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Sounds like a good spot for a M77 tang safety or M70 Featherweight in .257 Roberts. Happy Trails

I was thinking he needed to make the .270 the middle and add a 9.3 x 62. But if he doesn't hunt any "big" critters, not a great plan.

Sounds like a good spot for a M77 tang safety or M70 Featherweight in .257 Roberts. Happy Trails

Now there's an idea! If you're going to limit yourself to just three, why not have something a bit special?

I filled a gap in my own "battery" with almost exactly this some years back, though mine has a 7x57R rifle barrel rather than 6.5. It is a very fine and versatile little gun too, with which I have hunted everything from birds to rabbits to deer.

dan,

Sounds wonderful!

I really kind of wanted a 7x57R myself, but this one came along at the right time. I've hunted the same variety of game with it that you have with yours.

257 is the statistical in between.

With that being said, I do not see a gap to fill. Were I to add a rifle to that group, my choice would be a 338-06 or a 300 H&H.

Instead of thinking of a cartridge , maybe consider a different rifle action. I think with your .223 and .270 covering just about everything, the third rifle could be a single shot like a Ruger 1A in 7x57 or .257 Roberts. Just for when you feel like hunting with something different.

While a .270 would not be my first choice for shooting big bears, I have seen mine run a 110 grain TTSX through a godawful amount of bone and still exit. It would work and work well. A .223 would work just fine on anything lesser. To me that leave a different action for a little different purpose.as the best third rifle. For many years I have brought a Marlin 30-30 along deer hunting as a backup rifle. I use it as my first choice for tracking and dispatching wounded deer. It is small, light and accurate. Barnes 150 grain TSXs at 2400 FPS provide all the range I need. It has a 1-4x20 Leupy down very low to the receiver so it handles very quickly..

308 or 243

Bookends = .22 Hornet & .416 Rigby. 3 gun battery? OMG! I can't, I can't !!!!

I'd slip something in .280 Rem in between those two if I was inclined to have a three gun battery with .416 at the top end. That's a heck of a span, though.

243... ideal on larger varmints, antelope and deer.

A 223, 243, and 270 has always been my “Ultimate-Practical Montana Battery.”

The 243 can step in to realistically handle the work of the 270 (bear, elk, moose) should the 270 be “indisposed.” The 223 is to the 243, what the 243 is to the 270... ie, it can handle the same chores, but in a lighter recoiling guise.

A bit of redundancy/overlap is desirable in a “battery.”

-Or- you could just get three 6.5 Creedmoors of differing weight, barrel length, and optics aboard...

257

As always.... This.

But if you must something with a 257 in it.

I would go with the .243 or 6mm Rem. It would be worlds better than the .223 in open country/high winds, and will take an Antelope or Deer if you don't have the .270 with you.

I don't mind them either, for other people. Musta been a Democrat hanging by his tail from my family tree somewhere.

7" twist 6mm would be my pick, probably the Creedmoor.

This is probably the best recommendation of the lot, especially if you disregard the last sentance.

drover

There isn't a whole lot that doesn't fit between that .416 and the Hornet!

Roberts. Case closed.

My personal feeling is that rifles in three chamberings simply do not provide enough flexibility in minutiae arguments. Thirty is a good start.