Results of favorite deer rifle

[Waynzee]

I started a thread awhile ago ( What is your favorite deer rifle) and the results were interesting, I'll try to post all the calibers starting with the most used caliber first for deer. This may not be exact because a few fellas posted 2 and more rifles which is understandable sometimes it's hard to pick a favorite.
Peoples favorite - .270, -17- times mentioned
30/06, -14 '' ''
25/06, -13 '' ''
7mag., -11 " "
.243, - 9 " "
6.5 CM, 300WM, 7/08, -8 " "
.308win. -7 " "
The following calibers were mentioned 5 times or less. 6.5x55 - 5, 260 Rem. - 4, 338 UM - 4, 264 WM - 4, 280 Rem. - 5, 30/30 - 3, 257 WBY. - 3, 35 Whelen - 3, 300 RUM., 45/70, 284 Win., 250/3000, 7mm STW, - mentioned twice, 375 Allen Mag., 44 mag., 338 Fed., 338/378, 338 Edge, 7mm RUM., 300 RUM., 270WSM., 6.5/284, 300 WSM.,6.5/06, T/C 50 cal. MZL. mentioned once.
Some of these calibers were AI. It doesn't surprise me to much that the 270 and the 30/06 are tops in the count.

 

[the hunter]

.308 took a hog the uther day one shot 228yd it ran 20yd ones hit

 

[Dosh]

Thanks for the poll results. Would be interesting to se the this done regionally.

 

[RidgeTop]

My favorite for the woods is the Remington 742. I have it in .308 with LH stock, LH safety and BDL Checkering. I also have the carbine barrel for it. I also have a Remington 7400 in 30-06, synthetic stock.

 

[LRNut]

Hard to believe the .308 is so low on the list; if east of the Mississippi, it is more than enough.

 

[std7mag]

I don't know.
Would be a toss up between 2 rifles.
Stevens 200 in 7mm-08AI.
Or my Ruger 77 MKII in 257 Roberts.
Both have dropped numerous deer from 35ish yards to 400 yards.

 

[MagnumManiac]

Interesting results.
My favourite cartridge for most everything is the 300WM, but I choose different cartridges for different deer and locations. My choices are 25-06 for Hog deer and Fallow deer or my 264WM, For Red deer here in Australia I choose my 270 Bee, in New Zealand there is no calibre restrictions and I have used both my 25-06 and 257 Weatherby, but also used 270 Bee, 300 Bee, 300WM, 7STW and 264WM.
In Australia on our largest deer that isn't penned, we have Sambar that are 600+ lbs and calibre restricted to 270 minimum. I have used 270 Bee, 300WM, 300 Bee, 340 Bee, 338WM, 338-416 Rigby Improved, 375 Bee and 416 Rigby. Dabbled with big bores for fun a few times and shot a stag with my 500 Nitro just because…it was funny, it ran for a good distance with front right shoulder smashed and a broken hip…amazing!
I always say my favourite rifle is the last one I built, so my REM 700 switch barrel in 264WM and 7STW is currently my favourite

Cheers.

 

[Turpentine21]

I shoot 6.5-06, 308, and 6.5 Grendel nowadays. But I could probably shoot those for the next 20 years and still probably not kill 1/4th of the deer I killed with a 270 in my early years. Where I'm from you had to have a 270 in order to get a "man card". The 30/06 was the second most popular by far. I did know a few people that shot 243s but they were commonly referred to as good squirrel rifles by the majority of folks I knew.

 

[Turpentine21]

Hard to believe the .308 is so low on the list; if east of the Mississippi, it is more than enough.

You're right. Where I'm from, for the most part, the average shooter cannot reliably hit a pie plate at half the 308s effective range. Most deer are killed at well under 100 yards. But some of us do have power lines or bean fields where we can stretch out. The 308 has made a bit of a comeback here In the last 10 years though.

 

[ObiJohn]

I shoot 6.5-06, 308, and 6.5 Grendel nowadays. But I could probably shoot those for the next 20 years and still probably not kill 1/4th of the deer I killed with a 270 in my early years. Where I'm from you had to have a 270 in order to get a "man card". The 30/06 was the second most popular by far. I did know a few people that shot 243s but they were commonly referred to as good squirrel rifles by the majority of folks I knew.

I started hunting as a teen in SC. That's a state where a 300 yard shot is a very long shot, and whitetails aren't that large... a 150 lb buck is a large deer. There's no deer, and no deer hunting situation in SC and the other southern states on the East Coast where a .243 isn't more than sufficient. Certainly it's ample for deer within 400 yards, which describes 99% of eastern whitetail hunting (and 80%+ of all deer hunting), and more hunters would get more deer if they left their .270s and '06s in the closet and hunted with a .243.

I'm not knocking the '06, the .270, etc., just pointing out that choosing a hunting cartridge to earn your "man card" is not a thinking person's approach. This is not about the poster above, he's describing the culture and attitudes accurately... as I said I lived in SC and saw a lot of that foolishness. In the old days when people would have only one centerfire hunting rifle and bullet technology was primitive, larger calibers made sense if you onsidered saving money to go out west for a hunt. I hunted deer in Alabama with a large group of my father's WWII buddy's friends who used hounds and they were very effective... but only a few were truly competent and the rest were bystanders who stood where they were told (never the critical spots) and got a share of the harvest for participating (one of the party was a butcher who could reduce a deer from just shot to skinned, quartered and partially butchered a couple of minutes... scarily impressive).

