King of deer calibers?

^ Nice to know I have a fan :)
Turns out that the writers of Guns and Shooting Online agree with my basis.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/7x57_7mm-08_260_6-5x55.htm

http://www.chuckhawks.com/ideal_deer_antelope_rifle.htm

As does Jon R. Sundra of Buckmasters

http://www.buckmasters.com/my-favorite-whitetail-cartridge.aspx

Ol Chuck and Jon it seems are also fans of the short action 6.5 and 7mm cartridges, while neither mentions the Creedmoore I think it is because they wrote those before the Creedmoore was released, the 260 is a ballistic twin just running a little more powder at a little lower pressure. Good to know I am not the only analytical person to come to this conclusion.
 
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I get that the Creedmore is a noteworthy challenger. But, in the words of the late Bon Scott, "It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll.". You mentioned the 6.5 Swede. A real winner in it's own land. If some Canadian told me that the King of deer calibers is 303 British, I could go along with that, too. A king has a nation of followers. Like the 30-'06. The Creedmore has a cult following. If the U.S. Army were to adopt it as a standard infantry cartridge, it would change the whole game; like Constantine converting to Christianity. Unlikely, but it happened. I'm sure the Creedmore makes a great deer cartridge.
 
yep, it sure does!:D

tc encore with a 6.5 creedmoor and a 16 1/4" MGM heavy factory barrel
120gr nosler ballistic tips with a load of superpreformance= .3" at 100yards(3 shots)
 
Well from New England I'd say most deer are taken at 150 yds and less. I use a light fast handling 308 bolt gun with 4x scope. Many of my friends use a 30/30 or 30'06. I'd say many deer are actually less than a 100yds. I watch the outdoor channel and see that many of you Midwesterners take much longer shots. I don't know anyone in my area that has taken a shot (at a target, much less a deer) over 300 yds so the king of deer calibers probably has more to do with region.
 
Match Ammo?

Match ammo has absolutely nothing to do with deer hunting. The 6.5 Creedmore may well be a prince among long range paper-punchers, that, by the way, can be loaded with good deer bullets and used effectively with impressive results. But the title of this thread was/is, "King of deer calibers?"; not the, "King of the F-class firing-line".
 
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Fair enough, except that Match ammo is A-Max which many people do use for hunting, never used them myself but I know several people who have. No they don't make the Creedmoore in Core-Lokts or Federal blue box and frankly the cartridge is probably better off without them. If all they make is precession SSTs and A-Max it won't do anything to hurt the cartridges reputation for accuracy and range, though if Nosler came out with a factory ballistic tip it would not hurt :)
 
On a side note I hunted the Northern part of NH and the 32 special and 35 Remington were really big up there as a combination bear and deer rifle. I can't remember seeing a box of 32 special for sale anywhere until I reached COOS county.
 
Again nothing wrong with 35 Remingtons, 30-30s or even 44 magnums just so long as you can live with their range limitation, I don't know a single 35 rem fanatic that will claim it is a better past 200 yards then a 270. Larger calibers tend to make a more free bleeding wound and hence better trails when hunting in the brush, but that is the only advantage a 35 Rem has over a 6.5 Creedmoore and it is not a must have, never had any trouble finding my game after shooting with my 6.5x55. Unless you stack the contest criteria to a very limited range the 30-30 and such won't hold a candle to the ballisticly superior platforms, does not mean they don't work just that for all around usefulness and versatility they won't compete with the A+ grade cartridges.
 
All this talk of effective range makes me want to make one important note though, I would MUCH rather hunt with someone who can stalk to within 75 yards then someone who can hit them at 500 yards. Of course many experienced hunters know that there are times the long shot is the only one you will get, anyone else lived in West Texas?
 
Kachok, I used to stalk deer. In this area, it is now almost impossible. Since the invasion of the Yote, the deer are very keen. They travel in much larger groups than I observed in the past. They are always looking, smelling, and listening. Sneaking up on one deer was not that bad. Sneaking up on 4 to 6 is quite the problem. The bucks even travel together. During peak of rut I see some lone bucks, but that is the only time. Just a few weeks ago, during peek rut, I observed 5 bucks traveling together. I have seen that in the past with immature bucks, but this group had one old mature buck and 4 two to three year olds. Never saw that stuff prior to the yote.
 
