What is your favorite deer rifle?

My first kill was with a Stevens 311 double barrel 12 ga loaded with Remington Express rifled slugs. 110 yards across an open field on a running 7 pt. Took him through the shoulder on the 2nd shot. That was 30 years ago.

My favorite is a Savage 111FL in 250 Savage (250/3000) loaded with Hornady 117 gr spirepoint boattails. Light, low recoil, much longer range and power than a 30-30, heavier bullet than a .243 can offer. I've put down around 6 deer with it, and one stump (long story). :rolleyes:
 
The best deer rifle

My favorite deer rifle is a 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser. No kick, plenty of knock down power, flat shooter, sweet action. I only wish it was left handed.
 
First few deer, about 35 years ago was with a 12 ga double barrel and buckshot. Back then EVERYBODY used shotguns. Later graduated to the only rifle available :D a 30-30, used it for a number of years with complete satisfaction. At some point I put a Leupold 1x4 little shortie scope on it.

Tried a 243 for TOO long. Shoulda stuck with the 30-30, instead went shopping (during deer season, another story) for something else, happened up on a good used Mod 700 Mountain Rifle in 280. Put a Leupold 3x9 compact on it and have been using it nearly every year since. I use 140 or 150 gr Nosler Balistic Tips @ ~2900 fps. I guess this is MY favorite.

A couple of years ago my teen daughter took over the Mountain Rifle and I got a Ruger M77, also in 280. Put a Leupold 4x12 on it and have used it some, successfully, when school's out and daughter was using 'my' rifle. Later put a 2.5x8 on the Mod 700. Dtr liked it better :rolleyes: Put the 3x9 compact on a Ruger 10/22.

Still have all of them and would feel perfectly capable with either 280 or 30-30. Wouldn't prefer the shotgun now, but I'll never part with it.

I don't think there is any best rifle. Personally, I wouldn't take a 243 if it was given to me, but about anything else should work. A good trigger, a good bullet, and good marksmanship are more important than the brand, caliber, or customization level of the tool. IMHO :o

For Jseime >>> I don't see any practical difference between the 270 and 280. My Dad uses a 270 and I load his ammo too, with 130 gr Noslers. Only real difference is that you 'could' use bigger bullets for bigger game with the 280, but Mr. O'Conner would probably dissagree that it would be necessary.


((( Getting old. I had to edit this, some of the facts over the 35 years were wrong. Dang teen-age kids remember everything and like to remind their Daddies)))
 
For the deep woods where we start out at in the morning I use my Winchester 94 30-30 open sites mainly because of short distance and thick cover.

But when it comes to afternoon and open shootin, I bring out my baby.
Browning A-Bolt White Gold Medallion - 300WSM fully stainless gloss slect walnut stock along with a 3x9x40 Leupold silver finish scope. beautiful gun. This year im starting to reload for it with Nolser Accubond 150gr. bullets we'll see how that goes
-Andy-
 
Tikka T3 .270 with 130 gr. handloads - this combination has accounted for six deer over the past two seasons - not one of them went over 5 steps......three never even took a step.
 
Some of y'all like to kill and field dress the deer in one shot :D

I've hunted with '06, 30-30, 7.62x39, 20-ga slug, .50 Optima, but my favorite for the northwoods of Minnesota & Wisconsin is a Marlin 1894C .44M. 16.5" barrel is almost handgun-quick in the brush, easy in-and-out of the stand, relatively cheap practice ammo, plenty of commercial & handload options, little recoil & noise...I'll stop there.

Best of luck hunting to everyone though.
 
There are often two answers to this question.

Best case scenario: "The rifle I have with me."

The worst case scenario: "The rifle I left behind."

One of the nicest places I've ever hunted is a ranch that the inlaws own in N. Uvalde County, TX. Lots of scrub oak, juniper, and prickly pear. Plenty of deer in the Nueces River valley there, and it's a 5-deer county. First time I went out there, I stalked a fair amount with my iron-sighted Springfield, as I thought all the shots were under a hundred yards. The last morning there, I climbed up a steep hill/small mountain that overlooked the ranch, and saw that I could see the whole of the ranch, into just about every clearing. From my sit, I watched a very nice 8 point buck step out at 250-300 yards and stand in the middle of a clearing, browsing. I grabbed my binoculars and glassed him. As I started to pass them to my fiancee, I noticed something in a clearing beyond that buck. At 400+ yards it's hard to count tines, but that rack on the 2nd buck had to be in excess of 10 points, and it was 'wayy beyond the tips of his ears.

