Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What's your perfect whitetail rig?

Building mine right now:

Model 70
.260 rem
brux #3 stainless 1:8 twist finished to 22"
Bridges mcmillan stock
cerakoted
Loaded with 130 TTSX

It is fun!

I don't know which one is perfect but mine would be (is)a pre 64 M70 FW in 270 Winchester with the standard FW contour barrel,original M70 trigger,Leopld DD mounts and bases, and a 4X Leupold or equivilent.

I would shoot a 130 gr Nosler Partition or 130 Bitterroot(or modern day equivilent) at 3100 fps.

I have used various calibers/bullets/cartridges from 25 caliber to 300 magnums on whitetails,but have used the above 270 combination pretty much continent wide and on whitetails from dinks to those dressing close to 250 pounds and have not seen anythng that does the job any better.Makes killing whitetails astonishingly easy.

Mechanically,the pre 64 M70 works every time.Bolt travel is smooth,fast,and extraction/ejection/feeding pretty much goof proof and positive.

I have used a bunch of stocks, both wood and synthetic,and it really does not matter so long as it fits,is portable and comfortable to shoot,and aligns the eye with the sights properly.

My Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 7x57 with my Leupold 2.5 X 8.

The Perfect Whitetail Rifle.

Have been on this search for many years, and have gone through many rifles. The closest thing I have come to be my perfect deer rifle, in my style/area of whitetail deer hunting, is a Kimber Montana in .308, Talley low ring/base, Leupold 2.5-8. I am sure any of the other calibur offerings in this rifle would also be fine!

HeavtBarrel

DMc!

I like your style!!

HeavyBarrel

vacrt2002

AWSOME RIFLE!! Got several nice rifles for trade ifn your interested!! Lol

HeavyBarrel

Shiloh Sharps 1874 Saddle Rifle, 26 inch standard octagon barrel in .45-70, buckhorn rear sight and blade front with vernier sight for long range, 500 gr cast bullet over 66 grs of Kik FFFg black powder

You obviously don't do much still hunting..

Trued 700
McMillan HTG
21" Pac Nor
.308 Win
Leu Tact 3.5-10

I used to worry a good deal about equipment selection, now Im just as likely to grab my BLR in 358 win as my ruger #1 in 270 win or my browning 78 in 30/06, as I head out the door on a white tail deer hunt.
a good quality Leopold 2x7x or 3x9x scope sure helps.
they are all fully able to hit and kill anything looking like a white tail deer,Ive ever needed to shoot, out well past any reasonable range I see game at,even in the more open pine and palmetto brush ,even from a climbing tree stand 250 yards is going to an exceptionally long range and very rare shot.

I have been saving money for a few years to build a fast handling rifle in a proven whitetail cartridge - 250 Savage.

Savage Arms R&D department beat me too it. Savage 99-A

1. Action make?
~Rem 700 LA
2. BBl make, contour and length?
~Brux 3 @ 25" CeraKoted
3. Caliber and preferred bullet?
~7mm Rem MAG with 150 gr PP
4. Stock mfg and pattern?
~B&C Alaskan (Black with Grey Web)
5. Trigger?
~Tuned OldSchoolWalker @ 2#
6. Scope?
~Nikon Monarch 2-10X40
7. Mounts?
~Talley LW Lows


(Scope and mounts have been replaced since this pic. I will re-tube when this one is gone)

Here is why the unicorn is missing....killed by the 7x57.....




And I get so happy when I eat this stuff that I fart rainbows....

Currently, my LVSF / TI in .308 w/ Leupold 2.5X8.

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Only way to make it better would be if it was 7-08 like my son's.

[img:left][/img]

It works very well from a stand or slipping through the woods still hunting in the Piney Woods and swamps. The tang sight is off for most hunting.

Several years ago, I came across a .308 Browning Safari, pencil barrel on a small ring Mauser. The barrel had been floated with a camp ax (slight exaggeration) and the stock had been cut and padded about an inch short. The price was really good, so I bought it for a doner. But being curious, I bought a red box (blue nowadays) of Federal 150s, and promptly shot a 5/8" group. And then two more just under and just over that. I went back and got all the dealer had left with that lot number. Oh yes, the scope is a 4X Zeiss. It has killed deer and other critters from up close to way too far. It is my grab and go to bolt gun.

The too short stock is a blessing under two circumstances. Mt daughters like to use it, and it really works for me when heavy winter clothes are called for. It is ok in shirt sleeves as the scope is mounted enough forward to compensate.

I am an old hand and have killed a lot of both WT and MD. I qualify as a rifle looney, so I have used a lot of chamberings. I once (a long time ago and in a land far away) forgot that it might offend the game warden and shot a meat deer between the eyes with a .22LR at about 25 yards. DRT. I have used .22 center fires, a bunch with the .243, .30-30, .300 Sav., .30-06, .270, .257R and Wby., 7mmRM, .338-06 and some I have likely forgotten.

I still go out and sit and watch the deer. If I ever shoot another, it will be with a Marlin .30-30, the above .308, or a grade III BAR in .30-06.

IMHO, the .338-06, 7mmRM, and perhaps the .30-06 is more than is needed for deer. The ..308 may be ideal even for long range sniping. The .243 and under may fall short unless one has the discipline and patience to pass difficult shots. Otherwise, they will kill deer, DRT!

New technology in bullet making has changed the game for the better over the last fifty something years. I still have three '06s that I keep for the rifles they are in, not for need. I have never used any of them, but the ideal WT rifle may be the 6.5 or 7 on the .308 case. Jack

This one is about as perfect as I've done. It's a 250AI but anything from 243 to 308 would be fine.

Borden alpine
#1 rock short shank 22" 10 twist
Jewel 24oz
Adl mountain rifle
6x42 with dotz
Talleys
100gr nbt at 3130

Oops scope has been swapped since that pic. Was a 2-7 with m1 in pic. Wife thought dotz was simpler since she's never needed to shoot past 100yards or so. She might be right.

It is fun!

I don't know which one is perfect but mine would be (is)a pre 64 M70 FW in 270 Winchester with the standard FW contour barrel,original M70 trigger,Leopld DD mounts and bases, and a 4X Leupold or equivilent.

I would shoot a 130 gr Nosler Partition or 130 Bitterroot(or modern day equivilent) at 3100 fps.

I have used various calibers/bullets/cartridges from 25 caliber to 300 magnums on whitetails,but have used the above 270 combination pretty much continent wide and on whitetails from dinks to those dressing close to 250 pounds and have not seen anythng that does the job any better.Makes killing whitetails astonishingly easy.

Mechanically,the pre 64 M70 works every time.Bolt travel is smooth,fast,and extraction/ejection/feeding pretty much goof proof and positive.

I have used a bunch of stocks, both wood and synthetic,and it really does not matter so long as it fits,is portable and comfortable to shoot,and aligns the eye with the sights properly.

[/quote]

You've about nailed it for me also. I haven't quite gone to a fixed power scope and am running Talley LW. You could insert a couple other cartridges on the same platform and I'd not fuss the difference to any extent. Money being no object I'd have it "built" by one of several great smiths, at least a couple of Canadians and several across the border.
After several dozen rifles thru my hands it is where I have ended up, albeit a factory barreled fwt waiting for a McMillan (ordered but expected after the season is over).

If I could find one......
Weatherby Mark V stainless 270 Win. factory wt. 6 1/4 lbs.
Leupold VX 3 2.5-8X36 with HEAVY DUPLEX.
Just bout ANY Factory ammo would work just fine.
AMRA