I am looking to buy my next rifle and wish to hear some thoughts on my Ideas. I currently have a 22, 22mag, 22 hornet, and a 243. I am going to go bigger and like the idea of a 6.5 x 55 (have owned one before and still have reloading gear) but it is not much more than my 243win.
I want something that is easy to load for, accurate, common, and fairly flat shooting. I am a little shy of recoil and so dont want to go bigger than 30 cal.
Idont really foresee myself going after buffs ,or sambar, but piggots, smaller deer, ferals ect are all on the list.

Get the 6.5x55! Or, if not that, how about a 7x57 or 7mm-08? All are very effective and mild recoiling.
Peter.

Or maybe just the old common 270 win may do the trick.

Cheers,
Mark.

308 would be a good step up....

6.5x55 is a LOT more than a 243 when you consider the weight of the pills you can use for about the same powder loads.

If you like the 6.5mm calibre, what about the 260 Remington. Not being chambered to seat 160 gr bullets right out it sounds to perform best with 120-140 gr projectiles & handloaded it gives very little away to the 7mm-08 or the 270 Win.
Steve.

thanks for all your replies, its good food for thought. Part of what I'm after is something that is easy to use, accurate and powerful enough for near all circumstances I'm likely to find myself in. I have found myself loading the 243 up with 100 grainers and pretty stiff loads and thinking I should be using a bigger gun.
Thanks again for your thoughts

Nothing wrong with the 6.5x55 if you are not concerned with the legalities of hunting Sambar in Vic.

I think that first you might want to decide what kind of rifle that you will want.This will determine a lot of the parameters of the caliber, weight, etc.
If a bolt action which I assume you want, do you want a long or short action.
Are you wanting a handy brush rifle that can still reach out and touch something?
Or a plains rifle to maximize your range ?

I have done a little hunting in Qld and a nice handy short action suited me best.
A 6.5 most likely will bump you up to a long action, a tick more weight and length than is necessary, especially when it is not all used, kind of a "tweener" cartridge in length.
In a long action there is better choices in my opinion, 270, 280, 06 etc..
In the short actions a 7-08 or a 308 are the tops of the heap again in my opinion.

Not quite as flat as the 260, but with heaps heavier bullets which really whacks the bigger stuff harder if needed.
I like a 260, but those 175 /180 grain bullets in the bigger calibers out to 250 yards are just the nuts.
And a 140/ 150 will shoot just as flat for all practical purposes for hunting out to 400.

I'm leaning towards the 7x57 or the 7-08 at this stage. I'll start looking at what rifles are available

308 win.........

If going to 30 cal, may as well go to 30-06

.270 is the obvious choice . Flat shooting and loads of options .

I highly recommend the excellent .280 Remington, due to such a huge selection of projectile styles and weights. The .280 has often been described as the best of the 270 and 30-06 rolled into one and handloading can really shift this cartridge up a notch in performance. Mines a M700 Mountain Rifle, stainless laminated with 3-9x Leupold VXII.

A lightweight rifle, thanks to its skinny 22 inch barrel. I can safely hit 3108fps with 140gr Accubonds and H414. Or my other load, 120gr GS Customs and H414 give me 3230fps. Recoil is mild on the range, in the field you never notice it.

These loads are very flat shooting, give you a MPBR of about 309 yards and not far behind the 7mm Rem Mag.

Michael.

6.5x55! You won't be disappointed, especially if you're recoil shy. It'll easily hangle 90 percent of your hunting needs from varmint to elk. If you use a short action I'd go with the 260 or 7-08. Lou

How about rebarreling the 243Win with a match-grade barrel in 260Rem or 7mm/08? In a 260Rem use light pills for your distant varminting, and 120-140gr for the ferals and deer? Neck your 243Win brass up and your away. The 7mm is almost equally verstaile as a varminter/game rifle but the lighter pills aren't quite as common.
Cheers...
Con