At what point in your hunting life do you stop, step back, and then do a 180 in your likes and needs when it comes to your rifles? For me it has happened at the ripe old age of 43... for years I thought that these massive Alabama deer would laugh if shot with less than the 7 Mag I used for over 17 years. Well it has finally come to that point, bout 6yrs ago I had a friend talk me into my first 260 Rem but I really wasn't ready to totally give in, I still had the 7mm if those little 120gr 6.5 bullets bounced off..skip ahead a year or 3 and with 2 of my soon to be 11yr. old triplets wanting to hunt with dear old Dad I had to pick up a couple more lighter kickers so I picked a couple more 260's and 7-08's. But I still had the 270 and 25-06 if them big bucks fought back,..... well that is until about a week ago when the 25-06 went to fund a 45-70 after we loss our lease that had the long range possibility to an area where only thick pine stands and food plots are the norm and then today came the final nail, I sold off the FW 270 and picked up a 308 Kimber Montana to go along with 7-08 Montana ....and 3 260's and 2 other 7-08's. Don't know how it happened but now I'm here... now what? sorry for the long read.. DD

It happened to me about three years ago when I realized I was too old to continue having the snot kicked out of me when it wasn't necessary for the game I was going to hunt.

I have rifles in these chamberings:

.22LR
.223
.243
.257 Roberts
.270

In the .270 I only use reduced recoil and I do not want to buy anything more powerful than the .257

from the time I was 17 till around 30, I hunted everything, I mean everything w/ a .338. About then I realized I didn't shoot as well or as often as when I was a kid. Went to a 25/06, and re taught myself the marksmanship skills I had lost.

DD,

I couldn't help but smile when I read your post... In fact, I loved it.

Perhaps about 10 yrs ago, I was sitting in my deer blind contemplating the whats, whys and other pertinent information pertaining to hunting, when I came up with the idea that one really does NOT need a magnum to kill deer. I then realized that a competent marksman needs only to place himself in the proper place, and exhibit reasonable patience, and with one shot can have venison on the table.

If fact the particular cartridge is more than a bit irrelevant. Further, I concluded that proper deer rifles started at 6.5 cal and continued on up as far as on can stand the recoil... (I truly believe that the dual purpose, varmint/deer rifles are better left to varmints. However, YMMV) I also realized that the longest range I've ever taken a deer is less than 125 yds...

If I could only own one rifle, it's likely be a .308 Win. But instead I own rifles in at least 35 or 40 different chamberings. But when it comes time to go hunting, I usually reach for an 8x57, 9x57, .358 Win, or 9.3x62. Mostly just because I like them...

GH

BTW... I think it's called maturity...

I too have multiple chamberings, all the way up to a 458 Lott. I always reach for my 270 and 130gr. bullets when I go hunting though. Don't find the recoil objectionable and it always kills what I point it at.

I don't know I have had bouts of it come and go for the last 10-15 years starting when I was about your age but I am firmly in it's grasp now. While I like all of my 4-5 rifles I am now convinced that unless you are a hard core Africa or moose and grizzly hunter that one can pick any caliber from .243 to 8mm in a non magnum cartridge and have all they need to enjoy many good days afield . My advice to any young person starting out is to pick a really nice rifle from the following list of 308, 270 win, 30-06 top it with a nice scope use it but don't abuse it and in 35 years you will have a nicely aged really nice rifle that has a lot of great stories. Spend your $$ on hunts and adventures with your rifle and not for more rifles. I would have been much better if I had bought my remington 700 mtn rifle and stopped years ago it's topped with a var xii 3-9 and can easily handle any hunting I have done or will do in the future.

I'm convinced that deer can only be killed with .28+ caliber magnums.


Or .223 AIs.

It's all fun and games till someone breaks out a .223AI. Stuff is fixin' to get dead when that happens.

True dat.

Ive had a similar experience/epiphany to the OPs...turned into a regular small bore whore the past few years...my 7x57 is the "biggest" gun I own, and I havent shot it in five years...shot some deer three years ago with a .243, and that felt a bit excessive...

not yet.

most likely never

Snake

My first deer rifle was an ancient 32 Special and it served me well until 1978, when I upgraded to a scoped M700 in 25-06. Still have both.

While I have strayed a few times over the past 50 years, killing deer with assorted 30-06s, 8x57s, a 444, 35 Rem and several other choices, there was never really any reason to have abandoned the first two choices. I've even killed deer with the 22-250. Have a 243. Haven't gotten around to using it on deer yet, but I hear they "might work"?

Killed two deer last season with that M700 25-06. Still works well and I can shoot that thing most all day with nary a whimper from my 65 year old shoulder.

