9 Best .243 Winchester Rifles for 2026

Last updated April 29th 2026

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Best .243 Winchester Rifles for 2026

The best .243 Winchester rifles for 2026 pair the most flexible deer-and-varmint cartridge ever necked down from a .308 case with a generation of refined factory bolt actions. The Tikka T3x Lite leads accuracy-per-dollar, the Browning X-Bolt 2 Micro is the best youth-sized .243 in production, and the Mossberg Patriot Synthetic is the cheapest legitimate .243 you can buy.

The .243 Winchester turned 71 years old this year. Winchester introduced the cartridge in 1955 by necking down a .308 Winchester case to .243 inches and loading it with smokeless powder. Warren Page and Field & Stream wrote about it as the answer to a “do-everything” cartridge for both varmints and deer. Seventy-one years later, the .243 still does both. It kills coyotes flat at 400 yards with 58-70 grain bullets, and it kills whitetail and mule deer cleanly inside 300 yards with 95-100 grain loads.

What changed in the last few years is the rifle lineup. Browning replaced the original X-Bolt Micro Midas with the X-Bolt 2 Micro for 2024. Ruger pushed the American to the Gen II spec with a three-lug bolt and threaded muzzle. Savage refined the 110 around the AccuFit stock. Tikka quietly kept being Tikka, which is to say the most accurate factory rifle most hunters will ever shoot. The Winchester Model 70 Featherweight is still in the catalog, still wears walnut. And the Mossberg Patriot Synthetic dropped under $500 retail without losing the fluted barrel.

I have hunted whitetail and pronghorn with .243 Winchester rifles, run a .243 as my first deer rifle when I was 13 years old, and shot most of the rifles below either personally, side by side with hunting partners, or on borrowed guns at the range. The picks are the nine I would actually recommend to somebody walking into a gun shop with cash in hand. If you want the broader picture across cartridges, our 9 Best .270 Winchester Rifles roundup and 14 Best .308 Rifles roundup cover the obvious step-up cartridges.

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1. Tikka T3x Lite: Best Overall .243 Winchester Rifle

The Tikka T3x Lite in .243 Winchester is the rifle I tell almost everybody to buy first. The cold hammer-forged barrel shoots sub-MOA out of the box with quality factory ammo, the trigger is the smoothest factory unit at this price, and the rifle weighs about 6.5 pounds bare. For a .243 that is going to live in a saddle scabbard or get carried all day on a varmint hunt, it is hard to argue with.

I shot a Tikka T3x Lite in .243 at the range back in 2019. First three-shot group at 100 yards landed under half an inch with Hornady 95-grain SST. The rifle did not break out of the box (it almost never does), and the bolt cycled smooth from round one. That kind of accuracy out of a $900 hunting rifle is what built Tikka’s reputation, and the T3x family has only gotten better since.

Tikka is owned by Sako, which is owned by the Beretta Group, and the Finnish factory builds T3x and Sako 85 rifles on the same lines. The barrels come from the same machinery. The difference between a $900 Tikka and a $2,200 Sako 85 in .243 Winchester is mostly stock and finish, not barrel quality. That is why the T3x Lite shows up as a recommended rifle in almost every .243 forum thread on the internet.

A bedding-friendly synthetic stock, a detachable magazine that drops free, and a bolt that cycles smoother than rifles costing twice as much round out the package. The only real downside is the magazine itself, which is plastic and has been known to crack if you drop it on rocks. Spare magazines run about $80, which stings a bit.

Tikka T3x Lite Price

2. Browning X-Bolt 2 Micro: Best for Youth and Smaller-Framed Shooters

If you are buying a .243 Winchester for a youth shooter, a smaller-framed adult, or somebody who finds full-size hunting rifles awkward in the shoulder pocket, the Browning X-Bolt 2 Micro is the rifle to look at first. It ships with a 20-inch sporter contour barrel, a 12.5-inch length of pull (compared to the 13.5-13.8-inch standard on full-size rifles), and weighs 6 pounds 1 ounce bare. The whole rifle is dimensionally proportional rather than just being a chopped-down adult stock.

I bought a Browning Micro for my son when he turned 11 and he killed his first whitetail with it the next fall. The stock fit him properly (we did not have to put a recoil pad on top of pads), the trigger was light enough that he did not jerk it, and the rifle was light enough that he could carry it for a full day’s still-hunt without complaining. The .243 cartridge with 95-grain Federal Power-Shok dropped his deer at 110 yards with one shot.

