Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Deer & Antelope caliber for the wife?

.243 - the Barnes bullet loadings in .243 have given me new confidence in that round as a reliable deer killer.

As for the rifle - make sure it fits well, has a safety she can use from a shooting position and a little extra weight in a first gun never hurts from both a recoil and a steadiness perspective.

243, 257 Roberts, 25-06, 260, 7-08

Depends on your wife. A friend's wife shoots a .340 Wby...he shoots a .378 Wby

7mm-08

I would go for the .260, but that isnt as common and ammo is a bit more difficult. Using that criteria, the .243 wins hands down. I dont feel that the 7mm-08 is any more common than the .260 when it comes to available ammo. All 3 are great cartridges. My son started with my .25-06... its a great caliber but will likely come in a bit longer package.

My wife started with a .243 and 250 Sav., but came to use the old 7mm Rem. Mag. more than any other caliber..

.243 or 7mm-08.

Excellent choices for all of the same reasons, accurate, very low recoil and light on muzzle blast.

Both will hammer deer and antelope clear out there.

My kid has had highly impressive results using both cartridges.

Managed Recoil .308 ammo is a fine choice.

Sherwood

7-08 and 120 NBT's

There are 2 243's in the classifieds right now that would fill the bill- a Model 70 carbine and a Model 7.

+1

The more I use the 243 on deer, the more I leave the 300rum and 270wby Mag at home. They were both for long range shooting but now I hunt for fun.

Shooting and handling the 243 is fun.

243's loose way too much energy past 350-400 YDS, 25-06 is the best of all worlds for a low kicker

Another vote the 243, i like mine for deer and i used a 30-06 for a long time! Ammo is availible everywhere and it's inexpensive.

Gotta go with the .243. I'm a grown man and that is my most used rifle caliber.

Curious how many deer you have shot past 350-400 YDS with the 243 and with what bullet?

If all she'll ever hunt is deer and antelope the 243. If at some point she might want to go for something bigger then the 7mm08 or a 308. Those last two are both mild in the recoil if the rifle fits her. (Find a BLR, women seem to get along with those real well).
The biggest reason I recommended the 708 and 308 for bigger stuff is it's less likely some azzhole idiot with about as much real world experience as a can of spam, will be able to put doubt in her rifles ability, they way the experts can almost wreck a new/young shooters physcy with a lite rifle like the 243. Of course I do know of an example where a person claiming years of elk experience gave a thumbs down to the 308 as being in adequate ( only to later admit he didn't even know anybody that used one) So I suppose no matter what cartridge someone can come along a screw with a newbies mind....

No, you don't understand what he's saying. The .243 Win. looses too much energy past 350-400 yds, meaning that it unleashes formidable amounts of killing power once it goes past these distances. As for myself, I've seen this phenomenon on 4 different occasions when one of the idiots that I hunt with tries to kill mule deer with a .223 loaded with varmint bullets. Then I get to send a 100 gr. Partition up the south end of a mule deer headed north at anywhere from 250-450 yds. I've only recovered one of those bullets, three exited the animal completely. I know this because I killed them dead with a .243 Win after loosing all of that energy on the deer.

Add 6.5 Swede to the list above and I agree.

I would be looking at a 7mm-08 with the 120gr pills. Light on recoil. If needed you could move up in weight. If you get a 260 you would have an excuse to start a new reloading hobby