Results of favorite deer rifle

Waynzee

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Jan 21, 2016
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I started a thread awhile ago ( What is your favorite deer rifle) and the results were interesting, I'll try to post all the calibers starting with the most used caliber first for deer. This may not be exact because a few fellas posted 2 and more rifles which is understandable sometimes it's hard to pick a favorite.
Peoples favorite - .270, -17- times mentioned
30/06, -14 '' ''
25/06, -13 '' ''
7mag., -11 " "
.243, - 9 " "
6.5 CM, 300WM, 7/08, -8 " "
.308win. -7 " "
The following calibers were mentioned 5 times or less. 6.5x55 - 5, 260 Rem. - 4, 338 UM - 4, 264 WM - 4, 280 Rem. - 5, 30/30 - 3, 257 WBY. - 3, 35 Whelen - 3, 300 RUM., 45/70, 284 Win., 250/3000, 7mm STW, - mentioned twice, 375 Allen Mag., 44 mag., 338 Fed., 338/378, 338 Edge, 7mm RUM., 300 RUM., 270WSM., 6.5/284, 300 WSM.,6.5/06, T/C 50 cal. MZL. mentioned once.
Some of these calibers were AI. It doesn't surprise me to much that the 270 and the 30/06 are tops in the count.
 
My favorite for the woods is the Remington 742. I have it in .308 with LH stock, LH safety and BDL Checkering. I also have the carbine barrel for it. I also have a Remington 7400 in 30-06, synthetic stock.
 

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I don't know.
Would be a toss up between 2 rifles.
Stevens 200 in 7mm-08AI.
Or my Ruger 77 MKII in 257 Roberts.
Both have dropped numerous deer from 35ish yards to 400 yards.
 
Interesting results.
My favourite cartridge for most everything is the 300WM, but I choose different cartridges for different deer and locations. My choices are 25-06 for Hog deer and Fallow deer or my 264WM, For Red deer here in Australia I choose my 270 Bee, in New Zealand there is no calibre restrictions and I have used both my 25-06 and 257 Weatherby, but also used 270 Bee, 300 Bee, 300WM, 7STW and 264WM.
In Australia on our largest deer that isn't penned, we have Sambar that are 600+ lbs and calibre restricted to 270 minimum. I have used 270 Bee, 300WM, 300 Bee, 340 Bee, 338WM, 338-416 Rigby Improved, 375 Bee and 416 Rigby. Dabbled with big bores for fun a few times and shot a stag with my 500 Nitro just because…it was funny, it ran for a good distance with front right shoulder smashed and a broken hip…amazing!
I always say my favourite rifle is the last one I built, so my REM 700 switch barrel in 264WM and 7STW is currently my favourite

Cheers.
 
I shoot 6.5-06, 308, and 6.5 Grendel nowadays. But I could probably shoot those for the next 20 years and still probably not kill 1/4th of the deer I killed with a 270 in my early years. Where I'm from you had to have a 270 in order to get a "man card". The 30/06 was the second most popular by far. I did know a few people that shot 243s but they were commonly referred to as good squirrel rifles by the majority of folks I knew.
 
Hard to believe the .308 is so low on the list; if east of the Mississippi, it is more than enough.
You're right. Where I'm from, for the most part, the average shooter cannot reliably hit a pie plate at half the 308s effective range. Most deer are killed at well under 100 yards. But some of us do have power lines or bean fields where we can stretch out. The 308 has made a bit of a comeback here In the last 10 years though.
 
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