Recoil

H

hunter06

Inactive
Im looking to buy my son a new rifle for deer hunting this year. He says my 270 is a bit tough on his shoulder. I feel the 243 is not enough power for him because he might be hunting black bear too. I was thinking more in terms of the 7mm-08 or the 25-06. How are the recoil of these compared to the 270? Which do you think is a better choice? I do not handload so i will only be using factory bullets. Any results on game with these rifles and good ammunition as well?
 
7mm-08 or .308 ought to be good or you could install a Mercury recoil reducer. It tames a 450 Marlin in a NEF Handi Rifle down to about 12 gauge levels.
 
In my opinion, the .308 is the best choice. Close to 30.06 power with less recoil. Plenty of ammo choices and I'm guessing just about any ammo dealer in the US has at least a box in stock.
 
25-06 great choice. Killed many deer and hogs w/ it. Hogs can get as heavy as bear. If you choose that cal, go w/ a 117btsp. Great round. very accurate. A 243 w/ a 100gr. should do fine on black bear. Just be careful on the bullet selection that you don't select a varnmint bullet. 7mm-08 is good too...I'd suggest a 139 BTSP. That's a 308 necked down to 7mm. the 243 is (to my understanding...may be wrong) the 308 necked down to 24 cal. Main thing is to avoid recoil that will cause him to flinch. That can cause some really bad habits that are not easily corrected.
 
There is only about 100 FPS difference between a 7 MM-08 and a 270 for similar weight bullets. I don't think the difference in recoil would amount to much.The 25-06 is not going to be a quantum jump in recoil reduction either.I would think he should drop to a 243 or learn to shoot the 270.
 
here are some recoil energy numbers I found off a chart. 243, 100gr 8.8lbs. 25-06,120gr 12.5lbs. 270, 130gr 16.5lbs. 308, 150gr 15.8lbs. 30-30, 150gr 10.6lbs. Just for kicks, 300 mag, 180gr 25.9lbs. They also have recoil velocity listed which I assume it is how sharp the kick is but this should give you an idea on recoil. These were all factory loads.
 
6.5x55!!! This gun kicks the same as a 243 but handles 140gr bullets that make short work of any contanental game. I have a 44mag semi auto rifle that kicks less than a 243. And the old 30-30 is not glamorous anymore, but millions of dead deer and bears would say its adequate.
 
In that situation, I'd run with 6.5x55 swede, .25-06, or .260 remington, or maybe .257 roberts. I'm partial to 6.5x55 swede, in theory, although it's hard to find sporting rifles in this caliber. It kicks a bit more than a .243, but it kills large game very well, by all accounts. I have yet to kill an animal with a 6.5x55 though personally.
 
My wife hunts with a custom Browning BLR in 6.5mm Swede. She is a lefty.

The Nosler 140 gr Partition will out-penetrate just about anything including 220 gr 30-06. We tested using soaked newspaper shot from a distance of 100 yards.

.308 reduced recoil ammo by Remington is worth a close look.

7mm-08 is a fine cartridge but price per box seems outrageous to me.

Jack
 
Remington's Reduced Recoil ammo in .270 uses a 125 grn bullet and produces about the same recoil as a .243. If you want to keep the gun, try this.
 
how old or big is he? I mean is he 10 years old or 15 years old? I'm 19, I can barely bench press 100 pounds 1 time, i'm not in shape, i'm 6"2 and weigh at anytime inbetween 160-170 pounds, and I don't have my own rifle but I shoot my uncle's Rem 700 in .30-06, 180gr core-lokt, and personally i don't feel the gun recoil at all, if you gave me a 100gr .243 and 180gr .30-06 I wouldn't know the difference, god's honest truth. It's possibly he is holding the gun incorrectly, you need to teach him to relax his shoulder, and take his two arms and pull the rifle into his body firmly, also I'm guessing alot of this is mental, he is scared of the gun and also probably associates the sound of the gun with the recoil. I don't notice recoil until I shoot a 150gr .300 win mag, but even them i'm not flinching or wincing or whatever, you just need to tell him the gun is not going to hurt him when it goes off. My first rifle i'm getting is going to be a Remington 700 CDL in 7mm Rem Mag shooting 150gr
 
The 260 is a fine round.
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Hey, that's what I was gonna say.

