Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada What's the perferred deer cartridge for guys in Canada?

forslund;
Welcome to the 'Fire from the south Okanagan.

You don't know any folks from the Cherryville area do you?

I ask only because I used to shoot against a pair of brothers with that last name who were from up there.

Anyway, it's no matter really, welcome here.

Regards,
Dwayne

Hello, my Northern neighbors,

I am way down south of you, in North Carolina and Georgia, but I went out of my way to get not one, but two SMLE's. They are both 303B, and they both shoot well. I wanted at least one to hunt whitetails with. My first is a 1945 Long Branch that was made in Canada. It is a tack driver with the ladder type aperture sights. It has been sporterized, but it was tastefully done. The second is a 1916 that was made in Birmingham, England. It is a bit rougher, due to age and hard use, but the bore and action are fine and it shoots nicely as well. I hand load my cartridges, and use a 180 grain bullet in a Sierra Game King. I also love and shoot the 7X57, and it is in a Mexican Mauser. My very favorite deer rifle thus far however, has been my 280. I like the range that it can give me, and it is my most accurate rifle except for an AR15 in our now standard military cartridge. My longest deer taken thus far, was with the 280 at 415 yards in South Georgia. I was thrilled when I saw the deer drop, as I had practiced for the long shot a lot. I had doubts that it had enough power to take a big deer at those ranges, but it hit slightly left of where the tail connects to the rear end, and did a complete pass through and exited to the right of the breast bone area. She was the biggest doe in a herd of about 22-24 deer in a bunch. I had a good rest, so I took the shot. I also shot a nice 8 point buck about 25 minutes later.

I just wanted you fellows to know that there are some, south of the border, that understand the fine ole lady, the 303 Brit, and know a bit about her history of service and in sporting fields. I am still looking forward to taking a deer with mine...probably the Long Branch.

Hi Guys, I have just joined here and this thread seems the perfect place to jump in I spent 35 yrs hunting in Alberta and my first rifle was a sporting type No4mk1* beautifully done with pistol grip stock etc. because they were so inexpensive and plentifull I at last count have 19 of them over the yrs.before I started reloading factory 150gr ammo worked fine for deer, why I got talked into a 300 win mag I don't know but it got sold after a short time I had been shooting black powder for a few yrs when in 1987 my hunting partner decided we should hunt with it I never looked back and many deer moose and pronghorn have fallen to my muzzleloaders and BPCR's I moved to British Columbia 5 odd yrs ago and built a house etc so haven't had any time for hunting here yet or got a new partner that I can work with,when I do I will have a hard time not taking one of the .303's out along with my new Marlin 45/70 guide gun in case of Grizz. cheers Ian.

Welcome Ian. Glad you joined. Have fun, find a partner, and get to the hills!

Shot this deer on Sunday with my Leeper built Ruger .in 303 British with the express sights on it.
great cartridge and a great rifle!
I love the .303 Brit as a cartridge , just because som many seem to trash it - it has never let me down on any rifles I have ever shot it in!
Cat

I use a .300WM for everything, I needed a gun that will drop all species and provide some grizz protection on northern BC moose and elk hunts.

With a cushy recoil pad and scope setup that works well for me recoil isn't a problem. I put 120 rounds through it before hunting with it to get comfortable and its performed well on deer and moose so far with minimal meat damage using 165 gr Barnes TSX factory loaded ammo.

.303 in our deer camp.

From the photos that I have seen , Bill Leeper hasn't been given the credit he is due for the great gunwork he has done over the years.

It would be fun to see some various close ups of your rifle, and hear you tell of what all he did on your rifle.

Congratulations on the nice buck!

I've splashed that rifle on three or four different sites, and Bill's name gets used a lot by me, for sure!
here is a link to some pics on the single shot forum for you to look at.
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...eper_s_303_build_kills_suppe#Post5854003
Cat

i know i,am late in this but your mom would have paid under 50.oo fo the gun and yes i hunt with a 303 savage ,30-30,250-3000,308

For quite a number of years I killed all my deer and moose with one sinlge rifle, that being my 284win, loaded with 139gr. Hornady BTSP's.

In more recent years I've used with good effect, the following
25'06 (100gr. Part or TSX)
270WSM (130gr. Accubond)
358Win (200gr. Hornady SP)
7mm-08 (120gr. TSX)
280AI (150gr. Ballistic Tip)
300WSM (165gr. Interbond)

Sadly my deer hunting will be done with a game cam until next fall. My daughters are coming to visit in late December, andshooting will be done at least one day. They insist.

Randy

Well, I can tell you that in Northern Alberta a lot of people like to shoot the 300WM, 300WSM, and 338WM. I do own a 300WM but I find the recoil at the range tends to be a little stout. I prefer the 270 myself with a nice premium bullet but I recognize I'm in the minority.

ruger does 303 in their No 1

ruger does 303 in their No 1

308 or a 303 here.

This year my 303#1 and the second my 375 H&H (just because it needs to be broken in. The deer here are a good size, but not aggresive.)

Did you have any accuracy issues with your 303? What bullets did you use? I ask because of the bore diameter. JB reports that it's 0.313 inches.

Oddly enough, one of the better grouping bullets in my 303 Ruger is a .308 Hornady 220 gr. RN, and I've tried it several times just to rule it that it might be a fluke.
The only bullet that it does not like is a Barnes, all others work very well it seems.

Interesting. I think the long shank has something to do with that.

Have you pushed the pressure past 49k? If so, what was the result? I expect that the brass would take a beating.