Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Opening Day: What caliber, What bullet, Why?

260 Rem with 120 ProHunter......unless I can get powder and components and go back to 140 Gamekings ( best ever)

Remington 700 lh 3006, HS precision stock, Leupold mark 4 scope, shooting my hand loads with 165 grain partitions, fusions or interlocks.

Love to hear more about this rifle/load

I’ll have to remember that load - I’ve got a 1957 version of a 99F in .308. Love the gun but it has t found its place yet.

M70/ .270 WCF/ 150 gr Speer GS.

The meat gitter.




GR

Marlin .30-30 shooting a 160 grain Hornady Leverevolution.

My .243 Win, shooting 90gr Accubonds. Why because everything else is overkill. Making popcorn and waiting for the replys!! lol

Put about any decent bullet tight behind the front leg and go dress out the animal. Duh.

.300 Savage,Remington core-lock and WHY they fit my Savage Model 99

15lb '74 Shiloh Sharps 45-110 bull barrel rifle, 518gr paper patch bullet over Lord Black, why? my old Buddy Bill Bagwell loved that rifle, he also gave me that Ed Tilton bullet mould, i know he'll be looking down and smiling.

For deer (and antelope) only?
I use the following but on my larger more powerful rifles from my 9.3s and up, and 44 and 45 cal handguns I make no adjustment from deer up to buffalo. I simply use what the gun is zeroed for. Far more then needed, but so what. They still kill the deer.


My choices would follow.
223 60 grain Nosler Partition
25-06 120 grain (made in the early 80s) Remington Core Lokt or 110 grain Nosler Accubond
6.5X54 M/S 156 Gr PPU round nose
6.8SPC 110 grain AccuBond
270 Winchester with scope, 130 grain WW power Point and from my iron sighted 270, 150 grain Round Nose
30-30 170 grain Remington C.L.
308 Winchester 150 grain WW power Point in my bolt action and 180 grain WW power Point in my auto
300 Savage 150 Grain Remington CL in my Savage 99 and 180 grain Nosler BT in my M81 Auto
30-06 150 grain Remington Core-Lokt or 150 grain Nosler B.T.
300 Mag. 200 grain Speer Hot core
7.62X39 123 grain Wolf Factory Soft Point Ammo. The only factory load on the list. All others are handloads
303 Brit 180- gran Remington CL. (my bore is .310 but I use .308" bullets and the rifle shoots them very well)
8X57 170 Gr Hornady SST
35 Remington 200 grain Round Nose Remington CL.
358 Winchester 180 Grain Speer F.P.

357 Magnum 187 Grain WFN GC LBT Cast Bullet
44 Magnum 320 Grain WFN GC Cast bullet
45 Colt or Auto-Rim 265 grain LBT WFN
454 Casull 370 Grain LBT WFN GC

50 cal flintlock. Cast ball, .490" and 80 Gr of 3F
62 cal flintlock Cast ball, .610" and 140 grains of 3F


In the list above the only loads that I have not killed deer with (so far) are the 223 and the 358 Winchester but if I get a shot at a deer while I am carrying one of those 2 rifles, those are the loads/bullets I'll use.
There are MANY others I have used in the past to kill deer, but no longer own those guns so I didn't bother to list them here.

Wild hogs are plentiful here in Florida. I'll reach for my 30-30 carbine loaded with 170 grain Power Points. Because it works!

Sherwood

LH MKII SS 270 rebarreled with a no 3 Douglas finished at 24 inches. Talley sling swivel and NECG ramp front sight. The load runs out near 2450 or so and shoots nicely. Had the factory laminate stock slimmed down and had LOP lengthened a d pitch angle changed. I have a ton of faith in it. It's fast to the shoulder. Cerakoted in Armor Black with a 1.5 - 4.5 Leupold VX 2 scope. She needs a name. Has a little sister in 7x57.

My Win. Model 70 in 280 A.I. shooting hand-loads with 140 gr Sierra Pro Hunters at 3120 fps. My go to deer rig and load for almost 30 years.

A .277 caliber 150 grain bullet with some R26. Because it is very accurate and penetrates well.

First year AE Model 94 Winchester in 30/30, with 150 grain hand loads.

Ruger # 1 27 inch brux barrel 257 Weatherby ,Nightforce scope, 115 Berger VLD bullets > reason its fast, smacks big bucks hard ,shoots accurate a long ways out too

Ruger American Ranch in .300 blackout with 110 gr Barnes. Very accurate rifle and a joy to carry with a little 2-7 scope. Very confident out to 150 yards, or about twice as far as I can shoot from my favorite opening day stand.

Remington 870---12 gauge-----2 3/4" Winchester 1 oz slugs------I hunt in Ohio with my brother.

The same rifle/cartridge that I’ve used for everyday during every hunting season since 1990! Reasons: very effective from the muzzle to far beyond a distance I will shoot an animal, and I have a lot of experience with that rifle. If you use the same equipment for 30 years you get pretty comfortable and proficient with it! memtb