Hi everyone. I’ve recently gotten my wife interested in hunting and she’s looking to buy a rifle. She’s more or less decided on the Weatherby Vanguard Camilla line of rifles. I’m curious if anyone has a recommendation caliber choice. My initial thoughts are 243 or 6.5 Creedmoor, weighing slightly heavier towards the latter. I live in the northeast so this will be used on white tails and possible black bears occasionally. Hoping to make it out west sometime though. Any thoughts are appreciated.
243 or 6.5 Creed - Weatherby Vanguard
- Thread starter Brad27
- Start date
I love my 243 and 6 creedmoor, but the 6.5 might be the most versatile cartridge out there right now: big enough for big game, low-moderate recoil, and stable and fast enough with sufficient energy down range for longer shots on big game. One walk through any retail ammo shelf tells you the 6.5cm has the shooting and hunting world covered.
Thanks for the reply. That’s what I was thinking as well. She loves my 6.5, so I guess that’s the answer.
The .243 is a great, time proven cartridge. However, it's treated as a hunting round and that is virtually the only ammo you can buy for it. With the 6.5 you can find almost anything you want. I love my .243 and handloading for it, but if I were to do it all over again i would have built a 6.5
The 243 is gonna be her best bet. The 6.5cm will have more recoil with the heavier 140gn ammo typically needed for the 8 twist barrel. The 243 with its 10 twist will do great with 85gn ammo. If you’re really getting it for her and she’ll like the 243 better especially if she likes target shooting. She can use 58-100gn in the 243 but not in the 6.5cm. If she’s a big’ol girl that’s a little different but most women like lighter recoil.
Either way I think is a good choice. If you're looking at 243, 6 creedmoor would also be a decent choice. I think there is a lot of factory ammo available for it but I handload so haven't specifically looked. If it's just for hunting it's probably not a huge consideration but the barrel will last much longer with the 6.5 vs the 6 or 243. Also if you're thinking black bear I might lean towards 6.5, but I'm not sure how hard they are to bring down.
I think either will be a great option, I load 70 grain monos(hammers) for 243 in a vanguard and they have done very well on whitetail. I’d send one at a black bear for sure.
Barely more recoil than a 223
Barely more recoil than a 223
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It depends on the twist rate of the barrel for the 243 if it’s 1:10 I’d pass and get the 6.5 Creedmoor for sure.
The 6.5cm is all the rage and the 6mm cm is pretty close behind. The 243 is a fine hunting rifle for whitetails and other game in that weight class. You said it’s for your lady so let her shoot the 6.5cm with the ammo she’s going to be using. Then let her try a 243. Without question she’s gonna prefer the lighter recoil of the 243. At least that’s what my experience was. However mine rarely used hers and our children ended up using it for the most part. It’s good to have multiple calibers so if you already have either get the other. Good luck
Thanks for the responses everyone. I think I’ll have to find her a 243 to try out. My varmint contour 6.5 isn’t really a fair representation for recoil compared to the light barreled guns.
