Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting whats your ideal whitetail rifle

lefthanded tikka t3 lite stainless in 270win topped with a 4x12x40 swift premier.

That's not a featherweight in the photo, is it?

Anyway, I'm not a fan of light rifles, anymore. Something about 8.3 - 8.5 pounds all in works for me.

I always seem to gravitate back to this one - 7SAUM in a Bansner.

One of my favorites. And my bedroom in the background!

Fate.

Honestly, I don't think I have a favorite... so many rifles and so many situations. I guess if I do it's my Savage 99 in .303 Savage...unless I'm field hunting from a stand, then it's any one of several scoped bolt guns, usually a 700 in .223 lately.

I live in Ohio and we now have wacky rules regarding rifles, so I will say a Marlin in 444 or 375. 45 Colt works well too. If I am out west, I will take my M70 fwt in 6.5x55 I put in a Win-Tuff laminate stock.

Currently very fond of a Tikka T3 and Nosler 48 Patriot, both in 7-08. Both wear 3.5-10x40 VX3's.

ruger ultralight in .243, aftermarket trigger and a burris C4 scope.

I think the second one is about right. I pack a Ruger 77 NkII in 7x57 with a Leupold 2-7x 30mm scope, it is my everywhere game killer.

Mine is my Remington 7600 carbine in 30-06 topped with a 2-7x32. Can't beat it for a woods rifle.

Have to agree with Troutfisher, my favorite for New York state is a Remington 760 carbine in 30-06 with a 1.5X5 Leupold Vari X III. The caliber isn't important, it could be a .243, .270, .308, etc. It's the gun itself and the way it handles in tight quarters. I'd never argue calibers with anyone, it's quality bullets placed properly, not caliber. What's important to me where I hunt is a fast handling gun with a lowpower scope that has a large field of view so a moving deer at close range in brush can be picked up quickly in the scope before the cover swallows him up.

Where caliber does matter to me, is when I hunt extremely thick balsam swamps loaded with mountain laurel, like above Roundout Resevoir off of Yeagerville Rd. Places like that I like to carry a Remington 870 12 gauge, 20 inch smoothbore slug barrel with a 1.5X4.5 Bushnell sitting in old school Weaver Pivot mounts. There is a lot to be said for a 437.5 grain Foster slug traveling a sedate 1600 FPS threading its way through mountain laurel and finding its way to the boiler room. It handles just like the 760, or does the 760 handle just like the 870??

I hunt deer in a couple of different types of terrain with a couple of different techniques. That means I have a couple of different perfect whitetail rifles. but here are three.

1) For hunting on the ground, still hunting or tracking in the snow would choose my M77 MKII 358 win, 20" barrel in a MPI stock with a 4x leupold.

2)for general stand hunting I have hawkeye with 21.5" barrel in 6.5 creedmore. McMillan stock and 6x42 leupold.

3) For sitting over longer shots I have MKII with a 23" #4 rock in 7mmSAUM and a McMillan with a 3-12 Burris Euro diamond.

Both left handed: Remington 700s semi custom one in 308 the other in 300 win mag. It is a toss up which I carry.

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Sako action with medium weight barrel and a McMillan Sako Classic stock wearing a 4-12x50 meopta in a 25-06ai.
Just hold deer to 350 yards and watch them fall

I had one of those many years ago, except it wore a 2-7x Leupold. Great rifle! I traded it in on a new Ruger Mk II LH in .30/06. That has been my go-to deer rifle since. It now wears a Leupold 2.5-8x. I consider it ideal for me. Some people say a .30/06 is more than is need for whitetails and in principle I agree. I have killed deer with much smaller cartridges and will do so again. However, I just have complete confidence in that old /06.

There are a lot of nice choices in this thread!

I am grateful and lucky to have a few to work with. That said, my ideal rifle is my Marlin 336 in .30-30. The more I use it, the more I am convinced that it is ideal for how I hunt. My other two rifles are bad dudes as well!

Most of my whitetail hunting is in the open country of the west.. I use my .25-06 or .270 quite a bit.. When hunting for really trophy bucks or on a special stand I have in the east, I use a .300.. The only rifle I ever built for hunting whitetails is a 21" barreled 7mm-08. Used it on my last two whitetailed deer.. I am thinking of putting a .300 Savage barrel on a 700 action for future whitetail hunts at short range..
If I were selecting a rifle for only whitetail hunting on the east coast, except for selected long range shots, I would buy a Rem. slide action in .30-06...

When there is deer that need killing the rifle I most often reach for is my .280AI with a 3.5 x 10 VX 3 slinging the 120 grain Nosler BT.

Near or far, big or small it'll get the job done.

When I am hunting the fields it is a Remington 700 Longrange Stainless 7mm Remington Magnum with 10x42 SWFA Milquad,right now using Federal blue box 150 Grain.
When I am hunting the woods I really like my 1898 Mauser ,8mm IS
with an old Leupold 4x longtube scope,loaded with Sierra 150 grain to about 2700 fps.Double set triggers .

I've toted a tang safety Ruger in 270 with a 6X Leupold for a lot of years. The only trouble is that as I get older, it seems to get heavier.

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