So I recently sold my 270 that I have had since high school. I never really liked the gun or the caliber. I'm not a fan of long actions and the recoil was too much for me to enjoy shooting it. I have slowly been replacing all of my deer rifles with ones that I actually enjoy shooting for fun all year long and not just a few shots before each deer season.
That said, I have a gap to fill in my deer rifle collection and I'm trying to decide what to fill it with. Biggest points are that it has to be something low recoil (or able to reload reduced loads), unique or uncommon, and short action preferred. I already have two rifles in 243 (light/handy Model 7 CDL and heavy Ruger No.1) and a 257 Roberts that I haven't started shooting yet. I like calibers that aren't "mainstream", i.e. 308,7-08, 270, 30-30, 30-06, etc.
Right now I'm looking at 7x57 since it's a classic, but still relatively uncommon these days. It can be loaded down with a 120gr bullet and reduced reloads to keep recoil down. But I'm also open to other idea. I only deer hunt, but used to hog hunt a lot so having a caliber that I could hog hunt with again in the future would be good. My deer hunting is all woods with a maximum shot distance of about 150 yards, so fast and flat shooting calibers don't really give me any real world benefit.
That said, I have a gap to fill in my deer rifle collection and I'm trying to decide what to fill it with. Biggest points are that it has to be something low recoil (or able to reload reduced loads), unique or uncommon, and short action preferred. I already have two rifles in 243 (light/handy Model 7 CDL and heavy Ruger No.1) and a 257 Roberts that I haven't started shooting yet. I like calibers that aren't "mainstream", i.e. 308,7-08, 270, 30-30, 30-06, etc.
Right now I'm looking at 7x57 since it's a classic, but still relatively uncommon these days. It can be loaded down with a 120gr bullet and reduced reloads to keep recoil down. But I'm also open to other idea. I only deer hunt, but used to hog hunt a lot so having a caliber that I could hog hunt with again in the future would be good. My deer hunting is all woods with a maximum shot distance of about 150 yards, so fast and flat shooting calibers don't really give me any real world benefit.