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

Kimber in 7mm-08

35 Whelen H&R Handi Rifle is my favorite shooter

The vast majority of the time, I reach for my old Ruger M77 .243 with Leuopold VX2 2x7 that my father gave me in 1973. When hunting for a mature buck, I take my Win FWT Classic .270. This year, I started doe shooting with a .260 based on a Savage action.

my ideal rifle is the one I had robert gradous build me

308win
22" #4 rock 5r
pierce action
jewell
mcm rem hunter
pierce 0 moa rail
badger rings
currently wearing an NF Compact 2.5-10x42

My old Ruger stainless boat paddle 270 WIN. that was stolen years ago!
Still miss that old rifle!

My 30-40 Krag-Jorgesen Sporter model. Want too get it out in the fresh air once again. It should do the job.

My favorite has never let me down.
Remington 700 Classic 35 Whelen 22" barrel.
1.75-6x Leupold
whelennut

This is about as ideal as I can imagine.
Express sights with a 1-4X Leupy mounted in CD mounts that let it come off and back on with minute of white tail accuracy at 200 yards. kepplinger single set trigger,Half round half octagon McGowan barrel and super wood to add class.
Custom built by Leeper, chambered in .303 British and will shoot bullets from 150 to 215 very accurately, so it will handle every member of the deer family well!
Cat

The rifle I have the most confidence in for hunting bucks in the forests of Vermont is my scoped Savage 99F .358 Winchester.

There in VT the hunting is not easy. The success rate is been about 1 in 10. I found that being prepared to make a killing shot on even a running buck got the game. There is way more to it than that but spending the hours in the woods, practicing and being prepared is essential.

I just picked up a Mannlicher in 6.5X54!!
Had one in 8X56 for a bit, grweat little carbine.
The 6.5 is a bit rough, it's going to have to get some rust removed - I think I counted 18 notches on the bottom of the stock as well!!
Cat

I just picked up a Mannlicher in 6.5X54!!
Had one in 8X56 for a bit, great little carbine.
The 6.5 is a bit rough, it's going to have to get some rust removed - I think I counted 18 notches on the bottom of the stock as well!!
Cat

I admire those neat Steyr carbines. I had one in 6.5 MS however I could not get it to shoot well.

The bottom rifle in my picture above is a Steyr in .358 Win!

Mountain guide gun in 7-08

Whatever I am carrying that day, it seems to change season to season. I have killed more with a post 64 Mod.70 Featherweight in 30-06 but a Savage 99F in 300 savage is gaining rapidly.

I keep thinking my Model Seven AWRII in 308 will be my favorite whitetail rifle but it seems that every time I'm headed for the deer woods the "meat getter" I reach for is my lucky rifle that doesn't know how to miss and that's a Model Seven AWR in 7mmSAUM. It's the older teflon coated stainless version and I've used it several years.

Gotta try 63 more, before I make up my mind !

And all 63 will work just fine! Then whatta ya gonna do?

This used to be an easy answer.....an FN Mauser Custom chambered in .30-06. For many years is was my only "serious" whitetail rifle. I owned and hunted with other rifles, but this was the one I picked up when hunting a particular big deer and things were on the line.

Over the last 36 years that rifle has produced 94 one shot kills (never needed a second shot with this rifle) and only two misses (both my fault). After more than 5000 rounds through it, the accuracy has began to fall off a bit.....but I still use it when I need a confidence boost.

Today I own a lot more rifles and tend to choose them depending on where I am hunting that day.....however some get more use than others.

When hunting at close range and thick brush I most often choose a Ruger Carbine in .44 Magnum. Not my most accurate rifle but totally reliable, fast handling and deadly at 150 yards or less. More accurate and with just a bit more range is a Marlin 1895 in .45-70....but it's heavier and not quite as fast to get into action so the Ruger gets more stand time. Both are near perfect for close range action.

For day-to-day, do-it-all hunting I tend to choose a rifle with a bit more range(up to 350 yards or so....which is long range to me). I hunt a lot with a Savage 99EG in .358, but it's actually an "honest" 300 yard gun. However for a combination of power and range it's very good.

No, today my "best" whitetail rifle would "almost" be a Ruger Mannlicher Carbine in .308. Short, fast handling, accurate and able to reach out as far as I care to shoot.

This would be my choice if I didn't own a super-accurate Savage 99F (also in .308). Unusual for a 99....this rifle will keep 5 shots inside an inch at 100 yards and so it beats out the Ruger as my "perfect" whitetail rifle today.....except on those days when I need the confidence boost of the old Mauser.

Like Texas Rick, I have killed far more whitetails with my .30-06 Fwt than any of my other rifles. However, about 15 or 16 years ago, I had a a .257 AI built on a Mexican Mauser action using a Krieger barrel and a Rimrock stock. I had it built specifically to use to hunt Coues whitetails, but I have taken a few Texas whitetails and couple of desert mule deer with it as well--and a few pronghorns. My step-daughter used it to take a mule deer at slightly over 400 yards last year. I keep designing lightweight deer rifles "in my head" (as my wife says), but this one is "the one" for now.