Choosing new rifle for teen girl for hunting

With the 6.5 creedmoor, keep in mind that Hornady is currently the only one making factory ammo as far as I know. I wouldnt say that its super hard to find, but availability can be spotty with it.

120 gr .25-06 ammo is everywhere and made by everybody so it should be a little easier to find. I shoot Federal Fusion 120's in my .25-06 for whitetails, but I'd say it would make a dandy elk load as well, and its under $30 a box.
 
This is her Ruger .243

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Nimrod, if you want a good blood trail, you most definitely want an exit wound. The .243 Winchester will consistently fully penetrate an Elk if using a bullet such as the Barnes X. Of course there are exceptions to the rule such as if you hit both shoulder balls or some other fluke circumstance that rarely ever occurs. As far as exit wound size, increasing 1/2 or even 1 MM is not going to make a tremendous difference in the size of the exit wound. Double it due to expansion, and its still not a huge difference. You get your huge exit wounds from hyper velocity bullets driving bone and from the shock wave exiting. My 7Rum exits with a wound the size of a base ball, but a 7-08 will not leave a wound even close to that size. If your daughter likes everything about the 06 except the recoil, consider having a muzzle brake put on an 06. I believe you will find that a 7-08 or a 6.5 Creedmoor will leave an exit wound slightly smaller than the .243 due to their lower velocity.
 
Interesting....I almost feel embarrassed as I've been hunting for over 30 years, never been skunked on deer or antelope, and only skunked on elk when I can't locate them....but never put much thought into the ammo....it's eye opening and I'm glad I asked.
I think we'll fill some milk jugs with H2O and head out to the field with her .243 and my old 30.30 and let her experiment with different ammunition before we continue looking for a new firearm....although, she won't like hearing that, lol
 
I only learned about Nosler Partitions yesterday while speaking with my son's boss at Sportsman's Warehouse....have never heard of Barnes X before....I will definitely look into them
 
Nimrod, if you want a good blood trail, you most definitely want an exit wound. The .243 Winchester will consistently fully penetrate an Elk if using a bullet such as the Barnes X. Of course there are exceptions to the rule such as if you hit both shoulder balls or some other fluke circumstance that rarely ever occurs. As far as exit wound size, increasing 1/2 or even 1 MM is not going to make a tremendous difference in the size of the exit wound. Double it due to expansion, and its still not a huge difference. You get your huge exit wounds from hyper velocity bullets driving bone and from the shock wave exiting. My 7Rum exits with a wound the size of a base ball, but a 7-08 will not leave a wound even close to that size. If your daughter likes everything about the 06 except the recoil, consider having a muzzle brake put on an 06. I believe you will find that a 7-08 or a 6.5 Creedmoor will leave an exit wound slightly smaller than the .243 due to their lower velocity.
Click to expand...
uh...what?
I have yet to see an elk(non archery) that required an exit wound at all, no less the size of a baseball to drop. this year alone my younger brother took an elk with my 300 weatherby magnum, exit wound about the size of a quarter, dropped 10 feet from where it was shot. my brother inlaw also killed an elk with a 45/70, didn't exit... 7mm-08 is more than capable of killing elk with proper placement and good bullet construction.
with a 7mm-08 you can get a 160gr projectile traveling at nearly 2700 fps. compare that to a 243 where your absolute best is a 105 gr bullet traveling 2900fps, believe it or not those 55 grains make a pretty big difference. also compare to 7mm rem mag where 160 grains max out around 3100 FPS, 4000 feet per second difference doesn't matter much inside of 300 yards.
 
I love how you managed to twist what I said into you cant kill elk without an exit wound the size of a baseball. Not what I said.
 
Yep. Assuming the Hornaday bullet does what they say it will. I have never shot one of their gilding metal bullets so cant provide input on it one way or the other. I can guarantee the X is everything Barnes says it is.
 
150 yards?!

I really hate these various incarnations of caliber wars threads.:rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY0w1c-gf18

The 243 fails as an elk round exactly the same way that a .308 or 375H&H magnum fails, by not hitting the important stuff.

Unrecovered animals are not evidence of a failure of the bullet. They're unrecovered. We don't KNOW where the bullet hit. Interestingly, recovered animals always have holes in the important stuff. It should lead one to believe that poking holes in the important stuff kills things and when things don't get dead, it's because the important things didn't get holes poked in them.

Young people, small-framed women and other with an aversion to recoil regularly hunt elk with the 243. It does the job when they do.
 
less recoil

I am not from the west were you have Elk but i have a 257 roberts that i have killed white tail and black bear they come in 120 gr bullets i would think plenty for elk they have low recoil mi wife has one and my son and the both love them rugers m77 in 257 is a nice deal.
 
I have no doubts when my daughter tells me she hit the mark, that she did...she is a crack shot...with antelope and deer tags filled every year with one shot since she was 14 (17 now) and most antelope were between 200 - 300 yards....deer between 50 - 150 yards.....this elk was only about 50 yards from her....100 grain Remington core-lokt
 
I can hit a 6" target all day at 1000 yards. Last year I shot a deer in the heart that was really hit in the guts when I finally found it. It was only 230 yards away. Sometimes, stuff happens.:) That is the first deer I have gut shot in 15 or so years, but at times we dont hit where we think we do.
 
Unless there's a recovered animal, there's ALWAYS doubt. I've killed dozens of deer and I still screw up, even on "cake" shots. Show me someone who doesn't and I'll show you a liar. I don't want to admit it but it's the truth. If she shot an elk at 50 yards with a 100gr Core-lokt and did not recover the animal, she did not place the bullet where she wanted it. Period.
 
True...and since most all her shots are usually over 100 yards, it is very possible that she missed the mark due to being so close..........and her first elk....lord knows I get all sorts of hyped when I see an elk...hard to keep breathing slow and controlled, lol
 
I wish I could've seen her shoot...I was only about 20 yards away but watching a different area when I 'bout jumped out of my skin when I heard her shoot
 
NimRod, if you'd like to come over I have a Benelli R1 in 270 WSM if she's like to try a few shots.
I also have some military rifles she can try.
PM me and we'll meet at the range in Shoshoni or you can come here. (I have 300 yds to shoot out of my shop door)
 
I see some people advising a .25-06. I personally wouldn't go that route for two reasons:

1. Muzzle blast is pretty bad unless you get a 26" barrel.
2. You are are still limited to a pretty small bullet.

I know there are people here that are saying the .243 will down an elk quite well when hit in the proper vitals - even with the lighter 6mm bullet. That is true but this is a case where heavier really is better. I believe you stand a much better chance of a successfull shot if you can choose a caliber where the bullet is up in the 130+grn weight.
 
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