How many times have we seen that, or some version of it, plastered all over the cover of a hunting/shooting magazine?
We have a handful of different deer species/types here in North America. Whitetail, blacktail, mule deer and variations of those. Yes, I'm leaving out elk, moose, caribou, zebra and unicorns.
Arguments rage. Tempers flare. Thousands are spent on new rifles. New cartridges. New bullets! Handloaders tinker with loads, refining them from .55" groups to .50" groups and rejoicing! Water jugs are blown up, punctured, defiled. Ballistic gel is smashed. Engineers and marketing types debate over the best color of plastic tip to adorn the latest bullet... Rifles are made in stainless, blued, and even camo-dipped finishes....
It's all kind of silly. But an awful lot of fun. Deer fall, as they always have, to a well placed hit. From pretty much anything. Personally, I have used, or seen used:
.223 Rem
.243 Win
6mm Rem
.25-06
.257 Wby
.270 Win
7mm Rem mag
.30-30
.308
.30-06
.300 magnums of various designations
.350 Rem mag (kind of a short, belted Whelen?)
.44 mag revolver
.45 ACP 1911
.45/70
.50 muzzle loader
12 ga slug
The remarkable thing about that list? The deer all made it to the freezer, just fine. No cartridge failures. No bullet failures. Just meat on the table, and antlers on the wall if so equipped.
Pick the rifle, handgun, shotgun that makes you smile when you pick it up, when you just think about taking it afield, and in which you have confidence.
There ya go - Guy being realistic this morning. Meanwhile, back to coffee!
Guy
I would pick .308... because its smack dab in the middle of the list!
It has some velocity, has some mass, most people shoot it well, it comes in many rifles and different actions, affordable to shoot, lots of accurate components from target shooting industry... Plenty of power for a deer, but no one questions if its enough.
Plus it one of my favorites! In a bolt action or one of my sexy curvy savage 99's ;-)
PS. .300 savage is acceptable in a sexy curvy savage 99 too. Little less recoil, just as effective. I shouldn't have sold my savage 99 .300 ;-(
