Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Perfect Mule deer rifle

Well I didn't draw for Wyoming this year but it looks like a panhandle Mule deer hunt is coming my way. I have three 270's that are perfect open country rifles. One a M98 Mauser with a heavy sporter 24 inch barrel Topped with a 3-9x40 Bushnell Elite. That rifle is a real tackdriver but is a bit heavy as I seem to be getting older every day. Next up is a Ruger Tanger topped with a Vortex 3-9x40, also a tackdriver and also a bit heavy but a pound less than the Mauser. Next is an early Encore topped with a 2-7x32 Bausch and Lomb. This one is a shooter also and is the lightest of the bunch. I also have a 280AI on a Springfield action topped with another Bushnell Elite 3-9x40. I will take this rifle as a back up. However presently I am waiting on a barrel I ordered for a M700 short action, it is a 24 incher in 260 Remington. This one will be topped with a 10x42 SWFA and will be used at a specific spot on some high ground where I might get a shot at around 5 to 600 yards. I will get some practice in soon and get my dialing figured out. So in my opinion I don't own the perfect Mule deer rifle yet. Seems to be a bullet shortage in 6.5 lately also.

Kimber Montana in 260 works for me....

Great pics dude. Grats on those bucks.

Never get tired of that MASS ! !


Jerry

A Kleinguenther K-15

I have never hunted for Mule deer but it seems more of a spot and stalk game than the endless stand hunting i do for whitetails. IMO The perfect Mule deer rifle should be light weight and accurate so there are many options available, I would also make My perfect Mule deer rifle a bolt action of course...I'd say a Kimber Montana chambered in 30-06 sounds about right for Me topped with a Swarovski Z3 3-10x42👍......Hb

Same rifle from the elk thread.

.264 Win Mag/VX3 4.5-14/ McM G30 action/140gr VLDs

Works Good



Now it's got a suppressor.

Nice deer! I doubt there will be anything like those in northTexas for me to shoot at. JohnBurns that looks like the country around Flaming gorge Reservoir.

Mule deer hunting can become endless spotting! It is nice to have a rifle that is not too heavy or too long to get in and out of the truck with. I'm just building a 260 because I only have one 6.5, a Grendel in the house. I also have a 30-06 that has taken more Mule deer for me than I will ever get tags for the rest of my life.

Yeah, drive and watch, hike and glass, move and sit. One thing about it: when I have a deer tag in my pocket on opening day, I have an elk tag right next to the deer tag. I generally get my deer before I get my elk, but until then, the rifle I am using is going to be an elk rifle too.

Light, accurate rifles are like a hot wife: everybody wants one, but either because we can't afford them or through the luck of the draw, we don't all have one.

Last year my wife, son and I each used my Kimber Mt in 243 suppressed to take 3 mature deer, two were bucks. Ranges of 40-416 yards. 95gr nbt.

Guns are cheaper than wives! And you can have more than one.

Looked at my hunting notes, over the decades have taken "big" mule deer with a bunch of different rifles. My definition includes any buck field-dressing around 200 pounds or more, or antlers gross-scoring 160 or more inches B&C--or both. (Haven't scored one in a long time, but know what 160 looks like.) My wife Eileen has also killed a few of those. The biggest-bodied have been 350-400 pounds on the hoof.

The cartridges used include the .257 Roberts (3 bucks), 6.5 Creedmoor, .270 Winchester (3), 7x57 Mauser (2), .280 Remington (2), .308 Winchester and .300 Winchester Magnum.

The three biggest-bodied bucks were taken with the 7x57, .280 and .308, all at ranges from 200-300 yards. All went down promptly. But so have the rest.

I've taken them with a 7-08 and a 270. Ranges from 150 to 465, with most in the 2-300 range. I like the 270 a bit more only because it's a bit lighter and it's a point and shoot operation out to 350 yards.

The 7-08 really isn't that much different, truth be told, and it is what I took my longest shot/deer (the one at 465).

Thanks and east of Cody.

There's a few in West Texas to shoot at. I've killed 41 muley bucks since 1971 and will be after 'em again with a T3X 6.5CM or McWhorter 7mm-08. I can't get enough of big mule deer bucks like this one........didn't have a tag.....already killed one.

The video name delivers. Sheesh.

Wow. What a deer.

You didn’t state the weight nor the accuracy of the 280 AI. Assuming it is accurate and within your weight designation....go with the 280 AI! If the 280 AI doesn’t meet your criteria, throw the 3-9 Elite on the Encore and go kill your deer! memtb

270 with 150 grain Sierra boat tail over IMR 4831. In my Weatherby a supremely accurate load