Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Building the ultimate whitetail rifle

I'm building a whitetail rifle and I'm wondering what everyone is using for their deer hunting. I'm planning on a short action in 7mm08, 7x57, or 308 with a 20 or 22 inch barrel with a scope in the 2x7 or fixed 6x range. I'm not looking for a lightweight rifle but don't want something too heavy. I like nice wood stocks but synthetics are ok too.

Forget the 7x57.

7mm08 would be about right, if you don't reload go 308. Or flip a coin.

21" barrel, .6 at the muzzle is what I do with many rifles.

For a short action, a chambering from .26 to .338 or 358” caliber on the 308 Win family of cartridges will be very effective on deer. A 22” barrel is a nice balance, but it's your choice The 7x57 ( 8x57 for that matter) are fantastic options, but not the best option for a true short action.

I prefer a fixed 2.5x, 3x or 4x for my hunting needs in Maine forests. I also like back up sights (rear receiver and post front sight). Pick the action you like. There are many good choices.

What do I use for deer hunting? Marlin 336a 30-30 (24” bbl, 1976 vintage) Weaver k2.5x scope, with 170 grainSpeer / ww748 reloads; JC. Higgins model 50 ( FN action, 22” bbl) 30-06 w/ 4x Leupold, Timney trigger, 180 or 200 grain flat-base spitzers over non-max IMR 4350 reloads.

You will find your question has been asked 100s of times on the internet. There are 100s of answers. Just about all will work. Fun to dream, but in the end, use what YOU like.

The 308 Win will likely have more factory ammo availability in small town general stores, in case you need ammo in an “ oops, I forgot something” situation.

Don’t overthink it. A 308 Winchester on a short action of your choice with a fixed 4x Leupold will never let you down for a deer hunting rig to 300++ yards with a 165-180 grain cup/core plain jane, low-cost, flat-base bullet - with factory ammo available everywhere. There is beauty in simplicity.

Short and handy.....

What buttstock said. Almost any rifle can be a whitetail rifle so it comes down to personal taste and what suits your area and style of hunting.

Ranges will be short 250 or less 99 percent of the time. I'm looking for something handy. I've used a lot of rifles over the years....30-06, 270, 7mm, 308, 243, 30/30, 35 rem, 444. I'm looking for something quick in the hands thats easy to carrry all day sneaking through the deer woods.

I wouldn't look past lightweight. My ultimate whitetail rifle happens to be my mule deer/antelope rifle, a Forbes 270 Win. I have killed somewhere around a dozen whitetail with it since 2013 ranging from 30-340yds. I hunt everything from swamps, thickets, to wide open bean fields here in eastern NC.

If I were to buy something new today, I would be leaning hard towards a Fieldcraft chambered with any of their current flavors. Particularly with their favorable reviews and since they bought out Forbes.

The great thing about a well balanced, accurate, lightweight rifle that shoots well offhand is that they also can also be shot well off a platform. It will also provide you with the ultimate mulie, pronghorn, sheep, and elk rifle if you ever decide to venture west.

I've killed deer with about 30 different rifles chambered in everything from .22LR to .30-06. They all work if you use them right.

Well under 250 a 358 would be a dandy...

do you reload?

I have 2 308s with a 20” barrel. The Remington Model 7 SS is not my ideal rifle but works very well when there’s a lot of walking or in dense woods, and is very durable and unaffected by weather. My Browning Lever Action on the other hand is just about perfect. IMO the best action type for almost any hunting and with the ability to shoot 300yard deer rounds even up to elk medicine. Only downside of the BLR, to me, is that it’s so pretty I only take it on nice days and when I won’t be bushwhacking. But that’s a personal thing. Along the same lines you could look into a Savage 99 or Winchester 88 in 308, but anymore a decent used one seems to be almost the same price as a nice new BLR.

If you are a venison lover and concerned about preserving the meat of the deer, check out a rifle in the 50 BMG. A well-known Texan showed how he sucked the eyeballs and the breath right out of WT doe by the bullet just whizzing by the deer. Missed it completely but killed it. I suspect it'll do the same thing to a Mule Deer or probably even an elk but I suspect you have to get awful close to the nose/mouth area for it to work...lol. If you can do that with the 50 cal. and save all the meat of a deer (because I do love me some venison), the 50 BMG would have to be the ultimate WT rifle and that is what you are seeking to do. Plus...I suspect it will even outshoot the CM at longer ranges. After all...the record for a sniper kill was made with a .50 caliber rifle. However, I think he had to hit the dude with the bullet. I'm not sure it has enough left at 1 1/2 miles to suck the eyeballs out of a deer or a man at that distance. Maybe someone on here will know if you can or not...

