Need order to my chaos

[HueyThump]

After poking around a bit, I've come to the conclusion that I need a rifle to fill a currently unoccupied niche in my collection. Deer, antelope, bear and maybe elk is the quarry, but the rifle/caliber combination is where I'm stuck. I've narrowed it down to four rifles and three calibers:

Rem 783, Ruger American, Tikka T3, Rem 788
.308, .243, 7mm-08

Suggestions for a fourth caliber to this fray are warmly welcomed. In a perfect world, I could afford all four rifles, each in their own different caliber. As it stands, I have to pick one first and save for the next.

For glass, I have a Springfield Armory 6x40 Govt Model 7.62 that has no home, but would probably consider getting a Redfield Revolution or something else...all depends on what the final combo turns out to be.

How would you rack and stack 'em?

 

[Field Tester]

Those are some small cartridges for that big of game.
What do you currently own?

 

[Centurian22]

.308 ruger American hands down no contest above the rems, don't know anything about the Tikka's but hear good things. The Savage Axis gen 1 or Gen 2 could also be considered comparable to the list but I think the American might still win. If you reload you can make .308 fill MANY rolls and even some / most with available commercial ammo.

.308 is absolutely acceptable for all above mentioned animals (depending on the species of bear of course).

 

[jim243]

Deer, antelope, bear and maybe elk is the quarry

Across open areas it would be the 270 that would do the job, as to rifle?? don't know but a T-3 would be a good choice or the Ruger, I'd stay away from Remingtons.

Jim

 

[Davek1977]

I'm not sure hat the naysayers are talking about...the .308 is sufficeint for deer, antelope, bear, and elk, and personally only see the .243 as a "questionable" choice for bears and elk (though a good number of either animal has been harvested with the .243). Personally, I'd go with the 7mm-08 in the American, out of the choices given.

 

[viking499]

For the animals that you listed, take the 243 off the list. Flip a coin between the other two.

Rifle choice would be Tikka first and second. CZ or Savage third.

 

[js8588]

Tikka in 7mm-08

 

[bannockburn]

Given the choices I would go with a .308 with the Ruger American first and the Tikka T3 in a close second.

 

[js8588]

Were I to select a rifle and caliber for the purposes you enumerated, I would likely pick up a Ruger Predator in 6.5 Creedmoor http://www.ruger.com/products/HawkeyePredator/models.html

 

[Texaszach]

30-06?

 

[ZGunner]

I would say Tikka in .308.

 

[elkhunterCO]

I like the 25-06 for a smaller, flat shooting, deer/antelope gun

 

[Frostbite]

I would go for the Tikka in .270 Winchester or the .308 you already mentioned. Similar recoil, but more bullet options for the .308 and more effective range for the .270. So, if your preys are always closer than 300 yards, I would opt for the .308. If you hunt open fields a lot, .270.

 

[Davek1977]

I'll never understand when someone lists several options they are considering, then people jump in suggesting myriad other calibers and models, when several of his listed options are perfectly sufficient for what he wants the rifle to do. It makes no sense to me. I mean, sure the Predator in 6.5 Creedmore COULD do what he wanted it to, but....he listed common factory loadings, making me think that ease of finding ammo is a concern......Every shop will have .243 and .308 ammo normally, but once you start getting even a tiny bit "exotic", even to the point of the 7mm-08, and availability declines rapidly, even more-so for cartridges like the 6.5.

There's no reason a .308 in any model he listed wouldn't be sufficient for the game he has listed, unless he's talking about extreme ranges or grizzly/brown bears. Otherwise, many dead critters will tell you the .308 performs just fine on game of that class.

 

[horsemen61]

Tikka all the way my friend has the hunter model in 270 and has killed all of the above game and it is awesome so awesome in fact that when I found one for sale in 308 I promptly bought that's my choice tikka t3 lite308 you can carry it all day long on a hunt my first load work up five shoots at a 100 yards you could cover with a quater

 

[WestKentucky]

.270 is quite versatile and was my choice 13 years ago. I have not yet regretted it. It has dropped several nice whitetail in short order and is very easy to find good factory ammo or to handload. I haven't got the chance yet to try bear or elk. My close second choice would be .308 as it is just as good but not quite as fast so has a slightly more pronounced rainbow trajectory. It does shoot fatter and heavier bullets though so it's a better choice for elk but it's a bit much forbear and whitetail.

My choice in rifle would still be rem700 followed by ruger American, then savage axis.

 

[HueyThump]

What do you currently own?

I have a couple winchester 94's (30-30, 375 Win) and a Rem 700 in 300 WinMag. I have a 3-9x40 on the 700 and plan to keep the 94's iron sights only.

 

[gamestalker]

For that broad of hunting I would go with something better suited.

7 mag. would fill the bill quite well. But then again I've had no problem putting elk down with both the 30-06 and the .270 win.. I've dropped elk,bear and oryx with the .270 win with a 130 gr. Speer Hot Core @ 3100 fps..

GS