Guns for women

[gerry]

Been thinking about this for a while so here goes, some thoughts.

1. When we were getting ready for elk recently I started to think why it is fine for my wife to use a 6.5x55 and I was packing a 35 Whelen for the same job? Are women any less of a hunter than a man? Of course the answer is no. So why can women knock off big animals with 243's, 6.5x55's, 260's, 270's and 7mm-08's but generally as a man we need a big cannon?

2. For those who want a little more bullet and reasonable recoil the 8x57 seems like a very good round and is something I have been considering in an identical Tikka T3 in 8x57 to Maria's 6.5x55. It can shoot 180-200 gr bullets at decent velocity with only around 50 gr powder. Other great options would be the 308, 338 Federal and of course a 30-06 hand loaded with a faster burning powder to keep recoil down. Grizzly and moose are in serious trouble from any of those rounds when hit right.

3. For those in open country rounds like the 25-06, 270 Win, 280 Rem, 257 Weatherby and 264 Win Mag are going to shoot flat and hit hard. Looking at Nosler's data for the 270 Win for example a 110 gr AccuBond can be sent out at 3400-3500 fps which is going to shoot awfully flat. My other favorite, the 264 WM, can give similar performance and neither will kick that bad.

Recently I have traded a 375 Ruger for Maria's 6.5x55 and put up my 358 Norma Mag for sale on consignment which is being replaced by a 270 Win that arrives sometime this week. I guess my whole thinking has changed recently and have decided to downsize to smaller rounds, I bet the animals still will fall nicely and if there is any doubt on a big animal the 35 Whelen can handle the task. I could shoot those bigger guns well but noticed it wasn't that fun, the 375 would give me recoil headaches at times so I parted ways with it.

Those that want to shoot bigger rounds of course are free to do that, but the downsizing has started in this household. Been noticing my mindset has been changing for a while, can't wait to bust a bear this spring with the new 270 Win and a 160 gr Partition, bet it will go down quite quickly too I think if we were honest many would find they would shoot much better with a smaller gun, I know I do.

 

[DrMike]

Can't imagine that anyone would be hindered in tagging a nice blackie with a .270, a 6.5X55 or a .260. All will work, doing what they were designed to do. I enjoy shooting a variety of rifles, so I won't be downsizing anytime soon. The day will come, undoubtedly, that I begin to think seriously about downsizing. When I do, I will still have a .280 and perhaps a .358 (or a .356).

 

[truck driver]

gerry, in a way I'm with you and have been most of my hunting career. With my 257 Roberts and my 30-06 I felt I had the perfect battery of guns. The 257 would handle anything I could throw at it on the east coast till I walked up on a good size Black bear and it wouldn't back away and charged. The 115gr 257 inerlock took out the brain but I went out and bought another 06 which the 257 had replaced with a new barrel. A 300bee came along threw a raffle I had won and I thought now I have the perfect western rifle changed the stock on it and it still crossed my eyes when I fired it from a bench and took several seconds to clear my vision. No chance for a second shot here. The Whelen has recoil but not the same and easier to manage. Some people can handle heavier or magnum type recoil and them some times it's ego. I'm very happy with the 35 Whelen and really don't want or need anything larger. Yes I would like a 35 Whelen AI based off the 280 AI case and that could very well happen.
I think a nice .358 Win in a short bolt action would be a better choice over the 8mmX57. Thought about that my self till I started looking a QL. 180gr for deer size or a 250 for close work 100yds or less. Interesting ?

 

[Thebear_78]

I think it all stems back to remarks cup/core style bullets. You needed big heavy bullets to get the terminal effect you were looking for.

With the excellent bullet constructions we have today you don't need the mass to achieve the terminal effect your looking for.

I'm a big fan of both big and small calibers but wouldn't feel handicapped with a 270 for any game, including big bears. For a guide for backup I would want something bigger but it would work for the hunter.

 

[gerry]

Can't imagine that anyone would be hindered in tagging a nice blackie with a .270, a 6.5X55 or a .260. All will work, doing what they were designed to do. I enjoy shooting a variety of rifles, so I won't be downsizing anytime soon. The day will come, undoubtedly, that I begin to think seriously about downsizing. When I do, I will still have a .280 and perhaps a .358 (or a .356).

I'm not downsizing the amount of guns, in fact the herd is growing :lol: just exchanging bigger guns for smaller ones right now. It just sort of started happening.

 

[Thebear_78]

Can never have too many! Besides smaller guns are fun to shoot!

 

[gerry]

Rodger, good point on the 358 Win, another excellent round for bigger game.

TB78, I agree modern bullets have made a huge difference in how smaller rounds kill. I will also agree that for a stopping gun on bears something big would be good, but most will never have to be in that situation I would guess.

 

[Thankful Otter]

gerry

on your #2 category, the 275 H & H

on your #3 category the 300 H & H

both these calibers have worked well for me as has the 7 x 57 and 7mmwsm. and of course the boring 30-06. It boringly continues to bring home the game year after year after year

 

[SJB358]

I'm not bothered too much with my bigger rifles so I'll continue too shoot em for awhile. I do look forward to loading and shooting the 6.5 Swede and spending some more time with the smaller rifles in my bunch.

I agree though, you don't need the big guys to do most animals in. I sorta enjoy them though. It's a fun day when you shoot the big guys like the smaller bores. Teaches you about any chinks in your technique real quick.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I am considering downsizing I will keep the .257 Roberts-Mauser, .30-06 Win 70 and probably the .338 Federal-Sako 85. That covers all that I would ever need?

