Quandary - What calibre around .30 to go for?

[kent]

Recoil effects us, its far harder to shoot even that first single shot on target with a lightweight stalking rifle. Some of its mental (you have fired it before so you tend to hold a little to hard), Some of it is physical (shots will go higher off wall / fence tops etc) and yes sometimes though very rarely its recovering for a second shot (rarely do stalkers fire even the six mentioned).

I proved this to myself shooting my 7-08 off hand against my .243 win, both were useable in my hands but the .243 shot markedly better. Well rested there would be nothing in the two indeed my old .308 would have out shot either but it was substantially heavier. I had a 30-06 in a lightweight gun and it was very particularly to take change of the barrel rise during recoil.

Case in point below I took all the common 308 based rounds on a single bullet design and compared the same Nosler BTip with Nosler Data

 

.243 win 95 grn Nosler BTIP 3144 fps .379 BC

.260 rem 120 grn 3049 fps .458 BC

7-08 rem 140grn 2922 fps .458 Bc

.308 win 150 grn 3001 fps .435 bc

 

ALL WILL KILL ANY UK DEER STONE DEAD WITH CORRECT PLACEMENT, RUN DISTANCE WILL NOT BE SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED IN MY EXPERIANCE

95grn base weight

+26% weight in 120grn

+47% weight in 140 grn

+ 58% weight in 150 grn

RECOIL ENERGY FROM THE SAME CASE COULD BE COMPARED BY SAYING 28 grm GAME LOAd FROM A 12GA to A 3 1/2" super mag wildfowling load of over 42 grm

when you compare the 308 and 243 in the same gun

 

Interestingly it also shows the superior BC of 7 mm bullets (not that its very relivent at 200 yards) over a heavier 30 cal. The .308 is still imo the better buy for the stalker on availability. The two most popular stalking rounds in the UK if not the world remain .243 and .308

[jason kaye]

I use a .243 for fox and smaller deer and a ..270 for any thing bigger, simple, don't really see the need for anything else can shoot anything between 55grn upto 160grn bullets with these two.

Jase.

[Harnser]

I am so glad that I made the decision many years ago to change from the mighty .270 to the venerable .308 . Long before I read the old tosh and the drivel spouted on this forum about different calibres and fancy bullets and horrendous recoil from some sporting rifles . Anybody who is anybody will know that the .308 and the .270 are proberbly the best two calibres for all round deer stalking in this country and many other country's .

Why do some people want to make such a big issue out of choosing a calibre or a bullet for deer stalking . Of course there are other calibres that will kill deer cleanly but if you stick with the .308 or the .270 you will have a better chance of clean kills on large game .

Very few deer will survive a hit from a centre fire rifle , they will all die ..... eventually .

 

Harnser

[kent]

And I never said I was. But then again, your opinion is meaningless to me anyway.

Do you have anything of use to this thread, are you just looking to create agro when you have nothing to sell?

[kent]

I am so glad that I made the decision many years ago to change from the mighty .270 to the venerable .308 . Long before I read the old tosh and the drivel spouted on this forum about different calibres and fancy bullets and horrendous recoil from some sporting rifles . Anybody who is anybody will know that the .308 and the .270 are proberbly the best two calibres for all round deer stalking in this country and many other country's .

Why do some people want to make such a big issue out of choosing a calibre or a bullet for deer stalking . Of course there are other calibres that will kill deer cleanly but if you stick with the .308 or the .270 you will have a better chance of clean kills on large game .

Very few deer will survive a hit from a centre fire rifle , they will all die ..... eventually .

 

Harnser

Very few deer if any will survive with a hole into the chest cavity they were not born with full stop no matter if we talk "eventually" . All legal calibres work pretty much equally under the right set of circumstance. I put forwards there is no "best deer calibre" as it depends so much on the "individual" and "circumstances" .222 rem to .300 Winchester magnum.

[kernel gadaffi]

6.5x55 and a 140 grain Hornady behind Reloader 19 or Vihtavouri N160, superb combination.

[Underdog]

I am so glad that I made the decision many years ago to change from the mighty .270 to the venerable .308 . Long before I read the old tosh and the drivel spouted on this forum about different calibres and fancy bullets and horrendous recoil from some sporting rifles . Anybody who is anybody will know that the .308 and the .270 are proberbly the best two calibres for all round deer stalking in this country and many other country's .

Why do some people want to make such a big issue out of choosing a calibre or a bullet for deer stalking . Of course there are other calibres that will kill deer cleanly but if you stick with the .308 or the .270 you will have a better chance of clean kills on large game .

Very few deer will survive a hit from a centre fire rifle , they will all die ..... eventually .

 

Harnser

I adore 270 also. I find it very pleasant to shoot. We used one for everything a few years ago and it never disappointed. It is closer to a true 7mm diameter bullet than errr a 7mm!

U.

[cjm]

Not any more, i just pity those who follow the misinformation you spread and when it is pointed out you are incorrect, you just turn up the volume.

Just put him on your ignore list. Great job

[kent]

Not any more, i just pity those who follow the misinformation you spread and when it is pointed out you are incorrect, you just turn up the volume.

Its quite telling that you cannot raise any facts to dispute this so called mis-information and made no contribution other than spurious attacks. I feel much the same about you but you see you only start making claims about anything when your trying to sell it.

 

I have hunted deer with all these guns and anyone who thinks a .308 win with a 150 or a 7-08 with a 140 wont be harder to shoot well with from improvised field stances and wont kick substantially harder in a lightweight stalking rifle than the self same case pushing a 100 grn bullet has found a new area of physics and claiming Mr Newton missed an important point

 

Remember the OP has already mentioned his bad back (suggesting a heavy gun to soak up the recoil isn't going to be his thing) and also his dislike of recoil. His current calibre will do all he wants its just many who haven't the time in the field with various .243 bullets will say otherwise, so I suggested a 6.5mm ( I have a friend and hunting guide in Lapland who shoots great big whacking moose with his 6.5 that need a tractor to extract them), so I am sure he wont be disadvantaged in the UK on deer and fox . Come on tell me in all those years of experience you don't actually have hunting deer tell me why I am wrong.

 

Like many I listened to a lot of the commonly spouted myths when I started out