Ya know, if all I had was one rifle, there's a lot to be said for this post. How many of you guy's have just one? Between 243 and 30-06 I have seven rifles, not a lot by a lot of standards. I over the years I developed the attitude that there is only one right bullet for each cartridge. Now that doesn't mean that other's won';t work. In my 308 all I use is 165gr bullet's anymore. In my 30-06 all I use is 180gr bullet's. I think the 30-06 handles the heavier bullet better. But I also think the 180gr would work in the 308. Contary to that I have two 243's. In one I shoot only 75gr V-Max's and the other just 70gr SMK's. I do still have a bot of 87gr for the one I shoot 75gr bullets from. Been laying around here for a long time so I'm plinking with them for the case's. They shoot very well but don't explode on a sage rat or coyote like those 75's. I could well reload say those 87's, 90's or 100's and use that 243 as a deer rifle but, I also have a 25-06 that kills deer as dead as anything with 117gr bullet's. Or I have my 6.5x55 which I can step up the bullet weight to 140gr and just might kill deer as dead as the 243's! Though about this idea for a lot of years, so many guy are overloaded with guns but end up making several different loads with different bullet's for each gun even in the same cartridges. probably works well but I would not load my 30-06 down with a 165gr bullet when I have my 308. And ain't about to load down my 308 to 150gr bullets when I have my 6.5x55 and it's 140gr bullets. And not going to load down my 6.5x55 to a 25-06 when I have a 25-06!
Probably a bit off track with this but that post above got me thinking, something some of you really hate! If you had four 30-06's in your cabnit and say one loaded with 150gr, one with 165gr, one with 180gr and one with 200gr. I suspect if you chose the rifle by which load worked best in it, the one with 150's or 165's would be your deer riflle, 180 makes a good ekl load and bigger than elk or dangerous, the 200's would fill the bill. I think in truth if you only had a 30-06 that only shoot 150gr bullet's, you could kill a moose very dead with it. Then too if that 30-06 you only shot 180's in it just might kills a deer!
Something I started when I got my second 243, first time for two rifles of the same cartridge. Both have their own set of dies and each set is set up to size one case exactly the same every time and seat one bullet the same every time. What I manage to find out is resizing each by partial sizing, the rounds from one of the rifles will not load in the other! And I have the bullet's backed back just off the lands, 70 SMK in one and 75gr v-max in the other. Don't remember to overall length of each, for all I knot they may be the same but Now I never have to fool with adjusting dies going from one rifle to the other. And both rifles shoot equally well.
Bottom line is I think, for this thread, is what bullet you shoot is nowhere near as importand as how well they work in the gun and on the game your shooting. The OP was talking about the 308. 150's have never shot that well in my old 308 but were certainly good enough to hunt with. 165's shot great! 180's shot great but increased recoil more than I wanted. used 200's init in Alaska fishing where bears were. Recoil was up again but tolerable and accuracy I would not have excepted with any other bullet. I thinkit was around 2" and the load was designed for shooting a bear at close range that might decide to eat me. Now I never had to use it on one but I found tracks along that river that made me think i would not go out there without a gun,,,just in case!
He mentioned he'd tried reduced loads with a 129gr bullet and I'd think that would work well. Only problem is I wonder what she thought? I have 180gr cast loads for my 30-06 that put recoil on par with a 22RF! Kid heere in town had inly ever shot his grandfather's 30-30 and tried out my 6.5x55. Didn';t complain about the recoil of the 30-30 but when we'd go shooting he wanted to shoot the 6.5x55 all the time, said it was better. So one day I let him shoot a 243 and he is now certain that that is all he want's to shoot. Point is kids that like to shoot might keep from you how much recoil really bother's them. let that kid try a 243 or even 223 and see if she likes it better. if shooting doesn't bother her she might be open to hunting!
