Caliber Recommendations For Handicapped

[athanasios23]

I'd go 243 win on up to the 270. Put a quality brake on it. Will your dad be hunting deer or bear from a vehicle or is he able to get into a floor level blind. If he's shooting from tripod or rest I'd make the rifle a bit on the heavier side to reduce felt recoil.

 

[ORBeaverfan]

I second the AR platform (several calibers mentioned already that would be adequate). I built a 6.5 Creedmore a few years ago on an AR platform for handicapped kids to use on deer and elk. Some need it some don't, but in a wheel chair, it can make getting a follow up shot, if necessary, much easier. I wish I had it when I took my brother in law out after a cow elk. He too is in a wheel chair but has dexterity issues in his hands as well and the AR would have been much better for him than a bolt action. Sitting in a blind, the back seat of a pickup with the right rest (or in a chair strapped to a flatbed works great too) an AR platform would be the ticket IMO.

 

[257WTBY]

My 2 cents. Picking the caliber and rifle is one thing but put yourself in your dads position and try shooting out of a wheel chair I tried it isn't easy. Bi-pods or Tri pods are an option we tried them. Cumbersome and not easy to move and get set back up quickly.

I have a buddy who's 12yr old son is in a wheel chair, paralyzed from waist down. We have been good friends since we were in the service together. Anyway, his wanted to hunt and was having issues not from caliber or gun but from shooting out of his chair - accuracy was in a kind word AWFUL... I've been a millwright for years so I thought I could help, I built him for lack of a better term a mono-pod that attaches to his chair. It has two 1/4 turn locking pivot points one horizontal and one vertical plus a swivel ball head rated for 66lbs, I dont remember the brand of the ball head it was a amazon purchase. I have another ex mil buddy in areospace CF business now who got me the cabon fiber tubes and I machined the inserts for the pivot points and installed it all. I also made discs out of Delrin to go in between each pivot so it moved like butter with just minimal tension on the pivots. The rifle support can attach to either side of his chair with just a simple tension clamp. It turned out pretty sweet. My buddy is saving to get his boy one of the power tracked chairs for hunting and when he does I told him i would redo the mount to make it attach more rigid to his new chair. His son hunts with a 6.5 Grendel built on a tikka action in a chassis short barrel with a can(I think it is MDT chassis not sure tho). I machined his chassis a bit and TIG welded a arca mount onto the chassis at the balance point of the rifle. He went from shooting softball sized groups to shooting well under 1 MOA. His sons success rate had soared he shot a whitetail this fall at 278 yards and was crazy excited about it. He also hammered a cow elk at about 160 yards. He missed his black bear but said it was his fault he wasnt steady enough when he shot, I was there for this shot and I am telling you it was a tough shot thru a little opening in the trees. Im not confident I could have hit that bear...

We are designing a system right now to lift him in his chair into and out of their hunting rig (Toyota FJ Cruiser). Ive already built the new door hinges to open to about 110 deg for more room to load and unload from both sides as Dad says when he turns 16 the rig will be his and they are going to convert it to hand controls. The hoist has me scratching my head right now but its coming along.

Good luck to you and your Dad and its a great thing you are doing...

 

[kfreeze]

Pretty hard to beat a 7mm-08 with 120 grn or less bullets for what you want. I like the 120 nos bt or 120 barnes tsx, but would also like to give the lighter absolute hammers a try. Those bullets pushed to almost max seem to do damage really close to my 30-06, but kick like a 243. I would want a little more bullet than a 243 offers for bears unless head shooting them. Both of those bullets should do well on MN bears (I live in MN and shot 2 bears in northern MN).

 

[lancetkenyon]

.260 Rem

Or....

Can't even say it.....

6.5 Creedmoor

 

[Stgraves260]

My hunting buddy has been a quadriplegic for over 20 years. He has a variety of rifles and he is always looking for something bigger and better. He had a 7mm mag in a Remington Sendero with a brake on it; did very well for him. Now, he has a 28 Nosler, custom build by Alex Wheeler, weighing in around 12 pounds bare rifle. With a brake, it recoils like a .223 and all it has is a brake on it. I wouldn't limit your dad to a short range caliber as he could really get into shooting and want to go longer. My friend has taken an antelope at around 585 yards in one shot in a 14 mph wind! This year, he shot his antelope around 368 yards from his van with the 28 Nosler. It was loud but with hearing protection it was fine. It didn't break any windows and the noise was harder on me than it was on him. He also uses a 308 and a .260 for whitetail. With a brake, I think anything will work.

My hunting buddy has been a quadriplegic for over 20 years. He has a variety of rifles and he is always looking for something bigger and better. He had a 7mm mag in a Remington Sendero with a brake on it; did very well for him. Now, he has a 28 Nosler, custom build by Alex Wheeler, weighing in around 12 pounds bare rifle. With a brake, it recoils like a .223 and all it has is a brake on it. I wouldn't limit your dad to a short range caliber as he could really get into shooting and want to go longer. My friend has taken an antelope at around 585 yards in one shot in a 14 mph wind! This year, he shot his antelope around 368 yards from his van with the 28 Nosler. It was loud but with hearing protection it was fine. It didn't break any windows and the noise was harder on me than it was on him. He also uses a 308 and a .260 for whitetail. With a brake, I think anything will work.

https://www.facebook.com/broskeepers/ Check this out.

 

[GSPRunner]

I'm seeing a lot of 6.5 Grendel which is what one of my cousins recommended to him as well. I've never shot one but my brother has a 6.5 Creedmore and I have an 30-06 how does a Grendel compare to them? I've been looking at ammo around us and any 6.5 has been hard to find but I've seen a good amount of 7mm-08. I've never shot any 7mm so how does that compare to the others?

I had a 6.5 grendel and took a whitetail with it at 350 yards. It is a great round. Mine was a howa mini, I didnt love where the mag release was, so I kicked it down the road. I have a 6.5 CM and a 308 - the recoil is significantly less than both of them.

 

[Stgraves260]

My hunting buddy has been a quadriplegic for over 20 years. He has a variety of rifles and he is always looking for something bigger and better. He had a 7mm mag in a Remington Sendero with a brake on it; did very well for him. Now, he has a 28 Nosler, custom build by Alex Wheeler, weighing in around 12 pounds bare rifle. With a brake, it recoils like a .223 and all it has is a brake on it. I wouldn't limit your dad to a short range caliber as he could really get into shooting and want to go longer. My friend has taken an antelope at around 585 yards in one shot in a 14 mph wind! This year, he shot his antelope around 368 yards from his van with the 28 Nosler. It was loud but with hearing protection it was fine. It didn't break any windows and the noise was harder on me than it was on him. He also uses a 308 and a .260 for whitetail. With a brake, I think anything will work.

I helped my Uncle Jack fix his rifle. We shorted up the rifle by like 10" or so. The rifle was so longe the wind would move it. He shoots from a wheelchair. He blows into a tub that pulls the trigger and there is another lever that he moves with his mouth so that he can adjust the rifle up and down, side to side. Now when he shoots he no longer has to shoot from his monitor. He can shoot seeing from his scope now. I have taken him and his son our and they both have shot 12" targets out to 1000 yards. My uncle Jack has set some records which I'm very proud of. I do believe he is the first quadriplegic to sky dive. H is the first to scuba dive. He set the deepest dive and he is also the first quadriplegic to actually walk without assistance. When he dove I can't remember how deep he was but they have it on video. He was under water and he was actually walking.