Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting The Cult of the open-country mule deer rifle

Reloader: Nice bucks!7RM works good!Congrats on those.

Jeff, they eat swell if you get them before the rut.I've never had a bad one that I can remember.

I've never had the "pleasure" of eating or hunting one that was rutting, so I think they're pretty good. Still a bit more "whang" than a whitetail, but if you take care of the meat and don't let it bone sour, it's good. And usually a lot of it.

Big mulies have been some of the best venison I've ever had.

Congrats guys on some great bucks.

loder

My son's buck, taken a couple of years ago in central BC during the middle of the rut. You could smell it from 15 yards away and it didn't taste much better. We gutted and skinned it right away, too, and cooled it off quickly. Didn't help much.

Certainly nothing wrong with a 7mm Rem Mag. But I of course love the .264 Win Mag. And if you want to monkey around with a wildcat, you might consider a 6.5 WSM. There's a couple of over .500 BC big game bullets out there to fool with, notably the 140 Accubond, 130 Scirooco and 160 Woodleigh.
One thing I wouldn't do is put too heavy of a barrel on it. You're gonna have to walk with this rifle. I've got a 27.5 inch #3 Lilja on my .264 and for a more dedicated mountain gun, I'd probably go with a 25" #2. Mine's twisted 1:9 which is fine, but no harm in an 8 twist, 3 groove while we're upgrading. And don't be afraid to build a purty stock for this rifle!

Jeff,
I take it you're settled on a 7mm of some sort. Good choice, considering the bullets that you can put through one. How about the 280AI, then? There's a lot to like: good performance in a well-balanced package, mild recoil, feeds well, and holds more than 2-3 in the magazine.

I would think hard about building a rifle around the 130g SII(BC571) in 6.5 caliber or the 162g Amax/168-180(BC 600-660) Berger in 7mm. I would look hard at the 6.5x284/260AI in SA in 6.5 caliber or the 284 Shehane/7SAUM in 7mm.

208g Amax in your .30-06 with its BC of 633 would probably hold up pretty well too.

Great to have options.

John G, if I build or buy a rifle, it'll be a 7mm WSM virtually for certain. The Montana seems like an obvious frontrunner here. Be hard to find one in 7 WSM, and then it'd have to SHOOT to work any better at all than my (excellent) 30-06.... so the most likely path forward is to buy a WSM Kimber on the cheap, probably a .325 as I'm betting there's some "on sale" ones of those out there... and send it to Pac-Nor for a rebarrel. At that point chances are good it would be pretty special.

So that's how I see the ideal situation playing out. Far more likely is that my '06 gets the call or heck, my .325 Montana. That rifle is a shooter and does evil things to my steel plates out to 500 yds with great reliability. The 8mm bullets are not real high BC and, maybe for that reason, that rifle tops out around 500 though.

Kyreloader, I think those are all great points. I'm more inclined towards giving the 200-NAB a run in my '06 because if I get both speed and accuracy, then I've got a load that handles near and far, deer to elk. The Amax kind of gives me the willies on something big and tough and close.

We'll see! I don't want to get too spun out on plotting gear (I'm prone to that, lol)... OTOH, it early November and there's time to do something nutty like building "my" ultimate rifle, if I decide to, and it's fun to talk about. What the heck, right?

I am loving hearing folks thoughts on this and the big buck pictures are awesome too. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

Jeff it sounds like you are answering your own question..take your 30-06 and be done. If you really want a Kimber in 7WSM, then just buy one. I just can't understand why you would buy one and rebarrel it. If the gun shoots then use it as is. The idea INHO on the Kimber is lightweight, handling and balance, why would you screw it up by rebarreling.

If you like the '06 as much as you say, then use it and spend the money on different components to find an accurate load that you have confidence on. I'll bet a cup of coffee right now that after all is said and done, if you get a shot at a big mulie, it will be under 200 yds and all this is a moot point

How bout another pic? Ingwewife and open country mule deer..

Rifle is .30-06 with 1-4 Leupy Scope....

Range was 100 yds....



Ingwe

My open country mule deer rifle hasn't kilt any open country mulies yet, but I'll show her off, just because I like to!

And that's a great pic Ingwe







[img]http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp5/richman_mark/P1040427.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp5/richman_mark/2010%20Wyoming%20Antelope/P1050139.jpg[/img]

Yeah, that'd be how it worked out no doubt! Obsess and practice to 700 yds.... kill one at 150....

Just for clarification- 7 WSM isn't chambered anymore by Kimber; they are getting scarce. If I bought a different WSM and rebarreled I'd have them match the Montana contour- so weight and balance would be the same.

For informational purposes since I mentioned it, I did a pressure run-up with RL17 and the 200-NAB yesterday. I was able to hit 2700 fps, but accuracy was not good at all. Today I'll run a test between the 165-NBT and 180-NBT for accuracy and we'll see. I've shot both, a BUNCH of the 165's. But now I have a 100-yard range and installed covered bench on my property so I can really pick nits!

I have only one mule deer hunt, Wyoming many moons ago, under my belt. That said my goal to hunt them again is strong but circumstances beyond my control keep getting in the way. I already have my tools picked out and sighted in. I have a matched set of Winchester M70 7mmWSM's with 140 grain CT/Nosler 140 grain Ballistic Tips. I have cooked up a load that will shoot very well in both rifles. Others may question the BT's but I like them and feel very comfortable with that load. Good luck with your hunt. I'm jealous!

Understood and point taken but would still look to find one in 7wsm up front. I'm thinking practice to 700 and pop one at 50 yds

Yes, finding a deal on one in 7 WSM, and having it turn out to be a shooter, would be Most Best.

Ran my little test today. The 165-NBT won. MV is 2925 fps average. Here's how I will hunt that load. I'll put a 165-Accubond in the chamber (yeah, I'm one of those evil "hot" hunters, grin)... if Bucky shows up at 50 yards I will make less of a mess of a shoulder. If he shows up at 500 yards, I'll jack the AB out and chamber the next round- a 165-NBT. How's that for getting nitpicky about stuff?

Here's how my '06 shoots those 165-NBT's. Last shot is the outlier there; it was the 10th shot (shot the 180's first) and the barrel was pretty warm. The group of (4) shots is more typical. Nonetheless here's five shots:



That'll do, pig, that'll do....

The two best points so far have been to invest in your glassing skills, and your shooting speed.

Having done a fair share of mule deer hunting in open country, I would also recommend taking the time to learn where and when to look. Big Muley's act totally different than medium sized mule deer. In addition, figure out before hand what you want to shoot. If it is going to be a nice 28" buck, you have to be willing to pass on a 24"er.

As far as rifles go, a .30-06 shooting 180 gr. Hornady BTSP will kill a big buck at 600 yards, no problem. If you want something new to you, I would stick with either the .270, .280, or .30-06 in a AI configuration. Plenty of power that is still manageable in a light rifle.