The Perfect Deer Rifle
- Thread starter onelastshot
- Start date
long40shot
Gold $$ Contributor
I'd say it's a rifle that you can shoot comfortably, consistently, that is adequate and you enjoy.
Matt
Matt
A 721 Remington 300 HH Bought in 1952
Changed to to 300 mashburn then to a 300ai Re barreled In 1958 with a xxx Douglass 30" 300 wby killed hundreds of deer culling for neighbors and hunting never lost a deer even with a bad shot . Changed the barrel again around 2003 to 26" with less FB 300wby Biggest mistake made Between the shorter barrel and less FB it was just another hunting gun . Short Fb was a big mistake . 50 plus years we hunted together . Not it is a safe gun and I don't care because I don't want to kill any more deer . Larry
Changed to to 300 mashburn then to a 300ai Re barreled In 1958 with a xxx Douglass 30" 300 wby killed hundreds of deer culling for neighbors and hunting never lost a deer even with a bad shot . Changed the barrel again around 2003 to 26" with less FB 300wby Biggest mistake made Between the shorter barrel and less FB it was just another hunting gun . Short Fb was a big mistake . 50 plus years we hunted together . Not it is a safe gun and I don't care because I don't want to kill any more deer . Larry
I have killed deer with about everything from a stick up through a 45-70. The one that just has to go on my hunting trip is a custom Rem 700 with a #6 Shilen 26" SS select barrel in 25-06. Shooting 117 Sierra Pro Hunters all you have to do is point it in the direction of a deer and it falls dead. LOL It is not a rifle but another deer getter that has to go with me is a T/C Contender pistol with a 14" MGM made Shilen SS barrel in 30-30AI shooting a 125 Nosler BT at 2670 fps. Where I use it most is where shots will be under 150 yards but it has SMOKED a tractor trailer load of deer and 99% have dropped in their tracks and I have never had to shoot one twice. As a back up rifle in case something happens to the 25-06 or I get invited to go hunt over a really huge bean field by a friend a custom Rem 700 with a Shilen #4 27 3/4" barrel in 264 Win mag shooting 130 Nosler AB 3350 fps goes along. I also end up taking a custom Rem 700 with a Heart 21 1/2" varmint barrel tight neck chambered in 308 Win that was made as a hunter class bench rest rifle many moons ago. It is used as a walking around rifle or where I may need to move around in tight spaces or for when it is raining because it fits under a poncho easy.
Funny but a few decades ago the only calibers talked about in my neck of the woods were 30/30 and 30-06. Sure the 308 and 270 were as well but less often. Knowledge and interest in shooting overcame that ignorance. Also the introduction of many as good choices have been born since as well. Sure the 06 is truly a fine choice but there are many others that equal or better it for many of the conditions or geography that deer are hunted in. Just seems the old 06 or 30/30 gun choices were thrown around alot back in the 70s. It's a memory I'll cherish as it was a time I cut my teeth on the love of shooting and hunting.
1958 I built my only bean gun . 11 3/4#
30" barrel . I still believe in long barrels. 400 yard off hand was a chip shot . Now I couldn't hit the wall standing inside of a room.
Smile Larry
30" barrel . I still believe in long barrels. 400 yard off hand was a chip shot . Now I couldn't hit the wall standing inside of a room.
Smile Larry
But it's those memories that you speak of that put that smile on your face just reminiscing of times gone by. Nobody can take em away from you.
Never but time is working on it.
Thanks Larry
Boring? Not hardly....if you hunt strictly the big ones!
Brandon Mulhern with his Dad's 2014 Kansas whitetail buck. by Sharps Man, on FlickrNow that's the reason I stopped deer huntingBoring? Not hardly....if you hunt strictly the big ones!
