Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Lowest recoil rifle & caliber for deer & bear

T: this right here...and it wasn't running for momma. evidently he got kicked up by the other hunter, that I gave the bear to. I was assuming I'd see a buck coming up the hill, NOT a bear... he smelled me after passing a big pine, its hair on its neck went up and it charged. no false charge etc.. He took 3 steps, I pulled the trigger... anyone else would have done the same thing... over getting their ass chewed up...

Its legal on what I did... I wasn't planning to just abandon the dead bear...
the other hunter was after him, so he was more than happy to take it.. he left with my tag.
He said his Uncle was a F&G officer anyway... I did what I knew as the correct thing to do..
case closed...

You know what? You’re absolutely right. I wasn’t there and I don’t know what you saw.
And if you had told me that story face to face I would have nodded and listened no matter what I thought. Funny thing about these computers.

Like Kaleb said I don’t care if one stranger doesn’t like another stranger and I couldn’t care less what someone else kills.

I shoot a Merkel K3 Extreme in 30-06. With scope it weighs about 5 3/4lbs. For a Wyoming elk hunt in ‘21, I sighted it in using Federal 180 grain Accubonds and to be honest, they gave me a pretty good thumping every time I pulled the trigger. After that hunt, I wanted less recoil so shooting that little rifle would be fun, so I tried a box of Hornady Custom Lite 125 gr and was really surprised in the recoil. It was like shooting a .243! This past November, I shot a nice 8pt WV whitetail at about 100yds and that 125 grain bullet sure made a mess of his boiler room. Total devastation! I plan to make these reduced recoil bullets as my “go to” for all my future deer hunts. As for black bear, in my opinion, they would work just fine.

Mackey

Gotcha. I would have explained it differently but I am ‘tracking’ now.

Seafire, what caliber, was used, since this is suggesting caliber of gun for the OP. Many here suggesting .223 and such. They kill but not my first choice, for deer or bear!

Ever see flinch in a shotgun shooter?
It's not developed at the bench, but in shooting game and dynamic targets.

Adrenaline doesn't stop it.
You can't consciencely stop it.


Funny as hell to see.
An excellent shooter, decades of experience, doesn't miss much,
swinging on a target, whole body jerking, sometimes one foot off the ground
in the struggle.

Just to pull the F'ng trigger.

His mind has told his finger to pull,
his body is screaming, (DON'T! IT'S GONNA HURT, AGAIN!)

Rifle flinch is not as noticeable,
but the mechanisms are the same.

If it matters the caliber I was carrying with me was a 260 Remington on a Ruger 77 Mk2 platform...

Load was handloaded... 100 grain Ballistic Tip, 30 grains of IMR 4198...

A lot of local hunting where the shots are going to be what I call 30/30 ranges, 30 grains of 4198 is my standard charge...

whether it is a 243, up to a 30/06.. and pretty much everything in between... its a 30/30 load, and works just fine in a lot of rifles... recoil is pretty low.. I've loaded it a lot for Boy Scouts from our troop for 15 years or more.. 12 yr olds can handle it just fine.. regardless of caliber.. MV per caliber varies from 2200 fps to 2500 fps... Lighter bullets in a caliber work just fine for deer.

Zeroed 3.5 inches high at 100 yds, it will be dead on at 200 yds, and 3.5 inches low at about 240 yds, with a spitzer bullet...
Based the concept on an antelope is 14 inches high from backbone to breast bone... cut that in half and Its planned for a 7 inch window of opportunity...

hope that answers your question.

Ever shoot a braked 308 it recoils like a 223

Bears come in all different sizes, areas I hunt in SW Oregon, you see bears from 125 to 375 lbs.

A 300 plus black bear is a dense animal.

The terrain is also very different. If hunting in more open terrain, having a bear go a ways might not be of concern.

In thicker, steeper areas, once a bear gets into the thick stuff, there is hardly a way to follow them or find them.

Depending upon the angle of the shot, breaking a shoulder helps limit the run. For that, personally, I like a larger diameter bullet.

35 Rem does a nice job up close. Mild recoil, maybe harder to find in a Marlin these days.

338 Federal has dropped several bears for me. Lots of blood and typically don't go far.

6.5s and 7s do fine (6.5 Swede and 7mm-08 for me)

Never used a 243 for a bear, not that I wouldn't with the right bullet.

Keep thinking about Reboring something into a 358 Win. Large diameter, even mild loads would do the trick

Spring bear season opens 4/1 !!!

As I was drinking coffee this morning and surfing on my computer, a video appeared in my YouTube feed that discussed low recoil deer cartridges. Since I had replied to this thread earlier, I decided to watch it to see what this particular Africa-hunting vlogger had to say about the topic. As with anything involving subjective opinions, various decisions were made about measurement criteria (e.g. the round had to have a certain minimum speed to 500 yards, recoil speed in fps was given more weight than recoil energy in ft⋅lb, the Hornady H.I.T.S. formula, etc.). I would be stunned if everyone agreed with these choices. But as a person who likes math & quantifiable measurements when comparing things, I was curious to see how the final results aligned with my own opinions & biases.

