7mm-08 or .243?

[catdaddy]

 A 243 is plenty adaquate for shooting whitetails. My son who is now 18 has been shooting a 243 since he was 7. I can tell you first hand that with a 100 grain Rem Core Lock it will hammer a deer--a hog too for that matter. I consider this an almost perfect combination for deer. One of my main hunting partners is a an expert rifle and pistol shooter. He is on the poice shooting team. He killed 5 does ( DMAP program) at my place last year using a Marlin 30-30 with open sights. He good naturedly teases my son that his 243 is "cheating".     

[bowmike]

I went through this same thing this year and settled on the 7mm-08. I got a marlin xs7s. Still waiting to shoot it.

[Onpoint]

Think I'm going to purchase a Ruger American Compact for my 9yr old daughter. Now my question is a 7mm-08 or .243? Was considering the 7mm-08 with managed recoil ammo (I don't reload). She isn't a tiny framed girl, she took her first turkey a few weeks back shooting a 20ga Mossberg 510 Mini. I'd like to get her a deer this year next.

270 and 25/06 are my 2 favorite calibers. The 25 shoots amazing ans is the best dual purpose gun on the planet in my opinion. However for deer I've never seen as about my thing perform like the 270 as far as killing them dead where they stand.

I bought a 243 about 8 or 9 years ago, worked on it and got it is abiut perfect. Shot 2 deer with it that fall, one fell dead, and one made it about 10 yards. I decided thar was gonna be the last deer I ever killed with a gun.

Well I injured my shoulder about 6 years and several good bucks later and picked the 243 back up. A buck I had been hunting for 3 years shows up and I took a while quartering toward me shot, tried to enter the neck right where the neck meets the body and hit opposite shoulder..
4 hours and very little blood later I spot my buck on the next finger bedded down looking back at me. I put another bullet within an inch of the first one and he never got up.

A week later my wife has a nice 9 point come by at about 50 yards, I thought she missed but she insisted that she did not. Go down there and find some lung blood for about 20 yards and then nothing. Looked for probably 2 hours and I'm pretty dang good at tracking deer. Went to Walmart and bought a led spot light with with a lithium battery 2 in the morning I gave up. Came back the next morning and walk up on the deer while going to pick up the blood trail. Couldn't have asked for a better shot. Clipped the top of his heart and got the lungs. I spent what seemed like an hour but in all reality was probably only 20 or 30 minutes back tracking from deer to last blood and never found another drop. I can't remember if there was blood where he was laying dead or not but if there was it wasn't much at all.

I haven't give the 243 a fair chance and after I nearly lost a 146" 8 point on a shot that I truly believe a 270 would have folded him in his tracks, I'll not be packing that rifle for deep any time in the near future.

I've lost a good buck I shot with a muzzleloader but never a High powered rifle. I've never shot one with a 22-250 thst didn't fall dead where he stood but after them 2 incidents within an week of one another and one being as good a shot as you could ask for, I'm sticking with a 25_06 or 270

I know 2 brothers that are very successful in the fall. They each swear by 2 calibers. One likes  a 300 wsm and a 7_08, the other like a 7 mag and a 7_08.
I've never shot the 7-08 but I've never talked to anybody that had one that didn't absolutely love it.

My wifes next rifle will either be a 7-08 or 25-06.

[owlhoot]

Which brings up a point about shots with a smaller caliber. With .243 shot placement , angled or raking shots should not be taken. Good shots broadside into the heart and lungs put deer down quickly with this caliber providing the proper bullet is used. Never had any problems with Remington Core-lok 100 grainers.
The hornady SST works well it seems , just a few kills with it, kills were quick.
Ballistic tips or Combined Tech Ballistic tips have been the worst performers in .243, 270, 308 in my and others i know experiences.  Lost deer and long tracking jobs , some found next day or week.
The .308 really shocked me , shallow penetration on some and no expansion on others , small does and big bucks didn't matter. Killed a few just fine. Spent 5 years dealing with it, just could not believe a 150 grain .308 was the problem, Switched to the 150 grain SST and the deer hit the ground , right now and hard.
The .270 of a friends with 130 CT Ballistic tips couldn't penetrate a 2 year old bucks neck at 60 yards, deer dead after a follow up shot. at least a dozen neck shots with .243 and 100 grain coreloks taken by me or others in our camp-farm house have performed better.  Dead right there.
Bullet choice is to me , the thing.
As Onpoint and others pointed out the 25-06 is a flat out a killer , with a 117 SST's this is a stunning combo, 30+ deer and not one single problem in our camp. Many who have shot it , find it pleasant to shoot also.
I am the only one i know who owned a 7-08, not very popular in North Missouri , loaded rounds or brass not easy to find, am surprised about the numbers on here who recommend it. Would be very interested in the performance of kills with 140 sst especially as i have loaded a 7 mag to match the hottest loads a 7-08 can get, from the Nosler book anyway. The loads are very pleasant to shoot , easy on the brass to.
Just need to chronograph them and shoot some deer now. Yes i always need to be tinkering with stuff,lol
As far as recoil is concerned , comparing a rifle to a shotgun just does not seem to be the same.
With a rifle and a scope the concentration seems to make the recoil more noticed. I know plenty shoot 3 and 3 1/2" turkey loads , but give them a rifle , such as 300 mag, 338 or try a .375 h-h and they shoot it once or twice and say no way. Plenty of people flinch with a 30-06, but can shoot a turkey gun just fine.
Good luck with your choice.

