Which deer hunting rifle - lever 357 or AR15

if i'm going for deer I prefer a little more juice and the 44mag out of a lever action can be a really effective round. also the recoil is pretty tame since you have that much more mass.
better check on your regs. I know 243/6mm is the smallest legal deer cartridge in my state(wa)
 
Neither are adequate in real world hunting. Sure with accurrate shot placement under ideal conditions, and within range, both will do the job, but even the most skilled marksmen rarely see perfect shot placement when its not on a bench rest and paper target standing perfectly still at the exact angle you placed it. In Ohio the .223 is a groundhog gun, and the .357 is for burglars.

I am a longtime handgun hunter. When Ohio legalized my .454 Casull for deer, I dropped my Ruger Redhawk .44 Mgnum instantly. Good cartridge, but still light duty for whitetails from a 7 2/2" barrel.

Get the .30-30 lever gun in case that desired perfect shot placement doesn't happen. If you want to go with the pistol catridge, go with the .44 Magnum or larger (.444). recoil from a .44 Mag rifle is relatively mild.

With any pistol hunting round, avoid comercial soft lead semi-jacketed hollow point man rounds. Used premium limited expansion hunting bullets, and the heaviest available such as Hornady XTP, or even a cast semi-wadcutter that is more likely to leave and exit wound.
 
If you use 1000ft/lbs as the amount of energy you need to take down a deer, a 223 bullet in the 70gr range will have that energy out to around 200yards.

At around 200yards a 75gr 223 bullet will have more energy than a 150gr 30-30 bullet.
 
357 lever action or AR 223 for Deer

Everyone has their opinion and most rifles mention are more than enough to take the whitetail deer. Hunting conditions should determine your choice of weapon. The 357 lever action rifle is good for 100 yards or less. I have no hesitation on shooting a deer or hog with it at close range. 158grain bullet is plenty of lead to kill a dee. I have kill some big hogs (250 lbs plus) with the 357 round. It will bust through the shield on the shoulder of a big boar and pass through the body and usually hang up just inside the hide on the other side. Small hogs get a complete pass through. The 55 grain 223 round from an AR or bolt rifle is fast but light. It will kill a deer just as well but my experience is that the deer will usually run after being hit, unless a head, neck or spinal shot is made. I believe that addresses your question. However I hunt deer with a 30.06 bolt rifle. I have plenty of gun for short shots as well as for long range ones. If I were going to choose between the two guns in question, I would take the 357 lever and keep my shots 75 yards or less. Good hunting.
 
I guess a lot of people have armored deer where they live. In Virginia, we're not allowed to use 223 bore rifles to take deer, but that law was not made based on any research, it was fairly arbitrary. I know many people who have, regardless of the law, taken deer with 223 at ranges at which it maintains reasonable energy, and gotten DRT shots. The idea that the 223 isn't enough is laughable, when people in other states have no problem taking good shots with 22 Hornets. Either gun is absolutely fine with the right bullets for decent shots out to 150 yards. Put it in the boiler room and they'll drop. Shoot them in the hindquarters with a 300 Win Mag and they will run away. If it were me, I'd take the 357 and handload it for the longer barrel.
 
Granted, I don't hunt but have plenty of close friends who do.

.223 is legal in my southeastern state, where deer rarely get more than 150 lbs. Guys I know who use it have no issues whatsoever. You still have to get your round into the kill zone, all that matters after that is adequate penetration. With careful selection, there are a number of .223 rounds that can do that (again, assuming it is legal in your state). A .223 hit to the vitals that penetrates sufficiently beats a .300 Win Mag to the gut every day.

The only problem you run into with .223 is it's more sensitive to passing through brush and small limbs than other heavier projectiles. So you have to keep that in mind.

Yes, proper shot placement with "anything" will do it, but I've seen too many weekend warriors maiming game with their ARs and Mini 14s (in .223 that is).
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It's not the AR's or the Minis, it would be the weekend warriors that can't hit the broadside of a barn.

I wish I could locate the info now, I think it may have been in The Rifleman a few years ago. Anyway, on some game lands in the upper mid west some years ago it was found that most common cartridge used where wounded animals that traveled more than a few dozen yards was the 300 Win Mag. The theory being the people using that cartridge, in that particularly area, were using more gun than they could handle, resulting in a higher percentage of less than ideal shot placement when compared with lighter kicking calibers.
 
Of the rifles you mentioned I would vote for the 30-30. Contrary to popular belief it has a lot more energy than a 7.62x39 due to the heavier bullet weights available.
 
If it was me I would get a DPMS AR-10 or equivalent brand in 6.5 Creedmoor. If you want minimal recoil get an AR-15 in 6.5 Grendel.

Heck, you can even get your DPMS AR-10 in .338 Federal if you want.
 
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I'm a lefty and hunt with RH only bolt rifles. Make the first shot count...

For where you are located I would like .243 cal. and up.
 
I think that a .357 with appropriate load would be adequate in killing a deer. Shot placement and range is needs to be held at the highest importance. 50 yards, shot to the head or heart should kill one pretty well. Sure it probably has a better effective range than 100 yards, but if I were hunting with a .357 I would feel better about taking the shot the closer the deer would get to me.

.223 is adequate, not the best and not the worse option. Shot placement and bullet choice is just as important as with the .357. I would prefer to go after younger/smaller deer with a .223 than I would if I were hunting for a trophy buck. In the state of Georgia, it is technically legal to hunt deer with a cartridge as small as .22 hornet, although that is not really ethical.

