Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Go to gun for most of your deer hunting?

Mine is a M70 Classic Supergrade in .270 WCF. Had some bedding problems with the original wood stock, so USRAC gave me a black, synthetic stock (The wood stock is in storage. Eventually I will pillar bed the rifle back into the wood.) This rig is very accurate, so I use it to test scopes. When hunting, I usually mount an old VariX-II, 2-7x. It is tough to pin down one load, since I am always using different things for articles. If I were to pick one load, it would be either the 150 grain Nosler partition or 150 grain non-moly partition gold, handloaded to around 2900 FPS.

rimshot

My "go to gun" has been my Remington 700 Classic in 35 Whelen. I have killed a pile of deer with it since I got it. It wears a Leupold 1.75-6X Vari XIII and I have shot everything from 180 Speers to 250 Hornadys. The best groups so far were with 225 gr Sierra boattails and IMR 4895. One ragged hole at 100 yds. This gives me extreme confidence. I have never lost a deer to this rifle and have never recovered a bullet either. It leaves a blood trail that Hellen Keller could follow. Hopefully some day I will get a moose tag, and it would be nice to try it on black bear too. One year I got a nice big woodchuck while sighting in for bear hunting. It has also been used on porcupine and racoon. I guess you could call it my dual purpose rifle. This rifle could be used anywhere on anything with the right bullets. I have some Barnes 275 gr originals that would just love to go to Alaska.
GWN

You may laugh. I hunt North Mo and in the Ozarks.If I want to make meat. I use an old win. 100 , .308 with a K3 weaver and 150 federal classic ammo.If I mention the number of deer taken with it no one would believe it.
If I,m trophy hunting in NorthMo, I use an old rem. 721 in .270 with 6x40 scopeand and sit around bean fieldsduring the rut.

My Brother has a Model 100in .308WIN.
He is not a gun looney like me, but is a very good hunter and trapper, and lives in the bush.

This is his only big game rifle, but this year he is giving it to his Son,and I am giving him a .280 that Dad built on a P17 action.

But I think that the M100 will still get grabbed if he is in a hurry, as the ,280 has a 24" barrel and a heavier action.

His bear gun is a M37 Ithaca that I put Choate stocks on and cut to 18".

It gets a fair bit of use, as well! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
catnthehat

OOPS!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

I meant MODEL 88 !! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I get mixed up between levers and autos, seeing how the levers I own are Falling Blocks, and the only auto is my dearly departed father's 1100 Remington.

Catnthehat

just returned from the dirt pile... i felt the need this morning to try out my recently aquired savage 99, .300 sav...
late last night i mounted a williams foolproof on it, and drifted the factory rear sight out of it...

i shot first at a cardboard box to dial the sight in, and then proceeded to ring the iron a little..... it sure took me back a little to use this setup.....
as of now it's only been fired from field positions, and i'm seldom comfortable using a rifle to hunt that hasn't had at least a turn at the bench first... still, though, i feel like i could pick this one up and hunt well with it.....

i have wanted this rifle for most of my life... i expect it'll get carried a lot to make up for lost time..... john w

I have a bunch of rifles, but the one I usually manage to get a buck with is the old 1903 Springfield sporter. With a 3-9 Leupold compact scope, I get about 1-inch groups from the original barrel.

My goto rifle for deer and elk is a rem 700 in 7mm rem mag,
I've killed alot of animals with it and I know from expirience that it will kill what I point it at. One typical deer hunting day I can start in a open clearcut at first light and spend the rest of the day in dark timber and thick creek botoms, then back to open clearcuts for last light, the 7mm just seems to do well all around for my tastes.

Jamie

I have several for different applications but when filling the freezer is important I grab the old pre 64 30-06 not because
it the most accurate or because it is my favorite. It is just
one of those rifles that good things happen when I carry it.
Four different times I have filled my elk tag on the last day
of the season with that rifle after carring something else
most of the year.

For years my go to rifle for deer was a Ruger Tang safety in 270 win, I have since converted that to a 240 wby mag. My current go to rifle is a left handed Model 700 BDL in 7mm Rem mag handloaded with 140 grain Nosler Accubond's. My backup rifle is a Ruger 77 tang safety 300 win mag.

My "go to" gun is a Model 7 Rem. in .260. It's stainless/synthetic and very very light. It's got a Weaver 3-10x40 on it and it's real easy to tote around all day. It's pretty new, so I can only claim one buck with it.

in five minutes--my .340 weatherby, hurling 250 grain nosler partitions at 3000 fps--and enjoy every one--BANG

Winchester 70 Classic SM, though restocked with a B&C, in boring old .270, with a boring old Leupold 3-9, using a boring load of H4831 and Sierra 130s. Boring, because it always works on the Northcentral MO whitetails I hunt, always. For some minor excitement, I switch to a Savage .25/06, it's a little lighter weight, but it's boring, too. Ho hum....... Sure like those lucky rifles, boring or not.

I would have to say it just depends. I will "go to" the firearm that works best for the conditions I face. I will start the season in Wyoming with a 7mm Ultra Mag. It is big country out there. I will finish the season in the Tennessee woods with either a 30-30 model 94 or one of several .44 mag. pistols. Along the way I might find a need for a 30-06 or .270. I just can't limit myself to one or even a few rifles or handguns.

If I'm still hunting or stalking, it will probably be my Ultra Light Arms Model 20 in 250 Savage Ackley improved with a Zeiss V/VM 3-9X42mm.

If I'm sitting in a treestand or shooting house, it will probably be my Sisk Lone Star Hunter in 7mmSTW with a Schmidt & bender PH P3 4-16x50mm.

However, I'm currently having a 6.5/06AI on a Sako A-III and a 270WSM on a stainless 1999 MRC put together that might challenge them. Or my pre 64 Model 70 with a Zeiss 8x56mm that Rick is finishing up, or my Model 99 in 358 Winchester with a Leupold 2x7 for the bottoms, or........!

DISREGARD ALL OF THE ABOVE, I'LL NEVER HAVE ONE GO TO GUN! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Jim <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'll be chasing muleys in two weeks in WY and ID whitetails in October with my Ruger MKII SS/lam chambered in .338 Win Mag spitting 200gr BTs out at about 2950fps.

where at are you chasen our whitetails, how far north you going.

I'll be staying in Orofino and not hunting too terribly far from there. Any tips??? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

My favorite was a .308 until last year when I read about the 7mm-08. So I went out and bought a browning a bolt. It is a synthetic matte blue. It is light and easy to shoot due to no recoil. But if I know I going to wooded and pasture both I take my browning bar 300 winnie. She has enough to knock them down on any occasion <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

My go-to gun would be my Weatherby Vanguard in .270, with a 4.5-14X40 Simmons ATV scope. I have a couple of others that go hunting more or less often, a Win pre-64 model 70 in .300 WM, or a Rem 700 PSS in .308, or maybe an Enfield Mk1No4 .303, but the .270 is ole' reliable.