best hunting rifles?

[specktator]

true dat! i go elk hunting in october every year so that is also why i carry a big stick!

[cmdrost]

yeah my biggest game would prob be deer....never shot one. Usually go play around and shoot hogs or coyotes

[Feesherman]

Originally Posted by Ducktrickster

Did you get your answer yet? I personally have only shot a 270 and 7mm-08. Being a novice rifleman, I would be nervous to shoot the 270 at live game because I can only group about 10 inches at 50 yards. I recently bought the latter and can group about 1.5 inches at 100 yards. Not sure what causes it but I have no confidence with that 270.

I'll take that crappy old 270!!

[Slidellkid]

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against a magnum. The big 7 and the 300 are great killers (my preference would be the 7 as it's a little more comfortable to shoot) but they aren't nearly as fun to shoot as the 7mm-08. My brother has lost exactly one deer with his 7mm-08. 85% of his kills drop in their tracks or run less than 25 yards. Occasionally with a lung hit he might have one travel 40 yards.

It's not always the caliber that causes a deer to be lost. Lots of guys get really shook up when shooting at deer and hit them in all sorts of bad places. A larger caliber really won't help much if you hit them wrong. Also, if you use the wrong kind of bullets you can have real problems. My brother shot a few with the Hornady SST's and they didn't perform nearly as well as the Core Lokts. The deer that have traveled the farthest on him were shot with the Hornady SST's and that is why is stopped using them. He bought some partitions this year because they were on sale for $12.00 a box but I told him I had had very bad experiences with them in years past. Well, he killed a nice 8 point on August 15 (opening day in SC) and dropped the deer in his tracks. He's pretty sure he clipped the spine, so I guess that would be expected. He did mention that the exit hole was much smaller with the partitions than it was with the Core Lokts. He's going to shoot a couple through the lungs and see what kind of performance he gets out of the partitions. My experience with them was not good and both my ex-wife and I had deer running a very long ways with very good hits, so I personnally would not recommend a partition though lots of guys swear by them. There was also a study done in SC with over 400 deer kills that proves that deer shot with deep penetrating bullets like the partition cause deer to run farther. I will see if I can look that one up on the web again.

[Gerald]

LA.....even way less [~500] will do the job and put a deer down.

I shoot a .243 and have been using it for 20 years.

It is plenty of gun to knock down a deer. A 7mm-08 is a step up from a .243. If anyone is "Loosing" a deer with a 7mm-08.....IMO.....they need to wait for a better shot......and....spend some time practicing shooting.

IMO.....propping you gun on a sand bag at the range is not practicing.

[wtretrievers]

Originally Posted by Gerald

LA.....even way less [~500] will do the job and put a deer down.

I shoot a .243 and have been using it for 20 years.

It is plenty of gun to knock down a deer. A 7mm-08 is a step up from a .243. If anyone is "Loosing" a deer with a 7mm-08.....IMO.....they need to wait for a better shot......and....spend some time practicing shooting.

IMO.....propping you gun on a sand bag at the range is not practicing.

Thats the botton line Gerald! I've never had a problem with any of my rifles in different calibers. I use core-lokts in all of 'em. I seen one guy at our camp loose 4 bucks in three weeks with a .270. Was it the gun or the size calibers fault......NO! 2 of 'em were found a week or two later. He blamed the gun then the bullets. All boiled down to bad shot placement.

[Gerald]

Lots of people say or think that a .243 rifle is too small for Deer hunting. I totally disagree.

My first few deer were killed with buck shot or a slug. Then I borrowed a 30-06 and that gun almost cut the neck in half on a small deer. Over kill.....IMO. I want to have some meat left after shooting a deer, so I got a .243 and been shooting 100 gr. core-locks ever sense.

This is a picture of a kill shot I made several years ago. I only had a 6" gap between trees to make the shot. What I did not see was this small tree about 25 yards past this narrow gap. The deer was standing back by the tree that is leaning in the background. I would have never thought a .243 bullet could hit a tree and then still hit a deer 8 yards farther away. The deer did run 150 yards without much blood to trail.

.

[LaAngler]

Originally Posted by Gerald

LA.....even way less [~500] will do the job and put a deer down.

