Thanks for the replies. Keep them coming. A few questions. What is the practical difference between the .260 and the .257 Roberts? I do plan on adding to my H&R barrels selection. Can anyone see a problem with rechambering in either of these calibers?

270wsm

I really like the .257roberts, but since you don't reload that might be a problem. Not a whole lot of factory ammo to choose from and what is there can be hard to find. Here's two good write ups on the .257 & .360


http://www.chuckhawks.com/257Rob.htm

http://www.chuckhawks.com/26cal.htm

You are right whenyou say you really don't need another rifle. Your choice of the 308 covers all the bases pretty well. I don't as a rule recommend the 243 to anyone but in your position of not reloading I would think the 243 would be about perfect to fill in the gaps. If you don't have to use it for deer then I would say get yourself a good little 223 for varmits and just cheap fun shooting. Get you a 223 barrel for your NEF. I have one for mine and its a good little shooter. In fact they will group with the best out of the box varmit bolt actions.

Your .308 covers a lot of territory. So if you want something smaller for deer, look to a .243, .260 or 23-06. If you want a varmint gun a .223 or 22-250.
If you want more power you'd have to go up to at least one of the 7MM mags or .300 Win mag to have any great power increase over the .308, or even one of the big bores, just for having something different. Something like a 45-70!

all above choices are good sugestions you would be happy with any I have at least half of these and if I were to pick one more it would be a difficult choice. probably the 25-06

The 260 will let you shoot hevier bullets than the 257 Roberts. It is a ballistic step up if you look at the charts. But if your just going to use this gun on whitetails, you will probably never notice the difference under 250 yds. Since you don't reload, though, I would probably recomend the 260.

>243, because it is common, cheaper than any of the short mags (WSM, WSSM), and it will double nicely as a varmint/deer rifle. You shoot 55-107 grain bullets.

All this makes sense to me because you said you were not going to reload. Just about any store that sells ammo will have .243

You will never guess what I saw at Wal-Mart last week. .223WSSM Supreme ammo!! [:-] I know it's still not too common place, but with Wally World carrying it, that's a good sign.

TScottW99 your right they carry the ammo but don't have the guns to go with it . I was looking at some of the ammo today. They can't give you a date .