FLEXIBLE rifle round

.243 Winchester.

If you limit your deer shots to 200 yards or so, .223 is pretty darned hard to beat for general use.
And brass can be had for free.
I would get the .223 in a bolt gun, though.
P.S. : The old .30-30 is a surprisingly versatile round for the handloader.
110 Sierra hollowpoints and 125 jacketed flat point bullets shoot flat and blow large exit wounds in lots of small to medium-sized critters.
 
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I shot out a couple of 30-06's using the 1 gun mentality. Since then I've switched over to the 308w + added the 223rem. The 308 can handles bullets from 200gr down to 110gr accurately. The 223's are so cheap it's hard not to have a 2nd rifle.

Cheap brass, cheap bullets, tons of excellent designs for cast bullets coupled with quality firearms that are being sold dirt cheap.

There's a lot of mfg's putting out quality firearms cheap, it's nothing to get moa accuracy with these +/- $250 rifles.

Not trying to start a brand war, everyone has their favorite spotted puppy. Simply stating what I put my $$$$ on and what I got for that $$$$.

I went with the savage axis rifles. They were selling them as a package deal for $300 with a $50 mail-in rebate. I sold the scope that came with it for another $50 & ended up with a $218 hb rifle in 223rem. I wanted to test a cheap rifle with my cheap reloads. The reloads consisted of free range brass and free lead from the berm turned into cores and free 22lr cases turned into 223 bullet jackets. I never did anything to that savage other than take it out of the box and clean the oil out of the bbl and check the action screws. Put my own 24x scope on it and took it to the range for a 40+/- shot bbl break-in & cleaned the bbl then shot this test target.
S8ceYpm.jpg

That target is nothing more than a ladder test/5-shot groups using mixed nato free range brass and free home swaged bullets. I've had excellent results with bl-c2 and 25.5gr using 55gr to 62gr bullets in several different rifles. No surprises here either. $218 rifle free mixed range brass/free home swaged bullets ='s sub moa. Never did anything to that rifle, it has a adjustable trigger & I've never even bothered to play with it. That's how a $218 rifle shot right out of the box.
Liked it enough that I bought a savage axis chambered in 308w that has a standard pencil bbl on it. It was another package deal that had the $50 mail in rebate & I sold the scope tha came with it for $50. The end result is another rifle for $218. I didn't bother to keep the targets but it was nothing to work up bl-c2 loads for that 308w with 130gr bullets and 180gr bullets & got both of them to do moa.

I'm currently working on cast loads for that savage axis chambered in 308w looking for a +/- moa +/- 1900fps load with free lead.

For under $500 you could get 2 rifles that will easily do moa. Savage & t/c compass rifles come to mind. 308w & 223rem
 
smoothshooter said:
.243 Winchester.

If you limit your deer shots to 200 yards or so, .223 is pretty darned hard to beat for general use.
And brass can be had for free.
I would get the .223 in a bolt gun, though.
P.S. : The old .30-30 is a surprisingly versatile round for the handloader.
110 Sierra hollowpoints and 125 jacketed flat point bullets shoot flat and blow large exit wounds in lots of small to medium-sized critters.
Click to expand...

what type of bullet would you recommend in .223 for whitetail? thanks
 
Unless you're able/willing to wait for a near perfect shot, I'd hesitate to use .223 on deer. Remember, it's close cousins (.222 & .222 Magnum) were designed to shoot groundhogs and similar vermin.

If you check the Fedingtonchester catalogs, websites and print ads, there are several loads put together for larger game. The Winchester 64 gr Power Point was supposedly designed as a deer bullet. Other companies make ammo aimed at the wild boar hunting crowd that should do-but remember on larger stuff around 160 yards/meters is about the maximum range in the game fields.

That said, you have to be careful about the rifling twist on any .223 that you're planning on using for something like this. You'll want a rifling twist no slower than 1-9 inches and many factory bolt guns use 1-12 which won't stabilize the longer, heavier bullets. I've found the Hornaday 75 gr HPBT (NOT the A-Max) stabilizes in a 1-9 twist barrel and apparently does good work at close range on deer sized targets. See last sentence in paragraph above, then cut it in half for the situations I mention.

The guys touting the 6.5 mm & up are right about all around usage, especially if you hunt the gas/power line rights of way for deer.
 
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Thankfully, the 223 is illegal for big game here in Colorado, so it's not a consideration for deer.

Anything from 243 to 308, 270 or 30-06 would work well.

Since weight isn't a concern for OP, the benefits of short actions are modest or nonexistent for him so the 243 - 308 aren't preferable to the 270 - 30-06.

Given the availability of lots of commercial ammo in various weights, the 30-06 is probably the choice.
 
The 243 is a great small to medium game rifle but 300 yards is stretching it.

The new 6mm and 270 are great middle of the road loads that can go 300 yards easy......

But if you have a HUGE big buck with rabies attacking you the 30 cal.
220gr bullet is the go to load, in my book !!
 
hillbillydruggist wrote:
I am going to focus on loading just this one caliber, it will be used for rats,coyotes,deer and 2 liter bottles, out to 300 yds.
Click to expand...

Every center-fire cartridge I currently have is some form of .22. I'm a big believer in it for the kinds of shooting that I do. That said, I have only used 223 Remington (60 grain spire soft point) on deer inside 100 yards and would be hesitant to go further for fear of not getting a clean kill.

