Favorite deer rifle

[greenejc]

With deer season not far away it's time to dust off and shoot (OL PAINLESS) my 6.5 /06 shooting 143 Hornady ELDX AND RL 26
Of all of the guns in my gun safe this
Is my favorite

I've never had one of those, but I think it must be like putting the 25-06 on steroids. I don't know why they brought out the other .264 on steroids cartridges when all they had to do was adopt the 6.5-06. I like the 30-06 in my Ruger M77MkII or my 03-a3, or my .35 Whelen Remington 700 CDL (using the Sierra 225 grain GK bullet). All three have 3 to 10 Shepherd P2 scopes on them and are good to 500 yards, though I don't like to take shots beyond about 400 yards normally. The .35 still makes enormous exit wounds at 500+ yards. Past 400 yards or so the -06 bullet doesn't expand well enough for me, but the .35 cal. Sierra GK still does just fine. I'd like to play with a 338-06 Ackley-improved, though.

 

[jjmp]

3/270's get first rotation their all different strokes ones a MRI MTN/rifle, another is a factory Tikka/695 and last but not least is FN1910,Mauser in a Brown Pression, 1/270WSM held in reserve because it's meat destructive,same with 7 mag ,7STW,300 w/mag and 338 w/mag , smaller cartridges shine for deer hunting 243,25/06,708, if I'm in the mood the 223&220 swift come out ,but their more specialized being smaller bullets . Great reads as usual cheers .

 

[Bullmark]

Great topic! I plan to use my Winchester Model 94 30-30 for my first Hunt of the season. My Grandpa gave it to me 40 years ago. I set it up as a scout rifle (below). I just sighted it in and it was dead on.

I love seeing the model 94. My Dad passed away when I was only 11yrs old, and he was not a man of many worldly possessions. But he did have a battle scarred Win Model 94 in 30-30, and it became mine. That was 40 years ago and I still have the rifle. Every year I plan to take it out, but always choose one of my sexier calibers instead. I hope to change that this year.
I'll share a quick funny story about the rifle. When I was no older than 11 or 12 I was hunting with my older brother and carrying the 30-30. He sat me down under a tree and told me to sit still and not move. He would be back for me in an hour or so. About a half hour into the sit a fat doe came walking by me. She couldn't have been more than 15 yds, and I was stiff as a statue. When the moment was right I raised the rifle, took aim, and fired. The doe was obviously hit as she jumped and did a mule kick, and ran just over the ridge into a thicket. It is obvious to me today that she was hit, but to a 10 yr old boy who has never shot anything, it was anything but obvious. Because she didn't fall over dead, I thought I had missed. I'm sure that doe was on the ground less than 100 yds away. Unfortunately, my brother took my word for it, that I had missed, and we never followed up and looked for signs of a hit, or the deer. Oh well, I guess the coyotes had an easy meal that night.

 

[Bullmark]

700 in 22/250 with a 14 twist. 3-10 Leo with M1 on top. 55's-63's with Varget.

0-400 yards the combo is incredibly effective on small big game like deer and lopes.

On big black bruins and elk I like to keep it to 250 yards or so or less.

I was reading your post and thinking how ridiculous it is that my home state of VA won't allow deer hunting with that caliber. Must be .24 or larger. Many young small framed hunters would benefit from being able to shoot a set up like yours and learn to shoot while not having to deal with much recoil.

 

[basinman]

For hunting the swamp around my home I use an AR 15 in either 350 Legend or 450 Bushmaster (if I am hunting in standing water and want to drop them in their tracks). When in South Texas I like my 6.5 Creedmoor Ruger American in a B&C stock with a 6-24x50 Black Hound scope or 6.5 Grendel (also an AR 15) with a 4-14x44 Black Hound scope. Leaving Monday to head over to Texas to do some dove hunting and get the blinds ready for the season.

 

[Bullmark]

Although I've always rifle hunted, I was bitten by the archery bug years ago, and almost all of my deer have been taken with a bow.
But things change and now I'm a certified rifle nut. However, the two places I get to do any serious hunting, Iowa and Virginia, have their seasons scheduled where muzzleloader season is during the premium time of yr. Iowa has no rifle season, so it's muzz only.....and In Va the first two weeks of Nov is muzz.
So my favorite deer rifle is my smoke pole.....which is bad news for the deer.
It's a smokeless McWhorter .45XML, Brux barrel, Borden action, McMillan stock....topped with a Leica 2.4-16x56.
She pushes a 325gr Pittman bullet 2900fps with 73.5g of imr-4198 behind it.
Farthest shot has been 389yds, but the gun will hold .5moa or less out to 700......although I'm not sure I can.
The only negative is the recoil is stiff. Nothing more than a large magnum, but some of us get recoil shy as we get older.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

My dad bought me a Rem 760 game master pump 30/06 outside of a bar for $50 ...guess the owner needed more whiskey...used that rifle to harvest a few hundred animals in various states during the 60-70's...loved that ole' club, then I wised up and bought a bolt magnum...bigger is NOT better !!!

