I know that many European countries have minimum caliber/energy regulations on hunting calibers. My question is: What rifle/caliber/bullet would you use on roe deer if there were no regulations? I just want to know what many of you think of as the ideal roe deer caliber. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by 9.3 rifleman:
My question is: What rifle/caliber/bullet would you use on roe deer if there were no regulations?

Well, ideal caliber depends on preferences. In Sweden minimum legal caliber for roe is 222 with 50 grain bullet and in my opinions it's far from ideal. I think 6mm, 6,5 or 7mm is my "ideal"

Cheers
/JOHAN

my vote goes to the .243 win. i used it in Scotland for roe, and it"s legal(with 100 grain) if you run into a red. i found some of the .22"s to be quite destructive, because of their velocity and fragile bullets. i think .243 is a nice balance, with power to spare.
good shooting

9.3 we just did this on the Euro page in January. Do a search!

thanks,

D99

Dear Friends:

Take into account that in many situations roedeers are taken at long ranges (Mountains, cereals fields ...), at even more than 300 m. I think 6 mm is very sensitive to wind, specially with such an small target. My experience says it is better to use a 6.5 or a 7 mm. I have used most of the time, with good results, 6.5 X 57 and 7 X 57. I had a 243 W, but I had to reject it, because I had problems with wind deflection at long ranges shoots.

It must be the sweet little 6X45

I've shot all mine with a 9.3x62, and a .300 Win Mag, but I do believe they can be killed with lighter calibers!

Frans

The only two calibres that I’ve used for Roe are .243 and 6,5x55. Judged by the criteria of quick clean kills with minimal carcass damage they are equally effective.

I tend to use 85 or 100 grain bullets in the .243, and 120 or 140 bullets in the 6,5x55. I tend to use my .243 in the summer months (wood/blue rifle) and my 6,5x55 in the winter months (stainless/synthetic).

I have noticed that the higher percentage of instant on the spot kills occur with my.243, which I put down to the higher velocity causing greater hydrostatic shock.

ShooterBob.

The ideal caliber for Roe is the 7x64 with's new bullet Evolution is very good.

This bullet


More information
http://www.rws-munition.de/de/jagd_geschoss/geschoss_be...navid=0&geschoss=EVO

This year I have shot almoust all roe with a reduced load of Blue Dot, a 200 grain Ballistic Tip bullet and a 338 Win Mag. It kills like Thor's hammer, also the pigs we encounter once in a while and spoils very little meat.

Now, in order to create less eybrown frowning in the hunting community, the 6,5x57 R is also a well proven alternative.

Caliber is not interesting to me, it is the combination of what bullet at what velosity. With the right combination, any cartridge can be a good roe-deer cartridge.

Having used a lot of different calibers form 22-250 to 375 H&H, I ended up with the "boring" but trustworthy 308 Win. and 165 gr bullets.
It simply works !!!!

.22/250 is very popular for Roe in Scotland.

Sako factory ammo with a 55gr'Gamehead' Soft Point bullet is an excellent choice and does not cause exessive carcase damage.

quote:

Sako factory ammo with a 55gr'Gamehead' Soft Point bullet is an excellent choice and does not cause exessive carcase damage.

Roebuck222

quote:

Originally posted by 6_5X57:
Dear Friends:

I think 6 mm is very sensitive to wind, specially with such an small target.

I had a 243 W, but I had to reject it, because I had problems with wind deflection at long ranges shoots.

If you are talking about sweet shooting 6.5x55 and 7x57 I find very little difference. What one gains in BC one loses in MV. Thusly I find that my 6mm rem shooting a 90gr Ballistic tip at 3,200fps shoots as well in wind as my 7x57 with 0.46BC at 2,800fps. Shots are generaly around 200yards.

I would like to try a thin necked 5.6x57or a 22-6mm rem with the 65gr sierra gameking but on balance I find a good 243 or 6mm rem perfect on stalked roe.