P.S...I mostly use a Marlin XL7 in a 25/06 which is a lethal cartridge for WT's and the little Marlin is about as handy as a pocket on a shirt. It's lightweight, low recoil, and with the cheap 120 gr. Remington CL's, it does a great job on anchoring a WT quickly. Even though I will take other rifles from time to time, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". If I were going to buy someone just getting a new (to them) rifle, I would look through the gun and pawn shops to find another little Marlin in that cartridge. It just works.

You do know Keith "High Fence" Warren was full of crap about that 50 BMG kill right?

For my tastes Winchester built the perfect deer rifle in 1894.

+1 on Buttstock's advice.

Your average deer hunter is taking his average deer inside 80 yards. At that range, anything reasonable will work.

My top favorites:

1) A Savage 99 in 308 WIN. I download it to 300 Savage levels and use it mostly out of treestands.
2) A Ruger Hawkeye in 30-06 for everything else.

Both of these rifles are using 165 grain Hornady Interlock SP's over H4895. The rest of our camp shoots 30-06 with 150 grainers.

Over the past 20 years, I have gone from liking all manner of deer rifles EXCEPT bolt guns to having a distinct preference for bolt actions. I have grown to like the practicality and simplicity. I've also tried a bunch of chamberings, and have a wall of deer rifles. Now that I'm in my Sixtieth year, I don't feel the need for recoil in order to feel that I have successfully killed the deer. My 35 Whelen "Whelenizer" is no longer my favorite rifle. I've sworn off future 30-06 purchases with a total of 8 on the rack already.

7mm-08 is looking attractive to me, but between that and another 308 WIN, I'd have to ponder hard.

25-06: I'm still wringing mine out. I have taken deer with it, but I cannot give it the same enthusiastic endorsement I'd give 30-06.

8X57: Just started down this road. It looks to be nearly identical to 30-06. I would not go out of my way to get one, but I am sure the results will be good.

Choice of rifles: I mentioned my Ruger Hawkeye. I've been thrilled with mine. I also have a Ruger RAR Predator and I can say good things about the workmanship. We also have a Wetherby Vanguard and two Winchester Model 70's in camp that give excellent service. Folks poo-poo the Savage, but my wife shoots a Savage 110 in '06 and the trigger is fantastic. We also have had a Mossberg Patriot in camp that was quite good.

The bottom line is it all ends up being a matter of taste anymore. There are so many good bottom-end rifles that it is hard to choose. Nearly every rifle you pick up has a potential for being 1-2 MOA.

A bunch of long winded bastards

I've got 19 weeks before the Opener. What else are we going to talk about?

http://www.browning.com/products/fi...ailability/blr-white-gold-medallion.html

https://ruger.com/products/HawkeyeCompact/specSheets/37140.html

http://www.winchesterguns.com/produ...ent-Products/model-70-featherweight.html

Or if you like building your own, I'd recommend a KAR length 98 Mauser as the action. 7X57 or 6.5X55 are "drop-ins" for the barrel. By making the barrel to the same contour as Mauser did in the 20s on it's sporters, you can come up with a rifle of around 6.5 pounds before you add a scope.

If you start with a small rings action you can reduce the weight about another 1/4 pound. In the case of many small ring actions it's best if you can have modern heat treatments done, or if you have the ability, you can do it yourself. I just made one on a small ring FN with a supper light 308, 20" barrel. It rifles weighed 6 pounds 9 oz. In a 6.5X55 it would have kicked a lot less, but the man who wanted it wanted a 308. With a good pad it was not bad to fire over the bench.

Get a 308 Win. that handles the way you like.

For the hunting situations described my go to would be my Ruger M77 Mk II RSI in .308 with its Kahles AH 2-7x36. 165g NBT loaded over a book max of 3031 gets me an avg. velocity of 2675 fps. Inside 250 yds that'll get it done with authority on any deer sized animal.