 

[Guy Miner]

You guys know I do the vast majority of my hunting with my .25-06, though I do hunt bears with the .375, just because it's fun to hunt with the big rifle now and again.

in truth, I vastly prefer rifles that do not knock the snot out of me!

Guess I like your "guns for women" too. :mrgreen:

Guy

 

[Oldtrader3]

I would be the least worried about my wife shooting deer with my .257 Roberts. It is free bored a little and I get 3145 fps with 110 Nosler AB's, almost .25-06 velocity but not quite? Every deer that I have ever shoot with all three of my .25's that I have owned got it done.

 

[gerry]

in truth, I vastly prefer rifles that do not knock the snot out of me!

Guess I like your "guns for women" too. :mrgreen:

Guy

That's exactly the point I have come to as well, I didn't mind heavy recoil before but have been enjoying it even less in recent years.

 

[gerry]

gerry

on your #2 category, the 275 H & H

on your #3 category the 300 H & H

both these calibers have worked well for me as has the 7 x 57 and 7mmwsm. and of course the boring 30-06. It boringly continues to bring home the game year after year after year

Was hoping you would chime in, thanks. The two H&H rounds bring an added measure of class to the discussion. Have to admit that the 300 H&H is a cool round that gets great performance without a lot of powder consumption. Probably will end up still trying one some day.......

 

[Vince]

in truth, I vastly prefer rifles that do not knock the snot out of me!

Guess I like your "guns for women" too. :mrgreen:

Guy

That's exactly the point I have come to as well, I didn't mind heavy recoil before but have been enjoying it even less in recent years.

In truth, while I shoot my .338 well I can see the day when it will be a chore, and not a pleasure, so for my one "high dollar" rifle I chose the 30-06.
It still packs enough punch to work on anything I may shoot without being a chore. I also enjoy shooting my 6.5x284.

Vince

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[DrMike]

It never ceases to amaze me how we men must have heavy recoiling rifles. Over a course of years of shooting, I had one recurring event that burned itself into my memory. For three years running, a shooter would come to the range armed with a 300 Win Mag at the start of hunting season. I would be set up with a battery of rifles for testing and/or break-in. It was a different shooter each year, but each was shooting a 300 Win Mag. I am very busy when at the range, usually with four to six rifles for testing. So, I don't have much time for chit chat. Each year the same conversation occurred with a different man. He would fire off a series of shots and express disgust with his rifle as he viewed the patterns he was punching in the target. Each man made the same comment, "I guess my rifle is shot out." The comment was made to no one in particular, but since they were set up next to me, it was obvious they wished me to hear. Despite trying to ignore them without being rude, each of these men struck up a conversation, asking if I would shoot their rifle to see what it would do for me. Since I represent a church in community and since at the range I do represent RMR and Corlanes, I do try to be somewhat accommodating. Of the three rifles I shot (all with factory ammunition, I might add), the worst group would have been about 1.5 inches at 100 yards.

A chagrined man would normally make some really perceptive comment like, "Oh, I guess I'm the problem."

A conversation would ensue along these lines. "Did you ever buy a rifle for your wife or girl friend?"

Enthusiastically, the fellow would respond, "Yeah!"

"What did you buy her?"

Now what is interesting is that each of these men had made the same purchase for a wife or girl friend; the identical answer ensued over the course of three years with three different men. "I got her a 7mm-08."

"Does she shoot it well?"

"Oh, yeah. She gets her moose (or elk or deer or bear) each year."

"What does that tell you?"

It was a stunning revelation in each of these instances for the man to make the discovery that bullet placement is far more important than getting kicked from under their hats. The repetition of this particular encounter informed me that many men (perhaps few men) do not shoot well because they haven't been trained to shoot and because they don't enjoy recoil. I know few people who enjoy taking a sixteen pound sledge hammer and whacking themselves in the shoulder forty or fifty times a day. This is especially true if they only whack themselves for one week each year. They begin to look forward to that particular week with all the enthusiasm of going to the dentist for a root canal.

I do believe we have some strange concepts of manliness in our modern world.

 

[Thebear_78]

It's far to common to hear guys say "a 30/06 will work, but a 300/338 is much better for big game. As if there was a spectrum of death. Something only gets so dead! This isn't the princess bride, the 30/06 only gets them mostly dead, it takes the magnum to get them fully dead!

I know a young girl that has killed a bunch of Alaskan game including a mountain griz with a 243 with boring regularity.

Knowing that I still normally hunt with my light 300RUM! I guess I'm licky to be s glutton for punishment as I shoot hard kickers all the time!

 

[gerry]

That is a great story DrMike, I certainly chuckled when you told us that story when we were hunting. What are the odds of it happening 3 years in a row with the exact same cartridges :lol:

On a related note I know several guys that believe the 30-06 is barely adequate and the 308 is useless for moose hunting but believe a 300 magnum of some sort is good for "600 yards" a quick look at a ballistics table will show those smaller rounds have a surprising amount of energy out there. Both guys used fairly blunt bullets in their guns, I bet both a 308 and 30-06 would have more energy at some point if they were using a 190 gr ABLR compared to their bullets. I know it is an apples to oranges comparison but it would have blown their minds I'm sure.

 

[6mm Remington]

I met a guy here a few years ago that shot two grizzly bears in the Bob Marshal Wilderness with a 243 Winchester on each bear!! That is when they still had a season for them anyway.

 

[6mm Remington]

Gerry you know me, I come from the other side of the spectrum. I use the 6mm Remington and 25-06 for a lot of critters up to and including elk, and the big guns I have are a 280 AI and a 30-06!! :mrgreen: