.243WIN .270WIN or .308WIN

[SHEPHERD321]

After all this time I still can't decide which to focus on.

[Guns4Fun]

focus on for what ?

[SHEPHERD321]

To have 4 or 5 different rifle configurations of the same cartrige. Then stock a few thousand rounds.

[mrnyman]

That all depends on what the Gun will be used for: Defense, Survival, hunting?
The mission determines the weapon, simple.

.243 and .270 are primarily hunting rounds. .308 is a NATO approved round known as the 7.62x51 , in this country it is also a popular hunting round and one of my favorite.

So whats the mission?

Nyman

[SHEPHERD321]

In this order: deer hunting, varmit hunting, zombies.

[mojo]

.308 is a very flexible round ... great all around round.

.270 (IMHO) is one of the best hunting rounds for PA. Not that .308 or .243 aren't ... I'm a little partial as my main hunting gun is .270 but do have a .308

Do you plan on hunting out of state? You can take a .308 pretty much anywhere in the US. The .270, not really.

Don't have much experience with the .243, so I can't really comment.

[SHEPHERD321]

That the 270 woudn't be good in other states is an opinion I haven't heard before. But no, I won't be hunting out of state.

[Howard Bullock]

My .243 was a very good ground hog rifle out to about 350 yards. Longer shots were possible but the wind started to play with bullet. The deer all fell quickly with a well placed shot.

No experience with .270 or .308.

[mojo]

That the 270 woudn't be good in other states is an opinion I haven't heard before. But no, I won't be hunting out of state.

I'm thinking more like CO,MT,etc for elk, mule deer, etc. In those cases the .308 would be much better. Could a .270 get it done, I'm sure it could. But I would rather have a .308 over a .270 in that situation.

[Brick]

That's funny, I have always thought of the .270 as a flat shooting "plains" pronghorn/mule deer/elk rifle. Not so much a PA deer rifle where shots greater that 150 yards aren't in great abundance (at least in the northern tier). .243 is really a .308 necked down to 6mm, it's a good cartridge for up to medium size game (and it would probably do a reasonable job harvesting zombies) and it won't kick hell out of you if you have to do lots of shooting.

Personally, I opt for the .308 Win, I can load it down a bit to 110 gr bullets for varmints and up 200 grainers for medium-heavy game. BTW it'll also do quite well on plains and Rocky Mountain game. I also know that I can swat zombies at 600 meters with the classic military configured rifle and get 1000 meter grazing fire also.

Maybe get the .243 for the "significant other".