Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Close Range Deer Rifle

That's meaningful.

Alot of talk about big bore crushers here. I've used a few myself over the years. A bunch of 12 gauge slug guns with a bunch of different full bore and saboted slugs. A Marlin .35, a Marlin .44 mag., a Remington 760 .30-06 with 180 gr. RN core lokts. And have found them largely irrelevant to success and of dubious increased effectiveness compared to smaller rounds. Meaning a hit through the lungs with a 12 gauge or a .44 or a .30-06 generally runs aways before it falls and with a shot through the shoulders, spine or head they drop right there. The results with a .30-30 or .243 are pretty much the same. The only advantage the bigger guns MAY provide is a better chance of a heavier blood trail and the ability to reach vitals with an azz shot, which is a shot I won't take anyway.. Neither of those advantages are carved in stone either, depending to a large extent on bullets used and location of hit.

I'd roll with a lever gun in just about any cartridge offered. A Marlin Guide Gun platform, in .45-70!would fit the bill nicely.

Sako 85 Black Bear .308
Kahles KX 2-7 4A
Shortened to 18" plus suppressor
Lapua cases, 150gr Lapua Megas, Fed LR Match, 45gr H4895
Capable of .5 MOA, or less, all day long
Great in the tight stuff although a little heavy for mountainous terrain.

Good to know. Sierra rep told me it was designed for .350 mag and Whelen speeds. I just used the NP's on game.

I revamped my .358 (new barrel profile, soon a new stock, new scope) this year and it's going to be fun to take it out in its new guise. Love that thing.

Before I knew any better, I killed a bunch of deer at handshake range with a Ruger M77 in 250 Sav. Rifle was topped with a 4x Weaver (Leupold now), and stuffed with 100 grain Core-Lokts. Can't remember ever having one go very far.

I carry a 7600 carbine a lot now. While I like the rifle, you certainly don't need an 06 to kill deer.

My brush guns are
Rugee 44 carbine, cz 527 carbine in 762X39, and. Lever 30-30.
Th cz is just right but the 44 for follow up is the winner.
If I ever wanted more it would be 45/70
Or pump 35 Whalen

Something like a 243 or 7-08 with a scope that can go down to about 2x and top out in the 7-8x range.

No need to have a rig that excels at 50 yards but short changes you at 250-300 if you have the chance to hunt a place with open spaces.

I use a 22-250 or 6mm for 99.9% of my hunting which is done in heavy oak timber that does not offer a shot of over 50-60 yards. Either of these will work as good at 50 yards as they do at 250, cannot say the same of some of the traditional so called "brush guns".

Never felt handicapped in short range situations with a longer range gun but could very easily feel handicapped if shooting a shorter range gun and a longer range shot presented itself.

No problem with regular rounds, but for brush at close range it be smart to keep the barrel length down.
And good call on Low power scope.
This is why my 06 has 2.5-10. It can do all.

If by, "close range" you mean something that shoulders quickly and can throw a lot of lead in an adrenaline filled situation, such as a late season deer drive, a Remington semi-auto 742 in 30-06 is hard to beat.

in KS we have a late doe only season where we push the brush and my little 742 carbine mounted with a Leupold VX-3 1.5-5x20mm is my go-to deer slayer .

It may not be pretty- the years have been rough on 'er, but, it has never failed me and has accounted for at least 2 dozen deer.

Agree; I'd add that it's nice to keep the MV down too in my experience.

Hell......MV won't hurt you in the close stuff. Just use a good bullet and problem solved.

270-130 NPT at 3100 fps. 40-50 yards. That's the exit. It works that way just about every single time.

I have a Winchester 100 rifle in 308 with the barrel cut down to 17". It is really handy, allows for quick follow up shots, and is mounted with a Leupold 2-7x33 with a heavy duplex reticle. If I'm planning to hunt deer in tight cover, it is my preferred rifle.

In Iowa it's slugs and shotguns. My longest shot was about 40 yards. I would really like to try my Chilean Calvary carbine in 7x57 but I'd have to go out of State to do it.

kwg

I bought a 20 gauge Remington 870 rifles barrel shotgun to shoot deer in Mills and Fremont Counties in Iowa.

Ironically, the best/biggest whitetail buck that I've seen this year was chasing a doe just south of the Wal-Mart at 180th Street and West Center Road about 9AM this morning. Hope to see his equal, or better, across the river.

Good luck. I've killed 2 deer with a 20 gauge. They are quite capable.

Kwg

I have a Merkel SR 1 30-.06 semi auto with a 20 inch barrel and plenty of extras sort sale if anyone is interested.

I already have the bones for a good one: a 30-06 in a Remmy Model 6 (fancied up 7600) I bought for bear hunting. I'd shorten the barrel to carbine length of 18-20" and be happy. Remington used to make a 7600 with an 18" barrel. Not sure if they still offer that or not. I love a pump for fast and accurate follow up shots. The pumping action puts you right back on target.

Deer at a max 75 meters in thick cover" To me this screams for a lever or pump, with a lever being my preference.

Top to bottom:

Marlin 1895 .45-70
Marlin 375 .375 Winchster
Marlin 336C .30-30
Browning B92 .44 Mag

Scopes are in Warne Quick Release rings. Scopes are Leupold Vari-X II and VXII 2-7x and M*-4x (.30-30). All three have red fibre front sights.



For the job described I think it would be hard to beat the .30-30.

There are a lot of different opinions on caliber here and I have not read them all, but to me how the rifle handles would be more important than the calibers mentioned since all will do the job.

For my close range hunting I have used the 30-30 and a couple 35's. This year I switched to a Winchester FW in 7x57. The range was ~ 35 yards using Privi Partisan 139g factory loads. The whole going out was 1/2 dollar sized. I do like 2 holes since the deer can run and hide in the thick stuff making them difficult to find. Especially this year since there was no snow.