King of deer calibers?

Well let's look at the history of top deer cartridges over the years.
.54 caliber musket, sure beat a stick and string.
44-40. Never really were ideal to the task but they were dual purpose revolver/carbine which made them very practical in the days of the wild west.
30-30, considerably better ballistics then the 44-40 and such cartridges made the 30-30 an instant hit, still quite popular today.
30-06. Many think the 30-06 brought the hunting rifle into the modern era, well that is almost true, in Europe the 7x57, 6.5x55, and 303 pre-date the 06 by a few decades, even pre-date the 30-30, just took us a while to get the memo. None of these were designed for hunting, yet all have a loyal following amongst hunters. The 06 even at the beginning was a little excessive for deer, and nowadays with high performance powders it can be a monster, hence the slightly smaller 308 is continually gaining ground on it, and the slightly less powerful 270 always has been a top contender.
I don't see it as any stretch of the imagination that the 06 could be dethroned in sales, even without the modern advanced 6.5mms the 308 would likely overtake it anyway. But even when it is not the king of the hill anymore I will still be hog hunting with mine.
 
I joined this site just for conversations like these! All our great choices but lets all be honest! King of the hill??? Hasn't the 30-06 fought its way to the top of more hills in history than any other caliber?
 
No actually (assuming you are speaking literally) that would be the 7.62x39, the 30-06 was not in service for all that long, it was replaced by the 7.62x51 before Korea. So it saw service in one real war where as the Russian has fought in countless conflicts around the world for 70 years, including the wars we have now been fighting for over a decade. The 30-06 was said to be excessively powerful for anti-personnel, many soldiers complained about the recoil, and the Army wanted a case that would feed better through a semi auto action, the 06 was designed for a bolt action.
Two ways you can view the 30-06, it is either too much until it is not enough, or it is a versatile well mannered elk cartridge that can pull double duty come deer season, I view it as the latter.
 
Two ways you can view the 30-06, it is either too much until it is not enough, or it is a versatile well mannered elk cartridge that can pull double duty come deer season, I view it as the latter
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What??? When is the '06 not enough? That's the beauty of it! It's always enough! If anything, it's sometimes too much but never not enough.

Don't give me that argument "there are better choices"....bleh. The '06 is a choice. And never a wrong one. How many other cartridges can make that claim?
 
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No there are times the 30-06 is below the minimum of what I would use, of course those times involve hunting brown bear, cape buffalo, and elephant none of which live within a thousand miles of here.
 
The 06 is "not enough" to reliably hit and kill cleanly at 700 yards. Dealing with real hunting wind conditions at that range is beyond the practical limits of the 30-06. It can be done, but it can be done more easily with a 7 or 300 RUM.
 
Well, I could be wrong, but I believe that the 30-06 was the standard American rifle caliber in WWI, WWII, and the Korean conflict, plus, I have read it was the standard sniper cartridge during the Vietnam conflict, being used extensively by Carlos Hathcock to great effect. Am I wrong?
 
there are times the 30-06 is below the minimum of what I would use, of course those times involve hunting brown bear, cape buffalo, and elephant
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Yes of course, there are other choices. But guess what, the 30-06 has killed all those animals on your list. More than just a few times too from what I understand. It is capable getting the job done if need be. Thanks to its ability to launch heavier bullets. Sorry 270, you're gonna have to sit this one out.

Despite all of those accomplishments, the 06 is not the king of deer calibers. I don't think it's the 30-30 or 270 either.

I had originally thought it to be the 6.5 Creedmore. But I may change my mind if I can find some info on the 243 WSSM. Does any one know what the long range ballistics of this cartridge look like?
 
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The 06 is "not enough" to reliably hit and kill cleanly at 700 yards. Dealing with real hunting wind conditions at that range is beyond the practical limits of the 30-06.

700 yards is over twice beyond the "real" hunting capability of 99.9% of deer hunters!
 
Oh, come on, 6.5 creedmore? That was born, like, yesterday. I don't care how good it is, it hasn't stood the test of time. Compared to 243 Winchester, the Creedmore ammo is expensive if you can even find it. The average hunter never even heard of Creedmore. It will be a very long time before the Creedmore catches up to the 44WCF in deer kills. Any, so called, "King of the deer calibers", must have mainstream popularity. Most of these recent newcomers are still relatively obscure. Some are utter flops, like the 25WSSM. What a joke.
 