This round essentially duplicates the performance of the 6.5x55 Swede, so you got a lot of recommends for this performance class.

Low recoil, surprisingly good game performance** and generally very accurate.

**Used to hang out in a shop that specialized in semi-custom rifles. The owner always hunted with the latest whiz-bang magnum cartridge on the market. His son wanted something with less recoil so he built him a .260Remington. I remember him shaking his head and saying that he didn't understand how his son's .260 just seemed to drop those deer in their tracks while they always ran awhile after he whacked them with his magnum.

If you do much reading about the 6.5x55, you'll read similar stories about it. It just seems to perform better than it should on game judging from the on paper figures.
 
It just seems to perform better than it should on game judging from the on paper figures.
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You can say that about a lot of the old cartridges: 7X57, 6.5X55, 6.5X54, 250 Savage, 257 Roberts, 300 Savage, and yes, even the lowly 30-30 Winchester, are all very good at dropping game very cleanly without beating you up in the process. The only real gain with magnums is a flatter trajectory that makes range estimation non-critical.
 
the 260 is in my opinion also a good round, so is the 6.5x55 which I used last fall to take a 275 pound black bear. The shot didnt kill him instantly but made him squeal and bolt for the woods. I let him be for about 10 minutes and found him 30 yards away leaning against a tree almost sitting up with his arms around the tree, QUITE DEAD!!!
With hunting bruins, I always usually use heavy bullets in my .300 win mag
but didnt have the choice of firearms or ammo when hunting that time. The only animal I have shot with such a calibre. Shot placement is paramount.
As with any "undersized" caliber such a 6mm -7mm range, use heavy for class bullets and make sure the caliber you decide on has readily available bullets at the stores in your area before purchasing. Some areas stock more of some calibers than others, so dont get stuck with a gun that is hard to find bullets for or the bullet selection in your area is poor. Try to use premium loads for large or semi-dangerous game like bear or moose.
And make sure your son is holding the weapon right, and that the particular rifle fits his stature. If it is awkward to hold it will be scary and awkward to shoot.
 
7mm-08

I hope I'm not too late in returning some advice before you went out and bought the gun. Let me just give you some food for thought.

The gentleman that stated the .308 would be good for your son, I think he wansn't on the right track, the recoil as mentioned from your son was too much in the .270. The 308 has just as much recoil as the .270 if not more depending on the load.

I am a huge 7mm-08 fan and think that it is a great caliber for all hunters that are hunting game in North America. If you read different statistics and studies you will run accross several articles that show how the 7mm-08 outperforms alot of the above mentioned calibers (308 ect...)

If you purchase a bolt rifle it should average around 7.5 lbs in the 7mm-08. It will have 10 lbs of recoil which is just above the .243 at 8.8 lbs. However, the difference on impact is hands down uncomparable. The .243 may be a bit faster, but that 200 fps doesn't compare to the devistation at the end vs the 7mm-08.
 
You should buy some of the managed recoil ammo and have him try shooting the 270 with them. It greatly reduces the recoil. If he likes shooting the managed recoil then you could buy him a 270 and he could grow into shooting full loads.
 
I'm chiming in a bit late here, but how about a .257 Roberts with 120gr Nosler Partition as loaded by Federal? I grew up on it, my wife loves it, and my 11 year old daughter even shoots it!

A more affordable ammo option is Richard Brown of Shepherd, MT. Look him up at Dexonline or E-mail him at : Bullet071@hotmail.com He can load to your specs at a reasonable price.
 
Not applyable to extreme hard kickers, but in the real world and especially with the .270, I think recoil is a issue when you're at the range. In a real hunt, the adrenaline in your body makes the recoil much less perceptive.

That said, if .270 is your caliber of choice, try to fix a pachmyer decelarator recoil pad in your rifle and chose some light loads for him to practice and, by the time your son is growing up, you can only switch gradualy to the stronger loads.

That's only me, but I think that shooting the same rifle his father shoots, will not only be a good lesson, but would be a good feeling for the boy.

Regards,

Andre Tiba - Brazil
 
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