Hello everyone! As deer season is beginning we wanted to talk about rifle selection. Now for those individuals who have been around rifles a long time and know all about rifle calibers etc, you can stop reading right here. For those who might be new to hunting, or plan to borrow a friend's rifle this year and are looking at purchasing their rifle next year here is some information you might find helpful.
We will begin with a brief education on calibers. Calibers are basically how different sizes of bullets are categorized and there are a lot of them. Now the right game animal requires the right rifle/caliber/cartridge to hunt safely and ethically. If you’re just hunting whitetail deer you could get by with a smaller caliber but if you’re going bear hunting, obviously, you’re going to need a much larger caliber. Below is a chart that can help you determine the right size of caliber for what game.
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It’s not all about the caliber size though. One thing that helped us with choosing between calibers was the recoil. A good recoil chart can help determine that decision between two very similar calibers. For example, take the 308 Win 150gr caliber vs the 30-06 Springfield 150gr caliber. Very similar calibers but there’s a difference in the recoil. The 308 cartridge has a recoil of approximately 15.8 ft. lbs, while the 30-06 has approximately 17.6 ft. lbs. Everyone tolerates recoil on an individual basis, but the general rule for shooters is recoil less than 15 ft. lbs is what we try to achieve. That gets more difficult with larger calibers and grains, but let’s stick to the example at hand. The 308 at 15.8 ft. lbs of recoil with a good rifle stock pad makes for a comfortable shot. The 30-06 with the same set up still kicked pretty hard and wasn’t near as enjoyable to shoot, especially for new shooters.
So our easy way of choosing the right rifle is as follows:
Step one: determine the game you’re going to use the rifle to hunt for primarily
Step two: match appropriate calibers for such game
Step three: evaluate the different calibers for energy and recoil
Ultimately we hope we have given you some helpful information about finding a rifle that will allow you to hunt without tearing up your shoulder or making the experience unenjoyable. Happy hunting everyone!
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