First Time Rifle Caliber Question

[Crowman]

I feel dumb asking such a question and basing it off of recoil but that is the part that most concerns me.

Light shooting rifles are easier to place accurate shots with. Any well placed, properly constructed (for the game sought) 6mm-7mm bullet traveling 2500-2700 fps will take game reliably all day long. Having a heavy kicking rifle / cartridge combo don't mean a thing if you miss the vitals because you can't manage the gun's free recoil.

Since your original post has perceived recoil as the determinate, your two choices in the list of calibers offered will be the .243 Winchester and the 7-08 Remington. Period. Ammunition for both is available on line and in most large sporting goods stores. Both are easy to reload if you choose to go there in the future.

I am older and wiser now and don't enjoy getting beat-up by my rifles. That is why my goto hunting cartridge is the .260 Remington (it hits the sweet spot) and my turkey gun is a 20 gauge loaded with 3" Federal 1-5/16 oz #5 Turkey
Loads. Both "make meat" just fine.

I own and regularly shoot bolt action rifles from Browning, Remington and Ruger chambered in 6.5 Creedmore, .260 Remington, 7-08 and .308 Win / 7.62x51 NATO. My preferred caliber is the .260 Remington for hunting. It sits between the .243 Win and 7-08 Rem with regards to free recoil in ft-lbs. the .308 has more free recoil than the 7-08 and the .243 the least (11 ft-lbs). The .308 will bruise my shoulder during an extended range session, the others do not.

The other cartridges listed in your original post are heavier kicking, closing around 23 ft-lbs of free recoil for the 30-06. The 7 mm Mag is excessive for your purposes.

Depending on what you want...the .243 was originally designed as a dual purpose CXP2 class cartridge by Winchester to provide hunters with one rifle for hunting varmints / predators with light bullets and hunting whitetails / antelopes with heavier 100 grain bullets.

The 7-08 is a more efficient modern short action replacement and virtual ballistic twin for the venerable 7 mm Mauser and will shoot flatter over distance and will anchor heavier CXP3 class game than the .243.