I too vote for .257 Roberts...I know of too many deer lost to the .243...

My original comment was to stick with the .243 since he already had that.

Personally, either the .257 Robert's or 6.5x55 would be better options. After those two, the 7mm-08 seems to be a good choice.

quote:

Originally posted by MC:
I shot my first 2 mule deer with a 222. My wife shot her first mule deer with a 223. My father always hunted deer with a 22-250. Premium bullets and shot placement are a must. But then I live by the saying that a gut-shot deer with a 300 Mag is a gut shot deer. I shoot a 280 on everything from mulies to moose now. I would probably stick with a 243, but that 22-250 will kill deer slicker than slick. Flame away and throw me under the bus.

I must agree with MC. About twenty years ago I hunted with several guys who were a few years older than I was and pretty much used 300Mags and 338Mags for everything, because bigger is better. There were actually two groups of guys, with a couple common members between them and we switched off groups based on vacations, draws, etc. One of the oldest guys had long given up on the boomers for deer because he said his arthritic shoulder couldn’t tolerate the recoil any longer. He still used an old Model 70 30-’06 for elk because it worked well and he’d had it since new.

Several years before the older guy had started regularly using a 22-250 with Nosler 60g Partitions on deer. He said it was a bit loud, but the recoil was a little less than his ’06 and it could really reach out there. He always said it killed deer like the hammer of God. The guys all gave him crap for using a prairie dog gun on deer.

Because of screwed up work vacation schedules one year, he and one other guy ended up not getting time off during the regular hunt we did, so they decided to tough it out together on the coast side. The other guy was a .338 fan and this was all he hunted with for big game and regularly gave “Mr. 250” a bad time for using a crow rifle, etc on deer.

While hunting, “Mr. 250” glassed a nice blacktail buck about 450 yards across a draw and up the side of a ridge. They looked it over, talked about it and decided that they would go ahead and try to get closer. When they had gotten about 150 yards closer, the wind shifted and Mr. 250 said it was now or never, put his jacket on a stump, got situated and boom.

When 338 man was telling me this story he stopped right there. I knew they had both tagged out so I asked him what the heck happened. He said that the buck dropped like it was hit by lightning. DRT. So I asked him what he said when the buck dropped. He said, “Son-of-bitch, looks like I’m going to have to get me a 22-250…”

Another vote for the .257 'bee

quote:

Originally posted by Dogleg:
Another vote for the .257 'bee

Is that a 218Bee necked up to .257"? lol

Flippy
They speak of the Weather Bee

quote:

Originally posted by joester:
I too vote for .257 Roberts...I know of too many deer lost to the .243...

Really joester?
Then someone should fess up about their bad shooting. I own both, they are deadly so is my 22/250. If people are having trouble killing deer with a .243 "moving up" to the .257 Roberts is an insignificant step, they need to work on how they shoot Deer instead. There is not a Deer on the planet that will survive a decently placed shot with a .243 moving up .014" in diameter and a few grains in bullet going same speed will make no difference.

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
There is not a Deer on the planet that will survive a decently placed shot with a .243 moving up .014" in diameter and a few grains in bullet going same speed will make no difference.

Come on Snell! We all know that 0.014" makes all the difference!!! Just like the 0.007" going up from a 270 to a 7mm-08 on elk!!!

45 ACP

I started my hunting as a 14 yr. old
with a 243 in my hands, my older brother also.
We killed elk,deer,antelope and bear in
our teen yrs steadily.
I killed 7 elk in 7 yrs, half being cows
the rest rag horn 5's
Never felt under gunned, actually felt
empowered and "grown up"
I was doing a "man's job" killing elk for my family, I took it serious...
Wouldn't be afraid of any of the "little" calibers, they are proven killers.

quote:

Originally posted by ravenr:
I started my hunting as a 14 yr. old
with a 243 in my hands, my older brother also.

I went on one elk trip with Jack Hooker; his backup gun was a 243 Winchester...

