White tail. What do you use?

[Rem700]

First couple of yrs used a 30M1 carbine with 110gr Remingtons, These where actually legal about 35yrs ago if you handloaded long and stretched the mags to meet legal length requirments at the time.
Next couple of yrs 351Winchester Auto
A couple of yrs with a 30-30 Marlin
Couple more with a 444 Marlin
8-10 yrs with a Savage 110 in .270 Win
A couple of yrs with a Weatherby in .243
Several more yrs Browning SS Stalker .300WM also doubles on Mulies and Elk
Several yrs in the shotgun zone with a Thompson Encore pistol 7mm08
A couple of yrs 50cal Muzzle loader shooting Sabots in the shotgun zone
A couple of yrs with a 54 cal muzzle loader and round balls in the shotgun zone
Couple of yrs with a Marlin 44mag shooting 280gr cast WFPs
I killed deer every year and the Savage killed more deer then any other mainly becuase it was used for more yrs then any other gun and the liberal number of tags available at the time IIrc Wi at one time was 8 doe tags.
This year who knows just depends on where I decide to hunt.

[Rem700]

Sako Finbear .270. If I had time to go...

I personally never understood the 270, for me it makes much more sense to go on the larger side if you are going to carry a long action, you can always run a lighter bullet if recoil is an issue, but having the option of going on that big game hunt down the road and knowing you are more than covered seems to make sense. Most guys I know that shoot 270 always shoot rounds on the larger end of the spectrum, never dropping down to the smaller stuff, in my opinion it would make more sense to bump up in size and shoot lighter stuff, but to each his own I guess.


Most calibers and twists generally have middle of road compromise and shooting light or heavy for caliber usually results in poor performance.

[RAGGED]

Most calibers and twists generally have middle of road compromise and shooting light or heavy for caliber usually results in poor performance.

I'm well aware of this, but my point is most 270 shooters I know use bullets in the 130-140gr range, shooting a 140gr at 270 velocities out of a 7mm is not compromising (shooting a 110 would be) at all and recoil will be almost identical. If you are buying a 270 to shoot 130-140gr bullets and will never drop down to the 110gr range than you may in some instances be better served with the larger caliber as it will allow you to run the larger bullet down the road that may be needed for a specific hunt.

[Holland&Holland]

.25-06 has been the most productive for me over the years. Lets me pick my bullet placement, never have had excessive meat damage, and never had to track one. Use Trophy bonded bear claws and have recovered a number of slugs. Just has been a real workhorse for me in the whitetail woods. Have never had to strech it much beyond 150 but if I had to I feel good with it.

Have also used .30-30, 7x57, and .357 at times and taken deer with them. No complaints with any of these but have never felt they performed like my .25-06.

[Snowgun]

.25-06 has been the most productive for me over the years. Lets me pick my bullet placement, never have had excessive meat damage, and never had to track one. Use Trophy bonded bear claws and have recovered a number of slugs. Just has been a real workhorse for me in the whitetail woods. Have never had to strech it much beyond 150 but if I had to I feel good with it.

Have also used .30-30, 7x57, and .357 at times and taken deer with them. No complaints with any of these but have never felt they performed like my .25-06.

I swore by my sako 25-06....until I met the sultry 7mm rem supergrade. I like the fact that I can poke it out there a little further with a heavier bullet (140 vs 117) and still shoot as flat. Plus as mentioned before I have room to move up in weight for larger game...

[Holland&Holland]

.25-06 has been the most productive for me over the years. Lets me pick my bullet placement, never have had excessive meat damage, and never had to track one. Use Trophy bonded bear claws and have recovered a number of slugs. Just has been a real workhorse for me in the whitetail woods. Have never had to strech it much beyond 150 but if I had to I feel good with it.

Have also used .30-30, 7x57, and .357 at times and taken deer with them. No complaints with any of these but have never felt they performed like my .25-06.

