I've got a question for the experts... I'm looking to buy myself a new rifle in the next 6 months or so which will be used for the typical whitetail, hogs, coyotes, etc. I currently have a 7mm rem mag which has slowly become my son's gun and recently bought my daughter a 7mm-08. I don't currently reload but would like to get into it eventually. My question is what would be a good addition to these two rifles if I do start reloading?

I've always liked the 7 mag but have started to get recoil sensitive as I get older. The 7-08 is a sweet shooting little round and I guess there's nothing wrong with it but I would just like to have something different for the heck of it. I'm thinking maybe 280 or 308? What else uses common components that would fall in between the two guns I already have?

The 280 sounds right, in that it uses the same projectiles. But it will kick you.

I loaned out my 260 to the granddaughter a while back, so I dragged out the Sako 270 and checked the scope POI. Yessir, a noticeable increase in recoil over the 260, and the rounds looked like 20mm shells. Might be best for you to just stay with the 7-08 till you start reloading.

If you went .280 you could share bullets across all three but if recoil is an issue you might look at the .260 since it and the 7-08 share the same parent cartridge.

I just switched to a .308 glad I did. Ammo is cheap and plentiful, which means I can afford to practice more often in the off season. Plenty of bullet for anything in NA except bears I suppose.

6.5 creed

280 AI if you really want to do 280 lol
there is a lot of "between" in that area, a good few just smaller, and a few just larger...
308 is like turkey and dressing... cant get rid of it cause it is sooooo good.

but for those critter and recoil shy-ish... 260 or 6.5 creed... I would go creed personally out of those 2 probably but both are sweet rounds...

You've already told us the answer...Learn to Reload

I'm starting to work with some calibers that have always interested me, and by reloading I can make my new to me 300WSM with reduced chamber pressures down in the low 50K's PSI instead of at the max of 60-61K PSI...and get hopefully mid pressure 30'06 MV's with acceptable accuracy. Same thing with a 270 or 280...or even a 7-08.

I'm working up a 260 T3 as well, when I couldn't find another 6.5Swede that was the sweetest shooting deer rifle I ever owned and traded it off to get a purty piece of wood on a SAKO M85. Oh Well...never was the very brightest bulb in the pakg.
Ron

You've already told us the answer...Learn to Reload

I'm starting to work with some calibers that have always interested me, and by reloading I can make my new to me 300WSM with reduced chamber pressures down in the low/mid 50K's PSI instead of at the max of 60-61K PSI like my 300WMg had...and get hopefully mid pressure 30'06 MV's with acceptable accuracy. Same thing with a 270 or 280...or even a 7-08.

I'm working up a 260 T3 as well, when I couldn't find another T3 6.5 Swede that was the sweetest shooting deer rifle I ever owned and traded it off to get a purty piece of wood on a SAKO M85. Oh Well...never was the very brightest bulb in the pakg.
Ron

I should've mentioned I also have a 22-250 that I'd like to reload if that adds anything. Also, it's not that recoil is that big a deal, it's just that sighting in the 7 mag isn't as fun as it used to be. In the field it doesn't matter. Does anything share brass with the 7 rem mag?

I believe you can make .264 Win magnum out of the 7mag brass. If you want something different that will share components (bullets), look at the 7x57 mauser. Good round that you don't see much anymore.

My vote is 7x57

1. Great, classic round to reload
2. Something different you don't see many people shooting
3. Very mild recoil
4. Been whippin critters for over 100 years and is a perfect round for deer and hogs
5. Same bullet as 7mag and 7-08

I like it.

Like my 280. I reload and have it shooting near 7mag velocities without the magnum recoil.

308... Or 30-30

Me too - I currently have three of them.

I've got one that I can't get to shoot. Old model 1893 mauser made in 1925. Barrel is shot out I guess. May become a custom at some point. Idk. It may just sit as it is.

Just saw that the TC Venture is chambered in 280 and currently has a $75 rebate. Any thoughts on this rifle? I've owned most of the major brands over the years but am not familiar with the TC products. Started thinking that if and when I do get into reloading that keeping the projectiles the same would be easier than resizing brass.

I have a TC venture in 223. I have not had any issues and am happy I got it. Does what I need it to do.

270 or 257 weatherby magnum are both all around flat shooting rifles.

I can tell you are leaning .280. Which is a great choice IMHO. I have heard good things from Ron and others about the T/C Venture, so I say go for it!

280 is a good round that kind of flies under the radar. Its different enough to not be main stream, but main stream enough that ammo is not to difficult to find. I haven't spent much time in the field with one but its always impressed me every time I pulled the trigger.

Another vote for 308

Since this has turned into---as always---a session of headstamp worship, I'll throw in with the .280 guys...it really IS a great cartridge (as are ALL the '06-based cartridges) and especially if you handload. You can load it down to rather mild velocities and still get very good accuracy, and you can load it up quite a bit beyond what the book loads suggest as long as you mind your Ps and Qs. Top that off with the tremendous variety of bullets available in 7mm, and you've got that one rifle that might be the one you keep if you could just have ONE.