But, some experienced hunters will tell you go with the .243 caliber rifle. You shouldnt be surprised if gramps (or any other person you know who has been shooting for the last 65 years or so) finds it intolerable that whippersnappers like yourself do not see the merits of the, different wildcat handloaders who experimented with the same basic concept from the late 1800s to the early 1900s but the one person credited with the development of the caliber we know today as the .25-06 Remington was expert gunsmith, Around this time, Niedner became a member of a gun club called, . They may leave a bit on the table when compared to the 105-grain pills, but they certainly arent a terrible choice. And when comparing the lightest loads, the .25-06 Remington offers yet again 17.42% more energy, but this time is actually 6.95% cheaper than its .243 Winchester rival. Beyond hunting use, the 243 Winchester has adopted a following in competitive rifle circuits, where the fast, 6mm bullet offers low recoil, flat trajectory and match winning performance. The calibers popularity started to soar with the introduction of the Lee Model 1895 straight-pull rifle., In spite of extensive testing and subsequent adoption by the U.S. Navy and Marines from 1895 through 1899, it was a cartridge way ahead of its time, which benefitted it in terms of popularity but would eventually cause it to become obsolete.. We've got you covered.7x57mm Mauser vs. 7mm-08 Remington.25-06 Remington vs. .257 Weatherby Magnum.338 Winchester vs. .375 H&H Magnum.30-30 Winchester vs. .35 Remington.257 Roberts vs. .250-3000 Savage.270 Winchester vs. .280 Remington.35 Whelen vs. 9.3x62mm Mauser.416 Rigby vs. .416 Remington Magnum.308 Winchester vs. .30-06 Springfield.22 Nosler vs. .224 Valkyrie.300 Win. Because of this, we used the weight value of only the lightest known factory rifle for each caliber on the market today: the Barrett Fieldcraft with a 24-inch barrel chambered in .25-06 Remington (weight: 6 lbs. and a recoil energy of 13.06 ft.lbs. stature, pain threshold etc. per dollar (or bang for buck, whichever way you put it), here are a few things to note:. Whether or not that higher velocity is needed is a personal question, as there are obviously no flies on the .243 Winchester. Various calibers. The .243 Winchester is a relatively heavy caliber. Original factory loadings pushed a 100 grain bullet around 2800 and a 117 to around 2600, significantly less than the new .243. But if you know of someone who wants to try whitetail hunting (maybe your kid, or your wife, or a friend of yours of small stature) and you know that theyre recoil shy, then youd want to get them a light .243 Winchester rifle. Simply put, the .243 Winchester became the darling and the .244 Remington became the goat. The Best .45 ACP Pistols Money Can Buy Today. Thats a 22.39% higher muzzle energy compared to the .243 Winchester at the expense of having 20.64% higher recoil impulse and 28.24% higher recoil energy. The 6.5 Creedmoor shoots the same .264 bullet size thats also used by the 6.555 Swede, 6.5 Grendel , .260 Rem, and 6.5 PRC (among others). In the mid 80s, there was a resurgence of interest in the Roberts. The 90-grain bullets have a sectional density (SD) of 0.218 in comparison to the 105-grain bullets SD of 0.266, so the difference is there, but I dont think its a deal breaker. Bothin theoryhad the goods to achieve the stated goal: to handle deer, pronghorn antelope, woodchucks and coyotes alike. It was introduced by Remington in 1969, and before it even became a mainstream cartridge, it had been around as a wildcat cartridge for almost five decades., As of this writing, its around 99 years old if we add up all the years of its existence, which it owes in no small part to an expert gunsmith named Adolph Otto Niedner. This time, the .243 Winchester middle child gets the upper hand, running 125 feet per second faster. There arent really a lot of things to discuss because its obvious that all .25-06 Remington offerings dwarf their rivals as far as price. Both pushed bullets that weighed a minimum of 87 grains and a maximum of 120 grains with velocities as high as 3,200 feet per second for lighter bullets and of 2,600 feet per second for the heavier ones. They were the, These are some good ballistic figures, but it became apparent with the release of the .243 Winchester that hunters who were after. If youre out hunting and youre packing a .243 Winchester rifle loaded with the hottest ammo you could find, you can shoot that whitetail or pronghorn just as dead as someone with a .25-06 Remington rifle could. The expert machinist and gunsmith that he was, Niedner would work closely with these three fellow gun club members on a handful of projects that would later be known as some of the 20th centurys greatest innovations in the world of firearms. That same year Remington launched its own 6mm cartridge, known as the .244 Rem., which was based on the .257 Roberts. But before you get to the comparison sections, you might want to take a step back, see where these two fine calibers came from just so you have an understanding of what each was originally designed for, where they stand currently and how one might be better than the other. And finally, comparing light loads, its important to note that as of this writing, the lightest we could find for the .25-06 Remington is Winchesters Ballistic Silvertip using an 85-grain projectile.. Whatever gun store you go to, if you ask for a modern hunting rifle caliber, theres a good chance theyll recommend a 6- or a 6.5-mm cartridge. A few rifles were cranked out for it from Ruger and Remington and Winchester came out with a +P silvertip that pushed the 100 grain bullet to about 2950. He sold it as the H-4831 and it became an instant hit. The Top Five Best AR-15 Pistols Our Picks, Top Video Game Weapons You Can Own In Real Life, The Best Shot Timers and Why You Need One, Top All Weather Firearms For Snow Conditions. The two at the top of the heapthe .243 Winchester and the 6mm Remingtonhave been rivals since birth, and continue to be. It was first and foremost a varmint cartridge, owing to the fact that any game species bigger than wood chuck was scarce in most of the inhabited areas in America during those days., In 1940, DuPont released their slow-burning, There were still a few IMR-4350 in circulation, and some were purchased by, Remington, becoming aware of this preferential shift and having a knack for legitimizing decades-old wildcat rounds that have demonstrated ballistic effectiveness in the field, started chambering the .25 Niedner in their full-sized 24-inch barreled. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Then there is the matter of popularity. When reloading the .243 Winchester, preference should be given to propelling charges that offer a medium to high progressive factor. The most notable of them was Warren Page, who is considered by many as one of the greatest American gun writers of all time. The .243 Winchester again gets the velocity advantage running 440 feet per second faster than its rival, but as with the middle loads, the .25-06 Remington is still more powerful with a 405 ft.lbf lead, a 21.69% energy advantage. And despite its age, its a modern cartridge in every sense. Remington dubbed theirs the.244 Rem., while Winchester went with.243 Win. coyotes). At $1.20 per round, it wont break the bank. Remington countered in the same year with their own design, based on the .257 Robertswhich was in turn based on the 7x57mm Mausernecked to hold the 6mm bullets. The steel typically used in rifle barrels of those days was not as resistant to corrosion as it is today. Top 5 Super Combo Survival Tools That Could Save Your Life. Savage Axis. No other alterations were made to the parent case as far as dimensions. The .243 Winchester has also been found to shoot flatter and more accurately than the 7mm-08 Remington out to 500 yards, with less recoil yet also less terminal energy.