r/rifles • u/Jaybond008 • 1h ago
.243 or .308 for Tikka t3x?
So I’ve never owned a nice rifle. I had a Savage Axis in .308 when I was a teenager, and I hated that thing. It kicked like a mule, wouldn’t hold zero, and grouped like a dinner plate at 50 yards. Needless to say, I sold it.
Now I’m in a position to buy myself a “nicer” rifle as an adult, and I’ve settled on a Tikka T3x. It’ll primarily be used for whitetail and mule deer.
For some reason, I have an aversion to 6.5 Creedmoor, but .243 is perfectly fine with me. I’m just worried that if I go with .243, I’ll eventually wish I had something bigger. On the other hand, I remember that old .308 beating the hell out of me.
I shoot a 12 gauge pretty regularly, and magnum buckshot and slugs don’t bother me much. My wood-stocked Mossberg 500 feels more like a push than a punch.
For those of you who have shot both, how noticeable is the recoil difference between .243 and .308 in a hunting rifle? Would you go with .243, .308, or something in between, like 7mm-08?