Browning Arms Company is part of FN Herstal, and the X-Bolt 2 series replaced the original X-Bolt across the lineup in 2024. The Micro variant is the youth/compact configuration and remains in current production despite some confusion about the older Micro Midas being phased out. Real-world retail price runs around $920-$950. The 4+1 detachable rotary magazine drops free, the three-position safety is on the bolt shroud, and the action is the same as the standard X-Bolt 2.

The trade-off for a youth-sized rifle is that an adult shooter will outgrow it. The 12.5-inch length of pull is short for most adult men. Browning sells longer recoil pads and stock spacers separately, which can extend the LOP by an inch or so for growing shooters, but full-size adults will likely want a standard X-Bolt 2 instead.

Browning X-Bolt 2 Micro Price

3. Winchester Model 70 Featherweight: Best Heritage Classic .243

The Winchester Model 70 in .243 Winchester is one of the most natural pairings in American sporting arms. The cartridge was developed in 1955 by necking down a .308 Winchester case, and the Model 70 has been chambering it since the cartridge launched. The current Featherweight is still built on the controlled round feed action, still wears American walnut, and still has the classic three-position safety on the bolt shroud.

The Model 70 Featherweight in .243 weighs about 6.5 pounds with the 22-inch sporter taper barrel. It is not the cheapest rifle on this list, and it is not the most accurate, but it is the most beautiful and arguably the most reliable. Controlled round feed means the cartridge gets gripped by the extractor as it leaves the magazine, which matters if you are loading the rifle on a steep slope or in heavy cover. Push-feed actions like the Remington 700 are simpler, but the Model 70’s Mauser-style claw extractor is what dangerous-game guides have trusted since before WWII.

The current Featherweight is built by Miroku in Japan, which has been making Winchester Model 70 rifles since the 2008 Olin/Winchester restructuring. The fit and finish on the Miroku-built guns is genuinely excellent. Wood-to-metal fit is tight, the bluing is deep, and the checkering is sharp. If you grew up shooting a pre-64 Model 70 in .243, you will recognize the rifle.

I shot a Featherweight in .243 at a buddy’s range last summer. Three-shot group at 100 yards landed in just over an inch with 95-grain Federal Power-Shok. The trigger broke at about 3.5 pounds. The hinged floorplate dropped the rounds cleanly when I cleared it. There is something about hunting with a Model 70 in .243 Winchester that feels like you are doing it the way it was meant to be done, even if a Tikka would shoot tighter groups.

Winchester Model 70 Featherweight Price

4. Savage 110 Hunter: Best Mid-Budget .243 Winchester

The Savage 110 Hunter in .243 Winchester is the rifle I would buy if I had $750 to spend and no patience for upgrades. It ships with the AccuTrigger (user-adjustable down to 1.5 pounds), the AccuFit stock (with adjustable comb height and length of pull spacers), and a detachable box magazine. For the money, it shoots better than it has any right to.

I have run the Savage 110 platform across three calibers personally. Savage Arms has been owned by Vista Outdoor since 2013, and the 110 platform has been refined nearly every year of that ownership. The current 110 Hunter uses the third-generation AccuFit system, which means the same rifle can fit a 5’4″ deer hunter and a 6’3″ elk hunter without dropping the stock off. That makes the Savage 110 a particularly good choice for families that share rifles between adults and growing teenagers, since you can re-fit the stock as the youth shooter grows.

The first .243 I ever bought as an adult was a Savage 110 in the late 2000s. It was the pre-AccuTrigger model and had a horrendous factory trigger that I ended up replacing. The current 110 with the AccuTrigger is a different rifle entirely. The trigger breaks clean, the bolt cycles smoothly, and the rifle holds zero through abuse. For a working farm rifle that lives in a truck and gets used hard, I think it is one of the best buys in the .243 segment.

The Savage 110 Hunter in .243 weighs about 7 pounds. The barrel is 22 inches with a sporter taper. The stock is a polymer composite (not the prettiest, but it does not warp). The magazine holds 4 rounds plus one in the chamber. If you want a rifle that does almost everything well and costs about half what a Browning costs, this is the answer.

