Help me pick a retirement rifle caliber

D

David Ozlo

New member
I'm all over the place with what caliber do I pick as I get ready to move to Florida to retire. I have large caliber rifles now but I realize recoil one day will be an issue.
So I need a lighter round for Florida hunting , 243,7mm-08,6.5Creedmoor, ect.
I'm figuring I could get the rifle now and develop a hand load for it.Whatever caliber I get I want to be able to shoot when I'm in my 70's and 80's Lord willing.
 
I think all 3 choices are excellent choices for your needs.

The 7-08 would be my pick if I wanted it to be more versatile for game larger than deer. It wouldn't be out of place at all on an elk or black bear hunt. Factory loads are harder to find and more expensive than other options, but since you hand load any of them are going to be about the same.

The 243 is as much as anyone ever needs for deer size game and ammo is easily obtained and inexpensive.

I don't know what other rifles are in your safe. But I have a 223 that will do 90% of what I could do with a 243 and several 308's that are ballistic twins to the 7-08. The 6.5 Creedmoor splits the difference and is the round that interests me the most at this time. It is still a viable elk and black bear round, just getting close to being borderline.

But you have to decide how you think you'll use it.
 
I'm retired now and have just about retired my Weatherby's. My wife bought me a Cooper MDL 22, 6.5x284, 26", 1/8. Shooting is really fun again. I chose this chambering because it is ballistically identical to my 300WBy. After shooting a 300 or 340WBY the recoil of this is a honeymoon.

This not a cheap rifle or a cheap chambering but it's easy to reload for and more economical also. 50gr of powder vs 90gr. It is also the most accurate rifle that I or anyone at the Billings Rod and Gun club has ever seen aside from a dedicated target rifle.

I occasionally win cigars from Savage rifle owners and they hate it! They insist it's a custom rifle, but it is not. It's a local product that's legendary around here. It was marked down to $1700. I called the factory and talked with the guy who tested the rifle and he gave me advise on loads, COAL, bullet jump and reloading dies, and set-up.

You might consider a 6.5 CM or 260REM. A buddy shoots a 6mm rem and it shoots like a dream! The 243WIn is another mild recoiling chambering that I have seen newb shooters use with excellent accuracy.

Enjoy your retirement and don't skimp. You have earned it.
 
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Get yourself an angle-eject Winchester 94 in 30-30 and mount a good 2-7X scope. This is a very good intermediate range cartridge.

Jack
 
I am partial to the .243Win and the .260Rem. But I have owned 7mm-08 and have shot several 6.5CMs. As it is a retirement rifle, I would say pick the rifle that appeals the most to you and then see what calibers it is offered in.

I just picked up a Ruger American Predator in .243Win and it just makes me smile. Light, accurate, simple.

My Dad (who is now 76) shot a 7mmMag for years. Then a few years back, my mom got him a .270 for deer and Pronghorn as the 7mm was bothering him. I had to stop the Elk hunting a few years ago and he can't shoot the 7mmMag anymore and the .270 is even a bit much. His .243 Win bolt broke (no Win 660 bolts to be had) so he is basically without a rifle. I am thinking of trading him into a .243Win.
 
Not sure where you are moving from but for Florida deer I would get the lowest recoil round you think is suitable for deer. You will also need to get used to shooting deer that, full grown, look like first year deer in most of the country. First time I hunted in Florida I got yelled at for not shooting a "big deer" that I thought was still a baby. I also never hunted anyplace that offered more than a 100 yard shot, except on power line right of ways. Even then it was rare to have over 100 yards.
 
I think a .243 would be fine for FL. I lived there a few years ago and never felt the need for anything larger then my .25-06. As said, FL deer are small, you don't need much.
 
Being from Florida and realizing our deer are much smaller than the rest of the nation, I use an.243 or .223 a lot. I leave my 30.06 in the cabinet most of the time. I highly recommend the 243 or 7.08. they're perfect for deer here and easy on my shoulder.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk
 
223, inexpensive to load or buy factory. Good accuracy, light recoil, decent hunting cartridge. Can get in bolt or semi.
 
I'd go with 6.8 in an AR-15. Get you a heavy buffer and quiet muzzle brake and the recoil problem goes away. You can hunt anything in Florida with 6.8.
 
What do you intend to hunt?

A quick check of Florida's wildlife regs don't show a .22 prohibition. Google says Florida deer average about 95 pounds.

