Low recoil deer rifle/cartridge?

[mustanger98]

Hands down no further debate needed get the 243 all day long.

243 is an outstanding deer cartridge out to at least 300 yards.

Recoil is virtually non-existent my ten-year-old daughter took her first deer with it no problem with one shot. 243 does a lot of damage and is much more powerful then 556.

Accurate ammo is cheap and readily available.
Rifles are cheap get yourself a TC compass or even better a Ruger American

Why, other than money, limit to those two models? In general agreement with every other point, I usually say get what fits the individual. For all I know, Boyd's probably makes stocks for any of the more economically priced models... make it feel like a whole different rifle. Anymore, stock fit probably has more to do with it than brand name.

 

[Charlie Martinez]

I knew a rancher whose wife that killed a buck every year with a 222 Remington shooting it out of her kitchen window. You don't need a very powerful gun to kill deer if you know how to use the gun & know where to place your shot. As far as children & 243's are concerned I think a 10 year old is a little too young to be sport hunting big game with any high powered rifle. I have seen more than a few kids that grew to hate hunting because their dads pushed them to get started too early. A 10 year old should be honing his shooting skills on tin cans, squirrels & rabbits with a 22 RF so when he's old enough to understand and appreciate what hunting a deer is all about he'll be ready to do the job right with the right rifle.

 

[sarduy]

16" 300 BLK UPPER

 

[JDeere]

Endless discussion. Research ballistics and pick one.

Yep what makes one happy may not make another happy. It seems today that in both rifle and pistol a lot of folks are looking for less recoil. I never worried about that issue. What groups well and does the job is what matters.

 

[hop358]

About 15 years ago bought my son a Ruger Mark 2 compact rifle in 260 Remington! Son weighed around 80 lbs and he loved shooting it! Shot many whitetail deer using Nosler 100gr BT over the years! When I would shoot rifle it seemed like the recoil was less than my full size 243 Win! When son graduated from high school I told him to pick out a rifle for a gift! Chose a full size Ruger in 260 and has placed the compact in safe for his 1 year old son to use in the future!

 

[Newtosavage]

I knew a rancher whose wife that killed a buck every year with a 222 Remington shooting it out of her kitchen window. You don't need a very powerful gun to kill deer if you know how to use the gun & know where to place your shot. As far as children & 243's are concerned I think a 10 year old is a little too young to be sport hunting big game with any high powered rifle. I have seen more than a few kids that grew to hate hunting because their dads pushed them to get started too early. A 10 year old should be honing his shooting skills on tin cans, squirrels & rabbits with a 22 RF so when he's old enough to understand and appreciate what hunting a deer is all about he'll be ready to do the job right with the right rifle.

Haven't you heard? It's not about what's good for the kid these days. It's about what pictures the parents can post on the 'gram

 

[labnoti]

I really grow tired of grown men who weigh 200-250 lbs. insisting that the .243 has "no kick at all" when I see the heads of 90 lb. kids getting snapped back on each shot.

"just get them a heavier rifle then..." some guys will say. Really? You want a 90 lb. kid to heft a 9 lb. rifle to prevent the recoil from snapping their heads back? wow.....

I totally agree with this. This is why I recommend a rifle that fits kids first. It must fit them in weight, and length of pull, and the sights or optics must also work for them. Then, I recommend low-recoil cartridges. I bought Grendel for kids 12-13 y.o. that are under 80 pounds. Full loads with 100 grain bullets at 2800 fps were too much to start with. One worked up to it, but another needs more time with Trailboss loads at ~1400 fps.

I really recommend to do what's best for the kids by starting slow and working up. We know there is some kind of "minimum" to take deer, but a good shot with a light cartridge beats a bad shot with a magnum any day.

Grendel, x39, .243 and similar cartridges all can meet the minimum required to be effective on deer at generous ranges, but not all kids can transition well from rimfire to those cartridges with factory or maximum loads. If you can't handload reduced loads, kids will be best off spending plenty of time with a transitional rifle like .223 before trying to step up to a better deer rifle. If you can provide reduced loads, then anything with the potential to load lighter bullets can work -- .243, 6mm, .257, 6.5 or .277 for examples.

It's harder to reduce the recoil of medium and big bore cartridges. They shoot heavy bullets and without high velocities, the range is limited. I love .357 Magnum and even if you can't handload reduced loads, you can use .38 Special. However, once you work up to hot magnums, the recoil isn't that light anymore and the range is still quite limited. For the same amount of recoil, you could have a rifle that shoots flat out to 250 yards. The bigger bores like 44 Magnum, 450 Bushmaster or whatever still have a lot of recoil for their range. Sure, kids can learn trajectory and bullet drop compensation and range estimation and so on, but they learn those things with range time, not on deer hunts, and by the time they've got those things figured out, they will be able to tell you what they want.