Why use reduced recoil ammo for hunting ?

[ronbow]

I can see using this underpowered stuff at the range for practice (not for sighting in) if you have a lot of recoil. I shoot a Rem. Mod 7 in .308 and it makes a good kick. It is definitely not my "fun to shoot rifle" (Mini30 is) but it sure puts deer/hogs down and I don't even feel recoil when I shoot game. How many of you are thinking "Oh damn this is gonna hurt me" when game walks up on you ? So why use this stuff to hunt with ??

[elmer]

I don't get it either. I'm 5'8" and shoot 30-06 in a 6.5lb rifle (Savage Model 116FCSS). The recoil is a nuisance at worst at the range, but I don't think about it and don't feel it when hunting.

Now if I make it to Africa a .375 or .416 may be a different story.  :-)

[Robert]

Ron have you ever tried the 'Whisper'?  I use reduced loads in 7.62x39 with 200 gr bullets....but it is not to reduce recoil....  I use these loads hunting in a Vinyard that is close to houses.  It is extremely quiet.  But that is probably not a concern where you live....  Aren't suppressors legal for hunting in Switzerland?  I know they are in Netherlands.

[New Hampshire]

I dont use them, but I can see the validity.

1) I, and many fellow hunters, are strapped for cash.  That usually means we own precious few guns.  If I have an '06 bolt action, and I have a kid or young lady Im introducing to the sport, its much chepaer to go reduced loading than buy new guns.

2) I admit it, I own a .30-06, I just HAD to have one.  Touted as the king of game cartridges it can drop game at 500 yards in well trained hands..........problem is, here in NH Im hard pressed to find clearings over 150-200 yards.  So this is WAAAAAAAAAY too much gun for the intended purpose.  Well, with a reduced loading Im not beating myself up just because I own an '06.

I could go on, but I hope you get the idea.
Brian

[Siskiyou]

I am an advocate of reduce recoil ammuntion.  

When I purchased a M700 in .270 Winchester for my son I loaded reduced recoil ammunition for him.  I wanted to start him out with a rifle that he would not out grown in a few years but grow into.  Loading ammuniton that fell into the .257 Roberts velocity and energy level was easy enough.  Few people would argue that the .257 Roberts is not an adequate deer round.

The key is not to start out the new deer hunter with a flinch.  Over the years I have seen a number of hunters with the, "flinch."  A good test is to have another person load the rifle when shooting from the bench.  After X number of rounds give the shooter the firearm without a round.  Interesting things happen.  Flinching can carry over in the field.  A flinch can be a miss at that buck two hundred yards away.

A hunting partner in Colorado had a new .300 Winchester Magnum.  Two weeks before the trip he had shot up two boxes of ammo at the range.  No doubt the rifle had put this big man in the world of hurt.  The hillside he was hunting on sounded like WWII.  When the rest of the party checked out the hill side we could find no dead deer or blood sign.  The bottom line was he was scared of his rifle.  It produced a big bang along with big recoil.

[willysjeep134]

My philosophy:

A .22 hornet is more than enough when placed right.

A .50 BMG is never enough if it isn't placed right.

Reduced recoil loads are a step back in the right direction, but I find it a little sad that public opinion has been swayed so far in the other direction that we even need reduced loads. I'm a big fan of the older, less powerful cartriges.

[Daks]

Where I hunt, reduced power loads are not popular. Not because they don't work but because the limited distances we shoot at usually mean hunting with what I consider lower power guns. A LOT of guys use 30-30's up by me.

I guess you also have to think about what is a "lower power gun". I see folks coming up from outside the region bringing in these guns that can shoot a deer in the next zip code, topped with big lensed scopes that can see a gnat's eyelash on the moon and I think of those as "power guns". For me, a 30-06 or a 308 or 30-30, the most popular guns used by locals, are "lower power guns" compared to that sort of horsepower.

For these guns, not many people think in terms of managed recoil shells. The gun itself is by its nature managed recoil enough. Besides, I don't even hear the shot or feel the recoil when I put a deer in the scope. I'm just focused on the shot and am not really aware of anything else.

[PEPAW]

Some hunts I hunt for big deer or big hogs at long ranges, some days I hunt for does or pigs at close range.   Now I can use the same gun with different  loads.  In my 7 mag, the two loads have almost same POI.
I can also have my entire family hunt with my "big" gun, if the occassion arises, without worry of an idiot mark.  
Practice at the range is the best reason to buy the loads.   But for our small does and nuisance pigs here in TX, I see no reason why not to use my same gun with lighter loads for culling.

pepaw

[bladerunner]

I shoot a 25-06,so reduced recoil loads aren't nessasary....IF i shot a large heavy recoiling gun for whitetails...I'd ask one of you to kick my in the butt and wake me up   :-D  :-D  :-D

just don't see any use at deer,and if the caliber IS nessasary (moose,bears) the reduced recoil loads would be pretty dumb on the shooters part.....to me they would only be practice ammo either way

[Savage .250]

I always thought "reduces loads" would help folks who might be a little gun shy as far as recoil goes.  Kind of makes it hard to shoot or sight in a rifle if your anticipating getting pounded when you pull the trigger.  Sets you up for an automatic flinch which could spell doom down the road as far as accuracy goes. Come to think of it "accuracy" is subjective so maybe not.
  If it helps some to be better, i`m all for it.
 
  " The best part of the hunt is not the harvest but in the experience."

[ronbow]

Robert check out the "Fla." after Switzerland. It is an ex-rural in NE Florida. I gotta change that though - happens a lot and I don't even know how to yodel.

[DWARREN123]

For training new shooters, one gun and different game.
Just my thoughts.

[rebAL]

Should make a good coyote round without having to buy a small bore varmint rifle.   We need more coyote hunters out there.