This post is not intended to ask the age old question...."which caliber is best suited for..." My problem, is I have a closet full of rifles, each has harvested critters (whether it be elk, deer, moose, or antelope) in the past. I'm just wondering which one to take on my whitetail hunt? It is like having an extra ticket to the Super Bowl and wondering which of your friends to take along...

Question:
Here are the choices with bullet selection:

Choices:
Ruger M77 .243 w/Barnes XLC 85g
Ruger M77 .308 w/Core Loc 185g
Rem 700 .250 Savage w/Barnes 100g
Rem 700 .270 w/Accubond 140g
Marlin .30-30 w/150g Hot Core
None, take my bow and arrow one

 

I assumed this would be for deer and/or antelope. Love the .243/Barnes combination.

Nah, just for a whitetail. The .250 was already successful this year on antelope. But to give you some background, the .243 with the 85g Barnes leads the pack in whitetail kills with 15+.

MG

The 270 is my all time favorite deer cartridge.
It gets my vote.

270 short or long it'll get the job done.

Can't go wrong with .270.

It would be fun to go hunting with any of the calibers you mentioned. I voted .270 because that is my go to rifle and my favorite big game rifle.

I went for the .308

I didn't like any of the choices but I like the 270 best and 250 second best. Lou

quote:

Rem 700 .270 w/Accubond 140g

The above is what I voted for... Seems like my choice matches the majority of the votes...

Therefore you MUST take the 700 in 270 and there you have it...

Something you didn't mention though and it's critical.

A whitetail isn't a whitetail... They come in all sizes and exist in all kinds of terrains, and ground cover situations. They can be hunted in many different ways.

All of these factors influence not only the cartridge selection but rifle selection too.

So... Give us more info and start the poll all over and your results will likely be much different.

$bob$

All are good, as long as you don't use partitions... They blow up you know.