Last year about this time, I wrote about my concern regarding teaching youth to shoot and hunt with rifle calibers that recoil hard enough to discourage them from shooting or hunting.
It seems many of us try to teach our children using the calibers we already own, which may have recoil that intimidates them and makes them close their eyes and flinch in anticipation of being pasted in the shoulder and jaw.
At the range, I have heard a couple of fathers tell their sons that big game hunting is done with high-powered rifles and they need to get used to the recoil of a high-powered rifle. I have also heard some smaller youth complain that the recoil of a .270, .308 or 30-06 Springfield hurts their shoulder and face.
I realize that all youth are not small in weight and size. I’ve seen my share of kids that are well over 100 pounds who seem to love .30-06s and also enjoy shooting dad’s .700- and .300-caliber magnums. However, I worry about youth who are intimidated by 20 foot-pounds or more of recoil and are being told to just get used to it. No one who is intimidated by what he or she is shooting is going to shoot that caliber very well.
Besides, there are calibers that will do a really good job on deer-size game but don’t make the shooter feel like he just went a couple of rounds with “Smoking Joe” Frazier.
In this column, I would like to suggest some calibers that will effectively harvest deer, pronghorn and even elk or moose at reduced ranges and are comfortable enough to shoot so that they don’t really intimidate smaller youth who want to hunt with their parents.
The .243 Winchester was introduced by Winchester in 1955 and has been a popular deer rifle for youth and adults because of its accuracy, retained energy at 250 yards and its relatively mild recoil. With a 100-grain bullet, a 7.5-pound rifle in a .243 Winchester recoils at 8.8 foot-pounds of energy and retains enough velocity and energy to harvest deer or antelope at 250 yards.
A 6mm Remington fires a 100-grain bullet out of the muzzle of an 8-pound rifle at 3,100 feet per second and recoils back at the shooter with 10 foot-pounds of energy.
A youth hunter in his mid to late teens might do very well with a .240 Weatherby Magnum firing a 100-grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of 3,406 feet per second. The .240 Weatherby Magnum does extend the effective range of the 100-grain bullet, but also recoils at 17.9 foot-pounds of energy, which is about the recoil energy of a .270 Winchester and may intimidate smaller youth.
The .257 Roberts is a very accurate and effective caliber in the hands of a good marksman.
An 8-pound .257 Roberts has a muzzle velocity of 2,800 feet per second with a 120-grain bullet and recoils at 10.7 foot-pounds of energy.
The .25-06 Remington is popular among youth hunters and fires a 120-grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of 3,000 feet per second, while generating 12.5 foot-pounds of recoil. The .25-06 will retain adequate energy for deer and pronghorn out to 400 yards or a little more.
The .257 Weatherby Magnum with recoil of 15.1 foot-pounds of energy with a 120-grain bullet may intimidate smaller youth. However, I’ve seen those in their mid and late teens handle it very well. It is accurate and hits hard out to 400 yards or more.
Several years ago, my son showed me a 6.5 Creedmoor he bought for his wife. It is very accurate and recoils about 3 to 9 foot-pounds more than the .243 Winchester. Last year, I saw a young boy who weighed about 90 pounds shooting a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle his father bought him for his first season deer hunting. He kept nailing the center of his target time after time with little noticeable recoil. His father told me that he was ready to have the boy sight in to hit about an inch high at 300 yards so he could place his shot in the vital area with a center of mass hold out to 400 yards. I think recoil was pretty close to 11 or 12 foot-pounds of energy from the muzzle of a 7.5 pound rifle and this youngster was really having fun with it. Commercial ammunition for the 6.5 Creedmoor is pretty expensive, though, so that might be something to consider.
Up until the 1960s, Winchester was advertising the .30-30 Winchester as America’s favorite deer rifle. The little lever-action .30-30 probably was America’s favorite deer rifle until close to 1960, but things started to change. I believe other calibers such as the .308 Winchester started to replace the .30-30 as America’s favorite deer rifle. Still, the .30-30 firing a 170-grain bullet at 2,200 feet per second muzzle velocity remains a very effective 250-yard deer rifle and recoils with 11 foot-pounds of energy. Hornady recently came out with a more efficient 160-grain bullet in their “LeverEvolution” series of bullets that should make the .30-30 more effective out to 250 yards. A lot of young hunters, including yours truly, shot their first two or three deer with the old lever-action .30-30 Winchester.
The .308 Winchester as mentioned above is a very popular deer rifle. When shooting 150-grain bullets out of a 7.5-pound rifle, muzzle velocity is about 2,800 feet per second at the muzzle and recoil is close to 15.8 foot-pounds of energy. Going up to 165- or 180-grain bullets increases recoil energy to 17.5 and 18.1 foot pounds, which is probably the upper limit of recoil that won’t intimidate some youth.
Felt recoil, or the shooter’s impression of how much recoil they are experiencing when shooting their rifles, is pretty subjective. However, youth that are being introduced to big game rifles will generally really be aware of the recoil the rifle is generating, and may complain if recoil is much over 12 foot-pounds of energy. By the time they are in their mid to late teens, most youth hunters will have become pretty comfortable with .270s, .308s and .30-06s.
The 20 foot-pounds of energy generated by the .30-06 is often as much recoil as most adults can stand. I have about three grandchildren in their late teens who can handle my .300 Weatherby Magnum very well, as well as several that won’t shoot anything that recoils more than a .30-06. Felt recoil is an important issue with most youth, as well as most adults.
Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.