I didn't mean to turn this into a rant, but I've seen friends and acquaintances get a lot of "man card"-based bad advice. If you're a new shooter and deer hunter, you'd be far better off with a .243, .257 Roberts, .260 Remington, or a 6.5 Creed that you practice and can hit with over... and the same is true for more experienced folks who can't honestly hit a deer at over 100 yards. I have a good friend who got into hunting in his 50s who missed three standing deer at 80 yards or less, using a .375 H&H Ruger #1. He has the same rifle in 6.5 Swede... sigh. I think the .270 with 130gr bullets is a fine deer cartridge, but will any deer within 400 yards know the difference over a .243?

 

[Turpentine21]

"I think the .270 with 130gr bullets is a fine deer cartridge, but will any deer within 400 yards know the difference over a .243?"

I've seen way too many deer shot and lost with the 243 to agree with this statement. Bullets are better these days but in the time I'm talking about the corelokt bullet was very common. The 243 with todays better bullets is a site better but I still believe it belongs in the hands of a better than average shooter. Even today, most hunters will buy and hunt with the cheapest ammo they can find and don't take advantage of the better bullet offerings.
Larger bucks 180 pounds or more which our mature deer weigh typically run further when hit with a 243 and left a lot less blood trail to follow than deer hit with 25-06, 7mm-08, 308, 270, 30-06, 7mag etc. Mature boar hogs with thick shields travel farther as well than sows and smaller pigs. I had a blood dog and excellent eyesight got called out regularly. 100s of times over the years. Several friends started out with 243s and gave them up. They swore by them until they lost enough really nice bucks shot with them to realize it was more than a coincidence. Most went up to 7mm-08, 308, 25-06, and 270 and their trouble went away. Those are not what I'd call man card cartridges. And I certainly don't recommend them as a first cartridge with full power loads. My statement above referred to the attitude of the times I grew up in. Yet even today, you will find a 270 in the hands of most hunters in my area and it's because it works so well. Kids can handle a downloaded 7mm-08, 270 or 30-06 just fine and I load for a few kids right now that are using these cartridges. They are easy to shoot and the recoil isn't bad at all. The 243 has seen a resurgence here but as a depredation rifle. It works very well on the 80-115 pound average doe that we shoot with the better bullets that are made today. A lot of folks in the depredation role like them because deer will run far enough after being hit to make it out of the field. I prefer the Grendel, Creedmore, or 6.5-06 for depredation personally and kill a lot of deer (around 100) and hogs every year with these cartridges. I tend to lean more toward the Creedmore as time goes by. 95% of the deer I shoot drop in their tracks. But I shoulder shoot. A practice I started years ago after blood trailing deer through very tough terrain that were lung shot and traveled 30-70 yards.. I can honestly say that I only know 2 people that use 243 now during our actual deer season when targeting mature bucks. Both are excellent shots and shoot their deer in the neck. I have several spots (bean fields) where shots are possible out to 700 yards. That is pretty typical for my area. In other areas of the state where there's very little farming shooting opportunities are a lot shorter. Our terrain in the Lowcountry has changed dramatically in the last 30 years or so since hurricane Hugo. Very thick, overgrown clear cuts, bays, and swamps cover a lot of our terrain that used to be much more open. A deer that covers a lot of ground after a hit can be a nightmare and often is not recovered or is found later by buzzards. If you want to hunt with a 243 that's your call. Have at it. If I can do something to improve my odds of anchoring a deer. I'll doggone sure take advantage of it. And I absolutely hate recoil and muzzle blast. As for youth, we start them off with a 6.5 Grendel or Creedmore. Or downloaded 308, 7mm-08, 270 or the like with a lighter bullet at 2600-2700fps. On paper the Grendel may not look like much but it has proven time and time again to be a very efficient killer. Surprisingly so. And we get good blood trails with it. It is my bottom line cartridge. I don't go smaller.

 

[AussieWriter]

Interesting results.
My favourite cartridge for most everything is the 300WM, but I choose different cartridges for different deer and locations. My choices are 25-06 for Hog deer and Fallow deer or my 264WM, For Red deer here in Australia I choose my 270 Bee, in New Zealand there is no calibre restrictions and I have used both my 25-06 and 257 Weatherby, but also used 270 Bee, 300 Bee, 300WM, 7STW and 264WM.
In Australia on our largest deer that isn't penned, we have Sambar that are 600+ lbs and calibre restricted to 270 minimum. I have used 270 Bee, 300WM, 300 Bee, 340 Bee, 338WM, 338-416 Rigby Improved, 375 Bee and 416 Rigby. Dabbled with big bores for fun a few times and shot a stag with my 500 Nitro just because…it was funny, it ran for a good distance with front right shoulder smashed and a broken hip…amazing!
I always say my favourite rifle is the last one I built, so my REM 700 switch barrel in 264WM and 7STW is currently my favourite

Cheers.

Which gunsmith do you use there?
I used Dennis Tobler, a bit north of you.