I have not used the entire list given by Southpaw but I have taken Mulies with:

243 Md 70 Win/100gr Speer/Leupold 2x7
256 Newton / 139gr Hornady / peep sight
30-30 Savage bolt action/165gr Speer/peep sight
30-40 Krag/ 180gr Speer / peep sight
30-06 Ruger 77/ 165gr Speer / Leupold 3x9
35 Whelen/03Springfield/250gr Speer/peep sight

and lastly a 6" hunting knife

That is story unto itself!!

Fastest kills were with the Whelen

Barstooler

Just about any deer rifle will work, but I'd go along with some of the others and take my .257 Weatherby with 100 TSX at 3600 plus from a case full of RL22. If there is a better long range deer and antelope rifle, my hands have never touched it. It's a lot like shooting an overgrown .220 Swift at deer, under 350 yards just shoot at it and touch the trigger.

quote:

What is the ideal mule deer rifle/caliber/bullet combination?

It's a little known secret that a very old cartridge works the best here but don't tell anyone. The 270 winchester with 130 grain bullets is still the best western deer cartridge ever devised and a lot of tries have been made to take it over and failed.

Find one in a model 70 and handload some Nosler Partitions for it.

270 Win, pick a model.
130gr bullets, pick a brand

I think it depends on what type of hunting. If I am going to stay close to the truck, a Model 70 in .300 winnie. If I gotta carry a rifle for a long ways up and down a mountain a Winchester Classic SA compact .308. Both shooting Nos Partitions.

My ideal MULIE rifle-which by the the way has killed my biggest is my 39 mod 70 300 H-H with a leupold 6x36 using 180 gr interlocks at 2950 fps-but my tang safety ruger 77 7x57 with a 4x leupold shooting 154 interlocks at 2800 fps works just as well.