Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Your favorite deer caliber and rifle?

Winchester FW in .243, .270 or .308

This year, my favorite caliber for WI deer hunting will be 30 cal. It'll be a 150gr Hornady Interlock from a 300 Savage case delivered by my Remington 722. For my AZ Coues hunt, it will be 7mm, .284" in the form of a 7mm PRC delivered by a Fierce CT Rage.

30-06

Remington 760 in 270/308/30-06 cut to 20" topped with a good quality low powered scope.

I have definitely used the ole 12 gauge to take a majority of white tails. A Winchester 1300. On occasion I am offered a shot too far for it, for that I also carry a lone eagle chambered in 30.06. Single shot pistol with a fixed 4 power Leopold. It is accurate.

.30-30 Ackley Improved in a Contender, 14" barrel..

Remington 700 Classic 280 Rem.

NYH1.

I wish I could pick a favorite but I like to use different rifles on different hunts. I did most of my early hunting with a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle in 30-06. I shot my biggest mule deer buck with that rifle. Eventually it got a new Pendleton stock and a Benchmark barrel and now I'm more likely to use it for elk. Last year I shot a good muley with my wife's 7mm08.

In recent years I've often used a 6.5 Creedmoor, .280 Rem or 7mm Rem Mag depending on the situation. They all work well. Mostly I've used Accubonds and occasionally Ballistic Tips. I'm starting to use more TTSX and LRX's now. I enjoy using a variety of rifles and also different loads in the various cartridges.

Tikka 595 7-08 with factory 140 Fusions. Couldnt duplicate the accuracy of that load with handloads so I stopped trying. A true sub MOA combo that has accounted for a literal pile of whitetails over the years!

Tikka T3 or T/C Encore…both in .260 REM.

I have two Sako 264’s, great deer caliber. I’m gonna hunt mine this year.

Win. Pre 64 M70 FWT custom in .270 Winny

My all-time favorite was a tang safety Ruger 77 in .270 Winchester, but I shot the barrel out on it and stupidly didn't rebarrel, but I replaced it with a M70 .270. I much favored the old Ruger, but I can't fault how this Winchester shoots. The Ruger just fit me better. I loved the tang safety, it's handier to me, than the 3 position Winchester safety.

No matter anyway, the deer don't care what I shoot them with.

My lucky rifle is a Ruger Tanger in .308. My best shooter is a Sako 75 in 7mm/08.

In the Thunb of Michigan where I hunt deer you must use either a Shotgun or a Straight Walled Rifle cartridge. I bought a Ruger American in .450 Bushmaster and it’s a tack driver. It shoots cloverleaf groups at 100 yards and drips deer in their tracks.

So far mine has been the Remington LSS limited .280 Remington my parents bought me a couple of years after graduating in 05. I have a hard time not grabbing that gun every time I go.

Backup is a Winchester model 70 classic supergrade .270 Winchester (mid 90’s CRF model) absolutely clean and beautiful and shoots like no one’s business after some tuning. Have some 130 grn Hornady hand loads that print cloverleafs on paper with this one.

.260rem or 140gr NP
7mm-08rem 140gr NP
25-06 115gr NP

My favorite was my is 300 rum, but I have killed more deer with the 243

25-06

Model 94 30-30 from the time I was 12 years old until I could afford something better,,,which was about twenty years later. I still like the feel of carrying a 94 though.