Low recoil commercial .243 ammo

[brer_rabbit]

I'm looking at getting a bolt action youth hunting rifle in .243 caliber for my 12 year old boys. They are used to .22LR and I want to start them with a mild recoiling commercial cartridge to get them comfortable with a centerfire at the range before we work up to a deer hunting round. I know .243 is relatively mild to begin with but a youth rifle will be light weight and I want to make their intro as pleasant as possible.

Since I don't yet reload I'm looking for a commercial cartridge. Remington doesn't offer one of their 'managed recoil' cartridges in the .243. Should I simply be looking for a light weight bullet? Is it safe to assume that a 58 grain varmint bullet will be milder than a 100 grain medium game bullet? Any way to tell how one commercial offering compares to the next in terms of recoil?

 

[Art Eatman]

Federal has a load with the 85-grain Sierra HPBT. I've used it for some two dozen tagged bucks. Great coyote load, as well. It's equal to my handloads with that bullet for sub-MOA groups.

I've been quite picky about my shots. Either a neck shot or a cross-body heart/lung shot. No angling shots where penetration could be critical.

My rifle is an old Sako carbine, weighing only seven pounds with scope, ammo and sling. The recoil is not at all bothersome.

 

[guntech59]

Federal has a load with the 85-grain Sierra HPBT. I've used it for some two dozen tagged bucks. Great coyote load, as well. It's equal to my handloads with that bullet for sub-MOA groups.

I've been quite picky about my shots. Either a neck shot or a cross-body heart/lung shot. No angling shots where penetration could be critical.

My rifle is an old Sako carbine, weighing only seven pounds with scope, ammo and sling. The recoil is not at all bothersome.

I don't know about the commercial stuff with the 85Gr Sierra, but my handloads with a mild dose of IMR4350 were the cat's meow for my wife and daughter.

Honestly, I think getting past the noise is a bigger deal with the .243 than felt recoil. Youth guns tend to have short barrels and they seem much louder to me. I think good hearing protection during practice is a must.

 

[gbeecher]

To each their own...

I'm not sure just how much it really matters. According to Chuck Hawks rifle recoil table, (http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm) the .243 round comes in at somewhere between 7 lbs energy/ 7 lbs velocity to 9 lbs energy/ 9 lbs velocity. This is slightly more recoil than the .223 Remington. My Mosin-Nagant 1891/30 firing the 7.62x54R, according to an online recoil calculator, comes out at 14 lbs energy/ 10 lbs velocity, and I've found it to be comfortable to shoot. The .243 Winchester was originally designed to be a flat shooting, mild recoil round for varmint and medium sized cxp2 game hunting.

 

[helotaxi]

Just go with a light bullet. Reloading brings the plethora of 55gn offerings to you really cheap. Recoil between those, even loaded hot, and the 105gn long range loads that I shoot is clearly noticeable, even in my heavy long range rifle. That said, neither is what I would consider significant. Even with my relatively lightweight hunting rifle, the recoil is "all day" comfortable.

 

[jc98ss]

yes OP, the lighter weight bullets will generally produce less recoil.......The Federal 85 HPBT is very mild and great for deer, but there several varmint offerings that would be even milder.....you could have them shoulder the rifle free standing and run a couple of rounds that way before you let them try it off the bench....or you could always take a blanket and let them lay prone while shooting off a low bipod

 

[RhinoDefense]

There is no need to "manage" recoil in the .243 Winchester, that's why Remington doesn't load such rounds. Best thing is hearing protection. Gunshot noise scares new shooters more than the recoil of the .243 ever will.

 

[berettaprofessor]

I like the 243 idea, but, to play devil's advocate, why not a 223? It'll have less recoil yet, also be as accurate to 200-300 yards, and it'll be a whole lot cheaper to shoot when those boys really get excited about it

 

[helotaxi]

Probably because he wants it as a hunting rifle and depending on locale, .243 is often the minimum legal caliber for hunting.

 

[dubya450]

The 243 should be fine for the youngsters in normal deer loads. I started on a 30-30 at 12 and at 15 (about 120 lbs soaken wet) a 30-06 and had no recoil problems. Like others have said, use good ear protection.

 

[brer_rabbit]

Thanks for all the feedback. From the responses I gather that I can't go too far wrong with the .243 in the first place and yes, it is the minimum caliber for hunting deer in the state of Connecticut so .223 wasn't an option. The trusty .22 will remain our inexpensive training tool.

I will be sure to double up on the hearing protection when we get started.

The Federal 85gr Sierra HPBT sounds like a good bet as an accurate and effective round with a bit less recoil. At about $30 per box of 20 it isn't the cheapest but I suppose you can't have it all (unless you reload) and it's not out of line for premium ammo.

