Best caliber for Colorado Mule Deer.

[Son of a Gun!]

I am a South Texas deer hunter and own many caliber of deer rifles, but I am going on a public draw deer hunt in Colorado and need to know what is a good all round caliber for Mule deer. I use a 300 RUM in Texas due to long Sendaro shooting out to about 600 yrds, but want some input for Mule deer in Colorado. I am under the understanding that altitude can effect preformance.

I've used 6mm Rem., 25-06 Rem., 270 Win., 7mm Rem Mag., 30-06 Sprg., and 338 Win Mag. on Mule Deer! All worked fine but my favorite is the 7mm Rem Mag. with 160 gr. Accubond bullets for a combination of range and killing power here's one I shot at 349 yds. with this setup!

 

[greenejc]

I am a South Texas deer hunter and own many caliber of deer rifles, but I am going on a public draw deer hunt in Colorado and need to know what is a good all round caliber for Mule deer. I use a 300 RUM in Texas due to long Sendaro shooting out to about 600 yrds, but want some input for Mule deer in Colorado. I am under the understanding that altitude can effect preformance.

I hope you got to go. I live just outside Colorado Springs, and I use a 35 Whelen, a 300 Win Mag and a 30-06 for mule deer. The Whelen with 225 grain Sierra is probably the best deer round I've ever used, and I've been hunting them for over 40 years. But the -06 or the 300 will do the job out to the distances you will have to shoot just fine. I really like the 200 grain .308 bullets from Speer and Sierra for the longer shots in either .30 cal, though. As to altitude, it is really only going to effect your trajectory outside around 400 yards. But it will make your trajectory quite a bit flatter. Any ballistics calculator will show you that. It becomes very relevant at altitudes above 6,000ft. and needs to be accounted for. Not adjusting for altitude will generate misses beyond 350 yards. Since I hunt at 8,000+ feet, I try to confirm zero at the hunting area and I do it out to around 600 yards with both my primary and back up rifles.

 

[WYO300RUM]

Happy New Year to all .

 

[sodakota]

Any of these would work well:

300 Win Mag​

Remington​

​

700​

180 grain​

Hornady SPBT​

WLRM​

73 grain s​

IMR4350​

​

​

​

​

0.88 MOA​

300 Weatherby​

Remington​

​

700 Classic​

200​

Nosler Partition​

215​

78.2 grains​

RE 26​

​

​

​

​

0.66MOA​

7 mm RM​

Remington​

​

700 BDL​

140​

Nosler PT​

​

72 grains​

RE 26​

​

​

​

​

0.38MOA​

 

[Allen Kitts]

If you have a 300 RUM and you are used to shooting it you will have no issues. Mule Deer are not exceptionally hard to kill. Any decent bullet from that caliber should o the trick. It is way bigger than what you need but if you have it and you are comfortable shooting it good luck and post some pictures.

 

[Raudy707]

I really like the 25-06 and 270 wsm for Mule deer. But if a guy is hunting windy Wyoming I'd go with 6.8 Western, 7 mag or 6.5 PRC. I shoot an 8 twist 270 WSM at everything in Wyoming that has hooves with the 170 EOL Berger. It cuts through the wind great and lays em down real quick.

 

[Allen Kitts]

Sorry I guess I was late tot he show and didn't read all of the posts. Great Buck, congrats.

 

[NateDBigTex]

Sorry I guess I was late tot he show and didn't read all of the posts. Great Buck, congrats.

Hunt of a lifetime for me, thank you.

 

[tradtusker]

Bring your Texas gun. Put crosshairs in the middle of the front third. Squeeze.

If your real goal is just an excuse to buy a new gun… it’s a (somewhat) free country 😉🤘

 

[Buffalobwana]

2 answers

1. Any “deer rifle”.

Mulies aren’t made of steel. They don’t like any holes punched in them. They will die with a .243 in the right spot.

2. You need a new gun. 6.5 PRC or any fast 6.5, 7mm or .30 cal. Or, any gun you currently like is the only gun that will work.

Go to a range or area that allows long range shooting and get your dope and skills up. Practice out to 600 if possible.

Good luck!

 

[ickes123]

300 wsm with Lehigh defense controlled chaos bullets will drop anything not a meat saver just a killing machine. bullet choice is probably more important than anything you have paper bullets and hunting bullets, and a lot of people simply don't get it.

 

[Gobbler256]

The best caliber for Mulies is the gun you are the most comfortable with and shoot the best!
Not being short with you but far too many hunters spend way to much time and money on this question.
Anything from a .243 to 338 mag will do the job but a rifle chambered in 270, 308, 30-06 will take down any North American game successfully with a properly place shot!
The questionable piece is the shooters capability to consistently put the round in the vitals. If you have a rifle you trust, shoot well and is a legal caliber then use that rifle!

 

[coopsdaddy]

Would the 6.5cm 143 eldx not be enough?

 

[buzby]

The OP filled his tag 3 month ago.