Selecting A Deer Rifle

Selecting A Deer Rifle

I remember when I was a kid growing up, it seemed every fall, one or more of the major hunting magazines would carry an article entitled, “Deer Rifles – East and West”. These articles more or less worked off the assumption that all deer hunting east of the Mississippi was a short range proposition and all hunting west of the Mississippi was a long range affair.

I haven’t read an article like that in a while now and I suspect that the lines of demarcation have merged somewhat in the minds of gun writers. In reality there has always been the possibility of a long shot in the east and close cover shots in the west. An example in the east would be southern plantation hunting which in itself led to the introduction of the “Beanfield Rifles” as coined by rifle maker, Kenny Jarrett. The west on the other hand also has opportunities for short range shooting.

To set some parameters for deer rifles, I have no intention of reinventing the wheel here. Accepted guidelines for a deer rifle are that it should produce 1000 fpe (foot pounds of energy) at the target. Therefore the issue is not really which side of the Mississippi you are hunting on, but rather at what distance are you set up for. If you are hunting in the thickets, or covering a natural deer funnel you can be served well with a short to medium range rifle. On the other hand if you are 20 feet up a treestand, overlooking a 500 yard clear cut, you are going to need a rifle capable of reaching out there and delivering the goods. I am going to make some broad generalizations regarding rifles and group them into categories:

Short Range Out To 150 Yards Or A Bit Beyond:

Marlin or Winchester lever action rifles in 30-30 Winchester, .35 Remington, .45-70, .444 Marlin, .450 Marlin and two that are useful, however I do not believe anyone is chambering any rifles for anymore, (.32 Win Special & the .375 Win).

The 30-30 I believe still holds top honors for taking more deer than any other rifle in history. With the advent of Hornady leverevolution ammo in several calibers including the 30-30Win, .32 Win Special, the .35 Rem along with the 45-70 etc. the 150 yard range has been extended somewhat.

I am not suggesting that a 45-70 or .450 Marlin makes an ideal deer rifle, however if you are not particularly recoil shy and you own one and like it, there is no reason not to go deer hunting with it.

All Purpose Deer rifles:

25:06, .260, .270, .270 WSM, .280, .308, 30-06 7mm-08, 7mm mag .300 Win Mag, .300 WSM and offspring thereof. This is by no means a complete list, and I do not mean to imply that someone needs a .30 caliber magnum for deer hunting. The .300 Win Mag is popular in the northern Canadian provinces like Saskatchewan where the deer are big and the ranges can be long. Don’t feel handicapped by taking your 30-06 up there however as I don’t feel the 30-06 gives up much to the big magnums on the short side of 300 yards.

The nice thing about all these calibers is that they are very effective from point blank range out to the far side of 300 yards. If you sight in any one of them somewhere between 1.5 and 2.5 inches high at 100 yards, you will be on the money or close to it at 200 yards and somewhere between 6-8.5 inches low at 300 yards. You will still need a range finder for longer distances, however out to 300 yards you will not need to deal with holdover on a whitetail or mule deer. My understanding is that most hunters missed shots went over the deer’s back and not under their chest. The rule of thumb here is hold on the deer first as these calibers shoot flatter than you think they do.

Dual Purpose Calibers:

6mm and .243 Winchester – These and other similar rounds are touted as being suitable for both varmint and deer hunting. You can handload or purchase factory loads ranging from 55 grains to 115 grains I believe in either caliber. The .243 Win is more popular than the 6mm, however ballistically they are two peas in a pod.

Stick with the heavier loads in both for deer hunting and you should be fine. Stay away from the lightly constructed bullets in both calibers made specifically for varmints.

These are also both flat shooting rifles enabling one to place his or her shots with precision on deer sized animals.

The .22 Centerfires:

I am personally not a big fan of using the .22 Centerfires such as the .222 Remington, .222 Remington Mag, .223, .220 Swift and .22-250 as deer rifles. I realize they are legal in some parts of the country and lethal with the right load and effective in the hands of a good marksman who can call his shots. That being said, they were always thought of as varmint rifles when I was growing up. I still think that is where they are most useful.

Older And Possibly Obsolete Calibers:

.300 Savage , .250-3000 Savage, .284 Winchester, .257 Roberts, 7X57, .264 Win Mag. .358 Win and others too numerous to mention here. I will throw in the .44 Mag here as it was made for years in the .44 Mag Ruger carbine. Some of these might be a hand loading proposition and others will be hard to find. On the other hand, if your grandpa handed down his Savage model 99 in .300 Savage, it still makes the grade as a great deer rifle.

I hesitate to mention my picks for an ideal deer rifle in terms of trajectory, foot pounds of energy at the target, mild recoil and available in a bolt action format, with a synthetic stock and stainless bbl and action, but if I did, the .270 Winchester would be near the top of the list.

The Caliber is here to stay, ammunition is plentiful and easy to find and the rifles are accurate and hit hard. As an example, taking the .270 Winchester loaded with a 130 grain bullet, stats are as follows:

1.5 inches high at 100 yards / 2341 fpe at the target
-0- dead on at 200 yards / 1962 fpe at the target
-6.6 inches at 300 yards / 1635 fpe at the target
-19.6 inches at 400 yards / 1355 fpe at the target

This rifle shoots flat and carries our 1000 FPE minimum out to and past 400 yards.

In closing, you can buy a deer rifle today in the format of your choice. Buying a new rifle in a personal thing and the neat thing is there are a lot of choices out there. You can purchase a traditional lever action, a pump action, single shot, semi auto and of course the bolt action. It is mostly a matter of personal choice and state regulations. In PA as an example, I do not think you can go hunting with a semi-auto.

I have tried all of them at one time or another and own several. I own both the .35 Rem and the .45-70 in Marlin lever action persuasion . The .35 Rem is in their Marlin Mdl 336 and the 45-70 is chambered in their Mdl 1895.

I own bolt actions from Ruger and Savage in .243 Win,.270 Win, .308 Win, 30-06, and two I did not mention above in the new .338 Federal and the older .350 Rem Mag.

I did own for a while a Remington Mdl 7400 semi-auto in 30-06, however I sold that gun a while back.

I do not currently own a single shot, however I do own a TC 209/50 ML for which I can purchase rifles barrels in a myriad of different calibers suitable for deer hunting.

I did not mention anything about muzzleloaders in this article as I think the field is too broad and complex to cover in a paragraph. I will be doing a separate article just on muzzleloaders in the future.

Good luck on your choice of a new deer rifle.

Dan


Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you.............."