re: Small caliber deer rifle recommendations?

.243 is the king of bloodless tracking jobs.

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.243 is the king of bloodless tracking jobs.

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Yup. A deer that bounces off its own feet leaves little blood.

.243 is the definition of marginal for deer. It is on the lower margin of what is an effective deer hunting caliber

guesswho,
You've got a WHOLE of choices. Many years ago I read an article by John Wootters, one of my all time favorite hunting authors. The title was something like, "Eight Deer Hunting Cartridges to Start and Finish With." He listed rounds that were good for the beginning hunter, but would still be useful for an advanced hunter, as well. His recommendations: 250 Savage, 257 Roberts, 6.5X55 Swede, 260 Rem, 7X30 Waters, 7-08, 30-30, 300 Savage. Personally, I think those are all still good choices, some better than others depending on certain factors. W/ the advent of reduced recoil factory loads, there are even more good choices, including the 308 Win, 25-06, 270 Win and possibly 30-06. When faced w/ a similar decision when my 9 y/o son started deer hunting, I bought him a 308 Win. Nearly bought a 7-08, but opted for 308 because I already had all the handloading components for it. This was before the days of factory reduced recoil loads so I developed my own w/ a 125 gr Nosler BT; the load actually had less recoil than a full power 100 gr 243 load. He killed a bunch of deer w/ that load before moving up to full power loads.

Personally, I've never killed a deer w/ a 243, 22-250 or 223 because I have no desire to. I've skinned and helped track a number of deer that've been killed w/ them. Although there are alot of experienced hunters who like these calibers, I've not one of them as there's just not as much room for error as w/ larger guns. Bullet placement and performance both have to be topnotch, every time. If a big whitetail pops out at 200 yards but the only shot is a "Texas heart shot" would you want her to be shooting a 223/243 or one of the other rounds mentioned? Why use a 243 when one can use a reduced recoil load 308 that will have similar, or less, recoil, especially since your shots will be inside 200 yards?

Be sure you have a GOOD recoil pad installed. Also make sure the gun fits her WELL, especially length of pull. When shooting off the bench, encourage a "sissy bag" (thin sand bag between butt of gun and shoulder), ear plugs AND ear muffs. PAST makes a number of removable shooting pads LINK .

BTW, in the aforementioned John Wooters article, he said that instead of referring to the 243 as a women's and youth deer gun, it should be referred to an "expert's" deer rifle.

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inexperienced

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key word to me. I have killed many of deer with a 243 100 grain and never had to track one. I didnt "HAVE" To take a 243 on those hunts, i have 270wsm, 308, 30-30, 7mm-08, 45-70, and a slug gun all that i use for deer. I just take different guns on some hunts just because sometimes, and every time i shot a deer with the 243, it was recovered.. hell it never left the plot..Its all about shot placement, rather its a 243 or a 300 ultra mag. Sending someone inexperienced into the woods with any rifle will more than likely cause bad results.

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Call it whatever you want. It's a widely supported opinion.

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No, it really isn't. Google ".243 perfect deer". yeah, I know.

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The .243 really stands out when it comes to shitty tracking missions.

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I call bullshite.

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In my opinion, sending your kid/wife/inexperienced buddy into the woods with a .243 is selling them short.

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Your opinions are usually worthless, so I'll keep that in mind.

I have no idea what you're talking about. In any event, there aren't degrees of dead despite what Miracle Max claims.

7mm-08 is the correct answer for this.



im going with downshift.

For example ( one of the many reasons i personally wont shoot a 243)
I have had 2 different friends shoot and blood 2 different wallhangers within 2 weekends. I was hunting on the same property both times, and i tried to help track them. Very very sparse blood.

Found one of the 2 bucks like 5 or 6 days later in a creek. Behind the shoulder shot. Didnt make sense.


i will say that its all about shot placement. But a larger caliber will give you a touch more room for error at distance.


Also, i have one buddy who piles up deer every year with his neck shootin deer slayin .243

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For example ( one of the many reasons i personally wont shoot a 243)
I have had 2 different friends shoot and blood 2 different wallhangers within 2 weekends. I was hunting on the same property both times, and i tried to help track them. Very very sparse blood.

Found one of the 2 bucks like 5 or 6 days later in a creek. Behind the shoulder shot. Didnt make sense.

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That depends largely on the round used. If you don't have an exit wound there will be less blood. If you shoot a double capped bullet this shouldn't be a problem even with a .223. On another not when a round is left inside an animal it leaves all of it's energy inside of the animal so it does more damage thn the same sized round that penetrates all the way through. The problem with this is that they are hard to find with no exit wound.