The biggest muley I've ever shot was with a .243 when I generally liked a .270/.280/.30/06 for that job. One shot over the heart with a 100 gr factory load did the trick. For about 10 years solid I shot a .338 since that is what Elmer liked. I bonded with that rifle more than any other. At that same time, the only other rifle I owned was my 1948 FN Mauser '06 which weighed about 10 lbs unloaded. Part of the reason I shot only the .338 for those 10 years was to see how it worked and part was because it was 2 lbs lighter than the '06.

To answer the OP.......yeah, sorta, maybe........for me it's like a series of 360's, not a 180. I'd like to get a .223 bolt gun at some point, but I just bought a Weibe bottom metal for a future .375 Ruger/FN Mauser. Never owned a .375 before and always heard everybody should at some point. By the way, I am 56 at this point. How silly is that?

Somewhere around age 55, The light bulb came on. All the magnums are gone except for a Gd IV Bar (Type I) that favorite cousin left to me (Don't use it and really do not know just how attached I am to that nice rig-he also left a Mountie and an engraved custom 1903 Springfield to me. I am attached to them). I just put a 3-9 Elite 4200 on my 50 year old .243 and got a new supply of 100 grain Partitions. It is likely to see some use this year. Life is good. jack

Around 2009, about the time i joined up here at the 'fire, plus I had recently hit the technological wall on weaponry so to speak.

Class 3, select fire, suppressed, thermal/infrared lazered, weather stationed BS drove me clear back to the peep sighted lever action and Sharps rifle era, now I'm thinkin' about Flintlock Fowler's.

I have came to the distinct realization that I like hunting rifles.

Gunner

I love my .375 H&H when I really need it, but that's almost never. I tend to stare at my .300 magnums these days and wonder why I have them. More often than not, I grab a .280 or 30-06 when I go to the field, and that's not likely to change as I get older.

I avoided the '06 when I was younger because I though it was boring. It's only been the last few years that I've realized how truly awesome a caliber it really is. What other chambering can be loaded with bullets over a range of nearly 100 grains -- and work well at either end? Amazing.

Ditto here, same age.

At 49 I went to Africa and practiced for months beforehand with a .375 H&H. I'd fire between 50 and 80 rounds in an afternoon, several of those from prone. At 55 I realized that I didn't like shooting it at all.

Now at 59 a full power .30-06 is as much as I want to shoot, and not much of that. I load my ought sixes to .308 levels and my favorite fun load in my .270's is a 7mm-08 clone - a 130 grain bullet with enough IMR-4895 to send it out at 2800 fps.

I'm liking the .308 a lot these days for a "big gun".

When I started killing stuff with a bow, it made the rifle caliber arguments seem silly.

I am in the process of the same thing at 44.

My heaviest rifle was a 300 WM, but time and use made me realize the .308 did the same job with a lot less recoil and meat damage. The deer drop just as fast. Ditto the 12 gauge slug gun vs, the 20 gauge version. Deer showed no difference when hit by either, but my shoulder sure knew the difference.

Other than the 9.3x57 I just picked up to take hog hunting, my .308 and 7x57 are my biggest calibers. Others are 6.5x55, 30/30, 6.5 Jap, and .223. They are all I really need for the stuff I hunt.

The only guns I do not associate with smaller calibers are my handguns, .40/10mm cal and up are the only way to go for me, especially the .45's, acp and colt are by far my favorites.

There was a time when I was competitively shooting skeet that I was convinced I had to have 3 dram loads to "hit em hard". Through the years the light bulb came on that my scores were about the same with all four gauges even though the under 12 ones did not have as much power or shot charges behind them. Now I shoot a 7/8 ounce light 12 gauge loads instead of the 3 dram 1 1/8 oz. of years past and can say my scores are actually better as my patterns are more even.

They say with age comes wisdom, some just take longer to listen to it.

Was over 50yrs when I finally gravitated to the 30-06, none of my rifles wears a belt anymore.

Well there is that too!!

I am still three to one of deer taken with a bow verses any firearm. Mostly because of access and length of season. Asking for permission to bow hunt is accepted much quicker than to use any kind of firearm. Silly easterners!!

Well, for me it really hit me that the chance of ever getting out of Alabama to hunt anything larger than a whitetail was slim to none...at least for the next 10 years...I always shot the magnums well, just not as well as the 308 based calibers. Just never thought I wouldn't even have a long action around.. But, the next gun I get will be either a 280AI or 6.5-284..just in case ..

Or go 6.5/06 and have both!!

I started in the late 60's with a 30/06,quickly got a 257 Roberts,then a 270.I used them all,at the same time used the 270;branched off into "all the others"...everything from 7x57,280,7/08,7 RM,various 300 magnums,338,375,etc,etc,still also hunting with the 270.Most carried, most used, were the 270,7 Rem Mag, and one or the other 300 magnum.Owned all the WSM's;never hunted them, but they are all gone.

It didn't seem to matter much what I carried;they all worked.

Today I only use the 270,the 7mm Mashburn Super, and the 375H&H...at least for the time being.

