Hunting & Fishing Antelope rifle recommendation

[ingraham]

Heading out to Wyoming on an antelope hunt this Sept /Oct. Looking for rifle advice. 243/9twist, 260/8 twist, 6.5-284/8 twist. Those are my 3 options sitting in my safe. I have both smaller and larger options but chose those being what I feel are best. The 95 bergers shoot best in the 243. The 260 and 6.5-284 like the 140 class bullets. Shots are expected from 200-1000. All 3 guns can achieve the range accurately given environmental conditions allow shots. Any help on best choice for bullet weight/ caliber / cartridge would be great. Thanks.

 

[SkyScrapin]

Depends on how you antelope hunt. If you don't need to carry your rifle to far from the vehicle, weight won't matter. Otherwise, go light. Any of those calibers are more than capable.

 

[MK20]

I think you should go with a 20mm Lahti

If I were you I would take the 260 but all three will do it.

 

[gonzaga]

Pick one that you dont mind carrying for a few hundred or few miles. Antelope have incredible eye sight.
I've personally have only used my 6mm Remington. Last shot was 365 yards.
Good Luck on your hunt

 

[sodakhunter]

I’ve been using .243 Win with 115 DTACs. Dropped one DRT at 437 yds. Last year had double tag and let them line up and got two in one shot at 375. I’d say shoot what your used to.

 

[Soulezoo]

Back when I still actually hunted antelope, I used a .25-06 to great effect. While previous posts were correct that any of those will get the job done, I believe you should use the 6.5 provided it's not a 30 lb. benchrest rifle. It gets really windy in WY, gusty, swirly and unpredictable. You want as much wind bucking ability as you can. Also, you're going to find out that the longer range shots can get really iffy regardless of how your rifle shoots.

Have a great hunt regardless!!

 

[XTREM HTR16]

260 with 130 VLD’s in Wyoming works great...

 

[Mullhead]

260 130 eld-m

 

[idahoorion]

260 with 130 VLD’s in Wyoming works great...

+1 on 130's I like the otm's, up to and including elk.

 

[BigTex]

Hard to beat a 6.5x284

 

[Cinch]

Antelope are definitely not hard to kill and any one of your options will do great... I'd pick whichever one you shoot the best...

 

[lr123]

I'm planning to do the same this fall and will be taking my .308.

 

[Jsmith410]

Can’t really go wrong with any of those. I’d pick whichever I was most confident in.

 

[RNWRKNP]

Plus another one for the 6.5-284. Kept cattle in Wyoming and that wind can be a no shit ball buster.

 

[Oregonmuley]

I've killed a truckload++ with my .243 shooting 95 grain ammo. No complaints from the antelope so far

 

[HTX_17]

Had a blast chasing speed goats in New Mexico last September. 6 hunters-calibers were-.257 Roberts, 6.5 Creed, 6.5 SAUM, 6.8 SPC, .270, .300 win mag-closest shot was 250 and furthest was 480ish. Everyone was bang flop except 6.8 SPC and that was due to poor shot placement

 

[athanasios23]

I started hunting with a 260 rem this year. Always read about 6.5 caliber rifles being great for hunting, This year proved it. I'm going to build a light weight hunting rifle in 260 for packing around.

 

[FredIII]

Gonna give a 6.5 wssm improved 40* In a model 7 a try this September hopefully