I shoot a .243 and have been using it for 20 years.

It is plenty of gun to knock down a deer. A 7mm-08 is a step up from a .243. If anyone is "Loosing" a deer with a 7mm-08.....IMO.....they need to wait for a better shot......and....spend some time practicing shooting.

IMO.....propping you gun on a sand bag at the range is not practicing.

that's true about practice. i can't count how many bricks of 22 LR i've shot with a scoped gun just to get used to pulling the trigger again before hunting season.

i've also practiced shooting left handed which comes in handy in a climber where you want to keep your movements to a minimum. killed several deer shooting off of my weak side.

[Too Tall]

A .270, .308 or 30/06 will take any big game animal in America with correct shot placement. Personally I wouldn't want to test that theory on a Grizzly Bear but its been done. For coyote/deer/light recoil the .270 may be your best choice. You can always have a muzzle break installed to manage recoil. If you don't want to spend a lot of money but still have an accurate rifle check out a Stevens rifle. @$400 minus the scope.

Originally Posted by Ducktrickster

Being a novice rifleman, I would be nervous to shoot the 270 at live game because I can only group about 10 inches at 50 yards. Not sure what causes it but I have no confidence with that 270.

Flinching. You are probably anticipating the recoil. Go to the range with a buddy and have him load your rifle. Have him watch your reaction to the shot. Tell him that sometime during the shooting session to not load a round and see how much you flinch when you pull the trigger. Another thing to do is get a box of reduced recoil rounds and try that. If you are not flinching and still shooting that spread have the rifle and scope checked out by a gunsmith.

[Slidellkid]

Gerald,

That picture reminds me of a deer I killed years ago. A very nice buck was feeding out in the large, leafy soybeans. I could not see his body because the beans were so deep. I waited and waited until I was running out of light and then decided to shoot him in the neck. He was about 175 yards away, so a neck shot was not my first choice but I had no time to wait. I was shooting a 25-06 and when I pulled the trigger and the gun recoiled I saw a pine tree with about a 4 inch diameter falling behind where the deer was standing. I was puzzled as hell because I didn't see the deer but saw the tree falling. Anyway, I walked over there and immediatly looked at the tree and the thing was completely blown in half right about 4 feet high. I was cussing myself for missing and then noticed some very slight movement in the beans. Well, you know the rest of the story - neck shot 8 point with the bullet blowing through and killing the pine tree too. It was really pretty amazing.

Regarding your .243 I've not killed one with a .243, but I have a buddy that has used a 6mm on a Mack truck full of deer. All of his sons have started out with the 6mm and he has video taped them killing deer. He mostly used 100 grain Sierra game kings and the video footage was awesome. You wouldn't think such a small bullet would be so devastating but they are.

By the way Gerald, are you going to hunt up on Clear Creek any this year? I live in Deridder now and will probably hunt there, West Bay and Fort Polk unless I decide to join a club.

[matt1118]

I have a ruger 7 mag and I love it. I shoot 175 grain bullets. It is an all around good gun. You can kill deer, hogs, or go to Nebraska, Colorodo and kill Elk. You can kill anything you want with this one gun.

[matt1118]

7 mag man!!!!

[BayouFX4]

I love my Rem 700 .270. It's got very little recoil, and it can reach out pretty good.

[RaginCagin]

The best rifle is the one you own b/c no one is going to admit a rifle different than theirs is better. With that being said a .270 loaded with 130 grain remington scirricos(bad arse bullets) is the best.

[whunter29]

I personal have a 25-06 that I love and I have killed six deer with it in the last two seasons without having to track one over 100yards. The only reason I had to track the deer one hundred yards was because we were running dogs and it was a rushed shot that entered the shoulder but came out the chest. Blood everywhere and deer still went close to 100 yards to die. I also have a 270 and have killed 20 plus deer with it. I like the gun but the exit hole is huge. I find the deer I shot with the 25-06 die faster than with the 270. In the 270 I shoot 130 grain corelocks and in the 25-06 I shoot 100 grain corelocks. I also like my 45-70 and last year I killed my first deer with it a 6 point at 100 yards. Man that thing puts a huge hole in deer.