Reduced Recoil .308

Has anyone on here ever used "reduced recoil" ammunition in their Axis? I have a stock Axis (other than upgraded scope and trigger job) chambered in 308 that am thinking about letting my 13 year old nephew use this fall for Pennsylvania whitetails. He has shot a single shot 243 before and feels comfortable with the recoil it emits. He is afraid to shoot the 308 though because he feels it will be too much for him to handle. I run Hornady American Whitetail ammo in 243/308 in the rifles. I just noticed that Hornady has a "Custom Lite" for a few dollars more per box that is advertised to reduce the felt recoil from the 308 by 43%. This reduction puts the 125gr sst 308 in the same ballpark as the current 100gr Interlock btsp 243's. I know the 243 is already a good caliber for PA whitetails but if I can give him more "bang for his buck" with the same recoil as shooting the 243 wouldn't it just make sense? Am I looking too far into this? Should he stick with the 243 American Whitetail rounds? Will the 308 Custom Lites give him that much more advantage? He's a pretty good shooter for only being 13 so I'm confident his bullet placement will be good so my concern is will the lighter 308 give him the extra knock down ability over the full power 243? :usa2:

I have shot a similar combination in my 7mm-08 using the 139gr Hornady Spirepoint and the 120gr Reduced recoil. So far I have only shot 1 box of the 120gr and the recoil was less but not by 40% it felt more like 15-20%. Honestly I would stick with the .243 but no harm in having him put a few rounds downrange to see if he likes it.

Not sure you are going to get more bang for buck with the .308. According to Hornady the MV for the Custom Lite .308 is 2650fps and the .243 100gr Interlock BTPS American Whitetail is
2675fps. So here are the numbers.

.243 (.5 * 100gr * 2960fps * 2960fps) / 7000gr/lb / 32.2 fps^2 = 1945 lb*ft
.308 (.5 * 125gr * 2675fps * 2675fps) / 7000gr/lb / 32.2 fps^2 = 1986 lb*ft

As you can see the ft/lb energy of the .308 is superior but only marginally. Moreover, the .308 Custom Lite ammunition is more expensive albeit not by much maybe .10 a round, and then their is the additional recoil. Doesn't seem to be like there is a lot of advantages to moving in this direction. And that's my 2 cents :)

If you reload you can build your own.

I second Rosco. The difference in energy is minimal. The only other advantage I can think of with the 308 is that it may do slightly better shooting through brush and bucking the wind. I would have him shoot a few groups with both and then let him pick. One may shoot a lot tighter groups than the other, especially if your rifle doesn't like that light 308 bullet.

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Originally Posted by Chrazy-Chris

I second Rosco. The difference in energy is minimal. The only other advantage I can think of with the 308 is that it may do slightly better shooting through brush and bucking the wind. I would have him shoot a few groups with both and then let him pick. One may shoot a lot tighter groups than the other, especially if your rifle doesn't like that light 308 bullet.

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100 gr 243 will "buck wind" better than a 125 gr .308 bullet. And no caliber is bush proof ;)

if you handloaded, id say do a a reduced 308. but if not, the full power 243 will do everything the reduced 308 will do and hes already comfortable with it.

I always look at the worse case and plan from there if i am choosing from two different calibers. For hunting i plan on bullet failure and go for largest diameter. That said with a young shooter use the best bullet you can find and let him decide what he is comfortable shooting after trying both rifles.

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Originally Posted by Luke45

100 gr 243 will "buck wind" better than a 125 gr .308 bullet. And no caliber is bush proof ;)

if you handloaded, id say do a a reduced 308. but if not, the full power 243 will do everything the reduced 308 will do and hes already comfortable with it.

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^^^this^^^

I started my 12 yr old with 125 Nosler hunting BT over H4895, 38.0 gr, and fed210 primers in 308w. Right at 2600 fps. Mild recoil. Very effective on both his whitetails. Google "hodgdon youth loads" and you get some cookbook loads that work well.

Luck, Tim

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Originally Posted by tiny68

I started my 12 yr old with 125 Nosler hunting BT over H4895, 38.0 gr, and fed210 primers in 308w. Right at 2600 fps. Mild recoil. Very effective on both his whitetails. Google "hodgdon youth loads" and you get some cookbook loads that work well.

Luck, Tim

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Those 125 grs are awesome! For deer I've used the nosler bts and the Sierra pro hunters, I actually like the Prohunter better (nearly half price yet same performance) But he doesn't handload so it's a choice between regular 243 or factory 125s :(

If the boy shoots the .243 well and is confortable with it, I would let him shoot it.

If it's not broke, don't mess with it.

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Originally Posted by 390fe

If the boy shoots the .243 well and is confortable with it, I would let him shoot it.

If it's not broke, don't mess with it.

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Makes no sense at all--how else you gonna justify filling that gun safe? : )

I don't think there is any gain in shooting a 125g reduced recoil load from a 308 than there is in shooting a 100g from a 243. The 243 loaded with 100g bullets is awesome deer medicine. Shot placement is far more important than a couple extra grains of lead honestly. My daughter took a nice 120" 8point last year in MI with a 243 loaded with 100g Nosler Partions....1 shot @ 109 yards...bang flop....I'd much rather have her shoot something she is comfortable with...hell, a 223 can take deer all day long with the right bullet and shot placement...

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Originally Posted by thermaler

Makes no sense at all--how else you gonna justify filling that gun safe? : )

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HAHAHAH....true....I justify it saying to my wife my daughter can "hunt with this in two more years" and buy it anyway....

The 125 grain bullet will be a better game harvester than the 100 grain bullet. Further, one can handload with premium bullets in that weight class and the .243 won't touch them for accuracy.

Then, as he gains confidence in that load in the .308, he can gracefully move to heavier bullets for larger animals.

Here is a discussion on how light one can go and still have good chances of taking a deer, elk, or moose: Ideal Bullet Weight