Low recoil rifle for whitetails and coyotes. Opinions?

[GOCougs3006]

Hey guys. I'm looking into several different calibers of rifle and am having trouble deciding on which one to go with. My fiancé is getting into hunting and she wants to go deer hunting. I only have a .30-06 and a .300 WM right now for her to use. I'm confident she could shoot the .30-06 fine, but with her being fairly new to shooting I want her to spend a lot of time at the range honing her skills and my 06 kicks pretty good to be putting lots of lead down range. The second part of this is I would really like a higher caliber coyote gun for longer range coyote hunts (500-600 yds). So I figured I could easily kill two birds with one stone here. And this way if she only hunts a year or two and decides she doesn't like it I still have my coyote gun. And by the way we are from eastern WA and will be hunting whitetails in the rolling hills of the Palouse. So after all of that here are some of the calibers I'm choosing between.

6.5x55 Swede (this was the caliber of my first rifle so I have a soft spot for it)

.25-06 (I am a huge .30-06 fan and I believe it to be about the best cartridge ever made, so sticking with the 06 family appeals to me)

.257 Wby
6.5x284
6.5 rem mag

Also, I do all of my own hand loading, but I would like to stick with a cartridge I could easily find brass for.

Anyone have any opinions on these calibers. Pros/Cons.... the good, the bad, the ugly.... any advice helps.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Since you like the 06 family, the 6.5-06 would be another good choice. A lot of good 6.5 cartridges out there that would fit your needs. Also the 7-08.

I would probably choose the 6.5x284. It's a great cartridge and great Lapua brass available.

 

[highbrow]

243 Winchester is never wrong for this combo

 

[Catfur]

6mm Rem
257 Bob

 

[ghostrider272]

6.5x55 I like the round. Have three rifles chambered in it.

 

[MudRunner2005]

6.5x284, 6.5-06, 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm-08, .308 Win, .280 Rem, .280 Ackley Improved......All of these would make excellent whitetail cartridges with fairly low recoil.

 

[Methow Packer]

I know you are an '06 fan but, recoil for any of the '06 family cartridges is still more than some gals want to have. I agree the .243 Win would be my suggestion. Great deer gun at medium ranges with 90 grain Bergers etc. and perfect for varmints of all sizes. Consider 55 grain bullets out past 3400 FPS. I have good results out at 500 yards with a light Kimber rifle and 4x14 Leupold. The wife loves shooting it compared to it's parent cartridge the .308.

Ted

 

[Outlaw6.0]

Since you like the 06 family, the 6.5-06 would be another good choice. A lot of good 6.5 cartridges out there that would fit your needs. Also the 7-08.

I would probably choose the 6.5x284. It's a great cartridge and great Lapua brass available.

Pretty much the same. I don't think the 6.5-06 gets the respect it deserves. I would stick with either 6mm or 6.5 for the young lady, great bullet selection & reduced recoil from the 7mm & 30cal variants.


t

 

[FEENIX]

Another vote for the 6.5x55. It's been around for 122 years (longer than the. 30-06) and one of the best designed cartidge out there. I started both my boys with a 1894 carbine for hunting at age 10.

Good luck!

 

[GOCougs3006]

Thanks for all of the great info guys. I totally forgot to put the .243 in there. I have been considering that as well. I do like the idea of the 6.5 calibers because of the heavier bullet choices for whitetails. I have to admit I really am leaning toward the 6.5x55 because I really regret selling my old one (but when you are 14 and scrounging together $ to buy a big boy gun '.30-06' you don't consider sentimental things). And all 4 deer I killed with my swede where one shot kills. The other thing swaying me back toward the.243, .25-06 or the .257 Roy is that my initial idea was to start with a stock Weatherby Vanguard and then add/exchange components (trigger, stock, barrel, etc.) as funds become available and these are the only available calibers. Howa does make the 6.5x55 in there 1500... so again that is appealing to me.

 

[Edd]

I think the best choice went unmentioned. I'm going to build a 6.5x47 Lapua for myself.

 

[vatackdriver]

.243 is gonna be hard to beat for low recoil and are faiGrendely to find a good accurate load. I have killed more deer than I care to count w/ this caliber and never had trouble with not enough gun. It might be the outside edge for deer but a well place shot at 400-500 yds is still pretty devastating.

You could always use this as a good excuse to get a 6.5 grendel, mine shoots like a .223

 

[Sully2]

Id have to vote for the 243 with a top notch scope on top. If she cant hit it right on and kill it with that rig..she wont do it with any

 

[MontanaRifleman]

The Howa or Vanguard are great choices for a factory rifle and good ones to build with. The 243 is a great cartridge but I have hunted deer with one and I would step up to a 25-06 or a 6.5.