Help me buy my Wife a new gun please.

A 243 is the next step down recoil wise. You are looking at about 15-18 ft lbs of recoil with typical 308 loads. A 243 is in the 11-12 ft lb range. There are other options in between that would be a step up in power, but with recoil closer to 308. With the better bullets a 243 is a match for any deer at ranges farther than most people can shoot. It is borderline acceptable for game up to elk, but wouldn't be my first choice.

I let her shoot one of my AR's and she loved it. But! I think she wants a bit more oomph.

Click to expand...

1) Cool wife!

2) Sooooo many options. If she liked the AR platform but wants a bit more you could always go the 300 Blackout route. Even an AR in 308 may be the answer if her current 308 is a bolt gun. The semi 308 will be less jarring to shoot than a bolt of the same caliber. Alternatively you could go with an AK of some variety. What is she wanting to do with the gun?

My wife loves "her" (was MY) S&W, M&P-10. :banghead:

Geno

You can look at some of the spawn of the .308 Winchester. While I am not a big fan of the 243 Winchester I do like the 7mm-08 Remington and the 260 Remington. You can also look at some of the calibers between the .223 Remington and the .308 Winchester available in bolt guns. This really depends on her sensitivity to recoil. as we age it seems the calibers we once shot we tend to shy away from. My 7mm Remington Magnum now seems to collect dust. The 6.5mm Swede might be another candidate but I would likely start with some of the lighter recoiling spawn of the .308 Winchester.

Ron

In an AR-15 platform the .30 RAR is a great choice for range shooting and hunting.

Maybe a bolt action in 7.62x39. There are some nice ones out there. Or try to find one of the bolt action 30-30's. Both would keep you away from expensive ammo or short barrel life.

CarJunkieLS1 said:

In an AR-15 platform the .30 RAR is a great choice for range shooting and hunting.

Click to expand...

Good luck finding ammo for that...

As have been mentioned, there are a lot of them out there. It depends a lot on the platform you're looking for and the use. Some that might fit your requirements are 6.5 Grendel, 6.8 SPC II, .300 AAC, and .243 Win are roughly in the .308 Win per unit cost. I've read of .243 barrel life concerns but I have no idea the reality as I don't much experience with it. 7.62x39 is another good option but if you aren't interested in AKs or SKS there isn't a ton of variety, although there are a few bolt actions. .300 AAC, 6.8 SPC II, and 6.5 Grendel are all available in an AR15 patterned rifle and capable of taking small to medium game at various ranges.

My wife and daughters enjoy shooting ARs and SKSs. It makes for a cheap date .

7mm-08, or 308. Key is to get a gun that fits her, if she's not liking the 308 something tells me stock fit could be a big part. Wife perfers her 308 to my 7mm-08 due to the stock.

Have her pick the gun she likes best, the only gun my wife ever loved I bought because I couldn't turn it down(sw 638 38special new for 225otd) and now I can't sell our trade it away.

Well, I see someone beat me to the 260 Rem. Darned good if under appreciated round.

I would suggest the .260 or 6.5 Creedmoor, whichever one is more available in your area. I love and shoot both. Scary accurate and more than capable of taking game if you so choose. They can be chambered in semiautos but are truly at home in bolt guns.

.243 can be bought anywhere and is also very accurate in the right rifle.

The 6.5 and 260 are excellent cartridges, but neither are commonly found nor cheap. Recoil is so close to 308 that individual loads will overlap. Some 260 and 6.5 loads will recoil more than some 308 loads. All 3 are in the 14-16 ft lbs of recoil range.

an AR with a bit more "oomph".. get her an AR chambered in 7.62x40WT or 277 wolverine or an AKM in 7.62x39

I'm doing 7mm-08 with managed recoil ammo/custom lite ammo for my wife. Not sure if the price of the ammo disqualifies it for you, but the recoil should be about the same if not less than a 243.

I would try low recoil rounds in .308 to start.

Finding ammo for the 30 RAR is easy to find...you will have to buy it online though. And the 150gr Core-Lokts factory load is under $20/box.

It is a ballistic twin to the 300 Savage and it's in a semi auto AR-15 platform that you said your wife loves. It is hands down the best hunting performance you can get out of a AR-15 size package. And factory ammo has proven to be MOA or better out of every 30 RAR I've seen. Which has been 4 different rifles and 4 different shooters.

If You Want it for the Range...

Don't underestimate how fun a lever gun is. I got a pretty little stainless Rossi 92 in 357/38 sp very recently. When I finally showed it to her, we went to the range & I squeezed off 20 rounds to her 250+ rounds. She even gave me permission to get my own new gun. (again)

That and an M1 Carbine are as fun as it gets.

Just make sure the 308 is sighted in for hunting season...

25-06 had less recoil and shoots flatter. I would highly recommend a Browning X-bolt. I have one in 308 and it does pound you a bit. 25-06 would be the bomb.

