The small rifle thread got me pondering, who here hunts with bigger bores? Bout 5 years ago I went to Alberta on a whitetail hunt. Interesting to see the rifles folks brought. I brought my 660 6 ai 80 gr bt combo, everyone else had 7 mags, 300 win mags, even a Kodiak bear guide had a 338 edge!! Haha

The bucks are huge bodied bastards for sure. I killed mine making a scrape, 300 ish yards, 1 and done, biggest buck of the group, the kodiak guide killed the smallest. Not saying there’s anything wrong with big bores, just wondering what folks like. 👍

I don't make a habit out of it, but I did use my 350 RemMag one time for whitetail hunting. It was decisive. Had to roll deer over to find the blood trail (if ignoring blood spray on trees behind where deer was standing!).

This'll be a good one. I am guilty of using whatever I feel like. Used my 375 Improved one, carried my 458 Win a little, 338 Win, 35 Newton, 35 Whelen 7600 is among my favorites, 45-70, 444 Marlin...

Hi. Just to make sure I understand, was your cartridge a 6mm Ackley Improved something?
If not, please state which cartridge you chose, thanks.

Yes, 6mm rem ackley improved, 80 gr nosler ballistic tip at 3650.👊🏻

I shot two whitetail does last year with a 338 win mag. I like the round.

That reminds me of a buddy’s uncle when I was in high school, only rifle he owned was a mark v 378, used for deer and elk both, killed each every year

Hell yeah. It’s a favorite around my place.

Now that fella was serious about killing stuff!

I use big bore lever actions quite a bit and have always liked em, but mainly because lever actions will always be my favorite. I’m a deer, black bear, and hog hunter.

.375 Winchester
.44 Mag
.444 Marlin
45/70

I still use them on some hunts, but haven’t noticed that they put deer down any quicker than my 30/30’s, or 243’s and 22/250. Stuff seems to die about as quickly with either.

Agreed Paint. You don't have to need something to use it. Sometimes it's just fun to use a cool lever gun..

Forgot to add, the mighty 348 Winchester!

I’m sweating a .348 baaaaadddddd! Wanted one for years!

Killed my biggest blacktail with a 458 Winchester. Several whitetails and blacktails with the 45/70.

Thanks for clarifying that detail for me!

Browning Montana Centennial 45-70...






Winchester 1895 40-72






50 Express, Colt Lightning...





Bullard 40-65 and Montana Centennial 45-70







Winchester 1886 deluxe 45-70...





Winchester 1894 32-40 takedown...

How about this one? '86 Browning carbine .45-70 shooting 405 gr cast with black powder.....

I use most all bores but lean toward the larger ones because I am partially color blind. It takes a VERY heavy blood trail for me to find a deer, so I prefer a DRT deer or at least 2 large holes leaving a gusher of a blood trail. When I use rifles with small holes through the barrel, I depend on my buddies to help me if the dang thang runs off. Favorites are the 9X57, 38-55, 9.3X62, and 45-70.

I’ve shot whitetails, pronghorn and mule deer with a 340wby. Even at 500+ yds, the 210g partitions performed admirably:). Sometimes it was a matter of why not, sometimes it was because elk season overlapped, and sometimes it was just the confidence in a very accurate, well known rifle.

Ahhhh me too. Got a safe full of shiit I don’t use now, rather spend $$ on hunts instead of rifles at this stage in the game so unless I get a really good deal on 1 I’ll continue to dream. 😅

Like 👊🏻

Jud, this made me chuckle.
The first time I hunted in Saskatchewan years ago I brought a .280 – the smallest chambering in the party.
The rest of the crew heard SK held much larger deer than their locales and they wanted to be gunned-up for such monterous creatures.
Present were a 300 wby, multiple 300 RUM and a handful of 300 Win Mags – to kill a whitetail – over a grain/hay pile @ 100 yards.

I don't make a habit of it, but if I were in big bear country I would probably carry something with a bit more authority just to be sure. A few years ago my son and I hunted moose in upper Alberta around Fort James in the Peace river area. There was a very big grizzly hanging around camp- probably getting fat off the entrails from the moose killed in the area and the black bears he had killed. The outfitter estimated this bear at around 1200 lbs so my 338 WM seemed a bit puny when we came upon his fresh tracks a couple times....

Several guys in our deer camp have the "one gun for everything" philosophy so they carry 300 Mags for just about everything- deer, elk, bears, etc...

