Best low recoil full-powered cartridge for Wife's first hunting rifle?

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Northern Shooter

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My wife just got her PAL and is looking for her first big game hunting rifle to take on our deer and moose hunts. Being slightly recoil sensitive, I am trying to avoid the likes of 30.06's, .308's, 45-70 (all of which she has shot) etc. and am ideally looking for a cartridge that produces no more than 15 ft-lbs of felt recoil.

A few options that have crossed my mind:

.260 Remington - I know very little about this cartridge and how commonly available it is. - Produces upwards of 13ft-lbs of recoil and 140 grain bullets produce 2,351 foot pounds of muzzle energy.

6.5x55 Swede - I own a Swedish Mauser in 6.5 Swede and can attest to it's soft shooting nature, however the Mauser is fairly robust hunting rifle. The 160 grain bullets produce 12.7 ft-lbs of recoil and 2,266 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

6.5 Creedmoor - Known as a long range target cartridge, how well does the 6.5 translate into a large game hunting round? 143 grain bullets producing 12 ft-lbs of recoil and 2,315 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

7mm-08. - Necked down version of the .308, one of the guys at our Moose camp uses his every year so I know that it will do the job. 150 grain bullet producing 13.9 ft-lbs of recoil and 2,339 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

If one were to select a mild recoiling cartridge for a bolt action hunting rifle to be used on everything up to Moose, which of the above would you lean towards?

What are some other cartridges worth considering that I may have missed? Cost per round and availability are also factors to consider.
 
7mm-08. What's not to like. 7mm bullet shoots flat and will hit hard at distance. Light enough recoil that damn near anyone can handle it. The other one I might consider is the .260. Ammo availability might be an issue though.
 
The 7mm-08 seems to post the highest energy values. I will have to do some digging on sectional densities of each to compare.

Most of hunting we do is in areas where shots are well under 200m. A 300m shot would be stretching it.
 
7mm-08 on your list. Decent barrel life. Otherwise don't underestimate the 243 win loaded with 90gr they have moderate barrel life but not as great as 7mm-08.

North
 
I've started out several new hunters with 7mm08 rifles. Very capable cartridge, widely available, fairly low recoil. Any of the cartridges on your list are good choices, but that's mine.
 
Fit will be the most important factor in the recoil. I’ve had most of the chamberings you mentioned, and just to demonstrate the creedmoor I have had rifles where you didn’t know it went off hardly, and others that were not kind to shoot at all.

Out of the cartridges you listed it would be hard to beat 7mm-08. My wife shoots a 25-06, which is another great one.
 
Another vote for 7mm08. I like using 140gr bullets at 2900+fps. They're not the highest SD(0.248), but a premium bullet helps make up for that or you can go up in weight if you prefer (but I'd rather use a premium bullet than give up velocity).
 
The 6.5 Creedmoor will give you the best new rifle and ammo selection. Otherwise I’d consider a 270 win before a 7/08.
 
BigBraz15 said:
Fit will be the most important factor in the recoil. I’ve had most of the chamberings you mentioned, and just to demonstrate the creedmoor I have had rifles where you didn’t know it went off hardly, and others that were not kind to shoot at all.

Out of the cartridges you listed it would be hard to beat 7mm-08. My wife shoots a 25-06, which is another great one.
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Interesting, would you consider 25-06 sufficient for moose size game?
 
Buckmastr said:
The 6.5 Creedmoor will give you the best new rifle and ammo selection. Otherwise I’d consider a 270 win before a 7/08.
Click to expand...

She has shot a 270 and didn't enjoy the recoil. I believe .270's are in the 17-18 ft-lbs range.

Basically looking for options one notch down from .270 but still potent enough for moose.
 
My wife decided she wanted her own rifle this past season. She looked at various rifles in the compact models as she needs a short lop stock but she wanted to keep the spending to $1000 or less on a rifle/scope combo if she could. She ended up picking up a Ruger American Compact in 7-08 with a Vortex Crossfire 3-9x40 scope from Prophet River. We took it to the range that day to sight it in. Of course I had to try it out too. I found it to be very light on recoil as did she and since she is the one shooting it it's her that had to be pleased with it.
 
Northern Shooter said:
She has shot a 270 and didn't enjoy the recoil. I believe .270's are in the 17-18 ft-lbs range.

Basically looking for options one notch down from .270 but still potent enough for moose.
Click to expand...