I just built a PSA AR 10 for 950. It's going to be a good range gun. But I'm not sure I would want to pack it. It's a a little on the heavy side.

But DPMS is making some real nice lighter 308's. I also have a GII recon in 308 and it's not much heavier than most AR-15's. They have a GII hunter model.

But a Tikka T3 light is .243 is my current favorite gun. It's been a great gun to load for.

I can't really tell much difference in recoil between a good 308 with light bullets and a bad 243 with a heavy bullet and a hot load.
Part of the misery of being beaten up by a gun is the acoustical trauma, the concussion of the muzzle blast.
I didn't always used to be that way. Give me a 416 or a 458. Or even a 338 Win-Mag in a lightweight Husky with a pencil barrel and I was happy as a pig in the proverbial. And I've got the scars in my eyebrow to prove it. Old 3" Nitro shotshells stored in the attic for 40 years ... yeah, they seemed a bit sharp somehow. And badly designed stocks began to take some of the fun out of it.

Then came old age and some changes for me. And here came the popularity of "flash hiders" and muzzle brakes (NOT "breaks"). I detest them. Magnums from a Savage Sriker with a muzzle brake? Even with the best muffs and wax ear plugs, those things hurt my very bones. And I notice everybody gives them a lot of room on the firing line too. I just go up to the clubhouse and read magazines for half an hour. He will be gone by then, but I'm going to shoot for the rest of the day.

I've settled on rifles in the Fireball, Savages, and 30-30 class. The old "thutty-thutty" will kill anything I've ever put crosshairs on, but I've never molested the Great Bears, the Cape Buffalo, or the King of the Kitty Cats. Nor have I "seen the elephant."

The Savage rounds, .300 and .250, and their Improved versions are just fine. More powder = more recoil. More weight of combustion gasses. Conversely, less powder = less recoil, as do lighter bullets.

I'll not perpetuate the common ignorance here by repeating what the gunwriters and gun countermen spread around. They all read the same magazines.

Get a scope with generous eye relief and the thickest, cushiest shotgun sissy-pad you can find, and one of these lighter calibers in a good stock, and life will be better. Now, about that stock ...

Get serious about the stock. Go look at the stuff the skeet, clays, and trap-shooters use. Ask the trap shooters, not the refugee from housewares and appliances standing behind the counter at the gun store. Those old trap shooters have the recoil thing down. They don't just pop a dozen rounds off the bench; they go "200 straight" and they are in fine shape, yukking it up at the clubhouse afterward. And the next day, they do it all over again. And the next, if they have the opportunity. Can you do that with your Stryker pistol in .25 WSSM and a brake?

Their stocks put the recoil straight to the shoulder instead of rotating the comb up into their faces. Their pads are NOT the thin hard Pachmayrs. Look up "Ljutic", (and notice the price!) The combs on their stocks are adjustable to raise their cheekbones above the bore-line, to align their sighting with their elevated ribs (think "scope" and high rings), and they are designed so their recoil pulls the stock away from their cheekbones. That doesn't just happen by accident of fashion; their design is purely intentional. Look at the "Hydro-coil" stocks too. (No, I do not own stock in them.) Got all that? Good.

Now, for your own continuing education, either dig out your Grampaw's Winchester model 37 12-bore, and put a full house load in her. Heck if you don't have a model 37, buy one just for the experience. There is nothing quite like it. They are a great gun; one that you can carry all day long, every day of the season. It's as sweet as a daisy until you have to pull the trigger. With that stock they are worse than a mistreated, ill tempered mule. Worse, because unlike a mule, there is no way to sweet-talk them out of the habit. It does save a lot on ammo though.
With that stock, every time you pull that trigger, something is going to be hurting. It might be fun, but you won't really do much shooting with it. Dead serious now, here's the Call to Manhood. Cancel the temptation to hand that hard-kicker to your wife or children. If you do, you WILL miss the opportunity to cultivate a great shooting buddy in a lifetime of sport. If you pass a hard kicker to someone, you will never know the years of memories you could have made, but missed for a moment of pure meanness.

And you'll never, ever, go "200 straight" with that durned thing, either.

If she really liked the AR15 there are many possibilities. 6.5Grendel and 6.8SPCII are just 2 of them. Both are great hunting rounds approaching 308 performance. Actually the 6.5G is better at long ranges than the 308. Either of those 2 have a lower recoil than either the 308 or 243.

I own a couple 6.5Gs and 300BOs that my family loves to shoot. Including my grandkids 10-13 year olds and a very recoil shy daughter.

You can keep her 308 Win. and do many things to help with recoil management.



Some just off the top of my head......

Install weights in the butt..
Thread and install and muzzle brake.
Thread and install a suppressor
Install a good recoil pad.
Have the stock fitted to her, maybe switch to a laminate stock
Use hand loads with light powder charges and light bullets

One of the .260 or 6.5mms (don't count out 6.5x55).

Mike

+1 on 243.

More "oomph" and very accurate, with lighter recoil.