Whats the best deer cartridge?

[OntarioHunter]

My 30-06 is so good for everything I would have married her ... but she couldn't give me kids.

 

[kiwi hunter]

heres my take
223 up to 300 yrds
300 wsm out there n beyond

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

270 win hands down. There is no debate. End thread.

 

[Mitchellmountain]

East of the Mississippi big fan of the Swede , but 6.5 creedmoor fits the same niche With better ammo availability. My all time favorite woods cartridge is the 358 win but that is just a personal thing.West of the Mississippi 280ai or 7 mag would be hard to beat when the ranges can run long.

MM

 

[HighDesertSage]

Don't listen to any one else on here. Deer are super tough, and they have a thick shoulder blade. I think a 338 Lapua is a good minimum. Use API if you can.

 

[EastTNHunter]

Why just 1? My goal is to try a bunch of them

My family and I have killed deer with everything from 223 through 45/70, including 270, 30-06, 30-30, 6.8spc, 308, 7-08, 450 Marlin, 338 WM, 50 cal muzzle loader (saboted and full bore), 243, 300 WSM, 325 WSM, and I’m sure I’m missing quite a few. The deer all died dead.

The older I get, the more I appreciate the “less is more” credo, so I’ll stick to 30-06, 270, 308 for a while.

 

[elkhnter]

The one you shoot accurately and often.

 

[3855WIN]

257 WBY

 

[TheNorthStar]

22-250 for Mule Deer???

Well I guess I’ll be happy shooting my 1-12” and the other guy happy with an 1-8. The other guy can shoot a lot of bullets I find interesting that you cannot. I'd gladly trade that ability for a bit of theoretical barrel life.

www.hunttalk.com

 

[Brian in Montana]

Hard to beat the venerable .270. or .280 or .308 or 30-06 or 7mm-08 or .243.

Sarcasm aside, I tend to grab a .270 if it's a deer-specific hunt.

 

[buffybr]

I've killed deer with a variety of cartridges from .22LR to 12 ga shotgun. I killed my largest antlered mulie with a patched round ball from a .45 caliber muzzleloader. While pheasant hunting one year I jumped a forked horn mulie that someone shot his back leg and lost. I put my deer tag on him after I put 1 1/8 ounces of #7 1/2 shot in his forehead. In the last 40 years I've killed a deer almost every year with my .257 Ackley. Last year I shot my deer with a .308 Win.

Most cartridges will kill deer if you shoot them in the right spot.

 

[slatebuilder]

I love these threads.....
Whitetails does-.223 w/ 60 grain partition.

Whitetail bucks 308 w/ 150 grain interloks

Undisputed best of all for both bucks and does if I could only have one dedicated white tailed deer rifle .243 with 100 grain partitions.

My personal favorite at the moment is a Remington 722 300 savage with 150 interloks, though for this year that might change to the 30-40 Kraig that my great grandfather used.....working on a load for it now.

A 50 caliber Thompson flintlock with patches round balls has accounted for the last 2 whitetails I have shot. I have had that rifle since I was 14

 

[NoWiser]

I don’t think there’s a person here who could argue that the 270 WSM isn’t the VERY best.

 

[elkhnter]

257 WBY

Won’t argue with that.

 

[Husker hunter]

My favs are 25-06 and 7mm.

 

[buckbull]

My favs are 25-06 and 7mm.

Hard to believe it took this many folks to get the right answer. 25-06.

 

[nrpate05]

.270 with 130 grain TTSX or
.25-06 with 100 grain TTSX

 

[6mm Remington]

6mm Remington! There I made the necessary corrections for you all. Second place is wait for it buckbull...........................

25-06 !

 

[Deleted member 38069]

.45-70 lever action!

 

[Idahoarcheryhunter]

Really enjoy packing a 243 win for deer around these days.