From my years selling guns and ammo at a big box store in central PA, .30-30 is still king. .30-06, .270 and .243 were next, in that order. After that were the 7mm-08 folks.

We have a lot of muzzle loading in PA as well. Most of the people who seemed to shop with us for their inline guns were shooting .50, with a lower amount of .45 calibers.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:
My 220 is accurate to 200 yards with sabot slugs.

What size groups do you get at 200 yards?
And what is the trajectory like with that ammunition? How precisely do you have to determine the target distance to ensure a good hit on a deer?

It shoots minute of hog at 200 yards, I hold over on the first hash mark on my scope. When I hunt I’m usually in a blind so I range where I think I’ll see game when I first get to the blind so I know approximate distance to my targets.

To me the 20 gauge slug is too large for deer, I’ll use my rifles for that to preserve meat. Some states don’t allow that though, some allow straight wall cases, it just varies by location. Here’s an article describing accuracy, it represents what I see with mine. I was trying to find pics of my target at 200 but it appears I deleted them.


https://www.chuckhawks.com/savage_slug_gun.htm

https://www.chuckhawks.com/savage_slug_gun.htm

There a so many more variables than what you've listed. How big are the deer, where will you be hunting, what is the average shot distance, what are the laws, how many different rifles can a person afford, etc.

I own almost every popular cartridge there is, from 204 Ruger to 458 Lott. Out here in Utah, if I drew a tag that required a lot of hiking, I'd choose my Sako A7 lightweight in 270 Win. Less hiking and I might go with one of my wood stocked 30.06 rifles. If I were back in Virginia, I'd probably go with what I started with, my Marlin 30-30 because I am nostalgic and it's such a handy rifle in the woods. So much of this is subjective, but I predict that a thread like this will eventually list every cartridge from 243 to 338, because they would all be acceptable more or less.

Years ago my friend wanted to own only one big game rifle. He wanted to be able to take Elk on the big side, and possible use it to occasionally shoot a pesky varmint. We settled him on a 270 Win. This was long before the 6.5 was a popular bore, so if we were looking today, we'd give 6.5 bores a hard look as a do all; however, I don't know about 6.5 on Elk. Although with the bullets we have today, most calibers have a wider range than they used to. I'm betting that a 243 or a 6.5 would hit hard with a copper mono bullet like a TSX, so a 6.5 seems like a strong contender.

I'm rambling a bit, so I'll just quit here.

Lots of variables to consider. What kind of conditions- Long open shots, or close in brushy stuff?

I used to do all my deer hunting with various .308's. I'm down to a Remington Model 7 stainless and a Sig SHR 970, which haven't been afield in about 10 years due to the fact that that my current spots are 50 yard shots at most.

Now I hunt almost exclusively with .44 magnum carbines which is an absolute deer hammer within 50 yards. My favorite is a stainless Marlin 1894 chopped down to 16.25".



Next year I plan to take one of my 2-3 freezer fillers with my Marlin 1895 shorty 45-70 for a change of pace.
image hosting site


And a family portrait of the two.
pic upload

This thread got me interested. Why are bolt action rifles so cheap? I see some in 30-06 for $300.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
However, for some reason Texas hunters buy magnum chamberings made for moose or elk (e.g. 300 win mag). Most would be better served with 6.5 CM or 7mm-08.

Are you saying that you can actually have too much gun?

Wouldn't it be better to have too much gun than not enough?

Wouldn't having too much gun be a little bit more forgiving when it came to shot placement?

Honest questions, I'm not a hunter so it all seems foreign to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
This thread got me interested. Why are bolt action rifles so cheap? I see some in 30-06 for $300.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
However, for some reason Texas hunters buy magnum chamberings made for moose or elk (e.g. 300 win mag). Most would be better served with 6.5 CM or 7mm-08.

Are you saying that you can actually have too much gun?

Wouldn't it be better to have too much gun than not enough?

Wouldn't having too much gun be a little bit more forgiving when it came to shot placement?

Honest questions, I'm not a hunter so it all seems foreign to me.

Three issues:
(1) many develop a flinch from too much gun and don't get the clean ethical kills
(2) you damage more meat
(3) if you take a look at Chuck Hawks' MPBR you'll see it's only a few yards difference between something brutal and something manageable (e.g. 308 and .338 win mag).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tatortodd,

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
Wouldn't it be better to have too much gun than not enough?

Absolutely, but the question always becomes what is “not enough.”

