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Id like to put togather another bolt action hunting rilfe...243, 7mm08, or stick with .308

S

sanman28

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Minuteman
Sep 22, 2013
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Looking to piece together another Rem700 based hunting rifle. Will have slim barrel, B&C stock, and CDI bottom metal to feed off my AICS mags. Need to stick with a 243 or 7mm-08.....or just do another 308. Wife will be main user. This gun will take deer, sometimes yotes, and rarely hogs in TX. Will the 243 or 7mm08 (ive never shot either) offer anything over another 308, other than lighter recoil? I like the idea of diversifying, but not sure if its necessary since im already into 308 on a number of platforms.

Thx
 
You can't beat 243 for a combination varmint and medium game rifle. Other than lighter recoil you can load some flat shooting light bullets for zapping yotes.
 
Since this new rifle would be the wifes, I'd go with the 708, like the 308 so many good loads for the 708 and the wide variety of bullet weights will obviously work on yotes, varmints and big deer, elk, etc. If she can handle the 308 and isn't bothered by the extra recoil stay with the 308, I've got 2 of them and one 708, love them all. My 308 could use a scope that has a bit more eye relief, though, the Burris isn't doing it for me, but does have a great power range for deer hunting.
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I did a light 7mm-08 for my wife and it's so sweet...I often use it. Twenty inch barrel, light taper and a straight 4X Leupold scope. I think it's all of 7.5 pound ready to go.

With 140's she's taken deer and antelope and with 160 NP's a pair of cow elk.

With todays truly good hunting bullets the .260 Rem is another thought.
 
Tough to beat todays variety in 30 cal bullets. if she is ok with the 308 id say keep working with it. a muzzlebrake may be all she needs to calm it down a little. Is she involved with working up a load or is it all you? Might be worth it to spend some quality time together working on a new gun and load.
 
I shoot 708 myself. But I'm building a rifle for my girlfriend right now in 243.

Rem 700sa
Bart 22" 8twist varmint spiral fluted
Manners eh 4
Ptg stealth dbm
Timney 510 trigger
Jec brake

Probably going to mount a vortex viper hst on it. Trying to stay under 10lbs which I think is doable.
 
You better him em right with that 243, Ive had a 100grain bullet bounce off the shoulder of a yearling, luckily it clipped the spine going out and up, but after that I decided on going with the 708. Otherwise, 243/6mm kill like lightening hit em.
 
You had a 100gr bullet out of a 243 bounce off the shoulder? I'm sorry but that is very far fetched. I've killed a lot of deer with the 100gr core lokt and a few with the Hornady 100gr BTSP and almost every one of them was a shoulder shot. Some as far away as 500 yards and never has the bullet done anything but go straight through and these were no yearling sized deer. Inside 300 yards the bullet always exited on the far side.

I'd love to see a picture of the wound where this bullet supposedly bounced off the shoulder.
 
why put one together..... ????....they`re making them in Finland... Tikka T3 lite..... VERY ACCURATE... around 600$ new....
 
redneckbmxer24 said:
You had a 100gr bullet out of a 243 bounce off the shoulder? I'm sorry but that is very far fetched. I've killed a lot of deer with the 100gr core lokt and a few with the Hornady 100gr BTSP and almost every one of them was a shoulder shot. Some as far away as 500 yards and never has the bullet done anything but go straight through and these were no yearling sized deer. Inside 300 yards the bullet always exited on the far side.

I'd love to see a picture of the wound where this bullet supposedly bounced off the shoulder.
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Not so much a bounce, it traversed diagonally at a 45 degree angle under the hide, clipped the spine, DRT! This was a 45yd shot, back in '84, my dad was there to help me gut it out, when we skinned it that night it was apparent the bullet, a core-lokt I believe(hadnt started reloading for that 6mmREM just yet) never penetrated the shoulder, a high shoulder shot, by the way. never took one step.
 
JGorski said:
Not so much a bounce, it traversed diagonally at a 45 degree angle under the hide, clipped the spine, DRT! This was a 45yd shot, back in '84, my dad was there to help me gut it out, when we skinned it that night it was apparent the bullet, a core-lokt I believe(hadnt started reloading for that 6mmREM just yet) never penetrated the shoulder, a high shoulder shot, by the way. never took one step.
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We must have tuffer deer in WI.... I shot a 200# 8pt. at 40 yds...twice in the chest with a 30-06 and rem. cor-lok ammo....niether bullet came thru.....
 
Bill Larson said:
We must have tuffer deer in WI.... I shot a 200# 8pt. at 40 yds...twice in the chest with a 30-06 and rem. cor-lok ammo....niether bullet came thru.....
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My buddy shot an 8 pointer, about 160# opening morning with his new Weatherby 708 loaded with my 154SPs and 38.5grs RE15 at 40yds, in and golf ball size hole out. The deer was facing to his left and away so it was an angle shot behind the ribs, out the far chest.
 
