Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles More deer have been killed with the xxxx than any other cartridge.

I didn't read the 3 pages preceding this response, but my guess would be either the .30-30 or the .22

7mm-08 ain't ahead of anything. The Creedmoor has probably passed it by now.

I'd bet the .243 has killed a bunch more than the 7mm-08.

THIS post is onP 5 and jorge is RIGHT. Thread from 2012

.44 WCF

I think the 30-30 is highly over rated and seriously doubt that it ever was the top game killer. They were the AR's of previous generations. Lots of people owned them, few actually hunted with them. I've been hunting in GA since the 1970's. I've seen 2 hunters in the woods with a 30-30, but don't know anyone who doesn't own one.

Cartridges like the 7X57 and 6.5X55 predate the 30-30 by several years and the 30-06 is only 11 years younger. The 30-30 was more popular than the 30-06 prior to the end of WW-2, but that is also when deer numbers were down. I think the biggest reason 30-30 has never been popular here in GA is because there weren't enough deer to support any serious hunting until the 1970's and the herd peaked in the 1990's. There was no history of big game hunting here prior to the 1970's. Before that most hunters were small game hunters and by the time the deer herd was large enough to hunt most hunters went with more modern rifles. The timeline of peak numbers of deer or other large game may be somewhat different in other regions. But the heyday of 30-30 popularity also coincided with low numbers of game. I've gotta believe the 30-06 leads the pack and see no reason 270 should't be 2nd.

Pretty sure it was the ought-six


Could have been this one!

When I was a kid in the 1950's it seemed practically all of the old guys had .300 Savages. I would think the kill numbers would would be within the same range as a .243 today. But still way less than an '06.

I would bet a lot of $$$$ that the number of deer taken going back in time by hunters who have used a 30-30 far exceeds their reflection by active internet forum polls.

I see you're just as stupid about the 30-30 as you are the 45-70.

And this is important why?

My guess is that the .30-30 and .243 guys were too busy out killing stuff to respond to the survey...

My bet would be a very close finish or tie between the 30-30 and the 30-06. 30-30 probably wins since it’s a little older cartridge and there’s bound to be more WW 94’s produced over the years than ANY other “hunting” rifle ever made. Followed closely by the .22 LR

In more modern times, I would guess it’s a close race between the .223 & the .243. Followed by the .308. Especially since damn near everybody that hunts nowadays owns some type of AR-15.

I haven't counted but I'd say either a 30-30 or 12 Gauge with slugs. I've used both. As a joke I told my ex-wife that the 12 Ga killed deer too dead. All that got me was bitched at.

LOL !

30-06 gets my vote. From reading gun rags the last 50 years the thinking was that the 06 surpassed the 30wcf over 30 years ago. Ymmv.

The history of the White Tail Deer over the last 4,000,000,000 years

In New England, where I used to live, the .22, & later the .22 mag took a lot of deer. If you are talking legally taken deer, then I would have to go with the 30-30 followed by the 30-06 and the .308.2

In the Midwest and east where rifles were not allowed for years the 12 and 20 gauges took many a deer. Probably not as many as the 30-30 or 30-06 but close.

kwg

30-30 for legal kills. .22 for illegal.