Hard Choice

If I had to choose? I have chosen, but my 7X57 might not meet your preferences. In performance, it is very close to many of the medium caliber cartridges.

As for my recommendation for you to choose? 308 or 30-06. You can hunt pretty much anything in the lower 48 and Canada (deer, elk, moose, caribou, pigs, antelope, coyotes, etc) and not feel over-gunned or under-gunned. Recoil is tame. The guns themselves are lighter and cheaper to feed than a magnum. Ammo is everywhere, including that WalMart on your way out past city limits at 5 AM on opening day.
 
Roamin_Wade said:
If you had to choose one round as the only round to hunt the lower 48 states with and whitetail deer, which would you choose and why? One dynamic of the question is elevation and possible distance shot. Let’s say 10’ stand and no further tha 250 yards.

1) 243 Win
2) 25-06
3) 6.5 mm Creedmoor
4) 270 Win
5) 7mm Rem Mag
6) 280 Rem
7) 30-30 Win
8) 308 Win
9) 30-06
10) 338 Win Mag

Don’t forget about the “why” in the question.

Thanks guys and gals...
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Any from your list except .30-30win. To answer the "why", within the specifics of your question, I don't care to shoot a .30-30 Win at 250yds at deer. Too much drop.

Going from your list (and following your restrictions) I'd choose .270win, or .308win, favoring the .308win. The "why" is the vast availability of different weight and composition rounds for the .308win over the .270win.

A close third for me would be the 7mm Rem Mag, but you don't need it's performance at 250yds.

All that said, a featherweight .243win would be a great deer rifle out to 250yds. Little recoil, comfortable to shoot, and all that really matters is being able to match the impact speed of and composition of the bullet with whatever damage you wish to do to the target (Whitetail Deer, in this case) when hitting in a vital area.
 
Any from your list except .30-30win. To answer the "why", within the specifics of your question, I don't care to shoot a .30-30 Win at 250yds at deer. Too much drop.
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Depending upon what loads you're using, the difference in drop at 200 yards (w/ 100 yd zero) between .30-30 and .270 Win is as little as 3.2" at 200 yards -- with the .30-30 launching a heavier bullet.

That's nothing, in terms of "hunting accuracy".

Yes, I prefer better, myself. But it's still not much of an issue.
.30-30 may not look as good on paper, but it's not worth an outright dismissal, either.
 
FrankenMauser said:
Depending upon what loads you're using, the difference in drop at 200 yards (w/ 100 yd zero) between .30-30 and .270 Win is as little as 3.2" at 200 yards -- with the .30-30 launching a heavier bullet.

That's nothing, in terms of "hunting accuracy".

Yes, I prefer better, myself. But it's still not much of an issue.
.30-30 may not look as good on paper, but it's not worth an outright dismissal, either.
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:eek:

I'll give you that.:)

Given the rifles and parameters in the OP's question, the .30-30win would still be my last choice for 250yd shots, while still definitely capable of such if the need arose.

The .270 is still going to be hitting the target at 250yds with considerably more kinetic energy, again it depends on projectile composition and target composition how you chose to use that energy.

A heavier or lighter bullet doesn't really mean anything, depending on bullet composition, relative impact velocities and whatever it is you wish to do to the target.
 
"I guess if we have to follow rules. I never shot anything out of a stand."

"Why?"

"Cause deer can't climb the ladder!!!!!!!!!"
 
If it was only white tail deer I'd go with the .243 Win. The reason I'd pick that one is because of ammunition availability and recoil. The .243 Win is flat out easy to shoot and at 250 yards on deer it does everything I need.

However, since the OP listed the entire lower 48 states, I'm going to assume he primarily hunts white tail deer but possibly wants to hunt other game. I personally chose the .270 over 20 years ago and don't regret that decision for one second. Today if I were to buy a rifle I'd probably pick up a .308 over everything else.

Ammunition availability and variety is a huge factor in that decision, even if you hand load the data Ford a .308 far exceeds that of my beloved .270 Win. At the ranges the OP is looking at shooting external ballistics don't matter at all, he could even double that range and it really wouldn't change things. The only other cartridge on the list that matches the versatility of the .308 is the .30-06, but I still like the .308 slightly better.
 
