Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Arthritic shoulders and recoil.

Yeah, I am in my 60's now and forced to address the constant ache of altered , overused shoulders.
Otherwise , I am in good shape and cannot stand a muzzle brake and carry lightweight equipment.
Yup, upgraded recoil pads, use a shooting vest on the bench and won't use a leadsled.
I love the view from the top of the steepest mountain .
I am debating on taking the little .243 for elk, mule deer and Bighorns this year. I have killed elk with it before and I feel with the best monolithic bullets these days it is adequate. Bullets these days have changed the rules, imo.
350 yards is far enough and nothing much stops a solid copper bullet.
Anyways, like politics and religion it should draw a variety of strong opinions.What is yours?

Man up Using the 243 is OK, I guess, but you'll want to carry some 35 whelen cartridges in your belt and tape the muzzle so your friends won't see. GD

i have had both shoulders rebuilt and my shoulders do have some pain yet, i went with a 257 Weatherby Mag. has less recoil than the big magnums but shoots as far and also has plenty power .most of my friends now have also went with a 257 Weather Mag. for elk and deer we all use either Nosler Partitions or Swift A-Frame bullets.

My wife and I have killed plenty of big deer, both mule and whitetail, with the .243 (and similar cartridges like the .257 Roberts) with excellent results, even when using "antique" bullets like the Nosler Partition. Have also used several cartridges many hunters consider inadequate for elk with no problems, from the .257 Roberts (100-grain TTSX) to the 7x57 and the dreaded .270 Winchester, also with no problems.

I don't have shoulder problems (at least yet), and still shoot rounds from the .300 magnums to .416 Rigby accurately. But have learned over the decades that there's not nearly much correlation between recoil and killing power as many hunters apparently believe.

I'm dealing with these same issues. Fully agree that the copper bullets are changing the rules.
For a handloader, also think it worth looking at less than max loads under medium or lighter weight Partitions, so long as good accuracy is there.
Other solutions I'm working on are found in older, often overlooked cartridges like the 300 Savage and 257 Roberts. Same with calibers made out of the 308 case.
Combine these with an older, full sized rifle, like a walnut stocked Rem 700, Ruger 77, or Win 70, along with a Supercell or Limbsaver, and recoil becomes minimal, yet can deliver a pretty lethal bullet to just the right spot.
The curmudgeon in me refuses to look at 6.5's. Well, maybe a 260. Rational, eh?

my thought is i am still using my 257 Weatherby Mag. tell i get worse but this cartridge for me is hard to give up on. but when i do it will a 257 Roberts i am building a 257 Roberts with a 7 1/2 twist barrel. i still own another 4 or 5 Roberts too, my good friend that`s his favorite deer rifle that he uses is a 257 Roberts and for 8 years he was a Sniper/ explosive expert In the service oversees .

I always thought of the 243 as a cartridge for experienced hunters. Of course it is fine for young ones and ladies within their range abilities. I was surprised when in Colorado I ran in to two game wardens on a bus drivers holiday, they were both hunting elk with 243s. I always carried some sort of magnum from 7RM to 375 but now if I ever hunt elk again I would probably use my 6.5x55 light weight. With the bullets available today the 243 is very close and would do fine for a hunter who picks his shots.

Jack O Conner praised the 257 Roberts for sheep hunting and Warren Page shot numerous head of game in New Zealand with his wildcat 6mms which were the predecessors of the 243 and 6mm. He shot multiple red stags and other assorted deer, goats and sheep with them with no reported incidents.

The main thing is to get out after them and the cartridge is far less important than hunting skill. With the 243 you should be more concerned about getting the elk off the ridge after the shot. That's what younger friends are good for.

I take glucosamine + chondroitin a couple of weeks before a hunt and Alleve or other analgesic when hunting to delay the sore muscles and joints. Some odd remedies have helped like accupunture and CBD oil, these especially after a car accident aggravated all the aches. I suspect surgery might be somewhere down the line.

Any new rifles will have 257 Weatherby or less recoil levels.

I am in the same position, Rheumatoid Arthritis in hands and shoulders, I have always heard that the 243 is not enough for deer, but i am planning on buying one
before this season starts. My shoulder just can not handle a 308 anymore. I hope to pick up a 243 this month so I can get some range time in.
best of luck to you.

I've had both shoulders rotator cuff repaired, still shoot my .35 Whelen with 200 gr. RN Hornady and Remington Core-lokt bullets at .358 velocitys. Accuracy is outstanding and performance on whitetails within 100 yds. is too. The load I'm using is a Ken Waters load of 54.0 gr. of IMR 3031 and I'm very pleased with it. Last season's whitetail buck was taken right at 100 yds., a raking shot just ahead of the last two ribs passed completely thru the chest and was found perfectly mushroomed just under the hide of the opposite shoulder. The bullet retained 66% of its original weight, it destroyed the lungs and somehow the buck managed to run 40 yds. before piling up with his antlers tangled in a barb wire fence.

I have gone to the 7-08 for the same reason of yours. I thought of going smaller but after shooting one the recoil did not bother me that much. The 7-08 has a good range of copper loads (I use the 140 grain Barnes) and remember, if bullet placement is good only one shot is needed. I would take that pin for a good Elk.