[Xtrema30]

as a kid my father purchased me a browning abolt micro 7mm08 and i started hunting with it. We belonged to a hunting club in Mississippi, with about 10-12 grown men members. when i started hunting at age 8 there was not a 7mm08 in the club except mine.  When we got out and i was age 14 every single man in that club owned a 7mm08 for either themselves or their child.  That speaks well for the 7mm08 in my opinion.

[30_06]

To have a caliber preference is fine, but to say angled shots should not be taken with a .243 makes me question either bullets being used, or a persons experience with that caliber.

[owlhoot]

To have a caliber preference is fine, but to say angled shots should not be taken with a .243 makes me question either bullets being used, or a persons experience with that caliber.

Angled shots being raking rear end  , texas heart shots, shoulder area trying to angle to lungs etc.
Mostly Rem core-loks, used for 12 years solid as only rifle and load. Killed alot with lung and heart shots, neck shots.  Many friends shooting same combo. Have shot or witnessed or looked at kills hanging in the barn 50 + deer shot with the .243 . Friend of mine during doe season , one weekend had shot 6 does a few years back with the Hornady 87BTHP that worked well also with heart lung shots.  Only problems i ever had was with facing, quartered buck which i tried to the shoulder into the lung which left him going with a broke shoulder , the 742 shot again quickly as he turned and jellied the lungs. The shot i should have waited for to begin with! Jumped up a doe and hit her in the rump, hit her again in the heart and down. but the rump shot only penetrated 4 inches or so. Have seen same thing in deer others have shot also. The biggest problem i have seen is with the 95 Combined BT, five hits , shoulder hit , 2 rump 1 leg and finally 1 neck-right under head to do it. Shallow penetration, bullet blow up. HUGE buck though , beer can bases , Fosters cans that is!  Put that .243 Corelok in a good place and the deer go down from mine and many others experiences is all i am trying to say.

[howl]

If she could handle a little 20ga, a 7mm08 is nothing.

[beagler]

This is going to be a tough decision.

[yelpaholic]

A 7-08 would be better for  less thanperfect hits.  and when you talking about kids shooting a lot of times things happen.....   ice water veins, no nerves, perfect hits any caliber will do

[owlhoot]

Yes tough one.
A 6 lb. rifle with an 18" barrel.

have you found managed recoil ammo? bass pro, cabelas , midway and sportsmanguide do not have it. May be discontinued. Saw that somewhere searching around.
Out of that 18" barrel velocity will be around 2200 or so fps with that 140 grain ammo.
hornady custom lite is around those stores with 120 gr SST at about 2525 or so with that length barrel.
Just some more for ya to think about
helping a guy out at work with some  130 gr. he is loading at 2750 fps or so .270 loads for his wife , rifle stock is a bit to long for her ,but will see how she can handle 7mm-08 comparative recoil before he goes and buys her a 700 to fit her .

[30_06]

Owlhoot; wasn't trying to single you out as I see this said by quite a few people.
Having been personally involved in over 100 whitetail kills with a .243 I can safely say I have never had a single bullet stay in a deer. That includes hard quartering to, hard quartering away, broadside, straight down, and straight on shots. Never tried a Texas heart shot, and don't intend to.
I have hunting companions that use lighter bullets, and ballistic tips that have not had a thru and thru, but they still don't hesitate with a quartering to or away shot. One in particular swears an 85gr as fast as you can push it is perfect.....hard to argue with his results as he has killed well over 500 whitetail, mule deer, and antelope over many years as a depredation? hunter.

[Onpoint]

This is going to be a tough decision.

Yes it is.

like I mentioned earlier, I've seen the 243 work wonders and I've seen it leave me wishing for a bigger gun on 1 occasion.

personally I would go with a 25-06. No recoil, plenty knockdown,  flat shooting, and scary accurate caliber.

[dirtnap]

I got a Ruger No. 1 in .243 from my wife as a birthday present 13 years ago.  I was using 100 grain corelokts at the time.  I hunted with it one year and probably killed 15 deer with it.  I never lost one with it.  The blood trails were not great but the deer generally didn't go far.  I put it in the gun cabinet after that and stuck with my .270.

Fast forward to 2 years ago and my 9 year old son starts hunting with it.  I bought a box of Hornaday American whitetail 100 grain soft point ammo.  It is actually cheaper and just as easy to find in my area.  The blood trails that these bullets leave is stupid.  It leaves a better blood trail than my .270.  I actually started hunting with it again last season.  My son has killed about 30 deer with it. 

I have no first hand knowledge of 7-08.

[beagler]

Leaning towards the .243. Figure I can use it for a coyote calling gun when it's not in my daughter's hands.