For the third time Pathfinder, this is not a score board of who has most kills, if that were the case the black powder musket has been killing deer for centuries before the first primer was invented, and the recurve bow for thousands of years before that, does being more "proven" make them better performing or just old? Not knocking all old cartridges of course, just trying to inspire rational thinking. No this was a comparison of performance, yes the Creedmore has not been out for a full decade yet, so it is somewhat "unproven" but you want to know an interesting bit of knowledge I have picked up the the past quarter century of hunting, deer cannot read head stamps! That's right so if the Creedmore duplicates the ballistic performance of the VERY well proven 6.5x55 no deer will ever be able to tell the difference. As far as expense of ammo goes the Creedmoore is not bad at all, Hornady Match is going for $22.79 right now at Midway, the exact same price as their 308 Match load, in contrast the only match ammo for a 243 is going for $43.99 a box, so if the Creedmoore is too expensive to shoot then I guess the 308 and 243 are too...... Or if you handload like me you don't give a $#!^ what the price is on factory junk.
 
In my state and the next state over in which I hunt, high powered rifles are not allowed for use. You must use a muzzleloading rifle, handgun caliber rifle, shotgun, or handgun (for firearms, and each category has its specs which must be met). So most folks I know that hunt either use their bow, a slug gun, a muzzleloader or a .44mag rifle. In these states most (obviously not all) of the land is hilly with trees abound everywhere. Shots over 300yds are unheard of. Most of us are treestand hunters or ground blind, and wait for the deer to come to us. That is hunting. Getting a deer from 15yards away, you fooled its nose and its eyes, now you get to take your shot. A 12gauge slug (sabot or traditional) really puts deer down quick. Especially if hit in the heart
 
Don't overlook a 7mm Rem/mag either, it's a dandy too!

Jack O'Connor had a lot to do with the acceptance of the .270 Winchester as one of the premier deer cartridges that has ever been developed. There are many that do just as well and the 1st is 30/06, there's nothing wrong with a .280Rem either. What ever I hunt with when I'm deer hunting will put the animal down quick, if it will do that what else is there to say. I have two 30/06's, two .280's, and two .270's, I wouldn't be afraid to hunt up thru Elk size animals with any of these rifles. I have a 30/30 I rarely use any more, I also have a Winchester .307 (rimmed version of the 308Win) with the ballistics of the .300 Savage which do well on deer size game. If I had to pick just one caliber only for deer or Elk .270, .280, 30/06 are interchangeable, all three do well and there isn't enough difference to fight over.. William
 
No doubt the difference between the 30-06, 280 and 270 is more overplayed then Celine Dion after freaking Titanic came out. Splitting hairs I call the 270 the better choice of the three if all we are hunting is deer, but the difference is so small using what you have confidence in is vastly more important. Splitting hairs even further I would say that the mid ranged 6.5mms and small displacement 7mms ( aka 260 Rem, 6.5x55 SE, 6.5x47 Lapua, 6.5 Creedmore, 7x57 Mauser and the 7mm-08) are better still since they can deliver the same lethal punch well past the range of most hunters to place them accurately in shorter, lighter, lesser recoiling rifles. Of those the Creedmoore seems the most efficient. While this is the current ideal cartridge at the moment there are several ways it can be challenged.
1 If the 243 can start getting some more low drag hunting bullets, we know the 105gr A-Max is a .500 BC if they could build a tougher hunting version of that it would be impressive. Still might not maintain the 1,200fpe at range but it would be darn close.
2 If someone standardized the .25-08 aka 25 Souper, while I don't have published load data to compare the little quarter bore seems like it could run with the best of them. Only downside is high BC bullets (.500+) for .25 calibers are non existent and even .450+ are rare, while if you go one size up the 6.5s tend to be very high almost across the board, even the old 140gr flat base bullets run around .490BC and low drag hunting bullets can go upwards of .600+
3 An even more efficient 6.5mm, it would take some doing but never discount the possibility that someone could improve even on the Creedmoore case.

In years past if you wanted to hit with an authority out to 500 yards you had to start off with a very high powered rifle that made 3,000+ fpe at the muzzle, nowadays with advances in bullet design and construction that is not true anymore, good thing is you don't have to accept the changes, your old 300 Win Mag is just as effective as it has ever been, but for those of us who like 5-6lbs rifles and dislike shoulder surgery we now have some impressive options.
 
Way to go Kachok:
I've been following this thread with interest since the beginning. ^^^^^ seems to cover all the ground as I understand it.
 
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