What cartridge for NOT long range (300 yards and in ) whitetails?

Bigeclipse said:

If you did not have a deer rifle (maybe a very rare hunting of a black bear) and wanted to buy one for 300 yard shots and in, which cartridge rifle would you be buying?

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.243 or .270 is what I use for miley's and black tails. I mostly hunt with the .243.

Are you hand loading or wanting to shoot factory?

factory = .270,.280, 7x57, 7mm/08, .308. 30/06

reloading? = the sky's the limit....

.280 rem gets my vote I've shot a lot of different calibers but settled on the 280 rem

One problem with the .22 caliber cartridges is that they are not legal in all states or in Canada for big game. If you're looking for one rifle to 'do-it-all' consider that and how available is the cartridge if you loose the ones you are carrying: airline, theft, dropped overboard on the transfer from the float plane to boat...etc

Any corner hardware store, garage, general store I have been in in remote areas that sell ammunition, usually has the more common .308, .270, .30-06, 7mm RM, .300 WM on the shelf. Other stuff not so much.

Good luck

Jerry

12ga.

carl1775 said:

12ga.

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.????

308

30-30 7mm-08Remington 270 WSM 30-06 6.5 Carcano.

Tex_Hunter said:

Under those parameters, 7-08 or 308 would be hard to beat. The long action cartridges (270/280/30-06) carry no meaningful advantage to either of those options on the game you will be hunting inside of 300yds and either will have a fair bit more energy than the 6 and 6.5mm offerings in the same case length at those ranges.

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All of the popular 6.5's are more than adequate for his needs with minimal recoil, great ammo selection, and very flat shooting inside of 400yds.

I never bought into the "Magic of the 6.5's" until I spent two years shooting the .260's almost exclusively and watched every deer and hog die just as dead as they do when I hit them with the STW or RUM.

Certainly much more economical to shoot too than pretty much any of the magnums especially if you roll your own.

MAGA said:

lol at buying a 300wm for shooting whitetails at 200yards and less

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300 yards, and the 300wm is never the wrong answer.

257R, 6.5cm

adam32 said:

I'm not sure, I have never shot a bear but from everyone I know that has it seems a black bear isn't all that hard to kill. But personally, I have no idea.

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Shooting bears with any of the .22's would be a really bad plan. Lots of hair, thick heavy bodies and heavy bones. A big boar can soak up a whole lot of little bullets if the first one isn't perfectly place and pushed by a fair bit of luck, especially fall bears.

jpspeeddemon said:

any short action 6mm and up would be great, so 243, 6.5cm, 308, etc. No need to go with a heavy recoiling long action caliber. Like everyone has said, whitetails are difficult to kill.

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"Aren't".

The bears are the monkey wrench in the stew here.

One more 6.5 to add to the list, the .264wm is pretty much ideal for both applications with the right bullet if you want a bit more gas than you'd get from the Lapua, Rem, or CM.

The 270 Win. and the 35 Whelen are my favorites, and the 30-06 is all ways a good chose. There are lots of good ones in between, above and below. Pick one that trips your trigger and pick a good bullet for it, learn to shoot it well, and then enjoy it.