Got a tall one like him the next year got a
26" 13 point wide buck in Canada . Both were 325 # plus . Hard to come home and hunt Florida deer . Great buck Larry
My favorite deer rifle is the 760 I barreled in 260 Rem. It carries nice, it's accurate enough to reach as far as I could ever want to and I have a fast follow up shot if needed. It's actually a "long action" rifle so I can seat bullets where I want them. As others have posted, I have a lot of rifles that will kill a deer and I also will say that shooting deer with a high powered rifle is not as exciting as my favorite "way" to kill a deer. That would be with my Bear Custom Kodiak take down and a cedar arrow tipped with an old Bear Razorhead. I have had a few deer I had to track when shot with a rifle...but I have seen every one of them fall that I hit with this bow.
My comments are based in hunting white tail deer in the eastern US mountain areas where shots are rarely beyond 200 yards.
My father killed 18 bucks with an open sight, Model 94 Winchester, 30-30 hunting in the 'big woods' of central PA. My best friend killed 22 bucks with a Model 88 Savage, 308 and 4x weaver scope plus three black bear in the big woods of central PA. Both of these individuals were (in the case of my Dad) and are (in the case of my best friend) supreme master woodsmen, hunters, and field marksmen.
My answer to your question is just about any suitable deer rifle / cartridge will be perfectly adequate in the hands of a skill hunter. A 3,000 dollar custom magnum that shoots 1/2 moa isn't going to make any difference in the hands of the average hunter.
To quote Saul Goodman: "perfection is the enemy of perfectly adequate."
My father killed 18 bucks with an open sight, Model 94 Winchester, 30-30 hunting in the 'big woods' of central PA. My best friend killed 22 bucks with a Model 88 Savage, 308 and 4x weaver scope plus three black bear in the big woods of central PA. Both of these individuals were (in the case of my Dad) and are (in the case of my best friend) supreme master woodsmen, hunters, and field marksmen.
My answer to your question is just about any suitable deer rifle / cartridge will be perfectly adequate in the hands of a skill hunter. A 3,000 dollar custom magnum that shoots 1/2 moa isn't going to make any difference in the hands of the average hunter.
To quote Saul Goodman: "perfection is the enemy of perfectly adequate."
Probably because most guys take it for granted that pulling the trigger on an animal, typically results in a gauranteed harvest and do not always follow thru on all the proper steps while behind a rifle. When your using that bear takedown stick and string especially with cedar arrows and a bear razorhead broadhead, you absolutely better know yours and it's limitations before letting that string roll off the tab or glove. I will say too that sending an arrow thru a whitetail at 25 yards from a bow gives me a much more fulfilling sense of accomplishment these days than sending an Amax threw one at 850 yards across an alfalfa field. The end result is the same but the satisfaction is alot different. That being said, sending that Amax at a target or game animal and hitting exactly where I put the cross hairs is an almost draw. That has its very own high that only guys on this forum can relate too.
Mark W
Gold $$ Contributor
If I could only hunt deer deer with one of my rifles it would be the 60s era Marlin 336 chambered in 30-30 that I inherited from my wife's grandfather. My second choice would be the old pre accu-trigger Savage 110 in 30-06 that I picked up in a Florida pawn shop for $250 several years ago. Most of the deer I've killed were sub 100 yards and both of these rifles are perfectly adequate.
Yes sir, I agree. To me, yes the end result is the same and I didn't always think this way, but with a rifle if I see a deer I feel like I can always kill it. With a bow, it's a lot different in that I now have to get close enough. I still love to rifle hunt. In fact I have a cabin in rifle country just so I can. I live in a shotgun only county. Here is the main thing rifle hunting has taught me....if it aint the "right"" deer let it go. I find myself now letting deer pass by my stand that I would have dropped 20 years ago. I let a really nice 10 point pass by last year because there was a bear about to step into my scope. The bear never did give me a shot and I still think about it.
Edit: I say "I feel like I can always kill it".....but that is definitely not true in reality. Several times I have missed what should have been some easy shots...only to take the rifle to the range and see how bad the scope was knocked off and cut the middle out of the X!!!!
Boring? Not hardly....if you hunt strictly the big ones!
That'd be a nice cull buck here in south Texas. Dont get me wrong, its still a pretty and heavy mass deer.
It far bigger then your Texas deer . By close to a hundred pounds . My largest weight 385 lb . Larry
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