Bob

Haha oh ya people are funny. I really don’t care what folks use, but ya, show up at those camps you’d think you were huntin Cape buffalo!! 😂

I have used .375 Win
>38/55
.444 Marlin
.44 mag.
45/70
and my current favorite .405 Win.
Lots of big bore handguns as well.

The largest rifle I have is a 7-08. I doubt there's anything I'll ever hunt where I need more.

Have a real desire for a 375 H&H but that's purely for play - not because I "need" it for anything.

I did deer hunt with a 480 Ruger in handgun last year - unsuccessful.

Not really big bore, but I'll carry a little .358 Win often. I have used a .375 Ruger for kicks.

Biggest bores that get used yearly for deer are the muzzleloaders....but that's only until I can go centerfire.

Local high fence I frequently cruise.

Hunter shot buck with a 338 Lapua at well under 100 yards. I have no idea what bullet. Zero blood trail. Could not find the buck.

Three days later he was feeding in field like nothing was wrong. We took him out with a high shoulder shot for one, because high shoulder shots are my preference, and two, we wanted to not interfere with the original wound channel.

On the original shot the buck was angling away. Impact was a little too far back hitting only the off side lung. Barring infection, the buck probably would have lived, but it was looking pretty infected.

I believe high fenced deer have a higher will to live. Might start requiring .50 cal.

Nah, shot placement trumps everything.

Well so much for the behind the shoulder shot!! 😅

Winchester 1886 (reproduction)45-70 with a cast 405gr bullet

50cal round ball over 90gr of black powder

Hell ya Tom 👊🏻 Dandy

I would have bet you $1000 the hunter cleaned missed. Hunter swore it was a solid shot. We searched many hours, no deer, no blood, nothing. Three days later when I saw the deer up and feeding and put glass on him and saw the exit hole I was in disbelief.

Winchester 94 in 38-55

Here’s a good one outta Daryl Holland’s monthly email

keyboard testing software online

Is that a shed out buck Tom?

Within boundaries of course, I believe bullet selection relative to shot placement is way more critical than caliber.

The buck would have died right there with the same shot placement from a .243 and Bergers, guaranteed. Yet he soaked up the 338 Lapua and kept on trucking.

With Rage broadheads, hit a deer anywhere in the body and it dies, not vitals required.

Exactly, it’s a bullet problem not a caliber problem. Both were probably shootin Barnes! 😂😂

I can only assume but based on the hunter's rig, definitely a long range sniper rig, I'm betting the bullet was a Berger. But on deer less than 100 yards at 338 Lapua velocities, most 338 bullets will just pencil through.

Reminds me of a pard I took to Montana 15 years ago for antelope. 760 yards, 210 Berger via 300 rum. Shot I saw dust fly up behind his goat, told him he hit high, no reaction whatsoever from the goat. Ran probably 150 and bedded down. Thought wtf??? We waited and watched, pretty soon he laid his head down, we made our way over to him, deader than hell. Perfect behind the shoulder through both lungs, 30 cal hole in and out, no bloodshot whatsoever.

Shot most of mine with a .300 Win or Roy, few with '06. When I was a kid .30s were considered small bores by some. Maybe cuz Taylor said so.

Here on the CF .30s are considered grossly excessive, best I can discern. Maybe should apologize to all those deer I overkilled.

Lately been using a .375R and like it just fine. Right out back. Seems to kill quickly with relatively soft construction bullets.

When I was younger I killed deer with 7RM, 300WM but my go to’s are 7-08, 6.5 creed, 308, 270. I killed a deer a few years back with a 350 RM. If I went to Canada I’d likely tote a 7mm of sorts…7-08 or maybe 280🤷🏻‍♂️ Shoot what you want or feel comfortable with I guess.

I have killed several mule deer with a 338mag, 225gr Hornady & 225 gr Barnes X , Whitetail with a 9.3x62 with 286gr Nosler partition and several whitetail with a Rossi 92 in 45 colt, 255gr hard cast.

I've used my 375H&H on blacktail and a few coyotes. Also have used a 300RUM. Killed a few elk with a .54cal front stuffer.
One small blacktail of about 100lbs was shot behind the shoulder with the 375. He made a death run of about 150 yards shooting blood out of both sides 10ft. I think the 257Rob kills em deader.

Shotgun with RIFLE barrel.

Nice. Looking. Deer.

Amazing how tough some critters can be.

