6.5 creedmor or .243

[Catfish65]

Looking for some help on determining a caliber for my daughter. All the gun shops are pushing .243 as that's what they have in stock. But reading sounds like the 6.5 recoil is less. I have never shot 6.5 so I'm just curious. I'm more worried about recoil with her. She's 13 but thin. Just don't want to scare her away from it.Thanks in advance

 

[realunlucky]

7mm/08 has more options for load and a manufacturers offer reduced loads for it

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[CLICKBANGBANG]

I like the Creedmoor. Flat shooter. But the recoil will be slightly less with a .243. For a small kid and a lightweight gun, I'd buy the softest shooting gun you can get away with. I don't think you can go wrong with the .243, 6.5, or 7mm-08 as far as the cartridges go. The 6.5 will shoot flatter than the 7mm-08. Bullets will run up a little heavier with the 7mm. The barrel will shoot out of the .243 first (for a first hunting gun shouldn't matter much). But out of the three, the lighter bullet will produce less felt recoil. That's the .243.

Rifle Recoil Table

 

[CLICKBANGBANG]

7mm/08 has more options for load and a manufacturers offer reduced loads for it

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Reduced recoil loads are an option. But unfortunately, I've had really bad luck with accuacy on reduced recoil factory loads.

 

[Catfish65]

reduced load was my first choice but ammo has to be lead free. I haven't seen any yet. Thanks for the info. "gun shops" around me aren't to helpful when it came to this. One didn't even know about the 7mm/08 round.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

The .243 is hard to beat for low recoil. All of my kids at least started with that caliber. I'm pretty sure its my favorite deer caliber.

 

[mcseal2]

The 243 is what I started on and it worked well. Be sure to use a really good bullet, hate to have a kid lose their first animal. I like the 90gr Accubond or 100gr Sierra Gameking personally. The 100gr Partition I'm sure would be great too. One great thing about a 243 is that it makes a great predator rifle later if the kid wants to step up to a larger game rifle.

The 6.5 Creedmoor is a really neat little round. I wouldn't mind having one, I have used a 264 for years and love the ballistics and penetration of a long slim 6.5 bullet. I sure don't think it would be a bad choice either.

I know a lot of people around here who started out with a 25-06 as a kids gun and still use it, wouldn't think of switching. The recoil isn't bad especially with lighter bullets and the performance is great. Only downside to the 25-06 I see is that it needs at least 24" of barrel to perform and that can make a longer heavier gun for a kid.

I got a CZ 7.62x39 bolt action rifle I plan to start my nephews out on for their first deer. I'll have them inside 100yds for the first one and it will do fine with the Hornady 123gr SST ammo it likes. I have a 1.5-4x Leupold on it so it will have a big field of view for them to find their target when nervous. My biggest reason for this rifle though is that they can shoot the cheap Russian ammo out of it at targets and get very familiar and comfortable with it without breaking my wallet. At around $240/1000rds they can practice a lot.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Looking for some help on determining a caliber for my daughter. All the gun shops are pushing .243 as that's what they have in stock. But reading sounds like the 6.5 recoil is less. I have never shot 6.5 so I'm just curious. I'm more worried about recoil with her. She's 13 but thin. Just don't want to scare her away from it.Thanks in advance

I started my daughter out with a .260 Remington and my son will be using .243 for his first rifle. I have brakes on both of them so that they can shoot more rounds without developing a flinch. I really don't think either one will outperform the other for a kid. Most likely the shots are going to be well within the effective range of both. If you don't reload, I would recommend the .243 simply for all the factory ammo options available.

 

[Redmech]

.243 is an excellent cartridge for a youngster. I don't have any experience with the 6.5, but I've owned several 243 Win caliber rifles.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Looking for some help on determining a caliber for my daughter. All the gun shops are pushing .243 as that's what they have in stock. But reading sounds like the 6.5 recoil is less. I have never shot 6.5 so I'm just curious. I'm more worried about recoil with her. She's 13 but thin. Just don't want to scare her away from it.Thanks in advance

I re-barreled a 243 to 6.5 CM for my wife. I fight with her over that gun, I like using it so much. So mild and has a light report to it.

 

[BWG13]

The 6.5 CM is a great round, but I agree with Justin Crossley... If you don't reload, you might be better off with the .243 due to the availability of ammo. If the gun shops in your area didn't know about the 7mm-08, my guess is they may not have the greatest selection of ammo for a 6.5 CM. The .243 is a great , proven cartridge and I wouldn't feel handicapped with the round, as long as you know its limitations (eg. Don't use it to hunt buffalo).

 

[Catfish65]

Ha. I asked about 6.5 cm. he said we sell a lot and that about all I know. His coworker came over and helped him along after that.

The 6.5 CM is a great round, but I agree with Justin Crossley... If you don't reload, you might be better off with the .243 due to the availability of ammo. If the gun shops in your area didn't know about the 7mm-08, my guess is they may not have the greatest selection of ammo for a 6.5 CM. The .243 is a great , proven cartridge and I wouldn't feel handicapped with the round, as long as you know its limitations (eg. Don't use it to hunt buffalo).

 

[paleraider]

Can always go with a 6 Creedmoor. Shoot the same bullets as the .243, but it has a bit more umph and the recoil is very minimal with it.

 

[Catfish65]

Thanks for the info. Going with .243. I don't reload so it makes since. She got drawn for a apprentice
hunt so i need her to start shooting bigger caliber. Thanks again

 

[Catfish65]

Yeah. the deer in SoCal are pretty small so .243 should be more then adequate.

The 6.5 CM is a great round, but I agree with Justin Crossley... If you don't reload, you might be better off with the .243 due to the availability of ammo. If the gun shops in your area didn't know about the 7mm-08, my guess is they may not have the greatest selection of ammo for a 6.5 CM. The .243 is a great , proven cartridge and I wouldn't feel handicapped with the round, as long as you know its limitations (eg. Don't use it to hunt buffalo).

 

[5MilesBack]

If the gun shops in your area didn't know about the 7mm-08, my guess is they may not have the greatest selection of ammo for a 6.5 CM.

If they didn't know about the 7mm-08, then I would think that the 6.5 CM would really leave them scratching their heads.

 

[Jason Snyder]

If they didn't know about the 7mm-08, then I would think that the 6.5 CM would really leave them scratching their heads.

If they didn't know about the 7mm-08, I would really question their knowledge of hunting guns in general.

 

[GKPrice]

If they didn't know about the 7mm-08, I would really question their knowledge of hunting guns in general.

I AGREE with that ^^^^^^^^

 

[5MilesBack]

If they didn't know about the 7mm-08, I would really question their knowledge of hunting guns in general.

That's the point. If they don't know about the 7mm-08, then they don't know squat as far as gun shops go.

 

[Jeff Martin]

.243 get my vote. I have shot, elk, mules and whitetail with that little gun. I know .243 is an extremely popular round but I am also mystified about little confidence it get on large game. I have killed over 50 animals with one (many of which was level 3 culling) and I have never had animal take more than 3 steps (which includes elk) - might surprise you but the Federal Premium 85 gameking BTHP was the load for all. I was so pissed when they stopped making that load. Coyotes to Big game - really good round.