Your favorite medium-sized game cartridge?

What's your favorite medium-sized game (deer) cartridge

  • .30-06

    Votes: 31 17.8%

  • .308

    Votes: 48 27.6%

  • .270

    Votes: 17 9.8%

  • .243

    Votes: 15 8.6%

  • .30-30

    Votes: 12 6.9%

  • Other (be sure to share!)

    Votes: 51 29.3%
  • Total voters
    174
.45/70 Gov't!!!

Marlin 1895 is a great deer rifle and can knock down most game in North America with the right loads.

For pure fun, nothing beats a Sharps with tang sights. It's just pure fun to be shooting long distances with iron sights :)
 
The calibers I've listed are the ones that I saw most often when I was hunting in Central Pennsylvania in the 1970s and 1980s.

I used to hunt with .30-06, but then I bought my Savage 99. I only got in 2 seasons with that critter before I moved out of the state.
 
1.) .280 Remington
2.) .270 Winchester
3.) 6.5mm-06
4.) .25-06 Remington

Belts?? We don't need no stinking belts !;)

(edited cuz I don't tupe worth beams!)
 
7MM Remington Magnum.

But! truth be known anything from 7MM Mauser to 300 Weatherby Magnum will do the job.

If I had a good rifle in 308 or A 300 Magnum it would be close enough to the 7MM Magnum that it would not be worth obsessing about.

Better to practice than worry about the cartridge too much.
 
.280 remington. 30.06 is a close second and may one day over take it for first place. I guess it depends on what kind of mood I'm in. There isn't that much difference between them.
 
Hard choice - - -

I intend to take my next deer with a .308. This is simply because I kinda, sorta, tentatively, decided to standardize on my Savage Scout as all-around rifle, and I have yet to shoot anything with it.

And, my long-time, all-purpose, do-anything rifle has been a .30-06.

But, since the question deals with medium game, my favorite has to be my .257 Roberts. It's put a LOT of meat in the freezer. I've killed several deer and three feral hogs with it. Both my sons took their first and some subsequent, deer with it, as did my daughter-in-law and a couple of friends. We call it our cheater's gun, because it is so easy to shoot well, and is very light-recoiling. It would be my choice for antelope and medium o large varmints, too.

Best, Johnny
 
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For medium-sized game I'll vote for 6.5X55 Swedish Mauser.
It is accurate cartridge with enough energy out to 300 yards or a little more with right bullet. Not a popular cartridge in US but one that has a lot to offer.
 
308 Win double rifle or 7.62x39 Colt AR15 for deer-type critters. Bigger critters deserve the 375 H&H.:D
 
:) 7x57. First I used 130 and 140 grainers for longer range, and 175 roundnoses for bigger stuff. Must say that whewre I live - Brazil - gun laws are very restrictive, and I must do everything with one rifle, Now, and also because one of the parts of a hunt I most enjoy is stalking, I use 175 grains Hornadys pointed softpoints for everything except the occasional waterbuffalo - than I use 162 pinted boattails solids - old military stuff, very hard.
 
AndABeer---

You wrote,

I gotta go .25-06. It's good for any game in this hemisphere.

Do you mean, "any MEDIUM game in this hemisphere?"
Please say you don't mean ANY, including moose and the great bears. Please?

:)
Johnny
 
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