I was thinking about getting another deer rifle for a back-up and change of pace. To be honest, it will be shot mostly at the range. Here's what I'm looking for:
- short action
- tolerable recoil
- good bullet selection
- easy to reload for
- enough power to take deer sized game out to 400 yds

I won't limit it to medium bore, 308 is not out of the question, but was thinking more along a 260 or 7mm08, or maybe even a 6mm Remington. I would appreciate some input.

As for the rifle itself, I don't plan on building a short/light rifle like most short actions are based on. It will probably be a savage action and 24" heavy barrel of some make.

I have never seen any use for a short action..They are the result of a hyped up add campaign IMO...that less that .50 bolt toss means nothing....

However I would opt for the .308 it leaves a better blood trail IMO...but on the light side I would opt for a 250-3000 savage...

My idea of a neat compact slim trim rifle, and those are the ones I like is a G-33-40 small ring Mauser with a Manlicher stock and a 20 inch barrel or just a Brno M-21 or 22 in 7x57.

308 is what I prefer... there is no "best." 7-08 or 260 aren't shabby either.

I'd look at a stainless classic M-70 in 308 or 7mm. If you want something out-of-the-ordinary a Mexican Mauser would be my pick. Brnos (21/22, G33-40) and some other Mausers with small rings are fairly lightweight but are standard length.

Ditto; with the long action you have unlimited bullet seating options on a short case round.

The reason I'm looking at short actions is b/c of less powder, less recoil, etc. I know nothing about mausers, so I'm not going that route. I kind of like medium to heavy rifles, call me stupid, yet the short action seems to be calling my name right now. I'm not worried about ad campaigns, etc., just a nice little versatile cartridge. The gun will probably never even make it into the woods.

.260 Remington deserves some looking IMO.

I guess my point is that in a long action ( about .4 inch longer that a short action on average) you can have a magazine box that will allow you limitless veratility in bullet seatng depth. If you only shoot factory amo the point is moot.

In terms of difference, check each rifle manufacturer's specs closely. Sometimes the only difference in weight is a function of barrel length, not action length.

Remington is a good example. If I were wanting a short action I would skip the "short action" 700 and go straight to the Model 7.

I have shot all of those and my choice is the 7mm08. The Barnes 140TSX shoots great in it. The recoil is light and the trajectory is flat. The bullet will kill a deer at 400 yds if you are good enough. My longest deer kill was several years ago at 350 when all I loaded was a Sierra 160 HPBT Gameking. The 160 Sierra is the most accurate bullet that I have loaded in the 7mm08.
The 260 and 308 can't be knocked either. The 6mm is one I have no use for at all.

If most of the shooting is at the range then go with the 7mm08 and Sierra 160 HPBT Gameking for extreme accuracy with a hunting bullet. IMR 4895, Varget and H4350ext work well and the H4350ext is the most accurate in my Rem 700.
Good Luck and have fun.

FWIW, of the 308 family of cartridges for use on deer my preferences in order are; 7mm-08,260 Rem, 308, I will no longer use a 243.
Here in New Zealand, we often have to carry our downed animals on our backs out of dense native forests. It can take hours. Shorter light rifles are much used here.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
.260 Remington deserves some looking IMO.

Yep, nice round. No flies on a good 6.5X55 either.

LOL What a choice! I shoot and use All of the mediums except the .257 Roberts+, and think that the choice is so personal, whatever stokes your fire, but here goes = .260 Remington, 7mm-08, 6.5x55mm, and 7x57mm. The .250-3000 is great, but it is just outclassed by the rest, including the .257 Roberts+, and I'll say the same for the lovely .243 WCF. I won't suggest the 6.5x54mm and 6.5x57mm because they are getting pretty esoteric these days, and they are real deer slayers too!!!
LLS

I dont know the magazine box length in your Savage,but With an optional 3" mag.box in a rem700,or M70SA which has a 3" box as standard, I would go the 7x57AI. Dimensionally,It is more or less a 7mm08 with the shoulder moved forward about .2"(5mm) and increased shlder angle(28deg),all pluses in my eyes.
http://accuratereloading.com/757ackley.html

Thanks for the replies. I have always found the 260 intruiging and may be my final choice. I've got some long action powder burners but they aren't much fun at the range. It takes too long for the barrel to cool down. I was thinking a short action burning less powder would lead to longer barrel life and quicker cool downs. Performance on deer sized game is the least important of my needs listed. My stw usually gets the nod when it comes to hunting. That's the reason I threw the 6mm into the pot, good selection of target style bullets and small powder consumption. Looks like the 260 and 7mm08 are at the top so far.

tiggertate, good point about the long actions giving me the ability to seat longer bullets out to the lands. Using a long action for short action rounds would definitely rule out any factory offering. Guess it's a build project if I go that route.

