With all due respect, I must point out that Mr Darby's post is not saying anything in connection with looking for a rifle with less recoil than a 30.06. In fact the words, "recoil," and, "shoulder," do not even appear in his post. He is merely asking for a cartridge that will not be so heavy on the deer, and that would also be suitable for sheep. So, recoil aside, there really isn't that much difference in what a deer looks like after it has been hit with a 30.06 at close range and a 7mm/08 at close range. The difference is so negligible that it would hardly be worth spending the money for a 7mm/08. The .243 on the other hand does do noticeably less damage to a deer at close range than the .06, and it, too, is very much suitable for sheep.

Now then, that said, I personally would not buy another rifle just to decrease damage to deer at short range. If all I wanted to do was hit a deer a little less hard, I would keep my money and simply shoot a load out of my 30.06 that was a little less hot. That is the whole beauty of the .06. There are numerous outstanding loads available for just about anything a person would want to accomplish. I would think that a 110 grain Hornady Spire Pt ahead of 50.2 grains of H4895 for a published velocity of 3100 fps should work splendidly! And, if that is still too hot, you can go to Hodgdon's website and see where they say that you can use H4895 to make even lighter loads, using what they call there 60% rule, (loading H4895 to 60% of the published maximum load) to make what they term, "Youth Loads." NOTE: THIS CAN ONLY BE DONE WITH H4895!! VERIFY EVERYTHING FROM THEIR WEBSITE!! LOOK UP "YOUTH LOADS." And if he does not hand load, Remington has now come out with factory light loads that they call, "Managed Recoil," loads. These should also work splendidly. That would also reduce recoil significantly, although that is not the issue here. And I also totally agree with the previous post that said, "...if you are going sheep hunting, why are you leaving your 30.06 behind?" The .06 is an excellent sheep cartidge, either in a regular loading or a lighter loading. Now, if Mr Darby just flat out WANTS to buy another rifle, then by all means, he should go out and buy that .243 straight away, but it is absolutely not necessary to achieve his stated objective. He already has the perfect medicine in his hands.

Vinny