Why change calibers with age?

[jame]

To be honest, I spent part of the weekend with a milsurp .308 and some hot ammo, and I'm STILL feeling the recoil. I'm 49 years old, with some early arthritis, and i think plinking will soon be relegated to some caliber that starts below 25.

I wish I would have just worked with my CZ .223. I'd probably feel better at this point..........

Good luck to all you big gun guys. You can keep 'em.

 

[benzy2]

I will say that in my early days hunting I wasn't put in a situation where I could take a shot over 50 yards. As time has gone on I can decide now for myself where to hunt and at what range. I can see moving from a lighter recoiling rifle that works great inside 100 yards to something with more range, if you have the range to hunt. There isn't much purpose moving up to a .338 to hunt a whitetail at 50 yards but if you move to bigger game at longer ranges a more powerful round is logical. It all depends on what, where, and how you hunt and how that changes with age. I know a lot of people who have never had a view of a whitetail in the field that was outside what a .30-30 could kill humanely. For them, which really includes me as well on 99% of my hunting trips, there is no advantage to a bigger round.

 

[Reid73]

In one of my Hunter Safety classes a long-time hunter attended because his kid had to attend. When I stated rifles should always be unloaded in vehicles he stated flat-out that when he was coming in from the stand on his hunting lease HIS 300 Win Mag is, and always would be, loaded because if he saw the famous "buck of a lifetime" on the way in he was "going to be ready".

The very next week he stood up in front of the class and admitted he had been wrong because the previous Sunday his rifle had gone off inside their Jeep and blown out the bell housing 2 miles from anywhere at 0-dark-thirty.

Well, at least he had the maturity to publicly admit his mistake.

I hope his son or daughter was in the class that day.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

This is a good question, and I agree with the basic premise, that there's little to no reason to change, from say, a .243 Win, .44 magnum, 7.62x39, or .30-30 win, other than just curiosity and variety. If it works for young'uns, it'll work for adults, and do it with less recoil. I guess if you're a recoil junkie, there'd be a reason... Longer range hunting is not really a reason, since the .243 will reach out to all reasonable hunting ranges. I suppose if you start going after bigger game like grizzly bear, bison, or african game, then that's a good reason to step up to at least a 6.5x55.

 

[B.D. Turner]

What Shawnee said.

 

[The Deer Hunter]

I haven't ever heard of starting with a small hunting caliber and working your way up as you get older. I started shooting with a .22lr that was maybe 100 years old (made in 1903), until my father sold that (sometimes it would spit out 3 shots, ftf, fte, etc) and got a .22WMR. After that my mother bought me a 12 GA Wingmaster to shoot trap with at the local range.

 

[IndianaBoy]

You know.. I am as much an opponent of magnumitis as anyone.


Shawnee your blanket condemnation of anyone who chooses to shoot deer with anything larger than a quarterbore is patently childish and offensive.

Just because you seem to have encountered more than your fair share of idiots who bought rifles they could not handle.


Your obsession for attacking with insults as opposed to politely stating your case reeks as your own personal brand of arrogant machismo.



I intend to kill my deer this year with an 8mm mauser. I guess that means to you I am some puffed-chest idiot trying to prove something to myself.

I wonder what you are trying to prove, sharing with us all of your sage wisdom.

 

[DeathByCactus]

When I was 13 or so my first rifle was a Browning 7mm magnum. I have never had a problem learning how to shoot the weapon, nor did I have a problem carrying it around. Even though the rifle was roughly the size of me. I found that practice makes perfect so in retrospect I believe that it doesn't really matter what you start shooting as long as you're willing to get better with it.

Shooting the gun in all honesty has gotten too easy over the years. I have always practiced shot placement but in the end with a 7mm magnum it doesn't always matter on some critters. I recently downgraded in size, ordering a 6.8mm SPC rifle. It will take over as my general hunter. I wanted more of a challenge, more pressure in making sure my first shot is perfect.

 

[oregonhunter]

Shawnee is always rambling on about the fact that people don't need elk calibers, and that most hunters will never kill anything bigger than deer sized game. Many of us out here in the western sky's do hunt elk, and do it every year about 4 weeks after deer season. I'm headed back out in 10 days, I will be bringing out my 300 win mag. You can stick to your .243's and Flatground whitetail.

 

[R.W.Dale]

Why change calibers with age?

The answer is so stupifyingly simple I can't believe this thread made 2 pages

The answer is; because you get to own and or shoot more rifles that way. Adding more variety to that "I've shot list" is NEVER a bad thing

 

[EHCRain10]

+1 to Krochus
just because i will more than likely never get to hunt elephant does not stop me from buying a rifle that could be used for it

 

[killzone]

It's simple man~ You start'em with a smaller kick so they are not afraid to shoot, and you tell them, to keep it interesting, "next season if you keep shooting good, you can shoot grand dads .303 " Its a human thing...

 

[Dookie]

Lots of good, and some interesting comments. I guess the answer is, cuz.

It seems to most that there is not REAL need to upgrade to a larger caliber, people just want to. I guess I just don't get why so many are told they need to.

I have a .243 and 30-06, the 243 is for everything up to and including deer and the -06 is for everything.

 

[Heck]

Why does it matter? I've killed deer with .30-30, 30-06, .270, 12 ga, .50 cal muzzle loader. Most have been inside 100 yards and i have yet to look at one and say...wow that was too much gun. If you WANt to shoot a big gun shoot one. I'll be hunting with a 7mm rem mag...because i can.

 

[elmerfudd]

In one of my Hunter Safety classes a long-time hunter attended because his kid had to attend. When I stated rifles should always be unloaded in vehicles he stated flat-out that when he was coming in from the stand on his hunting lease HIS 300 Win Mag is, and always would be, loaded because if he saw the famous "buck of a lifetime" on the way in he was "going to be ready".

We always used to keep a double barrel shotgun or two up front in the cab with us. You can break the action and have both chambers empty and have it just sitting beside your seat, (they actually fit really well that way and the stock almost serves as an armrest). If by chance you encounter a grouse or a rabbit or a deer, simply drop the right cartridges in and close the action as you get out of the truck.