I currently shoot and H&R .308 and really like it. I would like to get another rifle in a different caliber. Don't necessarily need another rifle, just want a new toy. I am favoring the smaller calibers. It will be used for whitetail. I don't reload. Please send your wisdom and advice.
You might want to look at: 7mm-08, 243, or 260. There's others and then the 22s', but I don't like the 22s' because shot placement and brush really come into play more. However I'm not recommending shooting thru brush.
If you have children you'll have hunting now or in the future the above calibers are good to pass along. They all can be bought in compact models and from several companies.
dog1
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It ain't the killing, it's the going and doing.
Since you do not reload, you will want to stick with a popular caliber. This takes you to .243, .270, 30.06, and the 7mm-08. Ammunition manufacturers are just now starting to produce more loads for the 7mm-08 now a days. Of those four calibers listed, I would go with the .270. I really like this round and it can take any North American Game, except the Polar Bear.
If it were me, I'd think about how many coyotes there are in my territory before buying a new rifle-you might want to consider getting a rifle for specifically hunting them, or at least one that would excell at them and COULD do deer.
If you're sticking with a small cal. deer rifle, then I'd buy one of the three following, .243Win, .243WSSM, or a .25-06. The .243win is your .308 necked down to a 6mm bullet, good deer hunter, really good deer/coyote combo gun, really flat shooting gun...the .243WSSM is a definate improvement on the old 6mm bullet cartridge, if I ever buy another combo gun, this will be it in a winchester coyote WSM. The .25-06 is a .30-06 case necked down to a 25cal bullet, it's a great deer rifle, really good at coyotes too-albeit a little over weighted for small game, to me it's the perfect antelope gun-or texas whitetails. The only thing I don't like about the .25-06 for you is that you're not getting a different gun really, you'll have a .308 and a .25-06 that are capable of almost exactly the same things...although, since your H&R is a single shot, ANY bolt gun will be a little change on your hunts.
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"When you tell a fellow to go to hell, you had better be sure you can get him there."--LBJ
All great calibers listed above. An idea is you could get several of those listed by sending your receiver to NEF/H&R and have them fit a new barrel. It's rather cheap.
But since you asked for caliber opions 7mm-08, .260Remington or .243WSSM
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" A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user."
I have both .260 and .270. The .260 is realy a sweet round but you gotta find a place that stocks them. .270 in my opinion is a bit big for whitetail in Texas but it is a great all around round with lots of choices for rounds, I have seen 100gr and up for this guy where the .260 have only found so far around here, at least, 130Gr and a 120gr. ballistic tip which I have been using this season. The 5 deer taken this year with the .260 didn't go far.
or
Consider the new WSSM and WSM rounds, .223, .243, .270 and 7mm. Some new technology.
Help me choose another caliber
7mm-08, .260Remington or .243WSSM