I first select the bullet, then the velocity needed, then pick the cartridge. If you handload, you have almost infinite possibilities. If you use the Remington 100 Gr ultra-bonded bullet in the .243, You can reliability kill any deer if the bullet passes through the lung-heart area.
RF

I dont doubt all the positive posts about the 243. I really wanted to like the caliber myself, but my personal results were less than satisfactory. That was one rifle I owned quite some time ago, hardly a consensus. But my personal preference since then is 257 or better for Utah Muleys. YMMV.

I like the .243. It's not a bad deer cartridge, but I think it almost requires a premium bullet. I've killed a lot of deer with cup and core bullets (mostly winchester power points)out of my .243s, and they fail to exit about half the time. They kill the deer just fine, but if it runs off out of sight, there's usually not a great blood trail.

The 243Win has worked well for me for 40 years. Never lost a deer with it. As others have mentioned premium bullets are a must. I also have had great success with the 240weatherby mag but I hand load so the additional exspence is mostly negated. Many to pick from but for ammo cost and selection the 243Win gets my vote.

He's got his base's covered with what he has. Why not something different? 250-3000 only got one vote; I wouldn't mind having one of them. Another I'd like to have would be a 6.5x54.

quote:

They kill the deer just fine, but if it runs off out of sight, there's usually not a great blood trail.

This plus some (obviously not all) of the other comments is starting to sound like a good argument in favor of skipping the light for deer calibers altogether and sticking with that '06.

You don't need a premium bullet in '06 for deer. Hit a deer with it in the boiler room and it's an extreme rarity to not have a "bang flop". In fact, in four decades of using the '06 I've honestly never had to follow a blood trail. And failure to exit has been real seldom too.

In trying to draw on all the comments here about the .243, it sounds like the best arguments in favor of it for deer are - it's a good caliber for specialty bolt/handguns where no rifles are allowed and for women/youngsters and for me after I reach the age when I can no longer tolerate '06 recoil.

Or if it's what you already own. But it's not sounding like what I'd buy for deer if all other options are on the table.

260 or the 25wssm, or the swede. 6.5x284 or even the 270Win.

quote:

Originally posted by woodsie:
Whats a good "light" deer caliber. I have a 3006, and a .243(bolt guns) but i want to buy an encore barrel in a different caliber. I want a light recoil so its fun to shoot that still is powerfull to do good on whitetails. Yea i know i can easily use one of the guns i currently have, but what fun is that.

Thanks
W

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
Flippy
They speak of the Weather Bee

I know…

However, the post originally asked for

quote:

Originally posted by woodsie:
I want a light recoil so its fun to shoot…

so I figured it may also “bee” a .257(Bob)Roberts as that cartridge actually has

quote:

light recoil

and is fun to shoot.

257Weatherby’s are known for several things; flat shooting, powerful, not necessarily having

quote:

light recoil

…lol

As for the 25WSSM, haven’t heard of one yet that was as accurate as advertised.

I guess I have not seen advertisments claiming great accuracy, but I have 3 Brownings that I load for. 2 sporters and one varmint. All 3 are sub MOA with at least a couple of bullets, and all 3 will shoot nickles with 100 grain TSXs. Velocity is not 25-06 as advertised however.

6 mm PPC

22-250 CEB bullets.

.30-30 handloaded with 130 grain spitzer.

For years my favorite was a 135 grain Sierra handgun bullet (now discontinued) used in a Marlin 336 as a 2 shot repeater.

44 magnum

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ingvar J. Kristjansson:
257 Roberts
25-06rem
260rem
6.5x55
QUOTE]

I like this answer. I have both .257 Roberts and .25-06 and use them more than about anything else in the safe. IMHO the .260 Rem is very under appreciated, it performs like a hot 6.5x55.

6.5x47 Lapua

I agree that all posters here who killed deer dead w/.22 centerfires are straight-up honest; I'm guessing that those who wounded and or lost deer with lighter rifles are keeping quiet...Who wants to be called a lousy shot or told they don't know which load to use? I don't think its coincidence that the majority of states and foreign countries mandate the use of .22 centerfires for deer-size game as illegal.