I think if I had to choose just one, it would probably be the 30-06. It's very versatile but with the heavier bullet's it has a little too much recoil to enjoy it. I enjoy shooting the .270 or .243 but not if it was a survival thing. Thanks for the input...
 
I find it peculiar that a few times a very low recoiling cartridge was chosen because of that alone. I have mostly used a .270 Win with 130 grn BST and never felt the recoil was much and the rifle wasn’t heavy, and that’s not to say I’m not recoil sensitive as I found dove hunting with a pump 20 ga to become a bit more than I cared for after an hour or so.

Quite frankly I’ve always felt short action cartridges were ideal and favor the higher BC of the 7mm bullets available (which could be said about the 6.5mm as well). When comparing different calibers I’ve generally used SD to make it closer to apples to apples to my thinking.
 
8) .308.

Even though I have hunting rifles in 357mag, 30-30, 300 Savage, 30-06, and .308, as I'm hunting in Colorado with large game, I'd choose the .308 as it's got the best combination of power, lighter weight, and lower recoil. For anywhere in the lower 48 I feel that the .308 is perfectly adequate for ranges out to 350yds which I believe is about the limit for humane hunting.

Besides, 8 is my lucky number!!
 
My choice for anything in the lower 48 is 7mm-08. For whitetail deer exclusively, from your list, I'd pick .243Win... or in real life, I picked .243AI, not because it's "better" but because it's different and unique.... but 7mm-08 is my favorite cartridge. I'd use it for anything between woodchucks and moose.
 
Out of the choices on the list of probably not use any of them and go with the 7.92x57 Mauser.

It’s just one of my favorites & my go to.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
This old fellow has long set a personal shooting {yardage} limit when hunting his whitetails. 125 yards is my furthest shooting distance. I'm comfortable with that yardage I'll quickly find my deer no matter the lighting conditions. So.
The venerable 30wcf is my choice. Light weight firearm/s. Easy to operate. And always shoot well at my limited preferred range. Irregardless of factory Jacketed_ G/c cast_or paper patched. {my pro-ferred bullet of choice}

Years of hunting has taught me the longer the shot. The easier it is to be confused?~ just where the quarry last stood. Not knowing just where my deer last stood? Waste time in looking and immediately I can count on a long exhausting walk in the bush before the animals retrieval.

No thanks. I like my quarry properly taken care {butchered} as quick as possible i.e. "30-30 does it Best. Seldom a second shot required. No heavy cheater glass to tote. " Bang! flop. Brown is down for the count."
 
Brian Pfleuger said:
My choice for anything in the lower 48 is 7mm-08. For whitetail deer exclusively, from your list, I'd pick .243Win... or in real life, I picked .243AI, not because it's "better" but because it's different and unique.... but 7mm-08 is my favorite cartridge. I'd use it for anything between woodchucks and moose.
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Perhaps this is a conversation for elsewhere, but under what criteria/circumstances (distances, bullet weight, etc..) would you use 7mm-08 for elk? I have one, and I love it! It's my go-to white tail rifle every time.

While I'm a Virginian, my sister lives in Montana and we've been loosely planning an elk trip for some time. I've always thought I'd have to buy/borrow something bigger, but under the right circumstances, I'd love to use the 7mm-08.
 
.270 or 30 06, I like the .270, it has a little less recoil and is powerful enough. One guy said overkill for some game. Ain't no such thing as too much gun but big guns do kick. AT 250 yards the .270 or 30 06 will do the jpob.
 
Tallest said:
Perhaps this is a conversation for elsewhere, but under what criteria/circumstances (distances, bullet weight, etc..) would you use 7mm-08 for elk?
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I moved to Colorado in 2016 and decided to buy a dedicated elk rifle... my choice was a Tikka T3x in 7mm-08. In other words, my circumstances are "any". The argument has been had here too many times in the past, but what a lot of folks don't know is that it's not uncommon for youth and ladies to use a .243Win on elk.
Now, that video has been called a "parlor trick" another time I posted it... but ask yourself this... if a .243 can pull of that "parlor trick" at almost 700 yards, what logical claim is there to make that it's ineffective for any ordinary shot? I mean, she obviously brought that gun to hunt elk.

Now ask yourself, if that's a .243.... when would the 7mm-08 be ineffective?
 
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