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Starting to lean towards a bolt action rifle.

Next decision factors.

Remington 700 Varmit or Savage accutrigger sysdtem.

.223 or .243 or 22-250 or .270?

Decisions decisions decisions.

Will you be using the rifle only as a bench gun, or will you be hunting with it as well?
Here's what I prefer each cartridge for:

223: Hunting coyotes
243: coyotes again
22-250: coyotes and target shooting (flat bullet trajectories)
270: Hunting for anything in Texas. (minus those of the smaller variety.)

I am by no means an expert. Those are just my opinions.
I can't comment of those rifle choices, as I have no experience with either. I would love to have both though.

CaptWoodrow10 wrote:Will you be using the rifle only as a bench gun, or will you be hunting with it as well?
Here's what I prefer each cartridge for:

223: Hunting coyotes
243: coyotes again
22-250: coyotes and target shooting (flat bullet trajectories)
270: Hunting for anything in Texas. (minus those of the smaller variety.)

I am by no means an expert. Those are just my opinions.
I can't comment of those rifle choices, as I have no experience with either. I would love to have both though.

See you are in Bryan. Have an aggie up there therefore i am on a bit of a budget.

To answer your questions,

Initial use: Target shooting with the family. Would like to progress to varmit/hog hunting.

What gun makes do you have?

22-250 ammo availibility and cost?

243 flatter trajectroy than a .223 @ 300 yards?

Thanks

I own a Ruger MKII chambered in .270, a DPMS Ar15 in .223, and my brother owns a CZ in 22-250. (He's kind enough to let me play with it from time to time.)

22-250 is readily available in most areas, as are the rest of the calibers mentioned. I haven't had the need to purchase any 22-250 ammunition since late last year, but as I recall the prices ranged from $18 to $25 per box. I can't tell you what the prices are now.

If I intended to use the rifle for hog hunting anytime in the future I would be looking at the .270, or possibly the .308. Hogs are some pretty tough little creatures.

Generally, the 243 has a little less drop at 300yrds when compared to the 223, but bullet weight plays a major role in this. Another factor to consider is the wind drift. The heavier 243 does better in this area.
I encourage you to look up some ballistics tables as there are many available on the web. Here's one that allows you to see the difference in the two cartridges:
http://www.winchester.com/LEARNING-CENT ... lator.aspx

I hope this helps you.

I saw today an older person shooting a Rem 700 heavy barrel in 300 WM, Sniper Mil Spec, topped with Large zoom Leupold. He was placing overlapping holes at 100 yrd all in bullseye. Just amazing! He was shooting his handloads.