I knocked down a hog a few weeks ago with a bad (high) shot with an Interlock in a 7mm-08 at maybe 120 yards. She hit the ground behind some brush, squealed, and then bulldozed her way out of my view. Looked and looked for her, but only found a decent smear of blood on a tree about 100yds away, and that smear was high up. I'm pretty sure she's back with the same sounder of pigs and hitting my food plots again. I must have just missed the spine but shocked it pretty hard.






Anybody every see that video of the boar in the highway getting hit by the Mustang? Rolled him down the road like a big bowling ball and then he hops up and trots off like no big deal.

Great pics Shrapnel and Ingwe. Those old lever guns are gooood stuff.

I’ll have to send this onto Gunner. I know he likes to put some lead in the air sometimes.

Those were all killed with 19th century Creedmoors…

We had an aoudad hunter one year show up with a 300 Wby. He smacked a big ram in "no man's land" much the way you described Clint, except that the ram dropped like a rock and laid there for a full 5 minutes. When we got up within 100 yards of him he got up, trotted off, and we never saw him again. Very little blood.

My .375 H&H has killed a few small doe antelope and a ~100 lb wolf.

Yeah I'm a big fan of big bores. I hunt the 45-70 a lot and have used other big bores in the past

Yes, local biologists said he most likely survived EHD. According to him there were quite a few bucks shot south of town this year that had said their antlers.

.404 Jeffery

Weird. Looked like he had something up there, wasn’t sure

That’s what I’m talking about!



Yes sir. The good ones.

Killed more with the 35 Whelen than anything else. Great pictures fellas

That’s pretty cool Teal. I have a 480 SBH and the 500 JRH. Both are gems and I hope to make meat with them eventually myself. My 44 SBH does well too. What’s your 480? SBH OR SRH?

338 Win Mag. (Raised hell on deer with 33 Win. Flat points at full tilt 338 mag. velocity.)

300 Win mag.

45-70

45-120 Ruger #1 with 458 Lott equivalent loads

470 N.E. Ruger #1 conversion- used both 470 bullets and 480 Ruger bullets hotrodded. Shot a buck right at dark one time in the flooded woods. I think that rumble and echo lasted a full minute. Haha

375 Ruger

375 H&H

They were all fun at the time. But then I realized how much more enjoyable it is to shoot a smaller caliber that doesn't ring the bells. With the right bullets, the smaller calibers can be almost equally dramatic.

I got one of those too, with a 45-70 Winchester...

Have used > 30 caliber on numerous deer, antelope, and even a black Hawaiian ram.

338-06
338 Win Mag
348 Winchester
350 Rem Mag
9.3x64
375 H&H
44 Rem Mag pistol
and 50 caliber muzzleloader.

30cal and under

22 LR
222
22-250
243 Win
257 Robert's
6.5x55
270 Win
300 H&H

My 35 Whelen is my regular now even though I have a perfectly good 270 and 280. And I use a 250 gr rolling out at 2650-ish. That’s 338WM territory. Knocks them over and reduces tracking with minimal meat damage. Less blood shot than with the 270 or 280. I’ve also used a 450 Marlin with 350 FP and a Ruger No.1 45-70 that I loaded on the stout side with 350 and 400 grain hard cast bullets. They all worked well dropping deer right now, guaranteed exit holes and lots of blood if you need to track one.

I used a .444 marlin lever gun for some years for a hunt in Ohio I do every year. Last year I purchased a 350 Legend in a bolt gun. I have fun shooting the .444 but I much prefer the bolt gun. The .444 certainly killed deer. The rest of the year I hunt with bolt actions so its just a preference of mine. I don't think I would argue the usefulness of a lever gun in the woods or the .444 chambering.

SBH- part of the Lipsey's run. Got it with Biden bux. If we're gonna ruin the economy, I'm gonna do it on something that helps me eat lol.

How did the bullet hold up? I have a bunch and I've been pondering using the 80gr BT at a more modest velocity from a 6mmBR for the local whitetails.

Hotrod 45/70, 350Speer at 2100 from my 86EL. 80 yards through the throat patch as he peeked over the brush at me.

450 Howell, 350 gr. sp hp, 1 fun gun,1 and dun. Rio7

Wow. Cool rifle and cartridge Rio. And man, what a buck!

Well Jud, according to some here I use WAY too much 'gun' for WT hunting.
I also feel like Beretz who said,

"

Frequently I choose the 'caliber' aka cartridge based on my MOOD. Most of the time it's THE rifle I'm choosing , rather
than the cartridge.

