Thread: Firearms for women

Originally Posted by longshot

First a bit of background context, it’s a bit dry but it’s helpful to understand. In modern hunting firearms there are four main families of cartridges in the following order with examples.

Belted magnums - .300win Mag, 7mm Rem Mag etc

Long action - .270, 30-06 6.5x55 etc

Short action - .308, 7mm08, .243, 6.5 Creedmore

Micro action - .223, 7.62x39, 6.5 Grendel, .300 Blackout

Belted magnums and Long action share the same action length. Some long action firearms (eg Tikka) chamber all cartridges in the same action length. Short action rifles are slightly shorter (all other things being equal) and micro length actions (such as Howa mini and CZ527) are shorter again.
Some cartridges work better with shorter barrels than others.

The smallest factory rifles with the largest chamberings would be the Remington Model Seven (.308) and the Howa Superlight (.308).

A small rifle in a large caliber will have more kick than a larger rifle in the same caliber. Flinch inducing recoil is one of the greatest enemies of accuracy for new shooters.
An accurately placed .243 projectile will drop a deer better than a poorly placed .308, but flinch is not the only thing that compromises accuracy.

If you were comfortable shooting the .308 you used, by all means, stick with it, I use one myself and it’s great, but in smaller lighter rifles they can kick so just consider whether that is a factor for you.

The fact is though, most of the time, increased power won’t make up for the difference in lack of skill, the proper way to fix that issue is practice at the range using field positions and when you are lined up on an animal, use restraint if your skills aren’t up to the shot.

That is a really great summary! Thankyou!
I plan to hit the range for sure before I ever head out with my new rifle. Now I have so many more options to look at which is so helpful! Im definitely someone who doesn't take shots. I've held back from many I wasn't comfortable with. Cause I was always told, you can't take that bullet back!