So maybe my post should have put more emphasis on range work/fun. That's why I didn't list any of the short mags, too much recoil and heat for pleasure shooting.

I would go .308.
I just think its more versital. The 260 is good and so is the 7mm08. Other than just a we bit less kick i cant see any advantage the 7mm08 has over the 308. People want to say it shoots flatter, not enough to matter as far as i can see, but the 260 has some interesting game bullets such as the 100 grain partition that would flatten things out a bit, the 6mm Remington is a cartridge that interests me. But i am not sure of those little 6mm bullets, if you find a good action for a 6mm Rem mabye you should just build a .257 roberts or a 7X57 mauser. I love both of those !!! ...tj3006

Can you say Kimber Montanna 7mm/08?

300 SAUM, 165 class bullet. There, you're done.

I'm not looking for an ultralight rifle like the montana since most of the shooting will be at the range. No need for an ultralight.

No 300 SAUM either, I shoot a 300 wsm some and it's not all that fun to shoot at the range. Recoil is tolerable, but barrel heats up real fast. It gets old waiting 3 mins between shots.

I can't seem to find anything in a heavy barrel 260 or 7mm08, so guess the 308 is starting to come from behind.

Depending on how much you want to spend, it may be easy to find a used Savage and rebarrel to 260. PacNor's a re reasonably priced. Something to think about.
I would definitely go with the 260.
A 120-9g 6.5 will do the job with less recoil than a 165g 308 with similar BC. I wouldn't want it for an all-around, but a range gun that I could use as backup on a deer hunt? You betcha! Don't worry about a heavy barrel per se, just get a 24" sporter weight. The recoil of 120/2950 won't be a problem.

I like my .260ai, but only went the AI route because I was rebarreling anyway. For range work, I like the .260 a lot, good bullets avaiable & very accurate w/ little recoil. It will bring the freight for deer out to the 400yds mark, something the .243 lacks. The 7-08 would be my 2nd choice then the .308. Find a used, shot up M700 in .308 or .243 & rebarrel w/ a Sendero contour from PacNor.

For my purposes, the .308 would fill that bill nicely.

I won't poo poo the short actions but personally don't have much need of them. I like a standard action in .30-06 but if I couldn't have one and a true short action were mandated I could easily live with the .308.

For that matter, any .308 based cartidge starting with the .260 would be easily substitutable for the parent in my book.

Gidday Guys,

If you want the ultimate go for a Sako Varminter in 260.

Maybe too heavy then try the Sako 75 or the Finlight in the same calibre. I bet it will become your number one deer rifle and not your back up.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

I would vote .308 in whatever your choice of rifle may be. There are slight differences in recoil between the .260 7-08 and .308. You can load any of them down to whatever. But if you ever decide to hunt bear, elk, moose or the like, you can turn the .308 up past the rest with some good heavy bullets.

Hi Strut, Good to see ya here

I also vote for the 308.

quote:

Originally posted by Hamish:
Gidday Guys,

If you want the ultimate go for a Sako Varminter in 260.

Maybe too heavy then try the Sako 75 or the Finlight in the same calibre. I bet it will become your number one deer rifle and not your back up.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

Hamish my manusla don't seem to have the .260.........is this the .264 winchester or am I not reading properly ??

Regards PC.

Hamish I found it

Obviously all you guys who like to bash short actions and/or compact rifles are taller than 5'5". At that height I find that short action rifles with a 13 1/8" length of pull and a barrel length of 20-22" handle very well for me. I really don't care about the extra 150 fps that most '06 length cartridges provide, and the game I kill surely never notices either. Some of you guys need to think outside of your own little box.