Yeah experienced some keen mulies out in West Texas, pretty sharp critters good luck getting close to one during the daylight hours anyway. Nice to have a good long range rifle for them, white tail are a little less so, pretty easy to just walk up to 30-30 range with them for the most part even in open bean fields.
 
An awful lot of it has to do with where you are. The ability to make a 500 yard shot is meaningless when the terrain you hunt is such that you'll never have a shot over 200 yards, ever. Thus, lots of people will be perfectly happy with a round that is pretty much useless out past 200 yards or so. If you are hunting in places where the deer, even the big bucks, are pretty dinky then you don't need a whole lot of firepower to bring one down. Thus, there are places like Central and South Texas where you may have a mix of thick brush and long ranges but the deer are physically small compared to other locales. There, you might find that the "King" is something not on your list -- like the .257 Roberts for instance. In other places you only have thick woods, short ranges and heavy bodied deer and the "King" will be something completely different, like a .35 Rem or a .358 Win. Or maybe the old .45-70.

There is no one "King".

FWIW, if I were to have to pick just 1 to do everything, I'd go with a .308 Win. It may not be the best at anything, but it does everything reasonably well. Besides that, I'm a southpaw and I detest right handed bolt action rifles. And I prefer short actions. You can get left handed .308 bolt action rifles. You can get .308 lever action rifles. You can get .308 autoloaders. It is ubiquitous and it gets the job done.
 
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Feel free to disagree if you like but that is the way I see it, the most damage I have ever done to a deer's vitals was not with a 450 Marlin or 300 Win Mag but a little 120gr pill from a 6.5x55 literally liquified the chest cavity from the liver forward.
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Gotcha beat. My father, using a 7mm Rem Mag using 150 gr Nosler Partition handload hit a smallish Texas Hill Country deer in a front quartering shot at close-ish range, about 100 yards. It blew out the shoulder it hit, and the other shoulder too via the shock. It liquified the chest cavity and the guts. It blew out the other side ham on the way out. It left only 1 ham usable. It was kinda pitiful, and we were sad for the waste.

There's a time and a place for big magnums. That wasn't it.

But then using that criteria, my 7MM Remington would be the King over the 270. Flatter, faster, less wind drift, and more powerful at longer range.
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But it also blows deer into goo. Seen that first hand.
 
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Remember I am talking about the all around "King" sure the 243 will penetrate enough for coastal deer, but if you are talking about very thick bodied deer you might want a couple sizes larger caliber to ensure through and through penetration, and granted if you hunt southern bean fields you might want 500 yards effective range where that is not a concern up the eastern sea board. But all things considered the 6.5 Creedmoore does it all with a little extra in a short action with a bare minimum of recoil. All in all I don't think you could find a better deer cartridge. Name me one situation inside 500 yards where it is inadequate, or a lower recoil cartridge that is adequate for every such situation. The remarkable efficiency is what makes it king, internal efficiency of the short action 65k psi case, external efficiency or a 6.5mm and terminal efficiency of a .280+SD that is sure to penetrate even on off angle raking shots.
The Creedmoore is going to be my next purchase, granted it won't do anything my 6.5x55 won't but it will do just as much in a true short action.
 
Remember I am talking about the all around "King"
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There is no king. It all depends on where you are.

The Creedmoore is going to be my next purchase
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And this is the ultimate point of the thread. You've got your jujus on for the Creedmoore and are trying to justify it. Enjoy.

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You see, I could care less about 500 yard performance. I'm never going to take a shot at that range. Lots of people feel that way. 500 yard performance does not make the "king" of deer calibers. It is an outlier. I've never had the need or nor the desire to take a shot over 300 yards at a deer. Ever. And I spent most of my hunting life in Texas.
 
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