I’ve hunted big game only a couple of times long ago, but when I was interested I read about everything I could lay hands on that was written by people who were highly experienced hunters. More powerful cartridges obviously produce more recoil, and depending on where the animal is hit they can cause unnecessary meat destruction. Other than that, though, the traditional advice was always, “Use enough gun.” The amount of extra meat destroyed by an unnecessarily-powerful round is nothing compared to the meat lost if the animal escapes and can’t be located. What may be instantly effective with perfect shot “placement” may not be so good if the shot isn’t perfect.

Recoil isn’t a trivial matter either, and that’s why cartridges like the 243 Winchester have long been popular among women and young hunters. But merely because a particular cartridge can be and has been used successfully for hunting certain game doesn’t mean that there can’t be better cartridges for the task.

Be sure to check your hunting regulations in your state.
When in West Virginia you can not use a .223 caliber.
But in Pennsylvania you can use a .223 for Deer.
However in Special regulation areas in Pennsylvania you can only use a shotgun.

IMHO the vast majority of hunters use too much gun on deer. One doesn't need a long action magnum or even thirty caliber to kill a deer. Todays bullets are so good anything in the .243/6mm or even .25 cal or 6.5mm range will work fine.

Speaking average conditions, not LR Western plains with continual winds. Out here bigger/faster does let one cheat the wind a bit.

Back when I did some guiding, I found most hunters are recoil sensitive. That .300 mag isn't helping them with accurate placement.

I had guys with .30-.378 Weatherby's as whitetail guns! Ridiculous.

Other than when deer/elk season overlap. Then arm yourself for elk. If a deer shows up, use what you have.

I've got a Howa in 6.5 Grendel. I got it last year, but I haven't taken anything with it yet.

I went with Howa because they have a good reputation for tight/smooth actions with sub MOA capabilities.

I went with 6.5 Grendel because I wanted something new, I like the performance and I like the small size. The added benefit is that it is very kind to my shoulder. I wouldn't use it for larger deer, but I think it will be perfect for the little East and Central Texas whitetails I hunt.

I use my dad’s 1972 Marlin 336 30-30 with a Leupold 2.5X scout scope in norther Michigan. It does a dandy job and I love having my dad’s gun across my lap (he passed away in 1999). However, if I was starting from scratch and I could only have one big game hunting rifle I would choose a quality bolt gun in .30-06 and put some quality glass on it. I was recently watching a YouTube video that was going through the favorite hunting rifle calibers of a lot of both old and modern day professional hunters and sporting literature writers. I was amazed at how many listed the .30-06. Most of these guys had access to, and had tried a lot of different calibers, but it seemed like the majority kept coming back to the good old 06. That spoke volumes to me.

For shotgunning I use my dad’s old 1986 Remington 870 Special Purpose in 12 gauge. It has harvested all manner of pests, small game, waterfowl, and whitetail deer.

"If I were teaching such a class, I’d ask the students to tell me what they have in mind and then discuss its pros and cons for the purpose."

This is a logical approach. However, within the time constraints of the course and the material covered, there just isn't enough time to have this type of discussion.

Thanks for all your answers. Everyone has had a valid point or two which will be used in the class.

My class is in Southern NH, where we mostly hunt with shotgun, but just north of Rte. 101 is mostly rifle. Most of the caliber choices you mentioned are on my list. Although I hunt exclusively with handguns (T/C Contender or T/C Encore), I'm glad some of you added your handgun choices.

Thanks!

odin

quote:

Originally posted by odin:
when I was younger, .32Win was a popular caliber. Try finding ammo for it now!!!!

Well, I know where there are 5 full boxes of it right now. Down in the dungeon (aka basement). That's enough to handle all my forseeable needs as I'm old and don't hike much these days. I followed my normal methods. Buy enough to be comfortable, regardless of the price. After that only buy it if its cheap.

The posters to this thread haven't bothered, mostly, to tell us where they live and hunt. It makes a lot of their advice of little value. But then fools from Texas who think all east coast deer are midgets give away their lack of knowledge.

One not mentioned yet is the 7mmBR. I have a customized XP100 in that caliber and it will do the deed on deer and antelope.

.308 for deer and elk.
The missus uses .30-40 Krag.

300 win mag is one of the most common calibers on the planet. It’s what I had my gun built in, for that reason.

.257 Roberts

Mine is a Remington 700 in 6.5-06.

Wildcat for sure, but once the darling of the long range community, superseded by the 6.5-284.

The bullets are long for their weight and take down game with authority.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
30.06 will take down all game in the lower 48 and by far the easiest to come by.

Exactly...
When you’re giving advise to someone starting out I would think you don’t need to get into any of the Wildcat options. Keep it simple and use a cartridge that is easily found and will take down any deer in North America..

45-70??? Really???

My choices are 243, 270 for bolt action rifles. Larger calibers would work but I don't see the point on deer.
I also have lever actions in 357mag and 44mag that make great brush guns.