So far the largest rifle cartridge I've used on WT is the 8 mm RM.
I have killed several WT with the 44 RM in Ruger SBHK, SW 629.

I like 270 W, 7mm RM, & 30-06. I will choose TOO much OVER Not enuff every time.
*caveat*, "not enuff' for me has to do with longer range shooting and little time to shoot.

Jerry

That’s a nice one!

I’ve got the shorter barreled version at 4 5/8’s if I remember correctly

Great picture.

I'd like a little shorter one myself. I'm trying to talk myself into saving the sheckles to send this off to Bowen for a bob of the barrel and some other work.

Does a 35 Remington count?

For a good spell, my only centerfire I hunted big game with was my Ruger SS/Lam in 338 Win Mag. I've killed pronghorn, mule deer, and Sitka Deer with it using 210gr/200gr Noslers.

Magnum Research BFR in 500 JRH is quite a pistol too if you wanted to jump to 50, their 5 1/2” barrel is about perfect on it.

It's certainlyl larger at 35 caliber. Another well-loved cartridge up here. One of my fantasy guns is a 336 in 35 Rem. They are currently so stupid priced I can afford to wait.

During Bradley gunnery training I lit up a jackrabbit with the 25MM at about 250 meters. Does that count?

I'd say that takes the prize! ...grin...

Does a 12ga count? It's coming out of rifled barrel. In the county where I hunt, it's always been slug only. About 2 years ago, they made it legal to use a straight wall cartridge. Last week I ordered a 350 Legend barrel for my Encore. As I get older, the 12ga is starting to kick my ass.

3" 12ga Breneke Magnum Crush 1.5 oz.

I've shot a couple of deer with this 480 Ruger SRH.

Lets set the record straight... I love guns... and have bolt actions for hunting in a wide variety of calibers... I try to hunt with all of them (after all that is what they are for) So every so often I end up taking along my 338WM and even my 375 H&H... I have even taken the old 458 WM... Just shoot them through the ribs and you have no more meat damage (sometimes less) than with any other caliber. I enjoy sitting in the woods or stand with the gun thinking about it and often times thinking back on when I had it out before and what happened. I have killed a pile of deer with the 338wm for some reason... I guess it is just a luck gun for me... But them again, I have killed deer with a .223 and with .243 and others as well... after all they all will work. So there is no reason to worry about what gun someone is hunting with as long as it is legal... they may have a sentimental attachment to it for all we know and that is why they are using it...

That’s what I use. Great caliber and cartridge for here (and rifle). I bought it at Service Merchandise in downtown Presque Isle a long long time ago

Hit this buck with a 460 Weatherby. This is all I could find

That's what you get for shooting cup n core bullets. A solid would "let you eat right up to the hole"

I'd like to do one up right with a new stock and rust blue it right up and a medium sized lever loop.

I carried it for many years and then started playing the 7600 game. Smart money would have been to stick with the Marlin and just go kill stuff My 7600 carbine has sat in the safe the last few years. Relearning what I already knew.

[quote=hanco]Hit this buck with a 460 Weatherby. This is all I could find









Jerry

A few.......




45-70



45-70



375 H&H




376 Steyr




9.3 x 74R




9.3 x 62




350 Rem. Mag




35Whelen



338 RUM




325 WSM

ya!

GWB

I don't run big magnums. But my goto deer/black bear guns are 450 bushmaster, 35 Whelen and 358win.


For my uses, they are great. I don't shoot far....don't always get perfect broadside shots...and hunt some nasty stuff....I like to hit em hard and have 2 holes.

The smallest I use is a 30-06. Depending on where I am hunting. I use a 35 Whelen or a 300 Weatherby most of the time. Never regret it either.

Shot me a Blacktail doe years past with a 12 gauge slug. She died right quick.




P

405 Winchester on a smallish Ca Blacktail was what I expected .Lg hole in and out and dead right there, one of those you could eat right up to the hole numbers.

I frequently use a .45-70, a Marlin GG. As someone already said on this thread, I choose the rifle a given day, very seldom does the caliber weigh into my choice.

The vast majority deer I've gotten with 30 caliber or bigger (for a lack of a better description) died more "right now".From what I read here, my experience on deer with smaller-than-30 calibers is way different than most on here, but then again they probably killed more than I have. I've sent most of my smaller calibers down the road for that reason. They did their job, but not decisively. 22 centerfire is legal here for deer. Not even on my radar.

