-08, the 308 with the ammo and shoot some groups at 300 yrds and see which is more capable. If you find some ammo that shoots well go buy as much of it as you can in the same lot number. Factory ammo will change between lot numbers.

I'd either go for the 7-08 or the 308. These will work great out to the range you are talking about (and even farther). Just get out and practice.

At this point in my life I"d suggest the 308 personally, 165ish bullets.

That being said all I had for years was a 243 with 105 grain hot cores and later 100 partitions and solid bases and finally sierra 100 flat bases..... That gun was easy good out well beyond 300 yards, just had to be careful about bullet placement. The real trick to longer shots is KNOWING where they were and being able to locate that first track, with hair laying on the ground and follow the blood trail on out....

Good luck, Jeff

308.

BMT

350 yards is a chip shot for any of those. take the one you like best. a 200lb deer at 400yds is dead every day of the week with a halfass well placed shot.

RGF - Which one of your rifles shoots the best at 300 yards? That's the one I'd pick. Even the little .243 has plenty of power to make a clean kill at 300 yards. It's a matter of accuracy, and particularly, which rifle you're most comfortable with, most competent with.

My 13 year old son took his first mule deer at 275 yards with one 95 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip from a little old 6mm Remington, which is about the same as your .243 Winchester. That bullet ruined her lungs & tore up the heart pretty good then exited through the off-side leg, shattering the bone... I thought that was pretty good performance for a little cartridge and he was just a little bit proud of himself too!

If you're going to be making those 300 - 400 yard shots, consider making sure you've got a nice scope and a good rest. Bipod or shooting sticks at a minimum. Makes steadying the rifle a whole lot easier. A little practice at 300 yards, and you'll be good to go, heck, that's the distance where I sight-in most of my hunting rifles.

Regards, Guy

+1 to Guy's comments

I wouldn't worry about the 300 shots. Its kinda hard to see deer over 250 yards in a clearcut. A buck running around 300 yards out in a cut will drive you nuts trying to get a shot. There's just so much stuff to get in the way. Go walk across the ones you intend to hunt and you'll get a better idea of how your targets will present.

You can get some heavy deer around there, so I'd not opt for the .243 given that you have others. 7-08 with 140 gr BTs is about ideal if the rifle will shoot. The .308 won't do any better wind or trajectory-wise.

perhaps you ought to come out to my neck of the woods where clearcuts can offer shots from the muzzle to beyond what the rangefinder will proof....clearcut shooting can be a hell of a lot more than 250 yds.


this buck bit it from better than 400 yds away, in a clear cut you could not see through......but from a ways off you could look in all the "holes"




this a pic of a bear in a clear cut at 750 yards





hunting clear cuts can be done from a long ways off.

That looks pretty sweet, except for having to climb up those hills. Prolly not any harder than wading briars, though.

In middle GA, the vegetation grows faster and while the elevation doesn't change as much there's certainly more relief to the topography. That bear would be hidden by briars and broomstraw and about to drop into a ditch. You wouldn't be high enough above him to see unless you were on top of a ridge. If on top of a ridge your view would be obscured by trees.

Before shooting the area, beg/borrow/steal a LRF and get an accurate idea of the distances involved. You need to know if the shot is 250 or 350. That's the difference between a hit and a miss (or a wound)

Not a bad suggestion, about using a rangefinder.

As for the cartridge my personal preference is for the .308 and heavier range of bullets, but best to go with what you're most accurate and most confident with.