Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Best caliber for hunting long range whitetails .

Not enough knockdown power

Not about power, she's a helluva wind bucker.

Gunner

Interesting, Bob. I've been "overwhelmed" by the finality and effectiveness of the .24's and .25's on deer-sized game out to beyond 400 yards, and they still pack a wallop on coyotes out to at least 940 (the farthest I've witnessed). This is based on, ohhh probably about 40-50ish WT, MD, black bear, BH sheep, and caribou, so definitely not the final word, just my experience and observation. Of course, appropriate and very capable bullets were used for the application at hand, in most every case. The great majority of those game animals went straight down, or no more than a few steps. Granted blood trails sometimes aren't overly generous, but bullet selection and placement make more of a difference in game recovery than blood trails, IME.

I've just found the 7mm's and up to be more than needed for this size of game animal until you start taking shots from very far away.

Jordan you likely have seen the 6mm's both used more than me..

I will defer to your experience with them but they still don't make my all time hit parade.

That's an interesting bullet. How's the accuracy?

In calm conditions and if I do my part she's a regular 5/8ths" shooter for three at 100 with a hefty dose of Retumbo.

Gunner

Custom barrel?

No Sir, factory 10 twist 26" stainless.

Gunner

Doesn't take much to do the deed at 600. I have been playing with the 6.5wsm for a couple years now and think it might be close to the best, not sure it is much better than my 243AI, but I will give it a small margin.

Correct, and not to hi-jack, but I need to get with you on my 28" barreled 338-378 and the 300 gr Accubonds.

Gunner

Like I say, Bob, I'm hardly the final word on the issue, but I've been impressed with the way the .24's and .25's have performed.

Luckily, there are plenty of platforms and bullets available, so that even the most discriminating shooter/hunter can be satisfied

280 AI with a 140 gr BT.

JD338

I will put in a vote for .270 Weatherby mag.

Brother and I put in a good sized food plot that was 500-550 yards from our deer stand. We also have a rifle range that we can set up targets to 550 yards, so marking the target knobs on a 8-32 burris black diamond makes life easy on placing shots.

Over the years shooting a 7 mag with everything from 120-160g bullets, they all work well, as always shot placement is key.

There seems to be a dramatic difference in shock effect when going to a 7 STW and starting the 140 bullets off at 3550 vs the 7 mag with the 140g bullets at 3250. We have killed a lot of deer at that distance with the 140g Nosler C/T bullet with the 7 STW with a muzzle velocity of 3550, and not one of them has ever taken a step. I also use muzzle breaks on my 7 mags and 7 STW's so I actually see the bullet's impact along with the animal's reaction to bullet impact.

If you shoot deer in the lungs and miss the shoulder, they run more often than not, so we shoot their legs out from under them, which is not very popular, but tracking deer through a thick jungle is simply no fun at all.

When shooting at distances like this, you have to know your rifle's capability, characertistics of the ballisitics of your cartridge, and know the wind...or do not take the shot.

We actually had a wind flag in the middle of our food plot that stayed out year round.

I might add that the 300 Winchster with a 180g Sierra or Ballistic tip loaded with 75.5g of R#22 flattens deer just as well, but the bullet drop is horrendous compared to the 7mm STW.

id go with 300wsm my .02

There is no "Best Caliber" I kill them year round most often with a 6mm 30 cal. and 338 most shots are between 450 and 800 yards all have worked fine. If conditions are poor I lean on the 338, in good conditions most are taken with a 6mm. My general hunting aside from crop tags is done with a 300 wsm.

As for best Caliber hand down my 338 Norma with a 300 grainer, is it needed NO does it kill with authority YES. Best is a relative term there are plenty that are enough. If you want to knock the crap out of them then there is no comparison, bigger is better (but not always needed)

Smoke I have a break on my sendero and I have only shot one deer with it but I saw the deer in the scope when the bullet hit him. If I didn't have a break I mite not be able to handle the recoil. With around 100 grains of powder I would agree that most people could not handle the recoil without a break

Brakes are the only way to fire high powder capacity firearms with comfort. Especially if one is going to actually practice firing it.

been sittin here reading this whole thread, u-all have some intresting ideas about white tails and what it takes to kill them. my comment would be its not what you shoot them with its where you hit-um. i think thats called shot placement.we take off about 300 to 350 whitetails a year here on the ranch. does weigh 100# to 130# bucks weigh from 190# to 240#, you can shoot a deer in the gut with damn near any round and that paunch full of grass will stop the round almost like you shot it with a.22, the deer will still die but not a hell of a lot quicker than if you blew off leg up high.over the years ive seen whitetails hit every where you can hit one, with every round you can think of, and nothing beat shot placement. as for muzzle breaks, if you need a break, you have a lot more gun than you need to kill a whitetail. dont care how far your shooting.rio7