If that's correct, I'd recommend the .223 Remington. Ammo with proper hunting bullets is available, along with cheap plinking ammo. Several companies make light bolt action rifles to accept it.

The .223 would also be appropriate for smaller game, assuming you actually want to eat it as opposed to blowing it apart.
 
The .243 is the least recoil of the OP's listed choices.

Me? I've tagged some two dozen bucks with my .243. Given that most deer are shot within some 200 yards, it's plenty potent. No reason it wouldn't do just fine on hogs and bear, for that matter.

55- and 70-grain bullets for coyotes. 85-grain for coyotes and neck shots on Bambi. 95- to 105-grain as a general purpose load for larger critters.
 
The OP doesnt say if hes just hunting in Florida from now on or if he may travel out of state some.

Out of his choices Id go with the 7mm-08. If needed can use the low recoil loads to bring to 243 levels, or the regular loads if went out of state for larger bodied deer. A 140gr 7-08 has done everything my 06 did with less recoil.
 
Another vote for the 243, though, of late, I've been playing with the 6.5 CM and I'm quite impressed.

I don't know the amount of recoil you are talking about so I'll throw this in. My wife broke her back and has 3 rods between her shoulder blades and cant handle much recoil at all.

I built her a Model 70 in 243 that she has no problem shooting. I sent her to Gunwerks Long Range school. She was afraid of what they wanted her to shoot and wanted to take her 243. They said she had to use their rifles.

She told them about her back problems so they set her up with a 6.5 CM with a suppressor. She fell in love with that round so I bought her a Ruger Precision Rifle in 6.5.

Even in that heavy rifle the recoil was too much until I put a muzzle brake on. Now she has no problem with the 6.5 CM.

She wanted the 6.5 for elk but I don't think there are many elk in Florida, so again, my vote goes for the 243 Win.
 
I'd agree with all Kragwy said.
Another round to look at is the 260. It can handle bullets just a bit heavier than the 243 all the way up to 155 and 160.
It is wonderful for deer with a 125 grain Nosler.

The only glitch I see in the whole post is the idea of retirement.

In today's economy, if something radically different doesn't take place soon I doubt any of us are going to retire in the way we always thought we would.

I have several friends in California, Nevada Arizona and Illinois that were "retired" and their policies fell apart. They were all told they had to accept less or go to court and get judgments and even if they got the judgments in their favor, the money simply doesn't exist anymore. The pensions they were depending on were all being overseen by banks and companies that "invested" their money for the last 40 years, and those investments were all bad. 3 of these friends have "state retirements" and one is through a county in Nevada. But that still was no guarantee that the money would not be lost, and it was.

With that said, any rifle and round you settle on should be set up with brass, bullets, powder and primers as soon as you can, because there is a possibility that these things will not be available in the future at any reasonable price. Even if the economy gets stronger I believe it is a certainty that the cost of components are not going to drop much, if at all! So I'd advise you to look at ammo even more than you look at guns. Not much ever goes down in price.

The rifle is a one-time investment, but ammo is used for the rest of your life.

The cool thing about the 243, 260 and 7-08 is that they can all be formed easily from Mil-Surp 7.62 machine gun brass. This kind of brass is cheap and easy to get (today)

When I was a kid the same thing was true with the 25-06 and 270. Most of the life of the 1st barrel in my 270 was used up using necked down military 30-06 brass, which was free in those days. Almost every range in Nevada and Idaho had 30-06 brass laying all over the ground.

You'll have to take out the primer crimps and trim it, but I have found the military brass to be quite good.
 
David Ozlo

Did you say 70 or 80's God willing. I will be 70 in 3 months , just had a reunion with friends I haven't seen in 50 years, when life was care free. Time goes by very fast. I love shooting my Remington 700 308 caliber. Its a benchrest setup , so it has weight , recoil isn't much. If I were you, I'd find the nicest looking rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor, an feed it with the best rounds I could make.
 
I hunted in FL for more than 2 decades. Even though the deer are small there, there is one thing that people are forgetting. Fl deer live in THICK cover and it is frequently raining when you are hunting. If you have ever tried to track a blood trail in thick cover in the rain you will appreciate the value of using a caliber that puts the animal down quickly. For that reason, I liked to throw more lead downrange. My vote is for 7mm-08.
 
In my own opinion for two cents, I believe the 7 mm-08 offers the most versatility for hunting and target shooting.
 
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