JGorski said:
Not so much a bounce, it traversed diagonally at a 45 degree angle under the hide, clipped the spine, DRT! This was a 45yd shot, back in '84, my dad was there to help me gut it out, when we skinned it that night it was apparent the bullet, a core-lokt I believe(hadnt started reloading for that 6mmREM just yet) never penetrated the shoulder, a high shoulder shot, by the way. never took one step.
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That's a pretty freak thing. I've killed a lot of deer with that bullet and it has worked every time. The only time it didn't was on a deer I shot two years ago quartering away. I put it too far back clipping the intestines and a lung but that was my fault. Luckily the deer only went about 40 yards and laid down so I was able to finish her off. A fragmenting bullet would have been a different story though, the vitals would have been mush from that same shot.
 
redneckbmxer24 said:
That's a pretty freak thing. I've killed a lot of deer with that bullet and it has worked every time. The only time it didn't was on a deer I shot two years ago quartering away. I put it too far back clipping the intestines and a lung but that was my fault. Luckily the deer only went about 40 yards and laid down so I was able to finish her off. A fragmenting bullet would have been a different story though, the vitals would have been mush from that same shot.
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Yeah, this doe was a breeze to gut out, nothing was destroyed in the vitals, just ruined a little bit of the tenderloins. A few years later had a big doe heading right for my stand while the babies ran across the logging trail 150yds up, she turned right after I missed with the first shot, as she turned I nailed her at an angle high in the shoulder and another DRT, with the same 7400 6mmREM same bullet. Had to trot a miserable 10yds to gut her out, haha
 
CDI does make a bottom metal for tikkas and B&C makes a medalist for them. You could send the stock off to CDI for inletting. Only issue is going to be the factory tikka 7-08's are 9.5 twist, Remington's are a little faster which will help a little with longer bullets.

Edit: if you're going to go that route you can also get a Vanguard S2 for under $500 with a 1MOA guarantee, a better trigger, and one piece bolt with M16 extractor and do the same thing. It also has a 9.5 twist for the 7-08 though.
 
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The Tikka T3's are nice little rifles arent they. Lots of aftermarket for them too. Is a T3 better shooting than a rem 700....oem to oem?
 
BornToHunt said:
and theyre aint a large aftermarket though rem 700s got em beat big time in that field
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Let me clarify......tikka T3 lite vs. rem 700 sps...? that a equal comparison as far as each brands offering?
 
You can't say for certain one will definitely outshoot the other. What is fact though is you have more of a chance getting a shooter with the Tikka. They don't have the quality control issues that remy does. Remy does put out a bunch of excellent shooting rifles that are perfect but they are putting out more and more rifles with tight headspace, bad crowns, off enter receiver holes, crooked recoil lugs, etc. You definitely take a chance with Remington but if your putting a custom tube it the only possible concern would be the off center scope mount holes.

The downside to the tikka is the magazines and bottom metal are pieces of shit. They feed but they are cheap and flimsy and aren't hard to break. If you replace this with the CDI it isn't an issue. The stock is ergonomic but also a Tupperware piece of shit, once again not an issue if you're replacing it. I have my reservations about the bolt handle and how it's held on but so far it hasn't been a problem on either of mine.

If you want a good out of the box barreled action with minimal chance of issues buy a Tikka T3 or Weatherby Vanguard S2.
 
sanman28 said:
Let me clarify......tikka T3 lite vs. rem 700 sps...? that a equal comparison as far as each brands offering?
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are you talking about custom aftermarket parts? stocks are hardest to find
now tikka performance pretty much takes care of the aftermarket products for tikkas
but trying to find an inletted mcmillan or manners is a whole nother story
 
I'll put my REMY's up against any Tikka, you can even put aftermarket parts on the Tikka, 2 of my REMs have aftermarket stocks 3 dont, course my 6mmREM is soon to become another 6 Creed, so we can't count that one any longer.:)
 
JG, what work did you have done to your REM actions?
 
JGorski said:
I'll put my REMY's up against any Tikka, you can even put aftermarket parts on the Tikka, 2 of my REMs have aftermarket stocks 3 dont, course my 6mmREM is soon to become another 6 Creed, so we can't count that one any longer.:)
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And accuracy will be a wash... I have two T3's (223AI and 25-06) a few remy's, and have had a few more T3's and a ton more remy's. Accuracy is as equal as it gets if you get a good remy, suggesting one is certainly more accurate than the other is nonsense. Quality is much more consistent with the Tikka so you get accurate rifles more consistently than Remington. Out of the box I prefer Remington's because of the trigger guard assembly only. The tikka trigger guard assembly is cheap and cheesy. One of these days I'm going to do a stock and CDI metal for my 223AI but with AI 223 mags nowhere to be found I'm in no rush. The 25-06 will be sold and replaced with another weatherby vanguard S2.
 
