I'm buying my daughter a Browning X-Bolt Micro Hunter (shorter stock and 20" barrel). She shoots .243 now and does well with it (Texas deer, exotics and pigs). My go to gun is my Sako 85 7mm-08. I hand load for both.
Should I stick with the .243 or move her up to a 7mm-08 and do away with my .243 stuff. I have already sold her .243. I have found two of each calibers, with nice wood. What do ya'll think?

My daughter is a small framed gal, 22 years old. Not a beast, she's a dancer and a bowhunter, she only pulls 34#'s on her PSE if this helps.

Go with the 7-08 and load 120 grain Ballistic Tips or Barnes TSX. Both perform way beyond what is expected of 120s and recoil is not much more than a .243 with a 100 grain bullet.

The recoil pad on the X-Bolt is plenty to allow your daughter to shoot it in 30-06, so 7mm-08 should be no prob.

My wife is 5'2", small framed and petite. She shoots 7mm-08 with no issues.

David

Agreed.

GFY.


Travis

Can't imagine needing more than a 243 and recoil is more with a 7mm08

You being a reloader, reduced 7mm-08 loads with 120 grain'ers will match the recoil of the .243 and she'll have the capability of more power if ever needed. Plus, the 7mm-08 will be slightly lighter in weight. (same barrel, bigger hole) Just my way of thinking.....

7mm/08 would be perfect. My daughter shoots a .308 SPS youth from prone and never complains. She just turned 13. Loads used are handloaded 150's.

If it's a either/or situation, go with the 7-08. If you have additional choices, why not the best of both worlds -- especially since you reload-- and get a .260.

If she's been shooting a 243 and was good with it, why change? A 243 will efficiently take the animals listed above.

Your buying her a browning? Don't you love her? tehe

223, 243 and 7-08 are my favorite cartridges, so my bias flows equally, I think...grin.

That Browning Micro will be light. You don't mention what her other 243 was packaged in, but if it was a heavier rifle, a substantially lighter rifle combined with a step up in recoil might be enough to mess her up.

Additionally, you will probably see more muzzle blast out of that 20" barrel than she has been experiencing.

I guide quite a few young and inexperienced hunters, and have taught my own children over the years, and muzzle blast may cause more flinch/recoil sensitivity than actual recoil, IME. Regardless of your choice, protect her ears - even when she hunts if you can. That's when that shot counts the most.

Again, additional muzzle blast, combined with a lighter rifle and greater recoil might be a recipe for causing her to enjoy shooting less, or even come to dislike it altogether.

If you have absolutely decided on the Browning Micro, I think I'd stick with a 243. She will likely be dealing with more recoil and muzzle blast even with the same cartridge due to the lighter, shorter barreled rifle.

Plus, the 243 is amazingly capable and may shine best with 80 TTSX's, which gets recoil down even more.

If the 243 ain't broke for her, I don't think I'd "fix" it with a 7-08 in a lighter rifle with more muzzle blast.

DJ

My 24 yr old 5'-2" 95lb daughter loves shooting the .243

Mine's 5'0" and kills everything she shoots at with her Model Seven in 7mm-08. Our daughter's 5-6 and does quite well with hers.

The caliber is not as important as the mind set if the gun fits. If it doesn't, anything will be abusive.

I personally like the 243 better than the 7mm-08. If going bigger than the 243 , then the 308 would be my choice .

My daughter is 22 and 5'7". I bought her a 7MM-08 last year and she did not like it, she preferred her .243 so I sold both rifles and upgraded her to a nicer .243 and a nicer scope. I think it depends on the individual. I figured she would handle the 7MM-08 easily but was wrong. I should have found one for her to shoot before I bought it.

If light framed and her first significant centerfire, I'd suggest the 243 and work into an 08 overtime if she develops the passion.

I would go with the 7mm-08,it is a great cartridge as you know and you already have all the reloading components,its a no brainer

^^^^^This IMO is good advice ^^^^^....Has she shot your 7-08.If so what was her opinion on it,if she hasn't i'd let her have a go at it. But i'd take what DJTex said into consideration.

my daughter has been shooting a .308/150 since mid teens. A 7-08 should work just fine, especially handloaded. Jack

I'd get her the 243 and it should have her covered for at least 70 years.

Shod

Nothing a .243 can't handle, and the psychological factor of already succeeding with the .243 is priceless.

7mm-08

Yo bea175, is that a picture of your girlfriend shooting that big gun. Kidding aside, I vote for the 7mm-08. Can be downloaded to start with and stoked later when your daughter grows into it. You'll never need anything else.

changed it , couldn't stand looking at it myself

Both are excellent cartridges.

Here's what I'd recommend. You already have a 7MM-08 Rem, which is based upon the .308 Win case. The .243 is based upon the .308 Win case. With kids, there exists the possibility of inadvertently commingling cartridges, which could have horrendous consequences.

