I use a 243 in the hill counrty and a 300winny on the plains and South Texas brush counrty.Texas Hill counrty is mostly ceder breaks with small open pockets, South Texas is long sendero's that are 500+yards long. I west Texas it is flat or have headers and valleys that make for long shots.
Both of my girls hunt with a 243 or a 257Rbts.AI of a 308 for most of there hunting.
I will agree that there is no reason to use anything larger than .308" for deer.I prefer the 7mm's such as the 7mm-08,280,7mm mag or 7mmstw and they are only .284"
Posts: 3104 | Location: alberta,canada | Registered: 28 January 2002
The first choice would be the .308 Winchester as it is the US military cartridge, an outstanding design, very popular, accurate, powerful and easy to get at low prices everywhere.
For a rifle get the type that you like and what fit's you and practice with it as much as you can. I like rifles with recoil pads so look for this. My choice in rifles would be a Winchester M70 Featherweight Classic. For a scope my choice is the new Leupold VX-1 2X7. They are available on the net for $179.
Good luck. Don't get all worked up over the cartridge. Many will work on deer. Pick what you like and make good shots.
Almost all of my deer have been taken with a .30-06, .270 Win., 7mm Rem. Mag., .300 Winchester, or .338 Winchester. Of these, my sentimental favorite is the .270 Win.
My favorite hard-use deer rifle for all deer hunting everywhere - from our local blacktails and mule deer to Coues deer -is the .300 Winchester with 165 gr. bullets loaded to 3200 fps. or better. I haven't found a better cartridge/load combination for deer hunting than that one, and it's superb in wide-open, windy country such as the desert country of eastern Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico where I do most of my pronghorn and deer these days.
You would be happy with any of the rounds you mentioned, but my personal favorite is the .270 Win. As for rifles, I would start with either the Rem 700 Mt. Rifle or Win M70 Featherweight.
Regards,
Lou
Posts: 333 | Location: Dallas, TX, USA | Registered: 15 January 2001
quote:Originally posted by shooter65: Did some wheelin' and dealin' today with a local gun dealer, traded a bunch of brass and $350 for a Weatherby Vanguard in a 30-06 just like this one.
Nice job. You wouldn't believe me if I told you how accurate my .30-06 Howa 1500 is. BTW, you did know that the Weatherby Vanguard, Smith & Wesson 1500, Mossberg 1500, are all the same excellent rifle as the Howa 1500.
Posts: 2206 | Location: USA | Registered: 31 August 2002
30-06 Ackley Improved Remington 760 pump for the woods or a 30-338 in a FN supreme action for the fields.
Posts: 8350 | Location: Jennings Louisiana, Arkansas by way of Alabama by way of South Carloina by way of County Antrim Irland by way of Lanarkshire Scotland. | Registered: 02 November 2001
Model Seven LSS in 260 Rem. It is always up for anything I ask of it. Easy to load for,Lightwieght,Light Recoil, and I can go from Deer to Varmints in the same day with one rifle....
Why? Just my personal preferences I guess. I've always liked short actions, and actually used a 7mm-08 myself this year. After that, if I had to pick a long action, it would be easy to go with the 270. Always thought it was a great round. The 30-06 & 280 are a toss-up, either is fine. I'd choose the 25-06 last (of this group) due to it being a rather large case for a 25 caliber bullet. If I was shooting a 25, I'd take a 250 Savage, or maybe a 257 Roberts.
I have a full stable of many different rifle and caliber combinations. My favorite for all around white tail hunting is my Savage 11 F Hunter in 7mm-08. It has light recoil, mild muzzle report, and has plenty of long range performance on the deer. I load Nosler 140 Grain BT with 42.3 grains of Varget. This combo nets me 3/8 inch groupings at the 100 yard mark all day long. The gun is a no thrills or frills rifle. As with the Savages of long ago, it is a working mans gun. But when I pull that all flatt black rifle out the case, all my hunting buddies say, "The old man has brought the Grim Reaper with him". The little black Savage has filled a many a freezer for the winter. Here is web site that some of you might enjoy about the 7mm-08:
for brush work, a 50 bmg barret, semi auto. for long range work, a 20mm gun. although, they don't seem to open up right on a small deer, might go bigger.
shooter65, From my experience, I'd suggest the .30-06. Now that age has slowed me down, I've given my rifles to my kids or sold them. I did keep one rifle, just in case. It's a Rem. M-700 BDL in .30-06. When I first started hunting seriously, over 50 years ago, my first pick of cartridges was the .30-06. Now I've gone back to it. I've take a lot of game in my life, most of it with one '06 or another. I was always careful of bullet placement and I've never been let down by any of the rifles I shot. The '06 killed game just as dead as any other rifle cartridge. Part of this success was due to proper bullet selection. This is just MHO. What ever you select, if used correctly, will make you happy. Good luck.
I personally like the 7.65x53 Argentine Mauser case. It recoils very little is very accurate and the gun I use (sporterized 1881 Argy) is pretty light (although I prefer a heavier rifle for most field use).
However I have also hunted with (but with out any luck of as much as seeing a deer) the 7mm Rem Mag and the 9.3x62, which is fastly becoming my favorite caliber of all.
I would use one of the 30 caliber's followed by one of the 7mm's. My only reason for choosing these is that there are more bullets types and combinations to choose from. Any of the calibers you mentioned should be great.
While I have used many calibers for deer over the years I [used to ] think that a 18" to 20" 308 WCF was about the best "deer" rifle around. Light, handy, accurate, and plenty of power for deer. But now I like my 9.3X74R Chapuis double. It may be the best "allround" rifle and round for all game under Cape Buffalo, at ranges under 200 yards.
Posts: 16134 | Location: Texas | Registered: 06 April 2002