For what you want it for...recoil wise...the .243 would do it. But all things considered, a 708 shooting 120 NBT's will do it too, just better.

And you have the option of her shooting 140's, and killing stuff up to elk.
 
mercracing said:
If your still thinking of building, have you thought about the .260?


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I am surprised no one popped this one up sooner. I don't think I would mess with a 7mm-08 as when I was looking at it, it was more or less the same as the 308. Its hard to drive the high bc 7mm bullets fast enough to take advantage of them. The 260 is probably the best compromise on the accuracy vs recoil vs effective range IMO. Brass is easy to find, as is factory ammo and good bullets are easy to be had. I am probably going to be doing up either a Rem700 or a Savage short action for my wife in 260. Put a good brake on it, fit the stock to her and I think the wife could sit around an blow through a ton of rounds in a day.
 
sortafast said:
I am surprised no one popped this one up sooner. I don't think I would mess with a 7mm-08 as when I was looking at it, it was more or less the same as the 308. Its hard to drive the high bc 7mm bullets fast enough to take advantage of them. The 260 is probably the best compromise on the accuracy vs recoil vs effective range IMO. Brass is easy to find, as is factory ammo and good bullets are easy to be had. I am probably going to be doing up either a Rem700 or a Savage short action for my wife in 260. Put a good brake on it, fit the stock to her and I think the wife could sit around an blow through a ton of rounds in a day.
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I have a plain jane savage, but I really like it.


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I would go 243. You already have a 308. I have shot 3 deer this year with a 243 and nosler 95 grain partitions. None took a step. Granted all good shots and in the 1-200 yard range but what else could you ask for. Shoots flatter too, so if you are off on the yardage it shouldn't be as big of a deal as with the 308. May be minor but could be a factor one day. One more thing, I don't know of a single Walmart you can walk in that doesn't carry 243 ammo. 7-08 is a little less common.
 
Armed Ferret said:
7-08 brass is only impossible to find if you care whether the headstamp says 7-08 instead of 308.

my 7-08 has no problem shooting from brass that says 308 on the rim. ;)
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Good thing, cuz I've got plenty of 708 brass. If I get desperate enough I always could sell it on Gunbroker.:)
 
I have read that necks come up short when necking down 308 to 7-08. Apparently not a problem if running all brass the same neck length. I too have plenty of 7-08 brass and have not needed to try that but it is good to know because I like the cartridge and plan to stick with it.
 
I do not want to 'hijack' this thread having already pointed out the value in your post. Neck length is pertinent weather it is to you or not. And yes I am sure we all take into account what we read here.
I have learned much on this very board, for one. Enough to want to support the OP with pertinent participation.
 
JGorski said:
I'll put my REMY's up against any Tikka, you can even put aftermarket parts on the Tikka, 2 of my REMs have aftermarket stocks 3 dont, course my 6mmREM is soon to become another 6 Creed, so we can't count that one any longer.:)
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how not??? theres bottom metal bolt shrouds bolt handles recoil lugs stocks magazines chassis that sounds aftermarket to me
 
redneckbmxer24 said:
And accuracy will be a wash... I have two T3's (223AI and 25-06) a few remy's, and have had a few more T3's and a ton more remy's. Accuracy is as equal as it gets if you get a good remy, suggesting one is certainly more accurate than the other is nonsense. Quality is much more consistent with the Tikka so you get accurate rifles more consistently than Remington. Out of the box I prefer Remington's because of the trigger guard assembly only. The tikka trigger guard assembly is cheap and cheesy. One of these days I'm going to do a stock and CDI metal for my 223AI but with AI 223 mags nowhere to be found I'm in no rush. The 25-06 will be sold and replaced with another weatherby vanguard S2.
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my gunsmith shoots 600 and 1000 br and uses tikka t3 actions UNTRUED even though being sponsored by stiller or surgeon i cannot remember. you never see a stock rem 700 action on a competition BR line that hasnt been completely blueprinted
nothing against remingtons being a past owner but factory quality just isnt equal
and yes the trigger guard is plastic but they have cdi bottom metal for it just costs a little $
 
Well.....i got another 308. Decided it was best to keep that familiarity. If the wife gripes, ill get her something by next season.
 
JGorski said:
Past recoil pad, maybe? Scope with plenty of eye relief?
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Ill set her up with my micro 7......that should suffice or until she says otherwise. This 308 turned into another rifle for me......which happens sometimes. :D
 
7mm08 all the way.... brass selection is irrelevant. You can neck down 308 lapua brass or neck up lapua 243 brass.
 
I've killed elk with lightweight Barnes bullets in the 308. I make low recoil stuff for my kids in 308. It will do just fine for you. That being said, I'd have done the 708 because I've just had a thing for the 7mm bore lately.
 
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