The woods are thick here, and the deer tend to appear out of the brush 50 yards or less away. Marlin 336 in .30-30 or .35 Remington make great deer rifles.
 
Over the years I can think back to all the hunters I have witnessed hitting and losing deer. I will also include reports of loss from the hunters themselves. The 30-30 and .35 REM lever guns win hands down. Thirty years ago it seemed every body and his brother carried lever guns around here. Now that times are changing, it would seem that the .243 and 25-06 are catching up fast. It appears that the reports of lost deer to specific calibers seems to flow with whatever the most popular guns are being carried at the time. This leads me to believe that it may just be the guy behind the gun and not the gun.
 
Just saying "AR15" leaves a lot of info to be inferred. In today's world it's like sayin "lever action" due to all the cartridge options available. But no one seems to be disputing that the OP means .223 AR so I'm gonna run with that.

The .357 is hands down plenty for deer. I've seen the damage a good .357 load can do on deer from a 4" handgun, the rifle/carbine is just more of a good thing. 100 yards and under not a deer in the country is gonna know the difference between a .357 carbine and a .30-30 with equal shot placement.

And while never having used the .223 on deer (coyotes yes) it's still hard for me to argue with it's use. Way too many successful hunts on the record. Most that argue against seem to have never tried it or used improper bullets if they did. Not a real good track record for those against the .223. Still, if my shots were/are 125 yards or less than I'll take the bigger hole and thump of the .357 over the speed of the .223. Opinion probably skewed since I just plain and simply like a lever carbine over the AR's. Over 125 yards I'd probably look elsewhere and choose neither.

Don't be discounting bolt actions. There are plenty of LH bolt actions around and even in RH configuration it's not that hard for a lefty to master. Especially for hunting. You also have the BLR's and Savage 99's shooting spire point ammo in modern cartridges. And as stated you AR's in better cartridges. Just cause you're a lefty doesn't limit you in the least, just seems like it does.

(BTW, my BIL and another close friend/ hunting partner are both lefties living in a righty's world. Neither of them own a left handed long gun. Short guns being another matter.
 
If you use 1000ft/lbs as the amount of energy you need to take down a deer, a 223 bullet in the 70gr range will have that energy out to around 200yards.

At around 200yards a 75gr 223 bullet will have more energy than a 150gr 30-30 bullet
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..... just make sure the gun will feed and stabilize a bullet that long.

My thought is still "Happiness is having enough."

A lefty bolt gun off a consignment rack in .243WIN or bigger would likely be considerably less than the cost of a new Levergun ..... and offer much better ballistics and terminal energy. It would certainly be less than 1/2 the cost of a suitable AR at current prices.

For what AR's are running, you could buy a reloading set-up and a lifetime supply of components.
 
I am not a hunter nor do I play one on the Internet. I would check the state hunting laws to see what is and is NOT allowed.
 
Your First deer rifle

Well the first thing you should have said is what type of terrain you expect to hunt in. it would helpful ...I have hunted deer from age 14 and now at 72 last deer in Ga. this Dec. originally from NJ (not by choice) we basically hunted in the northeast . that being said the possibly of hunting in PA was the reason I did not get a Rem 7400 in 308 ( semi's not allowed for big game in Pa.. Since I always used pump shotguns I'm satisfied with the 7600...
I think that the 308 or 30-06 is on he top of the list.. I have 2 friends and not knowing to either of us we all settled on the Rem 7600 pumps in 308 or 30-06. Two of us are lefties.. why not check out some of the best deer hunters in the northeast... google "Benoit Brothers" you will notice that they all hunt with pump rifles.... For Maine deer / bear you leave the small bores at home ..I hunted in some of the same areas that they hunted and the pump is well suited a quick second shot.
When it is going to be your first and maybe only rifle for quite a while you should get a caliber that can knock down just about anything short of a grizzly charge and a well placed shot could probably handle that too.
It's also nice to have a 308 (7.62 NATO ) in the closet.....:D
I also have a Rem 700 LH 7mm mag but that is for long range western trips.
also had a Savage 110 LH in 30-06 great light bolt action rifle (stolen)
when I was young (1962) I loaded my 30-06 150 grain pushing 3000fps. well now Hornaday has a 308 150gr light mag load pushing the same FPS as my old 30-06 HOT load..... Good Luck on your choice..
 
bad choices

If you don't have one of these rifles none would be my choice.
The encore makes a great lefty gun. The sniper in "saving private ryan" had a slick way of shooting a standard bolt lefthanded.
caliber would be 7mm or .284.
I like the .280 REM or 7x57mm Mauser.
 
A 357 mag levergun would make a fine close to midrange deer rifle. Contrary to popular belief you don't need a 458 win to take a deer.
 
AR-15 in the 6.8 SPC with BARNES Tipped TSX .Have shot 6 deer from 40 to 215 meters all one shot kills but one.14 wild hogs all DRT one shot kills five of the deer DRT .The 6TH deer I hit a little high it went about 80 meters and stopped dead on its feet I gave him another to be sure .And none of them were smaller Deer .They were big size corn and soybean fed bucks and 5RD mags are made ,if state law says 3 RDS block them.Best of luck decideing what to get hope I helped.HOGSHOOTER
 
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