Two questions I have:

1. Those Sierras are advertised for long range. Will they hold together on a short range shot? Twenty yards is not unusual in the eastern woods.

and to get back to the original question about comparing recoil between types of ammo:

2. Can I use bullet weight x muzzle velocity as rough indicator of recoil when comparing two types of ammunition? For example:
Federal Premium 55 grain Nosler Ballistic x 3850 fps = 211,750
Federal Premium 85 grain Sierra GameKing BTHP x 3320 fps = 282,200
Remington Express 100 grain Core-Lokt SP x 2960 fps = 296,000

Does that mean the first two options would have 72% and 95% of the recoil as the third?

If so I'll probably go for a box or two of the really light bullet weight ammo to get them started before switching over to a 85+ grain bullet that they like and that shoots well out of our rifle for deer hunting.

 

[Abel]

Practicing with lighter stuff sounds ok, but many 243 rifles have a barrel twist that favores the 85+ gr. Just go with whatever your rifle shoots the best. If you're lucky, the rifle will like cheap stuff, like Federal Power-Shok or Remington Core-Lokts. A leel'ole 243 won't hurt any 12 year old boy that I've ever seen. Just let them practice with earmuffs.

 

[targetshooter22]

Looks like you're on the right track, but +1 on the ear protection. I'm not sure I would worry too much about the ammo so much as the prep talk before the shooting (gentle reminders on holding it tight, squeeze the trigger, keep your mouth shut, don't have your eye too close to the scope, etc.).

My wife really likes her 243 (Win Mod 70) a lot. Once in one sitting, she went through 98 rounds of my 95 grain reloads (measured at ~2900 fps), without complaint, and a good deal of it shot prone. That was her first serious outing, and she had a ball (I did go through the above coaching first).

Good luck, and have fun!

 

[helotaxi]

but many 243 rifles have a barrel twist that favores the 85+ gr.

Not sure where you got that idea. The Savages ship with a 1:9.25 and the Remingtons with a 1:9. My factory Savage barrels, both of them, have been well sub-MOA with 55gn Blitzking and Ballistic Tips and 58gn Vmax. The idea that lighter bullets don't shoot well in faster than needed twists might have been true with poorly manufactured bullets, but bullets made with modern technology and machinery shoot just as well in a much faster twist than needed as they do in a twist that is just barely adequate. Combine good bullets with a good barrel and the results will be good.

FWIW, my Shilen .243 barrel with a 1:8 twist shoots the light bullets (and all bullets for that matter) even better than my factory barrels. On Sunday I was reliably hitting 2.5" targets at ranges from 100-378 lasered yards with 55 and 58gn vramint bullets. Recoil was negligible.

 

[sansone]

I don't know about the commercial stuff with the 85Gr Sierra, but my handloads with a mild dose of IMR4350 were the cat's meow for my wife and daughter.

Honestly, I think getting past the noise is a bigger deal with the .243 than felt recoil. Youth guns tend to have short barrels and they seem much louder to me. I think good hearing protection during practice is a must.

I loaded some 55gr pills with 4350 and everyone loves them, even me.. talk about flat shooting man.

for the OP: federal power-shok have low recoil

 

[Abel]

I guess I was under the impression that there were many 1:9.5 or 1:10 that had trouble stabilizing 55gr. But maybe it's the 1:12 that had trouble with the 85-100gr? Maybe I am thinking of the 6mm Rem.

 

[sansone]

I guess I was under the impression that there were many 1:9.5 or 1:10 that had trouble stabilizing 55gr. But maybe it's the 1:12 that had trouble with the 85-100gr? Maybe I am thinking of the 6mm Rem.

my 1:10 does fine with the 55gr but I load to 3000fps and don't go over.
The 1:12 won't stabilize 100gr pills

 

[helotaxi]

my 1:10 does fine with the 55gr but I load to 3000fps and don't go over.

I was shooting 55gn Ballistic Silvertips at somewhere north of 4,000 from a 1:8 over the weekend. Accuracy certainly was not a problem and terminal effects were spectacular.

 

[sixgunner455]

Typically, it is heavier bullets in slower twist rates that have trouble stabilizing, not lighter bullets in faster twist rates - for example, a 117gr Berger VLD might not stabilize in a 1:10, and might not be happy in anything less than 1:8.5, but that same 1:10 should have no trouble with a 55gr varmint bullet.

As stated above, the tight twist barrel should stabilize any reasonable bullet.

ETA: re - .243 and younger shooters/hunters: I have a 13yo boy who is a scrawny little guy. He has trouble holding up a full-sized rifle, but as long as it's sized to him, he can shoot lighter rifles on his hind legs. Prone or a bench is much easier for him to enjoy shooting for a longer period of time. I haven't tried him on anything bigger than a compact, light AR yet, because he has trouble with that. He is not hunting anything bigger than javelina next year, and has not hunted big game yet at all.

My little ballerina, on the other hand, just turned 16, weighs a touch over 100#, and enjoys my .243 and the AR equally. But she has yet to express an interest in hunting big game. She does enjoy shooting a 20g at birds, though.