I swore by my sako 25-06....until I met the sultry 7mm rem supergrade. I like the fact that I can poke it out there a little further with a heavier bullet (140 vs 117) and still shoot as flat. Plus as mentioned before I have room to move up in weight for larger game...

I love my 7mm mag do not go to it for MN whitetail. To be honest I feel (from my personal experiance both with it and with 7x57s loaded light and fast) that while it kills them dead, with a lung shot they do not know they are dead for awhile. Maybe just my experiance but anything I have had to track has been with a fast 7 and a double lung. Bullet selection is, I am sure muct to do with it and I do not have the time or the history to speak decisively on this, but I have my experiance and reasoning and I firmly beleive that confidence is a good part of the end result sometimes. At longer ranges (say ND) or bigger animals (say Elk) I am a sucker for the 7mm mag. When I get to Africa, my 7 mm mag will be my go to plains game rifle coupled with a .375 H&H for heavier stuff.

[archerychamp]

7mm-08 Tikka M595 in rifle zone

12 gauge Rem 1100 with smooth bore & rifled lead slugs in slug zone

.50 cal 209x50 magnum muzzleloader

[fytattoo]

i hunted out that way in duxbury for a few years...was the first place i ever hunted deer..i used a marlin 336lever action 30-30...ive shot many a deer with it from 15 yards to 230 yards...started with open sights and went to just a basic scope with over/under mounts so you can still use the irons if you get fogged up...i bring it as my back up gun but still find myself hunting with it just because i love shooting it...now i have a scope so big on it you cant use the irons, i picked the scope up for a good price and couldnt help myself

i now hunt with a 7mm bolt action browning gold medallion...again a fun gun to shoot and kill things with and will really reach out and knock them down but as previously mentioned not needed in the area your going not to mention the cost factor...i wanted something extra nice to go ooooh aaaahhh over...lol

i usually bring a few brush guns with me as well my ruger mini 30 and have even have killed 1 deer with my bone stock russian sks both calibered in 7.62x39

all in all i would recommend the marlin to anyone just starting out.... great weight, decent range, durable, and great looks, hell it would look good with a piece of rope for a sling...my father even bought one when he started hunting a few years back...his newer one is almost identical to my older 80's version which says something about the integrity of it...30-30 is a great round to shoot and if look back its probably mentioned the most...lots of good advice here though...

good luck

[1911fan]

H&H; regarding the 7mm x57 loaded light and fast.

Try slowing it down a bit and upping the weight. My daughter killed several deer using a 6.5 swede with 120 ballistic tips using 35 grains of varget. Velocity was in the mid 2400's and the deer went no further than twenty yards when hit properly. Try loading the 7mauser with a 140 BT and 35 to 36 grains of varget for 2300 to 2400 FPS. Very mild recoil and the deer will topple over.

[Holland&Holland]

H&H; regarding the 7mm x57 loaded light and fast.

Try slowing it down a bit and upping the weight. My daughter killed several deer using a 6.5 swede with 120 ballistic tips using 35 grains of varget. Velocity was in the mid 2400's and the deer went no further than twenty yards when hit properly. Try loading the 7mauser with a 140 BT and 35 to 36 grains of varget for 2300 to 2400 FPS. Very mild recoil and the deer will topple over.

I am thinking the same and will play around with the 7x57 more in the future. Thank you for the load info. I do so love the history of the 7x57 and it is accurate as all get up in my Styer Mannlicher.

[Gecko, Extra Crispy]

Remington 81 in 300 savage

[TommyMN]

Thanks for all the advice guys! Havent pulled my hair out yet. Leaning into a tikka lite t3 in .270 with a zeiss. May change 5 minutes from now thou haha.

[Charlie Lima]

I've been hunting with a .44mag dan wesson, 8 inch barrel and a bushnell red dot sight. I taken deer out to 125 yds with it. Prolly harvested over 40 whitetail in the last 18 yrs. Gotta love bonus tags!

[ramblinoak1]

Seven MM mag...........

[RAGGED]

Seven MM mag...........

Dems fightin words round here!