I kind of laughed/hiccupped, and handed the binocs to my future wife. She asked what was wrong. I explained that, with the rough country I'd have to cross and the density of the cover around the deer, I'd never find them on a stalk to them. Worse, that morning I'd made a decision of which rifle to bring with me, and I'd brought the iron-sighted (and rough-bored) Springfield '06 with me again... and left my .300 Win Mag Sendero behind. :( With the 180 g loads I had put together for the Sendero, I could honestly claim 4 inches at 400 yards. Perhaps less with no wind (it's a 3/4 MOA rig at 100), and this was a windless morning. With the Springfield, I was proud and pleased to EVER break 3" at 100 yards. At 400 yards, that would be a 12" group... IF my brass bead-on-post front sight didn't subtend the buck's chest (and it did).

Nice compromise rifles are a joy, though: I've done some good hunting, near and far, with a too-heavy Ruger M77 semi-varminter-barrelled .257 Roberts (that I would have taken that shot with), and plan to do some similar hunting with a .243 M70 Featherweight (Pre-64, first year production for the caliber, and as classic as they come. You are invited to eat your hearts out.) that I MIGHT have taken that shot with. The latter is also handy enough to stalk with, too.
 
Favorite Deer Rifle

I haven't hunted deer for a while, but have taken some wild pigs up to 200 pounds. I have two that I love. First is a Model 70 Black Shadow in .270 with a 3X9X40 Nikon scope. Using Factory Core-lokt 130 gr ammo I get sub 1" groups at 100yds. I also have a Remington 700 VLS in .308 with a Leupold 3X9X40 that is also a straight shooter. It is heavier than the .270 but I can live with it...
 
Winchester Model 94 in 30-30. Got my first deer with it when I was 12 and except when I was in service at least 2 a year since then. Nothing like it for the areas I hunt. No need for a scope since all my hunting is mostly less than a 50 yard shot.
(My Dad still says he only loaned it to me, I still havent "paid him back" yet. :D )
 
Here's another vote for the Winchester Model 70 Featherweight. Mine is a pre-64 in .270, I bought it back in 1969. In my infinite 16-yr old wisdom, I almost didn't buy it because it wasn't a .30/06- but then I figured that if Jack O'Connor thought so well of the .270, it should be OK for a high school boy in East Texas. :D (I used to read all the back issues of Outdoor Life in study hall way back then ;) )

I still think it was one heckuva good choice, & remains one heckuva good hunting rifle today.
 
Hey Jeff Loveless, why are you so down on the .243 win? ...just curious. Because I don't have a .243, but I was just about to get another barrel for my NEF handi-rifle in .243, for the ultimate long-hike-ultra-light deer rifle. I don't have a favorite yet, cuz I'm a fairly new hunter, but I used a .25-'06 and a .45-70 last season. I'm also thinking of changing the .25-'06 out for a Winchester 70 featherweight, Howa 1500, or Tikka T3 in 6.5x55 swede instead.
 
Stick with the 25-06 first freedom and get the 243 barrel for the handi rifle. The 25-06 is an awesome caliber for deer sized game on down to varmits.
 
Either MY winchester 270WSM, or my encore with the 300 win Mag. with leupold VXII..... A heavier bullet in the 300 actually does less damage than the 270 I find....
 
Thanks for the advice, Bill K! I really like the versatility of the .25-06 for sure! I suppose it can do anything that a hot-loaded 6.5x55 can do, and then some, for large deer on down, so it'll be tough to justify a change, in truth. But I was just thinking that in the long run, it will be a barrel-burner more than the 6.5x55, plus I can use heavier bullets in the latter. Plus I already have reloading dies for 6.5x55. IOW, I was thinking of replacing the do-it-all .25-06 with two cartridges in 3 rifles - 2x .243s - a dedicated long-range heavy varminter and an ultra-light, deep-hiking deer rifle (NEF barrel), and then 6.5x55 in a standard sporter config for all large game up to large deer. The main goal is caliber simplification, since I already have a 6.5x55 (milsurp). Then I plan to use .308 win (or .45-70 possibly) for elk and other large critters like yak, bears, moose, etc. Then I'd only be reloading 4 calibers: .243, 6.5x55, .308, and .45-70. As it stands, if I keep the current plan to get the NEF bbl without switching from .25-06, then I'll end up reloading for (or buying factory ammo for) 5 calibers instead of 4: .243, .25-06, 6.5x55, .308, and .45-70. Or, I suppose I *could* look into getting a handi-rifle in .25-06 for that long-hike light rifle if it's offered in that caliber, but I'd still be reloading 4 since I reload for the swede mauser. See my dilemma - I want to simplify calibers and eliminate the .25 cal if possible. Anyway, tough call for sure. Ya know, talking this out has helped me reach a conclusion, so thanks for bringing it up - since I've customized my .25-06 (glass bedding, boyd's laminate stock), I'm loathe to part with it. So now I'm liking the idea more and more of getting the NEF barrel in .25-06 instead of .243, and then my deer reloads are my deer reloads, period, regardless of rifle choice (once I find a load that BOTH rifles like). Then I can just shoot surplus in the swede or reload for it separately when/if I feel like it, but focus my reloading efforts on .25-06.
 
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