I would find a nice .308 Win. It will do anything that needs to be done on any non-dangerous game. A 7mm/08 in a Remington Light Varmint would be a really neat second choice.

My two favorites are the .308 (Obviousily) and the .257 Ackley. Then, I could add the .358 in but you did say bench and tolerable recoil...

quote:

Originally posted by Justin B:
I was thinking about getting another deer rifle for a back-up and change of pace. To be honest, it will be shot mostly at the range. Here's what I'm looking for:
- short action
- tolerable recoil
- good bullet selection
- easy to reload for
- enough power to take deer sized game out to 400 yds

.243, roger

quote:

I can't seem to find anything in a heavy barrel 260 or 7mm08, so guess the 308 is starting to come from behind.

Justin B

I have Rem VSF in 308 and it shoots great, recoil is minimal and fit and finish is good!
Trigger breaks just above 2lbs and is creep free after some tweaking!

So i guess ill vote for the 308!

This is a fun post as all of the candidate rounds have the same parent case, and the capacities are quite similar. None have excessive recoil, and all are very accurate. All work well in a 24 inch or shorter bbl. All will work for varmints through deer.

The Savage will give 3.1 inches of room in the magazine, and the accu-trigger helps the shooter do his part.

I'm stuck!!!

Justin,
I had the same in mind a few months ago. SA, non-mag, good component selection, accurate, deer out to 400+/-, etc.

Got a .308 Remmy 700 LTR in July and couldn't be more pleased.
http://www.remingtonle.com/rifles/700pltr.htm
Sako

Justin,

Since your leaning towards a 24" heavy barrel it should soak up some recoil. In general I like nice rifles and some with short actions are quite nice. I can use any action from a falling block SS to a very long one. I like them all and each is useful and interesting.

A tough requirement is the ability to take game to 400 yds. That's a long way to shoot and some cartridges will be on the weak side that far out. If you still really mean 400 ydsd and low recoil then there have to be some takebacks.

Depending what your battery is now would make all the differance in a choice. If you already have a magnum hunting rifle then it may be the first choice for 400 yds anyway.

From what I read so far I would pick a 308 Winchester and practice with it at all ranges. It may not be a 400 yd big game cartridge, in my estimation, but it will be a back up and it will shoot 300 yds. Three hundred yards is a really long shot.

Even more rifles is even more fun. If I had a 308, a 270 WSM and a 7mm WSM along with 300 mags etc. I would carry a 270 WSM and take the 7mm WSM for a backup and leave the 308 etc in the safe. I would carry a laser and data too. Four hundred yards is very far to me.

Thanks for the replies.

Savage99,

I have a 7mm stw that gets the nod when hunting hayfields around the farm. I feel comfortable with it out to 400 yds. I know that tolerable recoil and long range put-down power is like wanting your cake and eating it too. I would always condsider the weapon in-hand before taking any shot. That's why I like bigger guns for most of my hunting.

I do think a 260 or 6mm would make a better range rifle, but might be on the weak end of the scale for medium game. Serving as a back-up rifle would probably never happen. I'm kind of in love with the sendero stw. The main purpose is something to shoot at the range for practice. I really enjoy long range target shooting and all of these calibers seem to fit the bill. Decisions, decisions...

I do appreciate all of the input you guys have given. I don't think I have ever started a post with this many replies.

From what I read, it seems like I couldn't go wrong with a 260, 7mm08, or 308. Those short little cases look good to me and seem cheaper to feed.

The problem I'm having is finding something heavy-barrelled in the 260 or 7mm08, may just have to build that next rifle if I decide on one of those. I know that I could get about any flavor in a 308.

FWIW, I'm trading for a Kimber 84M in .260 Rem. I also have 6.5x55 CZ550 FS. Although almost identical in performance, I'm impressed with the 6.5mm bore and I got an offer on the .260 at my local gun grotto I couldn't refuse.

The 400 yards thing really kind of limits your options. If you want a long range short action rifle and don't want a whole lot of recoil, I think the best bet would be the .270 WSM. Load up some 130's and recoil will be perfectly tolerable, especially from a 24" heavy barrel. 150's get the nod for big animals. It'll take most any big game animal this side of the Big 5, but I don't think I'd shoot bears with it either. If recoild wasn't an issue, .300 WSM would be my first choice.