1894mk2:

I don't know where you hunt, but in the areas we hunt (winter cereal fields or open mountains, we don't hunt in forest or closed areas) the 243 W has been un unuseful. The average shoot range is 300 m and windy conditions are very common. A group of 6 hunters we are, had all of us a 243W, and just now none of us have one. We shoot different calibers (all bigger than a 243 W), and I shoot a 6.5X57 with 120gr bulets at 3000 ft/s or a 7X57 with 130gr at 2950 ft/s. The loads we use in our 243 were standard (90 gr at 3100 ft/s), and all of us had frecuent problems (lack of accuracy) in windy conditions, so it was the reason because all of us sold the 243 W. In forest areas, it can be different because the shooting range (less than 200 m) is much smaller .

talking about ideal - imho 6,5x57 meets the odds

6.5s, 7mms, they are all fine but IMO nothing does the job like a 308 with either 150 gn or 165 gn projectiles. Probably the best all round deer caliber - full stop. I think 6mm is marginal on deer - OK if shot placement is spot on but the 308 gives that extra bit of insurance. And any of the .22s are not the way to go. I have seen many red deer in my part of the world with .22 caliber wounds that have not been terminal.

And the 9.3x62 is great = makes a big hole with minimal meat damage.

quote:

Originally posted by 6_5X57:
1894mk2:

I don't know where you hunt, but in the areas we hunt (winter cereal fields or open mountains, we don't hunt in forest or closed areas) the 243 W has been un unuseful. The average shoot range is 300 m and windy conditions are very common. A group of 6 hunters we are, had all of us a 243W, and just now none of us have one. We shoot different calibers (all bigger than a 243 W), and I shoot a 6.5X57 with 120gr bulets at 3000 ft/s or a 7X57 with 130gr at 2950 ft/s. The loads we use in our 243 were standard (90 gr at 3100 ft/s), and all of us had frecuent problems (lack of accuracy) in windy conditions, so it was the reason because all of us sold the 243 W. In forest areas, it can be different because the shooting range (less than 200 m) is much smaller .

Can't argue with experience. I don't shoot at range in wind. I have a strong desire to quote ballistics but that's theory which comes last in the race against experience!

I hunt big arable fields, limiting myself to 250yards in calmish conditions straying over that range on very rare occasions.

BTW which 130gr do you use in your 7x57 and how do you find the meat damage?

quote:

Originally posted by MLG:
6.5s, 7mms, they are all fine but IMO nothing does the job like a 308 with either 150 gn or 165 gn projectiles. Probably the best all round deer caliber - full stop. I think 6mm is marginal on deer - OK if shot placement is spot on but the 308 gives that extra bit of insurance. And any of the .22s are not the way to go. I have seen many red deer in my part of the world with .22 caliber wounds that have not been terminal.

And the 9.3x62 is great = makes a big hole with minimal meat damage.

rgr on that I did start to hunt with 7x57R and proceed on 7x64 then 7,62 Russian and 8x68 S and now I am mostly using my 9,3x62 with 19,5 g TUG and it works on roe deer nicely

I think the topic of this area should be: What is your caliber for roedeer? Anyway, I've shot my roes with .308win and 7mm remmag. Both of them has worked very well. At the moment I actually use only my 7mm for roes and whitetails. Is it ideal..? I don't have a clue, but I'm sure it works!

I have used .223 rem, 6ppc, and 6.5x55.

Only 16 roe-deer but never lost one and no one moving more than 30 meters.

I really like 6.5x55 with 140 Hornady A-MAX and 46grs of vith-N160.

Giovanni

hi
i vote for 3006 and 150 gr norma bst . very flat shooting and very low recoil+ good killing power.
regards
yazid

Well, I'll go with what I use, the good 'ol thutty ot six stuffed with 53 gr 4350 pushing 180gr Speer Grand Slams. It works, and mighty fine at that, plus I'm set for whatever small or big wild boar steps out at the wrong time.