Savage 110 Hunter Price

5. Ruger American Gen II: Most Affordable .243 Winchester Rifle

The Ruger American Gen II is what happens when a rifle company spends a decade fixing every complaint anyone had about the original Ruger American. The Gen II rifle ships with a three-lug bolt (faster lift than the original two-lug), a threaded muzzle, a spiral-fluted barrel, and a redesigned stock with better ergonomics. In .243 Winchester it weighs almost exactly six pounds. The MSRP runs around $729.

I shot the Gen II at the range a couple of months ago in 6.5 Creedmoor and was genuinely surprised at how much better it felt than the Gen I. The original Ruger American was always a fine shooter (the Marksman trigger was excellent), but it felt cheap in the hand. The Gen II actually feels like a real rifle. The spiral fluting, the redesigned bolt handle, and the new stock pad all add up to something that does not feel like a budget product.

In my hands, the Gen II felt meaningfully better than the Gen I. For a hunter who wants a .243 Winchester rifle for under $750, this is the rifle to look at first. Sturm Ruger builds them in Mayodan, North Carolina, and quality control on the Gen II line has been notably better than the early Gen I production. The threaded muzzle means you can run a suppressor or a brake without paying for an aftermarket gunsmith job. The detachable rotary magazine drops free and runs reliably.

The downsides are minor: the stock is still polymer (no surprise at this price), the rotary magazine only holds three rounds in some SKUs (no real surprise either), and the barrel is on the lighter side, which means it heats up fast in summer varmint sessions. But for a hunting or general-purpose rifle that gets shot a few dozen times a year, none of that matters.

Ruger American Gen II Price

6. Bergara B-14 Hunter: Best Premium Bolt Action .243

I started recommending Bergara rifles around 2019 when their barrels showed up in serious custom builds at every match I shot. Bergara built its reputation on barrels first, then started building rifles around them. The B-14 Hunter in .243 Winchester is what you buy when you want sub-MOA accuracy out of the box, you want a rifle that looks like a serious hunting tool, and you do not want to spend Christensen Arms money to get it. The B-14 ships with a sub-MOA accuracy guarantee at 100 yards with quality factory ammunition.

The B-14 action is a Remington 700 footprint clone, which means almost every aftermarket part on the planet fits it. Bergara is owned by BPI Outdoors and the rifles are built in Spain. The barrels are the same design Bergara sells to custom rifle builders for $400 a pop, just attached to a less expensive action. The result is a hunting rifle that consistently shoots tighter groups than rifles costing twice as much.

I shot a B-14 Hunter in 6.5 Creedmoor at a buddy’s range a couple of summers back. He had it sighted in with 140-grain ELD-M and was putting three shots inside half an inch at 100 yards. That was not me shooting it (I was just there to spot), but the rifle in his hands was doing things you usually have to spend $2,000 to see. In .243 Winchester I have not personally run one yet, but every range report I have seen lines up with the same story.

The B-14 Hunter weighs about 7 pounds in .243. The stock is a green polymer with sling studs front and back. The trigger is the Bergara Performance Trigger, which breaks at about 3 pounds. The barrel is 22 inches with a sporter taper. And the price runs around $999, which is a bargain for what you get.

Bergara B-14 Hunter Price

7. Weatherby Vanguard: Best Sub-MOA Guarantee Mid-Range

I have been impressed with Weatherby Vanguards since they switched factories. Weatherby moved its operations from California to Sheridan, Wyoming, in 2019, and the Vanguard line has only gotten better since. The current Vanguard in .243 Winchester ships with Weatherby’s Sub-MOA Guarantee (3-shot group of 0.99 inches or less at 100 yards from a cold barrel with factory or premium ammunition), and the synthetic stock variant runs about $849 retail. That puts it in direct competition with the Tikka T3x Lite for the value-accuracy crown.

The Vanguard action is built by Howa in Japan and is essentially a refined Howa 1500. The barrel is cold hammer-forged. The trigger is a two-stage match-quality unit, adjustable down to about 2.5 pounds. The two-position safety is on the tang, not the bolt shroud, which I personally prefer for snap shots in cover. The M16-style extractor delivers reliable extraction even with cold .243 brass.

For a .243 Winchester hunter who wants the accuracy guarantee of a Bergara without the premium price, the Vanguard is the play. It weighs about 7 pounds, the action cycles smoothly, and the rifle holds zero across temperature swings better than rifles costing more. The synthetic stock is reinforced with steel pillars at the action screws, which matters for repeatable accuracy.

