I HAVE HAD ALL '3' BUY A 7MM-08 AND YOU WON'T NEED THE OTHER THREE . IT WILL DO EVERYTHING THE 270 WILL DO. IN A 24 IN. I LOAD MINE WITH 140'S AT 2944 FPS.

Since you are not a handloader, I'd go with the .308. It has the further advantage of cheap mil-surp ammo for practice. I've found the mil-surp to be reasonably accurate. Looking at balistic tables, the .308 with 150 grs is almost identicle to the .270.

Where the .260 really shines is as a dual purpose varmint/big game round. With the lighter bullets, it'll shoot flat and splat varmints. Unlike the .243 which is really a tad light for big game, the .260 is a solid big game round.

I wouldn't go with a barrel shorter than 20" on either round though, you'll loose way to much velocity. I have a Ruger .308 ultralight w/ 20" barrel, and it's velocity loss over a 22" barrel is negligable ~60 fps. When you go shorter than 20", you loose 50 fps/inch, so an 18" tube will be 160 fps down, and a 16" will be 260 fps down.

Well, you have a problem there as the 270 does cover the range of application very well. So...might as well go with something quite different, and gain some new knowledge and experience at the same time.



From what I read, you want something handy and light as an alternative. Not too expensive, and less recoil than the 270 with excellent accuracy. Finally, flexibilty would be icing on the cake.



IMHO, the best alternative here is to start handloading and buy Encore rifle in 30-06. Even with the 24 inch bbl it is only 38.5 inches long and a true carbine. At $465 there is nothing out there that carries and points as well with that kind of accuracy and flexibility...NOTHING.



You can spend the rest of your life working up loads for this combo, and feel good about most of them. My personal favorite reduced load is 35.5 grs of AA5744 behind any 220 grain bullet for 2220 fps. This has less recoil than a 130 gr 270 factory load, drives tacks and is a true 200 yd Elk load. Any 150 grainer can be driven 2800 fps with only 41 grs of the same powder to match the 308 winnie with LESS recoil than factory 308 ammo. Bump up to 42.5 grs and add a Nosler 125 BT and you have 130 gr 270 velocities with 18 grs LESS powder and, of course a lot less recoil. All of these loads have a SD of 12 fps or less in my Encore, thanks to the unique burn characteristics of AA5744. Since this is a fast powder suitable for mag revolvers, you can invest another $30 and cut the bbl to 20 inches and loose only 40 fps...the 34 inch carbine will definitely turn a few heads!



Of course, the full power '06 loads speak for themselves, and the High Energy Federal loads come quite close to the 300 Win Mag if you ever have the need.



The trick to all of this is simple....the '06 in a 24 inch bbl that happens to be a carbine sized rifle. Sure, its a single shot, but I guarantee that hunting with it will be more FUN than a bolt gun and add less than 1 second to any second shot you might need to take.



If you want to stay with only factory ammo, get the same rifle in 25-06...this will more than cover you through deer and give you a classic varmint round that will never "fade away". Recoil is 30% less than the 270.

I've got both a .260 Rem (Model 7 that has been rebarreled with a 22 in. Mountain Rifle take-off) and a .308 Win. (a Remington BDL). The lighter Model 7 .260 with 140 gr. Corelocks kicks about as much or more than the slightly heavier .308 does with 150 gr. loads, so recoil is a wash until you step up to heavier .308 loads. Since you don't reload, I can tell you that it is much harder to come by .260 ammo at local shops and then you don't get the premium bullets.

Also, if you look at the 300 yard ballistics (obtained from the Remington website) of the three, .260, .270, and .308, you can see very little difference in guns with the same barrel length. You can see why people like the .260, it starts slower and with less energy, but because of the higher B.C., it actually catches up with and passes the other two at longer ranges. The key is "in barrels of the same length", and with short barrels, the .308 will loose less because of the expansion ratio factor.

My recommendation is, if you just have to pick, is to get the .308. Plenty of cheap practice ammo (which I like) so that you can burn 4 boxes and you don't even spend $20 and the availability of premium bullets loads (look at how the slightly heavier Scirocco load gets you elk killing energy to 400 yards). You can even get 180 gr. high energy loads that approximate 30-06 if elk, moose, black bear show up on the agenda. If the recoil bothers you, get a premium recoil pad - they are the best upgrade you can get on any rifle.

The best scenario is to get rid of the .270 and get a .260 and .308, problem of overlap solved

Trajectory
Bullet.................100 150 200..250..300..400..500
.260 140 PSP CLU 1.9 1.7 zero -3.2 -8.1 -23.6 -47.6
.270 140 PSP CLU 1.7 1.5 zero -3.0 -7.6 -22.5 -46.4
.308 150 PSP CLU 1.9 1.7 zero -3.4 -8.6 -25.5 -53.1
.308 165 Scirocco 2.0 1.7 zero -3.3 -8.4 -24.3 -48.9

Energy
Bullet................Muzzle 100. 200.. 300 . 400. 500
.260 140 PSP CLU 2351 2027 1739 1484 1260 1063
.270 140 PSP CLU 2659 2211 1826 1495 1212 975
.308 150 PSP CLU 2648 2159 1744 1394 1102 864
.308 165 Scirocco 2670 2313 1994 1711 1459 1239

Velocity
Bullet................Muzzle 100. 200.. 300 . 400 . 500
.260 140 PSP CLU 2750 2554 2365 2185 2013 1849
.270 140 PSP CLU 2925 2667 2424 2193 1975 1771
.308 150 PSP CLU 2820 2546 2288 2046 1819 1611
.308 165 Scirocco 2700 2513 2333 2161 1996 1839

Paul hit the nail on the head. I think the 260 is the better choice if you hand load. I don't see the need for a 308 when the 30/30 or the 30/06 exists., if you need light recoiling, the 30/30 fits that. If you are worry about larger game, the 30/06 is a better choice.

However, if you need to shoot store bought ammo, the 308 is a much better choice over the 260 from the sheer point of ammo availability.

Statistic etc are superflous otherwise, if you aren't loading it.

Personally I don't know how any good shooter can shoot much not loading his own ammo.

Good luck with the project.

Cheers and Good shooting
seafire

I reload my hunting ammo and some practice loads, but I shoot a lot of milsurp. I have two almost identical VSLs one in 7-08 and the other in 308. I'll shoot the 308, 100 times for every time I shoot my 7-08 due to price/easy milsurp. I also practice with 308 and 30-06 milsurp in my Mausers. Again I shoot much more Milsurp than I do handloads. My $.02, capt david