I lived in NE PA for 4 years. Lots'o .222's and .220 Swifts in the deer woods. .243 Win was considered a "big" gun. One acquaintance bought a new 7 RM. You would have thought he bought a Howitzer for all the grief he caught.

I’ve killed a lot of bucks with my .376 steyr, .225gr Hornady SP’s at around 2,800fps. Shot 3 with my .35Whelen AI with 225’s. But most of the deer I’ve killed have been with a .30-06 with 180gr or 165gr. My sons killed all of his game with a 7-08 with 120’s or 140’s.

My old man religiously hunted with a 700 .22-250 with 50gr bullets. Killed a couple really nice bucks. He hated recoil.

I'd have to break out my 35mm pics, but I have killed a couple whitetail does with my .450 Marlin, a decent whitetail buck and antelope doe with my .375 H&H, as well as a few others.
My first season Montana wolf in 2009 was also via .375 H&H. It worked.

I used to hunt deer with a couple 375magnums I had back in the day.

I got tired of lugging heavy guns and went back to my 257 Roberts. Win/win!

50 caliber muzzleloader. Round balls and various Cabot.

300Win being the biggest high power round. 7mag also.
Elk rifles, figured just use them since they were already in use.

Have had a 338 for almost 30 years, never hunted it.
Bought it right, use it for ballast in the safe.

I've shot most of my deer with larger bore stuff. I tagged a few with a Ruger 96/44 when I was in MN. None of those were DRT, but none of them made it more than maybe 100 yards, either.

Been living here for 16 years now, and this state is no centerfire rifle, so they've all been shotgun since 2006. I got one with an old school foster slug from a 12 gauge my 1st or 2nd season down here from about 40 yards. It made maybe 2 bounds after getting hit before it dropped.

The rest have been with sabot rounds from 20 gauges, which have been one DRT and the rest were all runners. Like the 44 Mag rifle, none of them have ran very far, though.

I have used a .375 cal. for all of my hunting since the early ‘80’s, and will continue to do so! Is it needed/necessary for Whitetail/Antelope sized big game ……absolutely not! But, it kills just as effectively as the smaller diameter bullets ……often with much less tissue damage (bloodshot meat) than many of the high velocity smaller bullets.

I still follow my …..one cartridge, one bullet, one load, one zero for “all” of my hunting! Do I have and shoot other stuff….yes! But, hunt with only one! memtb

I've killed a few with a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, an 1894 in .44 magnum, and an 1894C in .357 magnum. Other than those it's all been .30 cal. and under for me unless you count muzzleloaders and shotgun slugs.

Used a 450 marlin for a while. Reasoning that when hunting with my two young sons, I could put a big hole in something they shot if need be. Shot a decent 8 pt that they couldn’t see. Double lung. Whole going out was same size as whole going in. Great blood trail but deer did go 100 yards. This year I will use my newly acquired Sako 375 Weatherby. Just because I love it.

Killed my last deer with a .30R Blaser, 185 gr. bullet, ballistically equivalent to a .300 H&H I suppose. And the one before that with a .375 H&H / 300 gr. bullet. I might take the next one with my .222 Rem and 45 gr. TSX. Just for variety.

In my experience lung shot deer with no major bone involvement tend to run off, irrespective of cartridge. DRT is rare.




P

585 gr bullet from a .45-100 Shiloh Sharps

Jeez, I can’t believe it. According to some, folks would flinch too much to gather groceries with a big bore. 😂

I’m kinda a big bore fan too, 338, several 358’s, 375 win etc. they work pretty handily 👍

So far maxed out with the 7 MM Mag but this year the 375 H&H will
be bloodied. Either a deer or hog is catching one.

GreggH

I usually use a .30 cal or smaller on deer.

That said, I have used a .338 Win Mag and .35 Whelen just to "blood" them. I haven't used the .338 again for deer unless both deer and elk are open at the same time.

The .35 Whelen worked fine but I gave it to a nieces boy who is heading to Alaska to live.

Drug man speaks the truth. I've shot, and seen shot, lots of them with rounds from 243 to 35 Whelen. Occasionally they drop "right there", but usually it's more like "right near there". That's fine with me.

"Hunt" or actually shoot?