It is hard to beat a 270 for a combination of low to moderate recoil,flat trajectory and good killing effect(the 280 is its' twin,and I like it as well).

I must have been about mid-thirties. After chasing bigger, faster for 10 years I killed a NE Whitetail at 404 YDS with a .300 Weatherby Mag. You could have stuck your fist in the exit hole. Took out the far shoulder joint like it was hit with a 20MM round.

The following year I took a Marlin Guide gun in .45-70 GOVT and shot the best buck I've ever gotten. (Avatar picture.)

This year I will tote a 6.5 Swede.

By the time I'm ready to be worm food I suppose I'll be using a .22 cap.

Never had a WM, or a Whizzer, Whizzum and that ilk. Killed more meat with CB Shorts than all the rest put together, 'cept maybe a couple shotguns. .223AIs over penetrate.

AMEN!!!!!!

Never owned a magnum, though I've shot the 300s my Son and Son-in-Law had. I started with centerfires about 1972 after getting out of school. Had to have the 270 as that was what JOC recommended. Used it as my only centerfire for about 30 years before venturing into a 22-250 for coyote control. That one was something of a revelation, low recoil, no muzzle jump, fun to shoot, maybe there was something to the smaller bullet crowd. I did play around with a light 338-06 for a year or two, but decided at my age there weren't enough elk hunts left to keep fighting a flinching tendency. Now I shoot mostly my various .223s, .243, .250 Savage, .257 Roberts and don't have any trouble putting deer on the ground when the time comes.

It happened to me about 4 years ago when I was 34 and I had some health problems which prevented me from shooting and hunting like normal. As my health has improved I started shooting the rifles which I used to love to shoot. OUCH!!! My 7mm Remington Magnum, 35 Whelen, 270 Winchester, and 308 Winchester all hit me more than I could stand. Even my light weight 20 gauge put a hurting on me. How could this be? I used to shoot these guns without pain, or so I thought. It is amazing what the body will endure with pain and what we think doesn't hurt. I hear people say you have to work up to the rounds with more recoil. My question now is "Why?" Now I have deer rifles in 250 Savage, 257 Roberts, 6.5x55, 7mm-08, 7x57, and the lowly 30-30. I just recently bought a 7.62x39 to try. I wish I had switched to these rounds earlier.

Deer die easy.

I've never had to go through the downsizing as some seem to have to.

I started off that way as a little kid. My dad shot deer with a .30-06 and when I was about 8 he got me a .223. I shot deer with it and they died just as fast as his.

Guess what my father's deer rifle is today?

Oh, deer die easy. There is an echo in here.

Born and raised here in Colorado, and lived (and hunted) here most of my life-
Owned and used a fairly large number of calibers on big game, ranging from small whitetail does to bull moose, with bighorn sheep, mule deer, black bear, and antelope thrown in.

I still have most of those calibers, ranging from .257 Wby. to .375 Ruger, each with a specialty that it does very well.

However- more and more lately, I find that one, in particular, does everything, and does it about as well as any or all of my other arsenal. That would be my .280. Built on a pre-'64 action, with a 22" barrel and Hi-Tech stock, it weighs less than 8 lbs. all up, recoils mildly, and shoots bullet weights from 130 gr. to 160 gr. Super easy to reload, and case life is very good.

I'll still use my .300 Wby. on bull elk only hunts, or my .257 Wby. on antelope only hunts- I just really like shooting that little .280. With a 140 gr. Barnes TSX at 3050 MV, there isn't a lot that can't be handled well with this one rifle and bullet here in Colorado. I'm sure the older I get, the more use this rifle will see every fall.

Excellent caveat.

Since the 280 Rem & the 308 Win are ballistic equals I usually have a very tough time deciding between the two.

I'm not as smart as you fellers; I'm still in my 'more, bigger' phase... Last rifle I bought was a .416 Rigby.

I started out about six years ago with a .30-06. Still keeping it for elk and other heavy game, but in the process of paying for a .260. I read a lot on here and elsewhere about the round and decided to go with it for deer-size game. I know it can do more than that too.

Well now I have the .260, just need to choose a scope to drop some more money for...

Well I can blame a LOT of my down-sizing to the 260.... have 3 a 700 CDL SF, a Model 7 CDL, and a Ruger 77 MK II.. just love that round, but now these 2 Kimbers have my attention(708&308).. as far as the scope the last 4 have been 1 VX3 3.5-10, 2 VX3 2.5-8, and the M8 6x42... just been having good luck with the Leupolds as of late.

The .260 Rem is becoming my favorite deer round, too.

My longest kill on an elk is 420 yards with a 35 Whelen (scope with dots or turrets and a bino/rangefinder is all you need), and my .340 Wby just sits in the safe more and more since I started hunting with the Whelen. I'm thinking about rebarreling the .340 to a .264 Win Mag, but I'll probably just sell it someday. Thinking back now, it's been 9 years since I hunted with the 340 Wby.