Re-barreling the 700; .260, or 7-08?

[Wannashootit]

Going to order a CBI Remage barrel to re-barrel my son's .223 Rem 700 for Xmas.

I currently have a Savage I built in 7-08, and am debating whether to stick with that chambering for the 700 for ease of reloading, or go to the 6.5 (.260).

Use is mostly steel, at 600 and 1000 yards.

Having (temporarily?) discontinued the 162 Amax, I'm left with few high BC choices in the .284 and having but a couple of boxes of them left need to pick another boolit for load development anyway...

While external ballistics are important, boolit selection is now a consideration that components are difficult to find. Is there an advantage in bullet selection for the 6.5's (as in, actually being able to get them)?

I'll need a new bolt as well, I presume... PTG?

 

[FALex]

Only because you're asking opinions, I have to say .260. I am a dedicated .260 guy. Absolutely nothing wrong with the 7mm-08. Quite frankly, I think your boy would be fine with that, the advantage of the .260 is the plethora of brass options, and a bit less recoil.

ETA - yes, you'd need to get the larger .308 bolt. PTG will work great.

 

[VKC]

6.5s have lots of bullet options. 140amax, 140 Bergers, 139 Scenars as just a few.