What new rifle?

[DPV2010]

I have sold my trusty howa .223, purely as I have been invited up into goat country and wanted something a little larger, more of a all-rounder.
As is stands I have a .22 and 17hmr and .22 air rifle.

I am looking at three calibres.

.243 - My hunting buddy has this also so if there is already one on the trips there really is no reason to get another
7mm-08 - Half way between the two, but I heard the ammo is hard to come by unless reloading (looking at doing this)
.308 - heavy pill, more drop, large for other varmints (fox and rabbits) but I guess all the others will destroy both.

What are the pros and cons of each?
Looking at a Tikka t3, Howa, or Remington 700 but open for suggestions
Also what scope would you suggest?

[curan]

I totally love my Howa ultralight in 7mm-08. Fitted a timney and a DNZ mount with a 12x loopy.

HOWA 7mm08.JPG

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It's stainless, it's light, it feels good and it's accurate. I do reload though, and admit factory rounds are rather $$$$.

[Dr G]

For goats in the flinders an gawler ranges I would look at the 243 or 7mm08 first. Ammo for the 7mm is available through Des Kemp in Pt Augusta as this calibre is popular on stations where the main feral is goats and or dogs but also the odd camel and donkey. The 308 will do the job fine as well but is really overkill.

If it's just goats go with the pope, I would see the fact that your mate having one as a positive. You can bulk purchase ammo or components and if one of you has a technical issue with a rifle then you won't be carting useless rounds with you. The other advantage of the 243 is that it lends it's self to spotlighting as well and is great for cats and foxes (7mm is good here to). Frangible projectiles in 308 can be hard to get in the bush and harder again if your sticking to factory loads. Kempy stocks varmint factory loads in 243 and 7mm-08 so I know you can get them, I don't know about in 308 though.

Regarding brands of rifle my preference in the ones you have listed is for the T3. I will qualify that with the fact that I have never shot a Howa before but I have owned a rem 700. The T3 is a good value rifle but in saying that I like the timber and laminate stocked models, I really don't like the Tikka synthetic stock

Food for thought, looking forwards to seeing the results of your goat country exploits

Dr G

[Dr G]

Oh yeah I forgot the scope bit.

Get the best you can afford in your budget. For walk around goat rifle any variable up to 9 or 10 power with 40mm objective would be fine. Recently I have been leaning to fixed power on my walk around rifles. You can get a Leupold FX3 in 6x mag for next to bugger all.

Currently I have a leupold VX-L 3-10 x 50 on my 280Ackley and a Vortex Viper 3-9x40 on my 30-06 and a FX3 on my HMR but I have been considering swapping scopes with the 30-06 as the FX is such a clear crisp scope

[trevort]

Pretty much what Doc said but while your are looking at the 308 derivatives why not the 260 rem.

I wouldnt buy a remington to keep as is but my customised one is my favorite rifle.

I have a T3 in 22/250 and it impresses me every time I use it. it gets fed 55gn Nosler shots and shoots as nearly as well as my customs.

The potential future son in law (Keith, no not that Keith) came to the Missedathon with his new heavy barrelled Howa 308 factory fiited in a Boyds thumbhole.
We didnt get any time to do load development (he had fired a couple of packets of factory) so I found a safe seating depth with some 165 hornady SSTs I had left over from my trip to see Dr G years ago. Loaded 6 half a grain above min to get on target and try a group. They worked. 3 with a bit more powder to try a group, worked aswell and then filled the rest of the 50rnd box with bullets loaded half a grain below max. Just hoping for some safe crackers for some fun.

Two of the three shot group I fired at 100 went into the same hole with the third almost touching.

Then we went onto the 300m gong. Keith and my son Ryan took turns and it rang with every shot. It has a crap trigger that resisted Missed's attempts to adjust but even so it was very impressive. I would certainly own one.

[Camel]

All good suggestions, what about a 22-250 loaded up with 60 or 65gn hunting projectiles, good old fashioned soft points. Of course you scope might have to change to something with a bit more high end magnification, say a 4 - 12 or 16. Don't forget to check out the Zastava line of rifles either, great mauser 98 based action at a very good price.

[trevort]

I have a zastava too. Would much prefer a Tikka

[DSD]

If you are going to have any lighter framed people using the fire arm(ie missus,kids) go the 243. 308 barrel will last longer but chances are most hunters will never shoot/burn out a barrel, however if you do you can rechamber to 6mmslr and use your exsisting 243 brass. For the price I can not fault my howa seriously underated. At the misdathon was a few Howas, I did not see 1 of them miss there mark. Missed was even offhand shooting his 300 faggot mag into Bimbos 40-50mm metal tumblers(albeit at 25m)

[DPV2010]

It wont be for the kids or wife, unless she wants to come out on a trip with me!
The Tikka and Howa these days are on par with the tikka being only $100 more and both are accurate out of the box from what I have seen.
The 7mm-08 sparks my interest purely from a longer range stand point, the only negative is the cost of factory ammo until I set up the reloader.

As for the factory stock this is something that I will change down the track, been a pistol grip fan since shooting handguns. So in this case the Tikka has many more options for stocks than the howa.

[DSD]

There is at least 7 factory howa stocks and countless aftermarket, how many does tikka have?

[DPV2010]

There is at least 7 factory howa stocks and countless aftermarket, how many does tikka have?

Fair call- I have the Howa stock now and it's heavy as! Either way it will be upgraded as the funds build up! Just saying that after market stock wise there is alot more for the tikka from what I've seen

[DSD]

Is there really only $100 between a howa and a Tikka? I remember them being like 500 and something vs $1100.
I totally understand what you mean about stocks though, most people on here would know that i have a disliking of Tikkas, most would not know the reason though. The only reason i do not like Tikkas is that I have never picked 1 up that has been comfortable or has pointed were i am looking without effort or being comfortable. Shotgun shooters always talk about fit, for me Tikkas just do not have it, but I guess that is personal choice.
Having said that rarely now do I buy a rifle that does not have the stock changed with most of them getting something like an anschutz silhoutte style copy. A few from the missedathon can attest to if that style is any good or not as I had 1 there.

[stinkitup]

Sounds like you are using factory ammo, lots of 308 choices. I have a swede for what you are doing but I hand load so lots of choices for pills not so when using factory, usually plenty in the shop but is usually 140 gr sp bullets or .... 140 gr sp bullets or heavier.

I think winny has lighter varming loads for the 308 and of course plenty of 150+ gr factory loads. Same with the 243.

[Buffy]

Tikka T3 Lite or hunter in 308 running federal 130gn Tactical HP's. Problem solved

The 308 would have to have the most reliable ammo availability of the cartridges mentioned. Surely?

BB

[Dr G]

Tikka T3 Lite or hunter in 308 running federal 130gn Tactical HP's. Problem solved

The 308 would have to have the most reliable ammo availability of the cartridges mentioned. Surely?

BB

In SA I reckon the 243 would pip it especially in rural areas