Which Calibre for 100 grn bullets

nuttyspaniel

Well-Known Member
The reason for this discussion is due to my epxeriance with the 243 and my love of the 25-06. I am however looking at the 260 aswell for this thread. Now Ive used my old sako 243 with good results on fox, Roe and Reds. I then traded up for a 25-06 which again served me very well before I had a brain fart and sold it!!!!!! Now I am deliberating either a 243 or 25-06 again or the 260.

Ok now the question bit!!!!!

If you had to choose 1 of the above calibres and not an other calibre and run it on 100grn bullets which 1 would you opt for and why? There is to be no other weighted bullets to be used as IMO thats when the real difference between the calibres come into play, and all 3 calibres will kill all UK deer with well placed shots. Please remember these points when answering.


cheers
nutty
 
Hi

Nightmare I have a .243 and .25-06 and both are great the only thing I can think of for seperating them would be either ammo availability, or from a tight point whichever used the least powder when loading your own.

Cheers

Dickie
 
Personally I would go for the 25/06, mainly because I could then use 120 grain bullets if I wished

I would not have this option available with the 243
 
Personally I would go for the 25/06, mainly because I could then use 120 grain bullets if I wished

I would not have this option available with the 243

+1 on this. .25-06 would be my choice for 100gr bullets only. I have owned Rugers in .243, .25-06 and 260 Rem and accounted for red hinds and stags with all three rifles. Regards JCS
 
My 260 will do 3300 fps with a 100gr BT and uses a lot less powder than the 25/06 to achieve this. And it will shoot up to 140 gr bullets with ease.
 
+1 on this. .25-06 would be my choice for 100gr bullets only. I have owned Rugers in .243, .25-06 and 260 Rem and accounted for red hinds and stags with all three rifles. Regards JCS

JCS out of interest whats your reasoning in having the 25-06? My head tells me the same but the 260 interests me!!



cheers
nutty
 
My 260 will do 3300 fps with a 100gr BT and uses a lot less powder than the 25/06 to achieve this. And it will shoot up to 140 gr bullets with ease.


Looking at nosler data theres not much difference between the 25-06 and the 260 with speeds. As for powder useage that makes sense.



cheers
nutty
 
You can look at it this way, generally a 100grn 243 bullet will have a higher BC then a 100grn 257 bullet which will in turn have a higher BC then a 100grn 6.5 bullet.

Ian.
 
I used .243Win for 20 years before changing to .25-06Rem. 100gn Sierra Prohunter 1620 is absolutely fab in my '06. Knocks down all UK deer no messing every time. Great accuracy for when longer range or neck shots are appropriate.
Wouldn't swap for anything......the bonus is there's very little recoil/muzzle flip, so I get to see quarry reaction & where it goes easily.

.260Rem. great cartridge & calibre.....but still relatively new. Works best IMO with 120-130gn bullets from what I've seen, but that may depend on twist rate in barrel which I'm advised is usually 1-8, rather than the 1-10 twist on the .25-06Rem. Not much difference in velocities between .25-06 & .260Rem.
You choose, but if you're shooting 100gn......go .25-06Rem.
Cheers, :tiphat:
 
Nutty, the other point in favour of the 260 is that it will do what the 25/06 will do with less powder, and more importantly at least 2" less barrel. That makes a big difference once you hang a can on the end of the barrel. The 243 is just not in the same league as the other two. That marginal BC advantage in the 6mm bullet will never compensate for the 400 FPS head start the 26rem has over it.

It is just a better mouse trap....
 
.260 you have better chosice of bullet's up to 160gr , but 130gr do it all really and the 100gr also do it all but i really like that you can get hiev's for the begger deer
 
on the other hand, the .243 is the only one that can accurately be downloaded to 55g if varminting is your bag as well. Don't forget, it's not all about 'uploading':tiphat:

ps. Luke W...what are 'begger deer'...as in "hey, you got any spare grass dude?"...
 
The 243 is just not in the same league as the other two. That marginal BC advantage in the 6mm bullet will never compensate for the 400 FPS head start the 26rem has over it.
.

Bloody hell Claret are you getting 3600fps from your 260 from a 22" barrel with 100gn'ers:eek:

If you want to shoot 100gn bullets Nutty just go and buy the cheapest, or the rifle you like most in any calibre of 6mm, 25cal, 6.5, 270, or 7mm the deer will never send you a letter of a complaint, and out to 200 yards it will never make any difference. Oh 270 is best:stir: or a 7mm.

ATB

Tahr
 
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Can't disagree, a .260 will run similar velocities to a .25-06 with less propellant...not sure how much less, perhaps 10gn per cartridge. A .260 will almost certainly operate best with approx 120-130gn bullet and will certainly knock over all UK deer species.
However, because of the tighter 1-8 twist found in .260 barrels, they're not desperately good with the lighter 100gn bullet...in the same way the .25-06 with a slower 1-10 twist isn't so great with the heavier weight bullets - at least, not in my .25-06 rifle, which by the way has a 20.5" barrel, and shoots 1/4" MOA groups at 100yds. with a chrono MV of a pretty consistant 3310fps using a Sierra 100gn Prohunter bullet.
It's easy to generalise, and I have a high regard for the .260Rem cartridge. I think it would be a very good stalking cartridge and is worth serious consideration......just not if the plan is to use only 100gn bullets.

For those bullets, IMO the .25-06 comes into it's own. :tiphat:
 
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