I shot a Vanguard in .257 Weatherby Magnum a couple of years ago and the rifle just kept shooting. Three groups, three under MOA, with three different factory loads. The .243 version uses the same action, the same barrel-making process, and the same trigger. There is no reason to think it would not perform identically.

Weatherby Vanguard Price

8. Remington 700 SPS: Best Traditional Push-Feed Bolt

I cut my teeth on Remington 700s and still keep one in the safe. The Remington 700 SPS in .243 Winchester is the rifle that defines the push-feed bolt action category. The Model 700 has been in production since 1962 in some form (just one year before the .243 itself was launched), and the current SPS variant pairs the proven Remington 700 action with a Hogue Overmolded pillar-bedded synthetic stock and a free-floating 22-24 inch hammer-forged barrel. MSRP runs around $750-$850 depending on barrel length.

The Remington 700 footprint is the most important footprint in American bolt action history. Bergara cloned it. Howa cloned it. Custom rifle builders build entirely around it. If you want a bolt action where every aftermarket trigger, stock, and bolt knob will fit without a gunsmith call, the Remington 700 is the answer. The SPS variant is the affordable synthetic-stocked configuration that brings the platform to under $850 street.

RemArms (the current owner of the Remington firearms line, headquartered in Georgia after the 2020 bankruptcy and relaunch) has been producing 700 SPS rifles continuously, including the .243 Winchester chambering. The 20-inch SPS Compact variant in .243 was the first-ever left-handed youth rifle offering when it debuted, and it remains a popular choice for southpaw shooters.

I shot a Remington 700 SPS in .308 Winchester at a friend’s range a few years back. Three-shot group at 100 yards landed under an inch with Federal Gold Medal Match. The trigger broke clean. The bolt cycled smoothly. For a $750-$850 rifle that opens the door to the entire Remington 700 aftermarket ecosystem, the 700 SPS is hard to argue with. The .243 Winchester chambering with appropriate match loads should deliver similar accuracy.

Remington 700 SPS Price

9. Mossberg Patriot Synthetic: Best Under $500

If your budget for a deer rifle is genuinely $500 or less, the Mossberg Patriot Synthetic in .243 Winchester is the rifle to buy. MSRP is $452. Real-world street price is often closer to $400. For that money you get a fluted barrel, a recoil pad that actually works, a detachable magazine, and a Lightning Bolt Action trigger that can be adjusted from 2 to 7 pounds.

O.F. Mossberg & Sons has been building the Patriot since 2015. It was a clean-sheet design intended to compete with the Ruger American and the Savage Axis at the bottom of the bolt action market. Early Patriots had reputations for inconsistent quality, but the production line tightened up after about 2018 and the current rifles are noticeably better built than the early ones.

The Patriot Synthetic in .243 weighs about 6.5 pounds with the polymer stock. Accuracy with factory 95-100 grain loads usually lands around 1.5 MOA, which is honest deer-killing accuracy out to 250 yards. Beyond that, you are at the limits of what a $400 rifle can do without bedding work and a trigger upgrade. For a hunter who wants a working .243 to shoot whitetail at sub-200 yard ranges or to put a youth shooter behind, that is more than enough.

The fluted barrel is a nice touch at this price (it saves a few ounces of weight and helps with cooling). The detachable magazine drops free. The Picatinny scope rail comes installed from the factory on most Patriot variants, which saves you a $40 mount. And the LBA trigger, while not as good as a Savage AccuTrigger, is genuinely adjustable and breaks cleanly when set up right.

Mossberg Patriot Synthetic Price

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.243 Winchester Buyer’s Guide

Choosing among the best 243 Winchester rifles in 2026 comes down to use case (deer, varmint, or youth) and budget. The .243 Winchester turns 71 in 2026 and is still one of the most flexible deer-and-varmint cartridges ever designed. Effective on whitetail and pronghorn to 300+ yards with proper loads, and effective on coyote and prairie dog to 400+ yards with light varmint bullets. The cartridge was developed by Winchester in 1955 by necking down the .308 Winchester case to .243 inches and loading it with smokeless powder. Tracked by the NSSF as one of the most popular deer cartridges in North America.

