Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Lots of cartridges-not so many rifles

Partially due to a shoulder injury and partially due to age I was looking for a rifle in 257 or 260 lately and they just don't seem to appear in gun stores. I guess gun stores stock what sells, but I would think those mid range cartridges would be a lot more popular.
What makes less sense is that I have seen two dad's this year start their first year hunters out with 30/06s and both cases ended up with wounded and lost elk. My guess is that those kids would have had a better chance of killing elk with a skaller cartridge.

Royce

I'm continually amazed and the number of people I meet that look at me like I have 3 heads when I tell them I use a 223 a bunch for deer hunting.

People are mostly stupid, you know that.

Yes a big mistake. While we as grown men think that the 30-06 doesn't have much recoil...to a child it does. I know somebody's going to come along and say when my boy was 6 he killed a moose w/my .358Norma Mag. but it's really tough on youngsters. Knowing young people are so excited to get to go hunting they often times hide the fact that the recoil on a certain rifle is too much. All we have to do is watch their faces while shooting and see how they close their eyes, yank the trigger and grimace w/their face. powdr

223s with TSXs are deer killing machines.

We just started out my bud's 14 YO son with my old tang safety Ruger 77 .243 this year. He took a small buck at around 75-100yds or so with 1 shot.......


I think a 223 with TSXs or a 60gr. NP are great starter guns for young deer hunters. A 243 is also, IMO. Nothing more is needed to kill a deer, and more recoil is only a bad thing to a youngster.....

Royce..., I've killed a fair amount of deer with my 30-06, then I bought a 243 and found out it kills the just as dead. Imagine that!! I know what you're saying about getting older, I don't find the 06 to have brutal recoil but I'd much rather shoot the 243.


Steelie..., saw a nice one taken with a 223 in Macon County, damn deer looked pretty dead too me!
IMO the ones knocking it never used it.

I doubt if there is an elk alive that could take a 100 grain Nosler Partition, or any one of several other bullets behind the should and live more than a few seconds.

If you can shoot, must anything kills anything. If you can't then it really doesn't matter what you use.

I wouldn't blame the cartridge for the kids or parents mistake. Some (and adults) just kids can't handle a 30-06. I was using one when I was 12 with no problem whatsoever. The kids were just that: Kids with no experience at pulling the trigger on live game. Probably very little trigger time and need much more practice in general. These notions that someone missed because of the cartridge they were using is simply idiotic. Put the blame where it truly belongs: Hunter inadequacy and inexperience. Pretty plain and simple. Nuff said..

Absolutely!!! Larger caliber doesn't compensate for poor marksmanship.

Neither does a smaller caliber..

Once again, nothing escapes you.

Put it thru vitals and it does

I never fired a rifle until I was 16. First rifle was an 06 Savage 110. It kicked the living hell out of me. 1 or 2 shots no problem but sighting in I was developing a flinch. I sold it. I went full circle and now own 2 30.06's and probably acquire a couple more although the 308 win is slowly changing my mind on adding more? I didn't have anyone to teach me to rifle shoot. My father was a strictly shotgun person and only owned 1 shotgun a 12 gauge. It was difficult to learn how to shoot or what to get not having anyone who could teach or show you. Rifles were considered taboo in my family since the range they possessed and the fact no one hunted medium game in my family. I learned a lot from then til now and still learn.

Royce not sure what rifle you are considering but you should be able to find it "online" if you can't find it in your retail store. You can always find a used 243, 308, 7-08 and convert it to a 260/257 with a barrel swap. Tikka T3, Remington SPS, Kimber should be able to be found with a little looking? Check over at Euro Optics.

I like Steely's answer to this!

Even a .243 can be a lot of kick for a kid. I started with a 700 ADL with a hard buttplate when I was 11 and was terrified of it!

With the bullets we have today, this seems a foolish discussion. It's no trouble at all to put together a 30-06 round with very low recoil and good for 300 yards if need be.

I've torn both rotor cuffs and know what bad shoulders are. Full power 130 grain TTSXs are deer killers deluxe. I doubt that anyone could tell the difference on game if you back them down 10% or so, but the recoil drops back in a hurry.

Try the 7-08, they are easy to find........with 120's, & even 140's it is very easy on the shoulder, even in a gun as light as a 700-Ti.

MM

Fred,

You missed a couple of nice .257's on the Capital used rack within the past month or so, though the prices might have been more than you wanted to pay.

+1.. Captain obvious misses much.

Sometimes my arthritic shoulder starts acting up and the heavier calibers cease to be fun to shoot. I went to two Winchester M70 push feeds for those time, one in .257 Robt. a lucked into the same model gun in 7x57 Mauser. I'm working up an elk load for the 7x57 and pushing the envelope a bit so put a Decelerator pad on the gun. Very pleasant. My elk hunt isn't until the second week in January so I still have time for load work up. If I don't find what I like, I can always go with my .35 Whelen, shoulder problems or not. That rifle fits me so well I hardly notice the kick. Guess my point is add the 7x57 to that list of mild kicking rifles.
Paul B.