When I considered going up to something in the 7mm to 7.62mm range, I asked a similar question on another forum about a year ago and got upwards of 100 responses; many with well-reasoned explanations for their recommendations. The consensus ended up with the 308 Winchester owing to: 1) vast array of bullet weights, 2) broad range of compatible powders, 3) large number of firearms chambered for it, 4) availability of both inexpensive as well as premium components, 5) wide range of inexpensive as well as premium commercial ammunition for times you don't want to (or can't) use handloads.

I think that builds a compelling case for the 308, but the part of me that was long ago seduced by lighter bullets traveling at high velocity still makes me hesitate. Still, I like to reload - a lot. The potential to do so less expensively by selecting the 308 means that's probably the direction I'll go when I decide to buy my next rifle.
 
Being as I am old school, I would choose the 6MM Remington or a 257 Roberts. Both are excellent cartridges and brass and bullets are available all over. I have a 264 win mag, but that is gross overkill for what You want. Good luck with what You choose.
 
Can't believe that very few are mentioning it, but all the cool kids are moving over to 6.5grendel. Pushing close to .308 performance out of small action/AR-15 sized platform. I encourage you to look into it.

I had a bare AR-15 lower and couldn't stomach another 5.56. Went researching and 6.5grendel checked a lot of boxes about range, performance, energy, capacity, reloadability, components, mags, weight, etc.
 
STCM(SW) said:
My choice is a 25-06. Will take small to large game and has no kick.
When hunting something big a 30-06 or my 340 WBY magnum.
Click to expand...

Darn, you beat me to it! For 40 years I've been enamored by the .25-06, it was my first centerfire rifle.

Very versatile cartridge, I've used it for groundhogs, hunting deer and even a bear hunt in Canada.

85 gr to 90 gr bullets are tops for varmint hunting. If I could see a groundhog it was in mortal danger when that rifle was in my hands.

The 100 gr to 120 gr bullets I used for larger game and again that rifle never failed me. I would not hesitate to use it on Elk if I had the opportunity, though I would use a Nosler partition for this application.
 
For practical purposes I would take a 308 Win. It can be used for
a wide variety of bullet weights and factory ammo. It being NATO
standard makes it easy to find and will be around longer than any
of us. It has been prooven to be a very accurate cartridge and rifles for it are made in many makes and models. If the question
include big game other than deer I would have said 30/06 and if
it didn't include deer it would be the 223 for many of the same reasons as the 308. When it comes to taking deer a 22CF rifle
is capable of killing them but so is a 22rf. There is a difference between deer hunting and deer shooting.
 
I would go with a rifle in 308 Win as it's been my favorite on Deer the past 3 years. I have lots of rifles in 30-06, 270, 243, 25-06 but the 308 has been my go to rifle. I have a Savage Model 14 in 308 and it's excellent.
 
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A DUAL PURPOSE WITHIN A DUEL PURPOSE

Load 2 different 100 gr bullets (1 for varmints & 1 for deer) in the same caliber. (I do it with the 25-06) You can shoot varmints OR deer by simply changing ammo WITHOUT a scope adjustment, quite often. Do you want any hide/fur left on those yotes? :D
 
nachogrande said:
Load 2 different 100 gr bullets (1 for varmints & 1 for deer) in the same caliber. (I do it with the 25-06) You can shoot varmints OR deer by simply changing ammo WITHOUT a scope adjustment, quite often. Do you want any hide/fur left on those yotes? :D
Click to expand...

what kind of bullet for each critter? thanks
 
I considered the one gun for most anything question way back in the 1970s. I was a apprentice and not yet making the good money.

I considered as many points of view as I could, (other gun people, magazines and my own knowledge) and settled on the 25.06. I got it in a Rem 700 BDL. Even today I still have valid arguments why it was the right choice then and would again pick it to fill your job description today. I was also a hand loader and for about 10 years that was my go to rifle.

I still have the rifle and shoot it on occasion and it still brings a smile to my face!:cool:
 
Today it comes down to, if you want a Semi-auto, short action, "Black rifle
or the long action bolt rifle for the longer brass, like 270, 30-06.?

Auto's are pretty accurate with todays custom barrels and high dollar scopes...........

but being old fashioned, I like the slow bolt action, for my accuracy.
 
At the risk of being laughed out of town, the old, lowly .30-30 is more versatile than most people think. Muzzle blast is not too bad, and expensive, high-performance bullets are not required.

•110 gr. Sierra JHP or other lightweight bullets will do serious terminal damage on coyotes and groundhogs out to 200 yards. There are at least three varmint bullets available that are flat-nosed enough for using in a tube magazine safely. I have seen or personally shot many three and five shot groups with these bullets at 100 yards that were less than 1 1/2" diameter, with a fair number of those at an inch or slightly smaller ( with a scope ).

• 150 to 170 grain bullets will take care of the bigger game you mentioned out to 200 yards. Including elk.

Yes, I know it's only 200 yards, but seriously, how many of us actually kill game past that distance?
Honestly?
 
My son has three reasons he thinks the 7mm-08 is the perfect rifle round. He is also a big fan of WDM Bell and his 7 x 57.
 

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