.243 versus 7mm-08

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Seems to me that the idea of a 16" carbine-length barrel woulld pretty much negate the primary benefit of the .243--velocity, so of the two choices I'd pick the 7mm08. I'm happy with mine.

Nothing inherently wrong with a rather-short .243; my 19" Sako has let me put tags on 20 pretty decent bucks with the little Sierra 85-grain HPBT. Ignorance is bliss, of course; nobody ever told me you couldn't hit the white spot out beyond a hundred yards. The 55-grain load works well on prairie dogs, I discovered last year.
 
How do you know whether you will encounter a small black bear or a large black bear, and therefore which rifle to bring?
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You mean you haven't gotten yourself the Knight & Hale "Huntin Crystal Ball" yet? I use mine a lot! :p

Krochus, you hunt "sloths"?!? :eek:
 
if you plan to handload, go with the 260 remington. Anything the 243 or the 7-08 will do, you can do better with a 260. Balistics are superior to either one and there are a great selection of bullets available from super light varmint grenades to heavy for caliber long range types in 6.5mm. and recoil is still minimal even with the heavier loads.
 
I've enjoyed this thread. I'm sure the 7mm08 is a fine cartridge, but my "go to" caliber is the .308. That being true, I'm a fan of the .243 for the lower end of my hunting rifles. All the arguments made in favor of the 7mm08 over the .243 can be used to give the edge to the .243 over the .223. So I recently dropped the .223 from my battery, giving that role to the .243. Anything the .243 is too big for now gets handled by the .22WMR.
 
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The .243 does just fine on large deer. This buck ran 30-35 yards after being hit with a 95 grain SST from the T/C encore. I don't know about a 16-18" barrel but the 28" makes them fly very very well. I agree the 7-08 is a great caliber but the .243 will flatten a deer no problem.
 
I've owed a couple .243's. and not impressed with it's performance on large deer. My brother really likes his for coyotes. IMO bullet construction is an issue for the .243. It may be difficult to construct a bullet that penetrates and expands realiably at all ranges in that weight, 100 grains, at the speeds
over that range. Just speculation though. I'd go with the 7-08, especially to reload.
 
On windy days in the CA desert the .243 w/ 85 grain PSPs really shone over my partner's .22-250. He'd be patterning three feet off while I was hitting the target. On calm days (shooting 55 gr bullets) he'd hold his own, but, when hunting yodel DAWGs or long range plinking the wind was often unpredictable. And neither of us had to fret over a possible broken clavicle if we hastily mounted the rifles.

And, if you want to enjoy extended bench shooting sessions while looking for that magic hand load the .243 is a sweet caliber, while the 7mm-08 can lose its luster after 20 rds.

I don't see the 7mm as a crossover caliber. I think of it as in the .308 class, and that makes it a little heavy for varminting. It would be a shame to have a rifle that's not well suited to set up over a prairie DAWG town or a field of eastern whistlepigs. (groundhogs)

And, a well placed 6mm bullet in the neck of nearly any sized whitetail will corkscrew it right into the ground. Neck shots are not only extremely effective on deer but they will save meat.

If you're set up to shoot with a high degree of accuracy and practice regularly you'll reliably hit what you're aiming at, and you'll harvest game. And, those unusual long shots at trophy critters will take care of themselves.

I read of a big game guide out west who carried a 99 Savage in .243, and that other feller who kayak'ed around the North Pole years ago took only a .243 with him. When he heard polar bears outside his tent he fired the rifle through the tent wall, and the next morning he found blood and no bears. Obviously if he was tooled up for polar bear (which have no enemies in their environment and fear nothing) then he'd destroy any other game he wished to harvest, and the rifle would be unsuitable for 99% of his needs.

I've never heard any .243 proponents apologize for their rifle's field or range performance, have you?
 
The 243 cal. is a great round for deer to 200 yds. It is light and depending on your level of expertise in marksman ship you would not have problems with this rifle. For your criteria of 400 yds the 7mm-08 is the way to go. My personal favorite is the 30-06 using a 110gr if you reload or a 125 gr remington core-lokt which can be purchased at stores, recoil is comparable to the 243, I have a muzzlebreak on mine...(bad shoulder) which drops recoil to about .223 rem, using a 150gr bullet.
 
I will go ahead and say the most "versitile" cartridge out there hasn't been mentioned yet....a 270. :cool:
 
While I like .243 very much, and mine holds dime sized groups, it is just not a carbine caliber.

If it must be shot out of a 16-18" barrel and be effective on medium sized light skinned game out to 400 yards, I'd go with the 7mm-08 of the two choices you gave.
 
7mm-08 for sure. I have taken countless coyotes on windy days when I was glad I had my .243 instead of one of my .22's but for deer size game, why not have a lot more bullet options with the 7.
 
okierifleman, from a practicality standpoint for hunting, bullet options for 6mm and 7mm are sorta six of one, half-dozen of the other. The 7 probably has more target-option applications, but that's about it, really...

From a utility and variety standpoint, the 6mm might come out ahead. You have the 55-grain as well as 70 or 85 for varmints, but the 85 will double for deer. Then you have the 95- and 100-grain bullets commonly used for Bambi. Both 6 and 7 do the flat-base/boat-tail and soft-point/hollow-point thing. Most 7mm folks tend toward 100-grain, 139/140 and then 160s...
 