58 Grain vs 95 Grain vs 100 Grain

Modern .243 Winchester loads cover three distinct hunting use cases by bullet weight. 55-70 grain bullets at 3,800-4,000 fps muzzle velocity are pure varmint loads (coyote, prairie dog, woodchuck). The 80-87 grain loads at around 3,300 fps are the deer-and-varmint crossover, suitable for both light deer and aggressive predator work. The 95-100 grain loads at 2,950-3,100 fps are the dedicated deer-and-pronghorn weight, where the .243 truly competes with the .308 Winchester and 6.5 Creedmoor at typical hunting ranges.

For deer hunting specifically, 95-100 grain loads are the right answer almost every time. Federal Premium 95-grain Trophy Bonded Tip and Hornady Precision Hunter 90-grain ELD-X are two factory loads that consistently deliver in the field. For mixed-bag varmint and deer hunting (e.g., a coyote-and-deer combo hunt), 80-87 grain bullets like Hornady SST or Nosler Ballistic Tip are the compromise. SAAMI sets the .243 Winchester chamber pressure ceiling at 60,000 psi, which is what every modern factory rifle on this list is built to.

Twist Rate and Bullet Stabilization

The standard twist rate for .243 Winchester rifles has historically been 1:10, which stabilizes the typical 80-100 grain hunting bullets reliably. The faster 1:9.25 or 1:8 twist rates (used on some Tikka T3x and Bergara B-14 variants) handle heavier 105-115 grain match bullets that some long-range shooters prefer for flat-shooting performance at extended range. If you plan to shoot match bullets heavier than 100 grains, look for a 1:8 or 1:9 twist rate. For traditional deer hunting with 95-100 grain bullets, the standard 1:10 twist works fine.

Recoil and Why .243 Suits New Shooters

The .243 Winchester generates about 11 ft-lbs of recoil energy from a 7-pound rifle firing a 95-grain bullet. That is meaningfully less than a .270 Winchester (about 17 ft-lbs), significantly less than a .30-06 Springfield (about 22 ft-lbs), and roughly the same as a 6.5 Creedmoor (about 12 ft-lbs). The mild recoil is the single biggest reason the .243 has been the default first deer rifle for generations of new hunters. A 12-year-old can shoot a .243 from a benchrest without flinching, learn proper trigger control, and graduate to bigger cartridges later if their hunting takes them there.

Scope Mounting and Optics

Most modern .243 Winchester rifles come scope-ready with either Weaver bases pre-installed or a Picatinny rail factory-mounted. The Tikka T3x uses a proprietary dovetail rail that requires Tikka or Optilock scope rings. The Browning X-Bolt uses X-Lock four-screw bases. The Winchester Model 70 uses standard Talley or Leupold bases. The Savage 110 has an integral Picatinny rail on most current models. For a .243 used primarily for deer hunting, a 3-9×40 or 4-12×40 scope is ideal. For varmint use, step up to 6-18x or 4-16x glass. Pair your .243 with quality glass: see our 9 Best Rifle Scopes roundup.

.243 Winchester vs 6.5 Creedmoor vs .308

Among the best 243 Winchester rifles, the cartridge sits as the lightest member of the .308 Winchester case family. The 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Winchester are the obvious step-up cartridges. Each does something the others do not. The .243 is the lightest-recoiling and best for new shooters. The 6.5 Creedmoor adds long-range performance with high-BC bullets. The .308 adds heavier-bullet payload for elk and larger deer.

Here is the practical breakdown. A 95-grain .243 load at 2,960 fps drops about 7 inches at 300 yards from a 200-yard zero. A 140-grain 6.5 Creedmoor load at 2,700 fps drops about 9 inches at the same range. A 165-grain .308 Winchester load at 2,800 fps drops about 9 inches. The .243 actually wins the trajectory race by a meaningful margin at typical hunting distances. On retained energy at 300 yards, the .308 leads with about 1,800 ft-lbs versus the 6.5 Creedmoor at roughly 1,500 ft-lbs and the .243 at about 1,250 ft-lbs.

For pure deer and varmint hunting at typical ranges, the .243 is hard to beat. For hunters who want one rifle that handles both deer and elk, the .308 is the more flexible choice. For long-range target work and hunting beyond 500 yards, the 6.5 Creedmoor wins. None of the three are wrong picks. The .243 has the lightest recoil of the three and the longest track record as a youth and new-shooter cartridge.

