Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Perfect caliber for Axis, black buck, and small whitetail

243 is plenty

.250 Savage or .257 Roberts.

Axis can weigh over 200#, and they are tremendous athletes. I'd personally recommend something a little bigger than a .243.

6.5x55

.257 sounds abour perfect to me.

Since axis are included, might as well throw in big whitetails. I like a handloaded 257Roberts or a 25/06 with good 120gr bullets.

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Why not a .257 Weatherby?

I kind of like this caliber.

.257 Wby is a fantastic cartridge, but the more I use my .260, the more I like it. Either would be awesome.

John

That's the way I'd lean, 243 would be good as well.

Not much to them, the blackbuck that Paul shows in pics from time to time I think with his son is another awesome pic along with DJ's.

Dober

Woodsie,

It has been my experience that a 7mm-08.............


in a bolt gun,


how sweet it is with a 140 gr. Accubond or TSX at a muzzle velocity around 2800 fps........

when it comes to.............


Axis


Black buck


Javelina


Porkers.

[img]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/glenn1221/292.jpg[/img]
and whitetail deer


Best

GWB

If it were me I would pick up a 25-06.

Only shot whitetails here but I would be using my 223 or 223 AI.

That's what ill be using when i go on an axis hunt and hopefully a few javelinas.

Ok, let's see. Pick from these three. .257 Roberts, 7mm/08, or .30 WCF.

One 223 experience with Axis comes to mind.

We were hunting on a friends place with a bunch of Axis when my little daughter who was 8 at the time shot a big axis doe with a 60 grain Partition out of a 223. It was a pretty close shot, and the old girl tore out of there favoring a shoulder, but I honestly can't swear as to where she was hit because we never found her in the super thick South Texas brush where she was shot.

I am almost positive there was no exit, because we found very little blood which became no blood. I tracked her a long ways after she quit bleeding, and her track was pretty recognizable as she was favoring a front leg enough to leave a funny track on it. I jumped her once, but never saw her through the brush, but lost her track after that.

It may have been a poor hit, but if it was it was the only one of her career of killing quite a few critters. This is the only one out of 12 or 15 deer that she has shot at that we haven't found, and it was an easier shot than most she has taken. I suspect she just caught one lung and didn't get an exit, since the shot was at a pretty hard quartering angle toward us.

Because I'm pretty confident she hit her pretty good and probably killed her, I'd suggest going with a pretty stout bullet on Axis if a 223 is the choice. I think it would be Barnes or bust for me with a 223.

The next year, she stepped up to a 243 with an 80g TTSX and got a chance at another Axis doe. She shot her at about 80 yards quartering to us. In at the point of the shoulder and out behind the off shoulder. She ran around 100 yards or a bit more, but left a great blood trail both on the ground and all over cactus and mesquite, and we found her easily.



This one shows the entry wound...



Here's what we found when we opened her up. Blew some lung through the exit hole.





Pretty well souped the vitals...This is the entry side.



Entry on the left, exit on the right.



Anyhow...I'd sure use a good bullet on an Axis, especially with a 223. Even a Partition in a 223 might not be quite enough. Not dead sure of it, but I sure think my sample of one with a 223 60 Partition resulted in a yummy Axis in a coyote's belly instead of mine.

DJ

I tend to agree with DJ on the 223. From what we have seen axis tend to be a little tougher than the whitetails. They are normally larger and their hides are thicker. My personal opinion is the .243 is the starting point if you plan to take anything other than pure broadside shoots. Don't get me wrong I shoot deer and LOTS of feral hogs with my 223 and I would use it on an Axis if I was carrying it. If I was going on a hunt where Axis was the dedicated game I'd pull out something .243 or larger. I really like my .270 on axis

Just my personal opinion

Hard to argue with the 270 on Axis...

A picture is worth a thousand words, and I like that one!

DJ

Perfect cailber is .284 or .308
Perfect cartridge is 280 Remington or 308 Winchester

Axis are a bit tougher to kill than a standard deer. By that I mean they are more like AFrican in the way that they hang on longer after the shot etc....

After a number of years guiding for them, the only comments I can give are wish I had acess to shoot a doe axis every year for the superb meat.

And that you need to use a decent non frangible bullet, the hide is a bit thick on large ones. Make sure shot placement is perfect as with all animals and don't expect to see bang flops that often at all unless you CNS them.

Definitely tougher than whitetail.

Doesn't mean I'd get all goofy over caliber though, I'd tackle em with anything I had, including a 22 mag, but just knowingly of limitations.

Indeed they are quite tenacious when you put a bullet in them. I have seen many lost Axis that were shot with a 6mm, 243, 25-06 & 270's. Are 270's capable? You bet your boots they are. If you are going to chase Axis you need to hone your bullet placement skills and don't take marginal shots.

This is all consistent with my experience with all of them I've shot.

The big buck I shot went nearly 100 yards with one shoulder shattered and a punch through the other from an 85 TSX - a shot that has dropped lots of whitetails with CNS shock. I hit him pretty well dead center of the shoulders.

The doe we lost was hit pretty well, IMO, but I think she may have caught one lung. It's possible it didn't fully penetrate the onside shoulder, but I doubt it. It's also possible the angle got us, but she was definitely hit in the near shoulder and was clearly favoring it when she ran. Bottom line, I don't think the little 60 Partition out of the 223 was up to the job.

If we had used a bullet that performed like the 80 TTSX used on the second doe, I am very confident we would have found her - both from better penetration and damage to the Axis, and from a much better blood trail.

Axis bucks are built kind of like a yearling steer, and can push 300lbs.





DJ