260, 7mm-08, & 308

[BCM1323654788]

Hey guys,

If you had the choice of the three which would you choose for deer hunting inside 100 yards and why? Keep in mind that I'm wanting to prepare for the elusive 180-220lb whitetail that is seldom seen, although most of my kills would be 6 pointers on average at about 35 yards.

The rifle I want weighs about 7.25lbs scoped and loaded, so I'm watching recoil of bullets weighing over 140 grains and will be trying to tailor powder charges accordingly.

I have the Hornady 10th edition reloading manual, and I've been studying it, but I don't have any real-world experience shooting anything less than 30-06 180-grain factory loads in a 9lb rifle. I just want to try something new, and kinda have that new rifle itch.

I'm also not sure how well the longer bullets fit into the magazine with a stock short action rifle, and what's actually possible?

I like big blood trails that start immediately and deer that don't run over 25 yards after being hit!

Thanks in advance!

 

[tas6691]

of what you listed 260 Rem fits the bill. 7/08 would be a great choice as well.

{ personally go with 257 Roberts...but rifle availability and factory ammo are limited.

If you handload 260 or 7/08 can be loaded to your wants/needs. In my mind the 260 will do anything a 6.5 Creedmore will do. Again, not a huge selection in factory chambered rifles, but a great round for sure.

 

[BCM1323654788]

Thanks for the reply tas, what would you say is your ideal bullet weight and feet per second when it comes to the 260 rem in the aforementioned scenario? And at what bullet weight and velocity would you say that it would start to produce "baby-30-06 recoil"?

Thanks

 

[YOTESHOOTER]

Are you looking to use the same bullet of multiple guns that can shoot the same diameter bullet, then consider this, you can standardize on bullets for many different rifles with the same diameter bullets, powder, and primers,

just a simple suggestion to strongly consider...

.25 diameter,............257Wby, 257 Roberts, 25-06, 257 Roberts Imp, 257 Ackley Improved
7-08 .........................284 7mm, 7mm WBY, 280,
.264 .........................6.5 creedmoor, 6.5/300 Wby, 260, 26NOSLER, 264 mag
.308 ........................308, 300 Mag, 300Wby, 30.06, 300blk

and the list can growth even bigger...

 

[heystranger]

Model Seven Remington in 7MM08. Hard to beat. 139 grain bullet

 

[whiskerz]

Any one of those calibers will work fine. If you want less recoil Hornady loads a lite recoil load in 308 and a few other calibers. You can load fairly soft in .308 and have options from 110-220 grain bullets.

 

[BCM1323654788]

Thanks for the reply's guys!

YoteShooter That's a great idea to consider once I have that many rifles! Right now I'm just wanting to reload so I can fine tune this one rifle and know that I'm not limited to the given parameters of factory loadings. Once that is complete I may start to reload some .38 special for my model 15 Smith. I have other rifles, but they weigh more and have less desirable features than this new one would have, so they probably won't see much action after the new one is decided upon.

heystranger I bet that model seven recoil's pretty light doesn't it? Do you know how many feet per second you're running out of it with those 139's? I'm also interested in hearing how much of a blood trail you get with it regularly?

Whiskerz I'll definitely be reloading my own loads for it, but from what I've read, the 30 cal bullets in the 125 and under range usually break apart inside the deer and don't pass through (just from a few minutes of reading reviews on midway-not saying they can't), and I'm not sure about the effectiveness against a larger deer with such a low sectional density at .196 on a 130gr hornady sp. when the other options seem to be better starting points. But if you're having success with those or something similar I'd definitely like to hear about it because that's why I posted this thread, to see what's working well for others and help base my decision upon that.


Guys I also found this handy recoil calculator to compare the different loads against each other.
http://www.handloads.com/calc/recoil.asp

 

[heystranger]

Recoil is very light. My then 11 year old grandson killed his first deer with mine (I was in the stand with him) . Proud grandpa moment. I dont know the speed of the bullet,I shoot factory ammo in this rifle. I do reload for several calibers but not this one. I have never had an issue with not finding blood either. I try to head /neck shoot when possible . Of all my rifles, this is my go to rifle I am most comfortable with. Model Seven in 7MM-08 is a perfect match. My opinion.

 

[BCM1323654788]

Heystranger Well, that's saying a lot. This is the kind of information I'm looking for. This go-to most comfortable gun is what I'm hoping to duplicate. Thanks for your input.

 

[killerv]

My first full year with a rem model 7 708 with 120bt handloads, 9yo son shooting also shooting a model 7 youth with handloaded youth loads. I switched from a 270 just to try something new. Lovin the 708 so far, a buddy has been shooting one for 20 years and I finally decided to try one. All three you mentioned are great 100 yards an in.