There's just too many variables to limit this down to what the best caliber/bullet combination is for Roewild. Legal here in the Bundesrepublic caliber wise is the triple deuce, though the law says actually an energy equivalent to producing 1000 Jewels at 100 meters (at least I think those are the numbers -- just easier to say .222), Waidmannsheil, Dom.

Of the two calibres that I use for deer (.243 and 6,5x55) I find myself naturally drawn to my .243 for Roe in particular, it just works best for me. I'll either use 85g or 100g sierra bullets fired at around 3,200fps and 3,000fps respectively, although I'm just in the process of experimenting with Nosler partitions in the same weights. I seem to get instant or almost instant kills with a high proportion of deer dropping to shot on the spot, and little meat damage.
I'm surprised to say that the 6,5x55 gives totally different results, a higher proportion of animals run on, and I seem to get a much higher percentage of meat damage. In some instances an unacceptably high proportion. Bullets used are 120g and 140g Sierra, at around 2,800fps and 2,600fps respectively.

this is ridiculus!!!

Its like asking which is the best racing car!!
For what! Indy/Brands hatch/Le-mans..

what we should be asking is: which is the best bullet,and at what range does it operate best at.
There is no point in having an STW and shooting roe at 75yds.
what is good at 75yds might be absolute rubbish @ 300yds..
Bullet choice for a given purpose is far more important than caliber..

regards

griff

Well said Griff.

I am not sure there is an ideal, rather a margin of effectiveness.

for sub-200 metre south of England stalking I favour:

6.5mm Speer hotcore 120 grains @ 2750fps
6.5mm Nosler BT 100 grains @ 2950 fps

Griff,

I couldn't agree less, and I don't agree with your analogy.

When you configure a race car you do it for the known conditions that you're going to face. When you choose a specific calibre, bullet, and load for a given species you don't know exactly what the conditions are going to be when you let your round off; so you have to choose a calibre etc. that you have confidence in, and in your opinion meets all the criteria for any situation that you are likely to encounter.

Shooterbob,

I am confused now, if we are talking taking Roe and nothing else, then you do know what to expect, a little deer inside of 200 yards, which, I suggest would not need a lot of killing.

Well, that would be my understanding of the situation.

John

shooterbob,
we don't know "exactly" what opportunity will arise,but! you should know the environment in which you are stalking.You cannot ask the question which is: "which caliber is best", without asking what it is the performance criteria required.Always work backwards from the end result, in other words what is required from the bullet, clean kill, blood trail, minimum meat damage bullet drop, are the obvious ones, but in order to attain that we need further info! What range,wind etc these all play a bigger part than the caliber.In a perfect world we would have a bullet that will have controlled expansion at any given velocity, hence range becomes irrelevant,has a high bc so wind and elevation become irrelevant..
A question, I want to shoot deer at 300yds, will generate far better responses,and will give you a reasoning behind the answer..
Behind every factory loaded bullet there is a performance criteria that they will expect that given bullet to attain.The exterior ballistics are what we judge our calibers with..

regards

griff

Indeed I have allways thought that for roe, questions about rifles should concentrate more on weight, balance, trigger pull and optics. Roe do not take much killing, they do require a steady aim which in the UK is, more often than not, not going to be from prone.

Weeeeel, you boys with the big boomers aren't going to fail (.338 for petes sake) but I find that the pipsqueak 6mm PPC has all I ever need for Roe. In scotland with 70gr Matchkings at about 1500 f/lbs or elswhere with 87gr v max or 90 gr lap scenars running at about 1900. The point being is that you can place the bullet exactly and with a mildot you can range and dope the wind. I've never had anything take more than two steps when shot with this rifle.
Without a moderator its quiet, with a can on its creeping death to all cervines and any varmints unlucky enough to cross my path.
All the best from the UK.