Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Picking from the 308 family

yep

I own or have owned the .243, 7mm-08, .308 and .338, but have only taken various numbers of whitetails with them, so I don't have a diverse experience to offer.

Straight up 7mm and 338.

Cool factor 260 and 358 (maybe??)

One and only 308

My impressions so far, they all lay stuff on the ground without a lot of fuss, recoil, noise. They are a great family of cartridges.

KC

I would do:

260 Rem (coyote's, deer and can handle moose and elk)
308 Win (moose and elk but still can work for deer)

If you want a third one how about a 243 Win as a dedicated coyote rifle which of course still works for deer.

I have both, and the 308 will not outperform the 338 with 200gn bullets. Certainly not within his stated range of 200m. Lots of really good .338cal 200gn bullets. The 338 shines <400 yds. The higher BC of 30 cal or 7mm bullets catch up ~400 and shine at longer ranges.

A 160 TTSX at 3060 out of the 338 will do all he needs. Or, for moose and bears at closer ranges a 210 Partition at 2600. I'm also a big fan of the 308 as well. 165-180 Partition for short ranges, 155 Scenar for longer.

Awful lot of incest (overlap) in the family. Any of your choices will do anything you asked. The 243 is a little light on moose and big deer and the 358 is a little big for the small stuff.
The 260, 7, 308 and 338 are best for a one caliber solution and the original or the 7 are probably best but it all depends on what you like. There are no wrong answers.

243 with 105's

7-08 with 162's

308 and 125's for the light stuff and 150/168's for the big stuff.

Could always go to a .350, not really in the family, maybe a 2nd cousin, but still a short action round that would be a bit better for the heavy stuff than a .308.

My picks are .243, .308, and .350. Shooting them back to back really illustrates the difference in recoil.

Some of you guys aren't reading the OP. He wants us to pick 2-3 of the calibers in his post to cover everything from coyotes to moose, not pick just one. For 2 choices, I see the 243 and 308 to be the best 2 choices. I see no need for 3 choices.

Get just one for game.

308 if you don't reload.
7-08 if you do reload.


If you need to save coyote fur, then get a 243 too (though I'd get a 223 instead).

.308x2

My .257 Roberts is my favorite rifle and gets used for light varminting with 75g V-MAX, antelope and deer with 110g AccuBond and 100g TTSX and (although I have yet to harvest one with it, elk with 120g A-Frame bullets.

If buying a new rifle I would get a .260 Remington instead.

So, for me, the lineup would look like this:

.260 Rem
.308 Win

23" sporter .260 for 100-130gr stuff, including coyotes (123amax).

21" mag-sporter .308 for 165-168gr stuff.

308 with a good bullet will give a lot of performance on bigger game. 308 also offers a huge bullet selection for low recoil for the lighter stuff. I really like the 260, but for bigger stuff I prefer the 308.

.260 for the win....

If you'd shoot it with a .270 Win..... then you'd shoot it with a 130/140 .260 bullet..... no critter would ever know the difference.

If you like 105s outta the .243...... then 123s at 2950 outta the .260 will make you smile..... and NUKE coyotes....

Kids.... Ladies.... and even Puzzies like me..... can shoot it all day. If I had to pick one round for all my needs.... it's the .260.

If you can only have one, the 308 is the winner. If you can have two, add the 243. Having said the above in reply to the OP, my favorite of the family is the 7mm-08. It will do all I need to do and do it well.

If you don't reload .243 and 308. If you do, buy whatever you want. I'm very partial to the 308 and the 338 Federal. One of my favorite hunting rifles is a 338 Federal.

In reviewing this entire thread, and having used all mentioned, you can't go wrong with any suggestions or opinions stated herein.

Now, we just need BigStick to come into the thread and tell us all why we are stupid and why we are all wrong.

If I was going for 2 rifles off a .308 case it would be a .308 lever(Savage 99, Winchester 88, BLR or if you want to really go all out...Sako) and a .308 bolt action(probably in stainless)...

308 & 243 for the woods work.


308 & 257 for whatever.