Best rifle for hunting whitetail deer

[WinterBorn]

I won't reread this entire thread, so my apologies if I repeat something.

I think my Ruger #1 in .270 Winchester is the perfect southeastern deer rifle.

The .270 performs great in a .22 inch barrel, with most of the powder burning in the barrel. And with the #1, the end of the barrel is above the trigger. You knock 4" off of the length, when compared to a semi, bolt action or lever gun. So a rifle with a 22" barrel handles like a bolt gun with an 18" barrel. Full advantage of a full barrel with the overall all length of a carbine.

And a .270 will bring down a whitetail deer with decent shot placement.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

3030, 3006 are your best calibers. Me, anything deer sized or bigger with a 308.

Ruger, Winchester, Remington are your best all around manufacturers for deer hunting rifles. Beyond that it's personal taste for the look and feel of the gun.

Far as scopes go Simmons makes a great scope at very reasonable prices. Just make sure you put a drop of locktite on the mounting screws once you have it in place to help prevent rifle shock from shaking it loose.

Personally my favorite is a British 308. It's cumbersome but it's solid, well made and once you get a feel for a range finder sight you'll put that bullet where you want all the time every time.

You dont need a .308 to hunt deer in fact thats overkill.
I had a 30-06 for deer hunting and my .270.
Sold the 30-06 and kept the .270 and have zero regrets
The .270 will drop an Axis deer in its tracks which are quite a bit bigger than a white tail. It'll go right through em even if it hits ribs.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I won't reread this entire thread, so my apologies if I repeat something.

I think my Ruger #1 in .270 Winchester is the perfect southeastern deer rifle.

The .270 performs great in a .22 inch barrel, with most of the powder burning in the barrel. And with the #1, the end of the barrel is above the trigger. You knock 4" off of the length, when compared to a semi, bolt action or lever gun. So a rifle with a 22" barrel handles like a bolt gun with an 18" barrel. Full advantage of a full barrel with the overall all length of a carbine.

And a .270 will bring down a whitetail deer with decent shot placement.

Agreed.
I sold my 30-06 and kept my .270 and have no regrets.
You can drop an Axis deer which are quite a bit bigger than a white tail with ease.

 

[1srelluc]

It depends, if your shots are under 100 yards then the old lever action calibers from .30-30 to .35 Rem work fine. I deer hunted for 20 years with a Ruger Deerslayer carbine in .44 mag and killed more deer with it than most folks have seen but 75 yards would have been about as far as I could see to shoot.

That said once my lease opportunities opened-up (along with the range) I settled on a .308 I had built for me and when pushing a 165 gr Nosler Partition kills everything from deer to black bear with no problem.

 

[flewism]

It depends, if your shots are under 100 yards then the old lever action calibers from .30-30 to .35 Rem work fine. I deer hunted for 20 years with a Ruger Deerslayer carbine in .44 mag and killed more deer with it than most folks have seen but 75 yards would have been about as far as I could see to shoot.

That said once my lease opportunities opened-up (along with the range) I settled on a .308 I had built for me and when pushing a 165 gr Nosler Partition kills everything from deer to black bear with no problem.

I also hunted whitetail with a Ruger 44 mag 5 shot semi-auto carbine when I was a young man. I loved that gun as it was great for the thickets and swamps of Michigan. I still regret giving that gun up and of course now they are sought after and command a high price. I paid like $80 for it at a pawn shop about 1977.

I don't hunt anymore.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Big game hunting season was over about six months ago. How is this a "current event"?

I know this is old but that would depend on where you live.
Here in Texas you can shoot exotics year round. They escape from the high fence ranches and do really well in Texas.
They're free game after that.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

is it dead? it is a beautiful animal...

Nah...he propped his head up with the stick all by himself.
They run wild in Texas and they're not native so you can shoot em anytime you want.

 

[WinterBorn]

Big game hunting season was over about six months ago. How is this a "current event"?

I used to hunt much more than I do now. And there were 3 main animals I hunted, whitetail deer, feral hogs and coyote. Only one of those has a season.