Full disclosure. I loaded 2 boxes of 338 mag three years ago and they are still on the shelf. I didn't even sight in the 35 last year and hunted with a mild-mannered 7x57. I took the 308 barrel off my silhouette rifle and switched to a 6.5 Creedmoor. However, I would never admit that any of this was because I am old and decrepit and don't like recoil anymore; true or not. GD

I hope you get your 243 or similar and keep hunting elk. I’ve never used the 243 for elk but the .257’s and up seem to work just fine. My long time partner has dropped back from his 300 to a lightweight 280 this year. Not because of recoil so much as the lighter rifle is easier to carry. I’m happy to see him still hammering out the miles at 73 this year and still killing elk pretty far from camp!

I have arthritis plus I have had a rotator cuff repair on one shoulder, and have problems with the other. Don't want to sound like a wuss, but my 270 with a max load, in a light rifle without a good recoil pad, would sometimes make me grunt. I tried my 7X57, but it was even lighter, and again I was loading to the max. I have since settled on a 243 and a 6.5 Creedmoor. The 6.5, with 120 BT's kills the snot out of a whitetail and I do not notice the recoil.

The 270 will probably never be used again unless I happen to draw a Kentucky elk tag.

I've never killed an elk with a 243 but I have several friends who have and I know others who've used a 6mm Remington - and I'm talking about neat kills, not rodeos. It's all about shot placement.

I killed a big mule deer buck the season before last with a 105 Hornady HPBT from a fast twist 243. It was a pretty severe test of that bullet as the buck was very heavy and he was only 5 paces away so impact was pretty close to muzzle velocity. It worked great and I may carry that combo again if I can arrange a cow hunt this fall.

6mm monolithics will work. Partitions and 100 grain Interlocks are other 10 twist options I wouldn't hesitate to use.

The 6.5 Creed and 7-08 are also great modest recoil options too if you want a new project.

There are lots of folks that use a .243 and do well with elk. A guy I knew almost 20 years ago hunted with nothing else, and had 13 sets of elk horns on the wall of his den.

The only one he ever lost was when taking a shot he had promised himself he would never take - the elk was moving in the timber, but it was so close he couldn't pass up the shot. He felt he hit the animal, but a light rain washed away any hope of finding a blood trail and night was coming on fast. Extensive searching the next day revealed nothing.

Now, the bullet could have hit a branch and deflected off, or the elk could have done what elk are known to do - soak up lead and walk off with no indication that they were ever hit. But he still kicks himself for pulling the trigger when he knew he shouldn't have - and in all seriousness, the same thing could have happened with any cartridge.

Grits Gresham wrote that Whiskey Chamberlain had 15 one-shot kills on elk with a .243.

Years ago I talked to a very experienced Idaho elk guide (named Smith?) who recommended the .243 for anyone who couldn't handle more powerful cartridges because his experience showed it worked, and worked well. He set up his wife with a .243 when she shot her first elk - a one-shot kill. His only cautionary words were not to shoot much farther than 300 yards and to wait for a good shot...good advice for any hunter with any firearm.

I believe alpinecrick from right here on the 'fire has written many times of the efficacy of the .243, and has solid experience using it and the Nosler Partition against elk.

Another well-respected contributor to this forum related how Gail Root, the Nosler technician, designed the 95gr Ballistic Tip to be a big-game bullet, and used nothing else on numerous big bulls.

I think there are numerous cartridges that are better suited for elk, but success speaks with a loud voice - and the .243 is enough.

And after all of that, I have to say that I have rotator cuff problems with my right shoulder and I can't tell the difference between my wood-stocked Sako .243 shooting 95gr BT's and my Tikka T3 Lite 7mm-08 with a 120gr TTSX when shooting off the bench.

And for me, that slight heavier, slightly larger diameter bullet gives me comfort when I'm contemplating a hunt for something as large as elk.

Had major shoulder reconstruction surgery. Was able to shoot rifles in 6 months. Evoshield make a shoulder pad for us guys. Search “Evoshield for Shoulders” . Kit comes with a tight fitting pull over stretch shirt with a pocket built in front of the shoulder. There is a form fitting shield that you fit to your gun butt and shoulder contour. Remove from airtight packet and place in pocket, form again and allow the shield to harden. Hardens in a short time. Just follow instructions. Protects the shoulder really well by spreading out the recoil impact. I am healed now but will use the shield at the range for various guns. I hunt with 7mm mags and 30-06s.

I heard about them from friends using them on Argentina bird hunts which allowed them to short all day. Several of my friend have had shoulder surgeries and all bought the Evoshield kit. They are comfortable meaning you can wear all day if you want to.

Link https://www.evoshield.com/en-us/shooting

It seems that Mother Nature is providing a life lesson.

You don't always need a large calibre rifle to get the job done.

I thought a hunter needed a cannon until I saw grandkids shoot 200lb plus pigs through the shoulders with a 80 gr TTSX in their 243’s. They don’t have any trouble killing them out to 300 yards.

Don’t tell anyone, I have a couple 99’s in 243. Damn they are nice to shoot!

Ain't it the truth.

It's oxymoronic to suggest that children, due to their inexperience and small stature, need to be sent to deer camp with guns the adults say are marginal for whitetails. Nonetheless, they head out the door carrying their 243s, while the big people carry magnums and other anti-aircraft hardware.

To know the future, we only need to look back.