Using the Same Rifle, different calibers?

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chad1043

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So I have a problem I need to talk about. I'm buying two rifles, one in .223 to hunt yotes and punch paper and one in .308 to hunt deer and such, not so much a paper puncher...

I was wondering if I would be better off buying the SAME rifle in both calibers or does it not really matter?

Any insight?
 
I don't think it matters much if they match. Depending on how much of each you do though, you could probably accomplish the same with one rifle. Something like a .243 or .260 Remington would work. Even if you want to stick with .308, you can use the 110-gr or 130-gr loads for vermin. In deer hunting, you're only likely to make one or two shots on a particular hunt, and for coyote hunting, I'd guess an extremely productive day might involve 10 shots? A .308 doesn't kick so bad that you couldn't shoot it 10 times or even have a nice day at the range. It isn't like you are setting up on a groundhog colony and planning to shoot 100 times in a day in which case the .223 makes more sense.

Just thinking out loud, but if you stick with one gun, you can get a nicer gun, nicer optics, and plenty of ammo for what it would costs you to get two similar rifles setup. The $1000 or so it costs to setup a nice rifle would buy a good bit of .308 paper punching ammo.

A slightly different option might be to get an AR-15 with a .223 upper and a 6.5 Grendel upper. That might not save you much over a pair of bolt guns though, but it would be the same shooting experience more or less.
 
Mach, I was figuring about 2000 rds. That's more than most hunters will put through a rifle in a lifetime. Still a good bit for a casual shooter.
 
It depends on if one is no good. Then you wouldn't want two of that one. For example, I wouldn't want two Savage 11BTH rifles, or two Remington SPS Tacticals. One of either would be all that I could handle. But if I could get a lefty Winchester M70 Featherweight in both 257 Roberts and 7mm-08, that wouldn't be a bad deal at all.
 
I agree with what Eldon519 says.

.223 and .308 rounds are government rounds, therefore are easily found and cheaper than most.

My grandson went with a .243 and uses it for both yotes and deer.

Me, I stuck with .223 and have had a blast (pun?) on yotes in Oklahoma. It will drop one with any kind of good shot. Didn't hunt deer.

If I wanted one gun for both, I think I'd go with a .270 scoped with a 1.5 x 3 or 4 shotgun scope (for durability) and for better light gathering.
 
If you buy one of them and really like it, try the other caliber in that same model. But try others as well. You sometimes get surprised.

I really like Brownings, but my choice in .223 was a Savage and in .22LR a CZ. I very nearly bought a Ruger a few months ago and also looked hard at a Weatherby and a Winchester.

The point is I'm sure I could be happy with any number of makes, and I'm planning on giving them all a look next time I'm shopping for another bolt gun. I would advise any bolt gun to do the same.
 
I think you should buy what you enjoy, whatever that may be.

I used to shoot prairie dogs and coyotes with a CZ 223, and there is nothing wrong with the chambering. Now it is 243 for coyotes, and I don't really shoot prairie dogs anymore. But I really love my 308 CZ 550, and the CZ 523. What a spectacular brace of rifles. Even so, they are made by the same manufacturer, but are really very different rifles.

Good luck.
 
For years I bought almost nothing but Savages, they have all been very good rifles, I bought half a dozen of them in total each in a different caliber.
Now I experiment a little with other well respected brands, my last three have been Tikka, Browning and a Winchester. I usually buy a gun work up some fantastic handloads and then a friend will buy it off of me, and I start the process all over, but I will NEVER part with my Tikka, that is my baby.
 
Most people have a hard time learning to run even one system properly. It doesn't matter much at the range, but in the heat of the moment being able to run your rig without thinking is a help. I have the same safety style on all of my hunting rifles and shotguns for this reason.

You will probably find you shoot one rifle better than the other because it has more or less drop in the stock, etc. I'd start by trying out different .22s that have matching centerfires available.
 
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