Therefore, I'd go 7-08 Rem for your kid. If she decides to hunt game larger than deer, she'll have a rifle for the job.

My thoughts exactly.

got the 7mm-08, working on scope and mounts now. will post pics when complete

For me it'd be an easy choice: the 7-08. Like others have said, a 7-08 can be loaded to have the same recoil as a .243 and still shoot a fatter, heavier bullet. Later, if she's up for more recoil she can shoot full-powered loads and be gtg for just about anything.

Good luck!

You just set your daughter up for life with a very good cartridge.

MAYBE!!!

I've seen a lot more than one woman get a bad taste for what us MEN consider to be moderate recoil. Often times a woman won't speak how she feels they just put the gun away and say something like......I'm just not into hunting anymore. Just my opinion but I would venture to say the good old 243 has kept a whole lot of women from saying just those words. Sometimes us MEN like to break what was already fixed.

Shod

Naw, start out with reduced loads and increase at a rate SHE dictates.

It has worked with my boys, absolutely no pressure from me to shoot X power load. H4895 is your huckleberry, full range of reduced to full power loads. Load to her comfort level and you will be golden.

The last deer my youngest boy (10 years old) shot was with an 85gr Barnes TSX out of his 270 starting at 2000fps. Will have to go to the range again this summer and see where his comfort level is at. Thinking it will be with 110gr TSX at 2800-3000fps.

Barnes does make a 100gr TSX for the 7mm's.

if she is new to shooting go with a 234 and use good bullets. No question it will be more fun for her.

Why start her out with a handicap? If you reload, you can water down a .260 load or a 7-08 load to .243 levels while still throwing a bigger ball. However, you can't jack a .243 up to .260 or 7-08 levels.
If recoil is the big issue, just get one of those .223s with a fast twist that'll shot 70-90gr bullets and use that.

You consider the 243 a handicap yet your recommending a 223 with a fast twist barrel?

Shod

I don't recommend a .223 for anything except varmints but from all reports, the fast twist barrels, and the advances in .224 bullets, puts it on a par with a .243. With less recoil. Your post about seeing more than one lady ruined by excessive recoil is pretty humourous when comparing a .243 and a .260. Just how many ladies have you seen "ruined"? I can count the ones I've seen on one hand and still have five fingers up.

I know of one girl who is about 14-15 and is likely a touch scared of her 7mm-08. She closes her eyes and yanks the trigger. That being said, she is shooting 140gr Superformance ammo in a lightweight rifle and I doubt she ever had a lot of experience with a rifle of lighter recoil. She should have been shooting youth loads in that gun or using a smaller chambering that she could shoot with confidence.

On the other side of the coin, my daughter hunted this season with a 7lb 7mm-08 and enjoyed it. She's all of 70lbs and just turned 8 years old. Ultra-light andloads turned that rifle into a pussycat and she doesn't even know that deer rifles "kick". Would a 243win have worked? Sure it would. Is a 243win what I'd like to see her shooting several years from now? Not really. We like decent exit holes around here and things tend to bleed better with good 7mm and .30cal bullets than they do with good 6mm bullets. I started with a .243win as a kid and moved up to a .270win about 4-5 years later. A handloader can make the 7mm-08 (or 260, 7x57, 308) into a low-recoil 150-200yd deer rifle just as easily as he can turn it into an elk rifle. The 6mm's are fun and useful and I still shoot them, but I consider those larger calibers a fair bit better for our whitetails and hogs.

Your statement about the 260 and 243 being close I agree with however the OP was asking about 243 or 7/08. There is a noticeable difference between the 243 and 7/08.

Shod

If you go back to my first post, I said why not get the best of both worlds and get a .260. And then, on my next post (I think) I said "if you reload", which the op does, you could water down a .260 or 7-08 to .243 levels but you couldn't juice up a .243 to .260 or 7-08 levels.

The 260 I have to agree would be the cats meow!

Shod

I STARTED MY BOY OUT WITH A 25-06, 8YEARS OLD 2 DEER, 9 YEARS OLD 3 DEER. 117 GRAIN

The .260 is a great option, especially for a reloader.

For the non-reloader, the .243 would probably be the easiest to find ammo for.

But, don't rule out the .308. It can be down loaded to just about any level. And, with full power loads, is more gun than a .243, IMHO. In the right hands, the .308 may be the most flexible of the rounds mentioned.

DF

We shot 140gr BT's at 2,100fps or so this year in 7mm-08 with 20gr of Blue Dot. I'm planning on 120gr BT's at 2,500-2,600 next year with H4198. That load should make 150-200yd shots a bit easier without undue recoil. There are also 110 TTSX's available.

That'll work.

Good to hear about the Blue Dot load. I've used H4895 for reduced loads in a number of rounds. Works great.

For the reloader, larger caliber rounds, like .308, 7-08, etc. work great, using reduced loads where needed and with full house loads, suitable for most anything most of us hunt. That's especially true here in the South.

Nothing against the .243, just saying...

DF