 

[257WTBY]

Hopefully I will be using my newly built 257 WTBY mag with 1:7.5 twist rock creek barrel shooting 128gr hammers as fast as I can run them. Smith said the end of this week it will be in my hands. If it isnt ready my old MKV ultralight 257 WTBY Mag and 100 TTSX's has worked for lots of previous years its kind of like an old pair of shoes it just feels right and is comfortable.

GOOD LUCK to everyone this deer season stay safe and whack a monster

 

[Longcruise]

Tell me about that bow…. Also, that 44 load you've got sounds potent. I had a 16" Marlin that would send the 320gr Cast Performance out at 1625fps and it hammered bear.

The bow? Well I'm a semi pro bowyer hobbyist. I belong to an online group of Bowyers. Each year we do a bow swap on a blind basis. Each participant advises a swap manager of what type bow they would like to receive and what they will build. The swap manager matches them up. Each knows who they are building for but not who is building for them. It goes on for about five months with participants posting photos and updates with nobody knowing what and who. It's a lot of fun and gets us focused on doing something special. So, long story short (too late for that ) the bow in my post was built for me by a gentleman in AK. I built an ambidextrous Hill style longbow for a guy in Mississippi.

I have a bunch of bows to pick from for this years season and I decided to go with this one. 62", 45# @ 28"

The CVA Scout is a rifle I picked up almost on impulse just because I have a bunch of components and molds for it.

CVA Home

cva.com

It's pretty much a 150 yard proposition. So far my best load has been 2.25 MOA. I expect to improve on that but it's actually good enough for hunting at it's range limits.

It has a marvelous crisp trigger pull that was a pleasant surprise.

Loads of cartridge selections, but given the accuracy potential in break action rifles, their accuracy potential probably won't equal the general potential of those cartridges.

 

[HunterMann]

Taking 2 rifles with me to Michigan this year. A Ruger no 1 in 25-06, and not sure about my 2nd rifle. Maybe my 6.5-06 that is just crazy accurate, maybe my marlin 338 lever action, which I've shot my largest whitetail with, or maybe my Ruger 77 in 338 rcm, another crazy accurate rifle with 180 grain accubonds. My problem is I just have too many rifles, and they're all good shooters.

That's the proper problem to have...

 

[tooth doc]

With deer season not far away it's time to dust off and shoot (OL PAINLESS) my 6.5 /06 shooting 143 Hornady ELDX AND RL 26
Of all of the guns in my gun safe this
Is my favorite

one of my favorite guns is a 6.5, 280 ackley improved, basically a 6.5 06 ackley. great round. i shoot barnes 120 ttsx

 

[tooth doc]

Weatherby mark v ultralight, in 270 win ! 5 and 3/4 pound rifle with a 2 1/2 to. 8. Power. Leupold. Scope !

i have the same weatherby in 30 06 and 338 06. fantastic rifle

 

[Panhandle Pete]

My favorite deer rifle isn't a rifle, but it shoots like one. It's a 250 Savage AI. View attachment 295999

My favorite deer rifle isn't a rifle, but it shoots like one. It's a 250 Savage AI. View attachment 295999

The 250 Savage AI is one of my favorite small caliber rounds , it is also Sierra's favorite accuracy round for testing 25 caliber loads and that says volumes. I was a big fan of Bob Milek articles and he was a big 250 fan also. I have several custom rifles in 250 AI and one of my favorite loads is the 80 grain Barnes TTSX, it has put several antelope down with dramatic effect- DRT- 100 grain Nosler Ballistic tips have worked wonders on deer and high fliers on prairie dog kills. I have an Remington XP 100 in 7:08 that is in for a rebarrel to the 250 AI. Spot on Brother!!!

 

[Quintus]

My favorite is also one of my least favorites. It's a Ruger #1B in 300Wby. It has a Vortex Viper 4-16x44 HS-LR on it because the eye relief works. It's heavy, and beautiful - the 2 things I don't like in a deer rifle. It has a very nice trigger for a factory #1 and it shoots several bullets very well. The current load over the last 6 years has been 165 Sciroccos over RL22 at 3,265. It is one of the few rifles I have that gets hunted at least once every year, year in and year out. I keep thinking I'll sell it so I don't have to carry it anymore, but then I take it out and put rounds through it and wonder what the h-e double el was I thinking?