I don't own any "magnum" rifle rounds, but I do/have deer hunted with .450/400, 577/450, .454C, .45-70, .45-90, .50-90, .50 Beowulf, .50AE, .475 Linebaugh, .500 Linebaugh.

People have said "Don't you think that's kind of overkill?" My answer is always if shooting them with .72 cal shotgun slugs wasn't overkill, how can a .50 be?

I like the way you roll!

I’ve killed quite a few with 338-06’s up to 375 Ruger and lots in between. I like with the bigger bullets there is hardly any meat loss unless you blow a chunk of bone through.
The 375 worked well, except the deer ran about 50-60 yds .

From my experience the 350 REM Mag and 35 whelen have produced more DRT’s with lung shots than any other cartridges I’ve ever used. Just a great combination of medium velocity paired with a large cup and core bullet seems to work really well. 358 Norma on the other hand is a little too fast, deer run a ways with a lung shot from the Norma.

Please don't say it's because the bullets don't have time to expand.

Okay I won’t. I’ll let you say it.


Kidding aside, there was plenty of expansion. For one the bullet was probably more heavily constructed than needed. It was a 250 Hornady. So I probably shouldn’t have said, due to speed.

I killed one buck with a 300 RUM. I was headed out of the mountain after sighting in a new Rem Sendero, when I caught a 4 point leaping across the road into a clear cut.

Kill with whatcha brought, comes to mind. A neck hit at under 150 yards did the job nicely.

My primary deer rifle for many years was a 7mag. Now my chambering variants are anything from a 280AI, 7/08, 6.5 PRC, or 7 wsm. It’s still coastal hunting with shots that can go from muzzle sucking to 600+ yards.

🦫

I was figuring it was a big Hornady or similar.

I’d bet the 225 Sierra would be a wicked bullet at Norma speeds if your primary intention was deer sized stuff.

Never tried the Sierra in the Norma when I still had it. But it is my bullet of choice in my 350 Rem Mag. Usually takes deer and elk right off of their feet, if not they make it one leap and are done. Besides the performance, it works well in the Remington short action being so short.

It’s a favorite for me in my 7600 Whelen. Never taken an elk but deer taken with it are exactly as you describe.

It’s a sleeper of a bullet in my opinion.

Funny,, the least amount of tracking I've ever done on deer and elk were all .50 muzzyloader kills. Big and slow baby!

That’s what I’ve seen too and it’s fine with me. I’ve never hunted or seen a place where a 40-50 yard death dash was a big problem. I understand many hunt places where it can be. The strangest and most hard to explain things I’ve encountered have been from those shots where a deer fell like being hit by lightning. Obviously it’s a good thing 99% of the time though. For me and where we hunt a lung shot works well. I love making a roast from a shoulder and then my wife always turns the roast into a stew. I really like those meals and I’m a lot more concerned about the shoulders than I once was.

I have downed many deer with my older Marlin in 44 MAG. Most shots at 50 - 100 yards or so. None got away. - Sherwood

My first deer gun was given to me when I was kid by the old man of the hunting group. It's an old 8x57 he sporterized. I still use it once in a while out of nostalgia and because it just works. Those 195gr Interlocks hammer deer and caribou, as they should.

Scored a couple of part boxes of Speer hotcors last weekend. 200gr .338's and 235 gr .375 they were priced right and don't grow on trees around here. So today I'm cruising the reloading isle at fleet & farm and spot new issue Speers including 200 gr .338's and 235 grain .375's. Averaged out with the part boxes that I bought last weekend about 35 cents ea and that's cheap shooting for me. I was amazed haven't seen jack for new Speer bullets in years glad they pulled their head out at last. ..mb

If I had to kill a deer ASAP I'd take Juds 6mmAI..
I've shot deer with a 45-70 and a 375 H and H BTW.

I've been comparing notes with a campmate who uses a 45-70 and a 7mm-08. Generally, the 7mm08 is quicker acting for him.

Hell ya👍 Seems to be a pretty good combo👊🏻

If the bullet is placed correctly, most cartridges will drop'em in their tracks. It's when I'm off slightly that I want two large holes leaking large amounts of blood....hopefully enough that even I can see it. As I said, I have used lesser calibers and, when I do, I try to make sure of the shot or have buddies close by. I shot this doe in the little food plot beside my firing range using my Sako L46. It is a 223 Rem (rechambered from 222 Rem) and is the most accurate rifle I own. It was only the next day when I pulled the gamecam card that I found I'd recorded the results of my shot. The 223 worked just fine!