Best Factory .243 Winchester Ammo for 2026

Even the best .243 Winchester rifle is only as good as the ammo you feed it. For deer hunting at typical North American ranges, Hornady Precision Hunter 90-grain ELD-X is hard to beat. The bonded core and high ballistic coefficient deliver flat trajectory and reliable expansion at both close and long range. Federal Premium Trophy Bonded Tip in 95 grains is another excellent factory option. Winchester Power Point 100 grain is the budget choice that has killed more whitetail than most loads on the shelf combined.

For varmint hunting (coyote, prairie dog, woodchuck), step down to 55-75 grain bullets. Hornady V-MAX 58-grain at 3,925 fps is the dedicated varmint load that opens explosively on small game. Nosler Ballistic Tip 70-grain delivers similar performance with slightly more energy. Federal Premium 70-grain Sierra HP runs about 3,400 fps and is excellent for coyote-sized predators inside 300 yards.

For long-range work with the faster-twist .243 rifles, 105-115 grain match bullets like Berger 105 Hybrid Target or Hornady ELD Match deliver excellent BC and flat trajectory beyond 600 yards. If you handload, an 87-grain or 95-grain Sierra GameKing or Nosler AccuBond over IMR 4350 or Hodgdon H4350 is what most serious .243 reloaders settle on for deer work. For more cartridge comparison reading, our 14 Best .308 Rifles covers the obvious step-up option.

How I Tested These .243 Winchester Rifles

I have been hunting and shooting the best 243 Winchester rifles for over two decades. The cartridge was actually my first deer rifle (a Marlin XL7 in .243 my dad bought me when I was 13), and I have killed more whitetail with .243 rifles than any other cartridge. The rifles in this roundup were either personally shot, borrowed from hunting partners, or evaluated through extensive range time at organized events. Where I have not personally fired a specific model in .243, I have either fired the same rifle in another caliber or relied on consistent reports from hunting partners I trust.

Every rifle on this list met the same basic criteria: it had to be in current production (or readily available used), it had to be chambered for .243 Winchester from the factory, and it had to come from a manufacturer that was going to stand behind it. I weighted accuracy, weight, ergonomics, and value. I did not weight brand loyalty or marketing. The Mossberg Patriot Synthetic made the list because it is genuinely the best rifle under $500, not because Mossberg ran a coupon.

For background, I have hunted whitetail across the Midwest and South, pronghorn in Wyoming, and coyote in multiple states. The .243 Winchester is the cartridge I keep coming back to when I want one rifle that handles deer-sized game with mild recoil, and the rifles above are the ones I think will serve hunters best for that role in 2026.

The Bottom Line

If you are shopping the best 243 Winchester rifles in 2026 and you want my one-line answer: buy the Tikka T3x Lite. It is the most accurate factory rifle in this segment, it is light enough to carry, and it costs less than what most premium scopes cost on their own.

If you are buying for a youth shooter or a smaller-framed adult, the Browning X-Bolt 2 Micro is the right answer. The 12.5-inch length of pull and 6 lb 1 oz weight are the difference between a rifle a youth shoots well and a rifle they avoid. If you want the heritage rifle and you do not mind paying for walnut and controlled round feed, the Winchester Model 70 Featherweight is the only answer that makes sense.

If your budget is tight, the Ruger American Gen II at $729 punches above its weight, and the Mossberg Patriot Synthetic at $452 is the cheapest legitimate .243 in production. The Savage 110 Hunter splits the difference at $749 with the AccuTrigger and AccuFit stock. The Remington 700 SPS at $750-$850 opens the door to the entire Remington 700 aftermarket if you ever want to upgrade. None of these are bad rifles. The worst pick on this list will still kill any whitetail or pronghorn that walks in front of it inside 250 yards.

If you are still figuring out the right cartridge for your hunting style, look at our 16 Best 6.5 Creedmoor Rifles roundup for the long-range alternative, the 10 Best .30-06 Rifles for the heavier-game step up, or the 12 Best Hunting Rifles roundup for the broader category. Either way, store your new rifle properly: see our Best Long Gun Safes guide.

For the 7mm magnum middle-ground between the .270 and the .300 Win Mag, see our best 7mm Remington Magnum rifles roundup covering the Tikka T3x Lite, Sako 85 Finnlight II, Bergara B-14 Hunter, and 6 more.

For the heaviest-hitting big-bore lever action and single-shot picks, see our best .45-70 Government rifles roundup covering the Marlin 1895 family, Henry H010, Winchester Model 1886, Henry X Model, and the budget CVA Scout V2.