For deer the results were (in descending order from #1):
6.5 Creedmoor
.260 Remington
7x57mm Mauser
6.5-284 Norma
7mm-08
6.5 PRC
.270 Winchester
.264 Winchester Magnum
.280 Remington
.280 AI

This particular video discussed elk as the 2nd animal instead of bear, but here are the results anyway:
6.5 PRC
.280 Remington
.280 AI
6.5 Weatherby RPM
6.8 Western
7mm SAUM
.30-06 Springfield
.270 WSM
7mm WSM
7mm Rem Mag

As someone who crunches a lot of numbers in my work, I've always been fond of the quote “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” by Benjamin Disraeli. Whenever you're looking at statistics it's always important to know who has their thumb on the scale and how that skews the results. For example, I think I could reload my earlier suggested 6.5x55 SE to match the output of the 6.5CM winner to get it to appear on the list. I'm also curious why #6, 9 & 10 from the deer list made the elk list but #7 & 8 did not. Why the gap? So there is definitely valid arguments that this list isn't definitive. It's simply another piece of info to integrate into the decision-making process or discard as you see fit.

.243 Win, 95g NBT or NPT, 2800fps, pretty much PBR out to 275yds, and very easy on recoil.

With the new bullet tecnology, I would feel very comfortable with a .243 and a good mono-metal bullet on deer or bear. Maybe not a brown or grizzly but a black bear for sure. I have the same problem with recoil now that I was gifted with a pacemaker. It's not that recoil bothers me so much, it's just that a high recoiling gun might turn my lights off!

If one reloads... anyone of them....

Just refer to Cast Bullet load data, but using Jacketed Bullets, which are waaaay below SAAMI Specs,
so there is NO Real Danger...

I load stuff for young scouts, or supervise them loading their own ( with Dad present), boys down to 11 years old.

20 to 25 to 30 grains of 4198 or RL 7.. about any kid that age can handle those... to often including mom.

One friend's wife wanted something to shoot deer in her garden patch on their 5 acres, and wanted to use the 30/06 inherited from her deceased dad....shots would be off the porch.. 100 to 125 yds or less....

Set her up with a load of 10 grains of Unique and a 110 grain RN or SP. She's been harvesting a deer out of the front yard in rural Oregon, for over a dozen years now... a 125 grain Ballistic tip works well also in that application... 15 grains of Blue Dot or Alliant Steel works pretty darn well also...in anything from a 22.250 or 243 to 30/06 or 35 Remington...etc.

Last scout I helped last year took a Blacktail at about 150 yds, out of a 6.5 Grendal with a 16 to 18 inch barrel in a Ruger American... Load was like 10 grains of Unique, and a 100 grain Sierra HP.... Hunted with Dad and an older brother.

Shotguns & a light 30-06 with heavy loads can be unpleasant to shoot and if you’re thinking about kick you aren’t shooting as accurately as you can.

Plenty of good suggestions so far pick any cartridge 7mm-08 on down to 243 use a light for caliber Barnes TTSX or similar bullet and a heavy rifle with a good recoil pad that fits you well. Wear the good electronic hearing protection muffs that allow you to hear conversations but shut down on loud noise add plugs underneath for practice.

I like the Howa & Weatherby vanguards with at least a 24” barrel add a recoil reducer in the stock & a muzzle brake if that combination is still bothering you.

During practice sessions mix in a 22lr & focus on good technique and smooth trigger pull - shoot 10 22’s for every 3 center fire loads. Get off the bench & shoot off your knees a pack or better yet a Harris bipod attached to your rifle that adds weight & stability.

After your rifle is set up & you have practiced with it & alternating 22’s great stock fit & excellent hearing protection you will have forgotten to worry about recoil & your shooting will improve significantly, the monolithic copper bullets perform above their weight on deer & will break heavy bones on a bear very nicely.

Dude, you want a Howa mini action 6.5 Grendel.

Get the one with the heavier contour 20” barrel.

It’s a deer killing machine and it recoils about like a pellet rifle.

I haven't read all of the responses but 223 is the smallest I would use and in fact am using due to physical constraints. Federal Premium ammunition loaded with 60 grain Nosler Partition bullets will do the job. My 1 in 12 twist S&W 1500 (Howa) stabilizes them just fine. Most newer 223 guns will be at least 1 in 9 twist which can stabilize even heavier bullets.

Hell no, not for me at least.

243 with a nice premium will do. 95 or 100 grain partition, TTSX, Swift, Hammer, Northfork etc.
Again for me.......

With the number of good muzzle breaks and suppressors on the market today, you could use about any thing that is non magnum and probably a few of them.I had break in stalled on my .06 even before I had my shoulder replacement It isa little bit more than a .243 now.

If you don't mind building and also reload, can I interest you in a 7TCU? Loaded with 120 grain Nosler BTs I know for a fact it will hammer deer out to 300 yards, and if it does that for deer, it will do the same for black bears. I haven't had the occasion to shoot a BB with mine yet because for the past few years, I have had my bow in hand when the bears come through, but I am planning a dedicated bear hunt that will be over bait, and I can pretty much guarantee this rifle will be in hand for one or both of those bears.

Maybe not for you. Maybe not for me either? How do you argue it? I’ve shot enough deer to know a 223 works perfectly for them. Have you shot a lot of deer or bear with a 223 with bad results?