I’m wanting to get a new deer rifle this year. I mainly hunt in the hill country and most of my shots are only around 100-125 yards but I do have a few spots I hunt where I can reach out to 3-400 yards. I narrowed it down to 3 guns, 7mm-08, 6.5 prc and 6.8 western. I know a lot of you guys on here are way more knowledgeable than I am about guns so I wanted to see what you guys would go with if y’all were in my shoes. Thanks for your input!

.30-06.

Bergara in 7mm08

Lol I was expecting that… or 270

Inside of 400 yards, kind of hard to say no to either of those calibers.

All good choices, I am partial to the 7-08.

Of those 3, I would go with 7-08 for brass availability and efficiency.

7mm-08 Bergara

BUT, The Browning X-Bolt is very intriguing in the 6.8 Western.

I'm leaning toward the new CZ Alpha 600. great rifle $750

7mm-08

Make me pick one cartridge to do everything, and that's probably the one.

30-06

Of those three, 708. Now just choose the platform. If budget is tight, my daughter's Ruger American Predator shoots well above its price-point.

6.8 Western is new and has very little factory ammo support. Who knows if this will still be around 10 years from now. It interests me, but I wouldn't recommend unless you plan on reloading and buying tons of components so that you can continue to shoot it after it has become obsolete.
6.5 PRC I don't know enough about to recommend or not recommend.
7mm-08 has been around a while, is a known solid performer, and you should have no issues finding ammo or components.
Out of the three that you listed, I would go with the 7mm-08.

If you don’t reload, my write in vote is the 308 Winchester.

7MM 08 all day!!

Unless you handload I'd consider the classic high availability cartridges. 30.06 270 243 308. Fun stuff!

Only ammo I’ve seen available out of those is the 7mm so easy choice for me

708 of the 3

Prc 2nd

At those distances, a 308 will do anything you could possibly want with significantly more factory ammo availability.

If you reload, the 7-08 will allow you to be equally as effective while wasting significant money and time on making the ammo that you have no unique requirements for

Fireman, Ive never even shot a 7-08. What does it do that makes you say that? Yes, I hand load.

What is it about .308 that lead you to exclude it from your list? I've never had 7-08, but due to reputation and the opinions of those that know, I'd choose it from your list.

I have been very happy with the performance of .308 on 100 or more animals over the last 6 years. That's all my deer, a pile of hogs and some coyotes. Some of these shots have been 300-450 yards and it's dumped everything. I don't reload, and it's never been a problem finding ammo. Good luck with your purchase. Once you narrow down the caliber, ask the forum what rifle to buy.

TIKKA

7mm-08 it’s been a solid performer for a lot of years! Why mess with history.

7mm-08: During this Ammo shortage how easy is this ammo to find and How much is it.?

6.5 prc: What I'm hearing is 3-400 yards do you need the extra "pop" of the PRC, and where and how much for ammo?

6.8 western: This is a new round and only Winchester and Browning building rifles or ammo for it last I heard. Once again I have to ask about the price and availibility of the
ammo?
Of the three I'd have to go with the PRC if it was my decision to make. Simply because It's highly popular and even custom gun makes are churning them out.
I've shot a 25-06 for years and love it but it's starting to be more difficult to find ammo so I recently bought the Billy Whiz Bang in a Tikka 6.5 Light Sabre Creedmoor.
All jokes aside I do like it even though it's plastic, I had too replace the stock and buy some actual bottom metal, it does shoot, and ammo is abundant and reasonable.

You and I seem to be the only ones still hunting with a 308 Win.

Naaahhh..........We're out there, plenty of us. Look at the # of offerings of ammo by caliber and then see how many are hunting bullets. .308 is near the top, if not #1 on variety and that is driven by demand. I got started on it when I was looking at the most effective short action and .308 is where I landed. I started shooting it and was happy with recoil (or lack of), then the first buck I killed with it from a 165 gr. SST bullet shot square in the chest at about 165 yards dropped like a sack of feed. Same results since then. This year, same results on a 230 lb whitetail. I'm not down on any caliber in the OP's list at all, just not familiar with them. I've also shot a BUNCH of pigs, a lot in the 180-220lb range with the same results.