Take a close look at the .260 Remington. It's a very good cartridge for what you described and far better than the .243 -- of course you could go with a .270 Win for a little better performance.
 
bpl:
How do you know whether you will encounter a small black bear or a large black bear, and therefore which rifle to bring?
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Exactly why I carried a 350RM or 358W when hunting whitetail in lower British Columbia! And, rifled slugs when tromping for pheasant or chukar! Even slung the 350 aross my back for early trout season. I abandoned a few strings of fish to hairy things while backing away slowly.
 
Just a crazy idea though it doesn't particularly fit your criteria too well: the .358 Winchester. It's not the ideal for your description, but it's extremely versatile and a great handloader's round, so I felt like highlighting it.

400 yards? Not unless you're a good judge of range. But, it is extremely versatile and does well out of short barrels. It'll drop deer where they stand and do a fantastic job on black bear, elk, etc. With the right bullets, it won't destroy tons of meat as well. It's also a big enough bore size that it can be very effective with cast bullets.

For long-range varminting, it doesn't offer a whole lot, but at short range, you can load it with just about any .357 magnum bullet and expect explosive results.

Just a crazy idea, I'll put on my Nomex now:eek:
 
though I am personally in love with all things 243, the 7, especially if you handload, is better. You can get 180 grain 7mm bullets, and handload them to about 2700 fps through a 7.08. that ain't bad my friend. Even the 243, if handload, tops out at about 32to 3300 fps, with a 90 grain bullet, you can do that with the 7 with a 120 grain bullet, if handloading.
 
I own and use both 243 and a 7-08 Imp.

For Whitetails and other medium game I would go with the 7-08.
For any smaller game the 243 will do just fine.

Let your choice be the one you will spend the most time with, and your next rifle can be the other.

You aren't going to let your rifle get all lonely are you?

FWIW
 
7mm-08 all the way...!

24" tube...yea, 2 to 4 inches of barrel aint gonna cause you a hernia and unless your getting in and out of a vehicle, armored personnel carrier, boat or aircraft, under fire and you must be ready to shoot upon exit...the extra length aint a problem either!

That extra few inches makes a BIG difference.....oh boy!
 
You can get 180 grain 7mm bullets, and handload them to about 2700 fps through a 7.08. that ain't bad my friend. Even the 243, if handload, tops out at about 32to 3300 fps, with a 90 grain bullet, you can do that with the 7 with a 120 grain bullet, if handloading.
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Are you confused with the 7mm Remington Magnum? No way you are getting those velocities within SAAMI pressure limits shy of an extra long barrel. A .308 can get in that neighborhood, but not a 7mm-08.
 
I am another former .243 shooter that doesn't like them. Poor performance on big game, not really a varmit round either. I don't know of anyone who has shot both on game that doesn't prefer the 7-08.
 
Gee, Ridgerunner, I wish I'd known about the 24" deal before I wasted my money on my 19" carbine.
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:eek: Let me clarify my previous post a bit...

I have a 20" 243, its a Remington 700 youth model (I bought it for the youngsters in the hunting club whose parents are willing to let them hunt with me....but won't let them have a gun of their own)

I had to drop down to 85 grain bullets because of the barrel length...with 100 grain Hornady Spire Points it would only get 2,600 fps with maxed out reloads, and even then the accuracy wasn't so good...not to mention keyholes in the target at 300 yards (not enough velocity for the 1 in 9.125" twist to stabilize the heavy bullets)

Now I know beginners ain't gonna be shootin 300 yards, not with me supervising...but I wanted the rifle and load to be capable, just because.

With the 85 grain Barnes TSX...it will get 3,000 fps with a warm load of RL19, and it will hit the target at 300 yards, but "in my opinion"...100 grain bullets are better (and definitely cheaper). The Barnes is the only 85 grain bullet (light bullet) that I would trust for deer size game.

I'm sure many will disagree with me on that, thats OK...then we can have the old "light and fast vs. heavy and slow" argument all over again...:)

In a nutshell...the 243 often loses nearly 100 fps per inch below 24 inches. (that does vary depending on the load, barrel, chamber, etc.)
 
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You guys are being a little ridiculous. I like both cartridges, and possibly favor the 7mm b/c I'm no varmint hunter and I live in maine where a long shot is 100 to 200 yds. so even if I were to use it on coyotes it would still be fairly close range and I would feel just as comfortable with shooting them with a 7mm. But the .243 is a GREAT whitetail round and has plenty of energy, with proper bullet selection and a 100gr+ bullet it is capable of taking elk at 100 yds. Would I rather shoot an elk with a 7mm, yes. Many of you guys out gun yourselves a .30-30 used to be thought of as a great elk cartridge, now many will say that a .30-30 is only good as a sub 100 yrd. whitetail gun. The 7mm is great as a target gun and for game from whitetail on up, the .243 is great for deer species including mule deer on down and is also great for pronghorn, but can shine as a varmint cartridge and is equally good as a target shooting cartridge. But ask yourself what you really expect to do with this gun especially in a 16-18" barrel, it probably doesn't involve varmints so go with the 7mm08.
 
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