What's your ammo situation like? Do you reload? If not, do you have a reliable supply of ammo? That's the one downside to 7mm08, it's common enough that gun shops should have it but it's not necessarily going to be available in big box stores, gas stations, etc.
 
Northern Shooter said:
My wife just got her PAL and is looking for her first big game hunting rifle to take on our deer and moose hunts. Being slightly recoil sensitive, I am trying to avoid the likes of 30.06's, .308's, 45-70 (all of which she has shot) etc. and am ideally looking for a cartridge that produces no more than 15 ft-lbs of felt recoil.

A few options that have crossed my mind:

.260 Remington - I know very little about this cartridge and how commonly available it is. - Produces upwards of 13ft-lbs of recoil and 140 grain bullets produce 2,351 foot pounds of muzzle energy.

6.5x55 Swede - I own a Swedish Mauser in 6.5 Swede and can attest to it's soft shooting nature, however the Mauser is fairly robust hunting rifle. The 160 grain bullets produce 12.7 ft-lbs of recoil and 2,266 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

6.5 Creedmoor - Known as a long range target cartridge, how well does the 6.5 translate into a large game hunting round? 143 grain bullets producing 12 ft-lbs of recoil and 2,315 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

7mm-08. - Necked down version of the .308, one of the guys at our Moose camp uses his every year so I know that it will do the job. 150 grain bullet producing 13.9 ft-lbs of recoil and 2,339 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

If one were to select a mild recoiling cartridge for a bolt action hunting rifle to be used on everything up to Moose, which of the above would you lean towards?

What are some other cartridges worth considering that I may have missed? Cost per round and availability are also factors to consider.
Click to expand...

In this order:
6.5 x 55 Good rifle for moose and deer; loaded with light bullets it is a lot of fun for ground-hogs. Flat shooting. Can be loaded up to 160 gr. and handles heavy bullets better than the .260 and the 6.5 CM.
7 X 57 Good rifle for moose and deer; actual numbers are better than 7mm-08; can be loaded up to 175 gr. I have had one for years and would be my favorite cartridge except for the caliber restriction where I live.
While cost and availability affect everything including the home-loader.

That being the case, maybe the 6.5 CM or .308 are the best choice if you want to rely on factory ammo.
 
The 7-08 is probably the best on your list my friends daughter used it to take her first moose with a 120 ttsx practicality wise I'd still probably go 308 with reduced recoil loads even factory you can have a nice low recoil rifle with the option of going up to full power offerings and perhaps the most available cartridge in Canada just ensure that whatever you go with fits her properly
Cheers
 
I would go with 6.5x55 if she likes shooting it. I have had the list and performance is the same on all in the end. But if need excuse to buy another go for it and buy two as can’t have each one shooting different calibers on same trip
 
Northern Shooter said:
My wife just got her PAL and is looking for her first big game hunting rifle to take on our deer and moose hunts. Being slightly recoil sensitive, I am trying to avoid the likes of 30.06's, .308's, 45-70 (all of which she has shot) etc. and am ideally looking for a cartridge that produces no more than 15 ft-lbs of felt recoil.

A few options that have crossed my mind:

.260 Remington - I know very little about this cartridge and how commonly available it is. - Produces upwards of 13ft-lbs of recoil and 140 grain bullets produce 2,351 foot pounds of muzzle energy.

6.5x55 Swede - I own a Swedish Mauser in 6.5 Swede and can attest to it's soft shooting nature, however the Mauser is fairly robust hunting rifle. The 160 grain bullets produce 12.7 ft-lbs of recoil and 2,266 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

6.5 Creedmoor - Known as a long range target cartridge, how well does the 6.5 translate into a large game hunting round? 143 grain bullets producing 12 ft-lbs of recoil and 2,315 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

7mm-08. - Necked down version of the .308, one of the guys at our Moose camp uses his every year so I know that it will do the job. 150 grain bullet producing 13.9 ft-lbs of recoil and 2,339 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

If one were to select a mild recoiling cartridge for a bolt action hunting rifle to be used on everything up to Moose, which of the above would you lean towards?

What are some other cartridges worth considering that I may have missed? Cost per round and availability are also factors to consider.
Click to expand...

Buy a .243.

If you weren't fussed about shooting a moose, I'd buy a 7.62x39 bolt-action. At the rate things are going, there is about to be a glut of ammo on the Canadian market for the 7.62.
 
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