Favorite long range deer cartridge and why?

Question

I have been hunting for many years and I either set up for a long range shot or I bow hunt I dont use rifles that cannot achieve very long ranges I was just curious what all of you consider a long range cartridge and see how they compare to the rifles I hunt with and how many of you avoid Heavy Recoil to settle for mediocre performance if you are young hunter or for handycap reasons cant physically handle heavy recoil answer anyway but be shore to include that information in your answer. this is a 2 part question I will ask the other after deciding on this one.

Come on 308 are you serious that is on eof the last .308 caliber cartridges I would use to hunt deer at long range.

David J The 22-250 is a Varminter I know people have killed deer with them but the remaining energy is nothing at say 400 yds but I must admit the .243 Winchester is a great youth deer hunting round

JD I see you are a top contributer so you must be a search engine whiz. back to your comments on the 308 win or 7.62 NATO I completely agree with the fact that it is a very good bench rest round and in all your experience youll have to agree that that doesnt mean squat while hunting if the bullet cant shatter bone when it gets there. but you say dont hit bone, make a better shot. but you also know the animal can move after you fire and before the bullet gets there at 600 yds and up a bullets ability to tare paper at that range means nothing to me i want a round that will shoot a 160 gr and up at 2900 and up not 2500 like the 308 win I mainly use 7mm rem mag 7mm stw and 300 weatherby but you are wrong in your ussumption that I dont like the 25-06 I think it is an ausome wildat that did diserve to be made commercial I reload and benchrest and would gladly shoot against a .308 win with any of my deer guns the .308 bullet in OTHER cartridges are the winningest bullet at wimbleton

Answer 1

I've killed a lot more deer inside 10 yards than past 300, so my experience is limited, but here are my biases: there are plenty of suitable calibers that'll launch a bullet with a sectional density of more than 0.25 and ballistic coefficient of 0.4 or better at over 2700 fps. I have some peculiar toys like 270 WSM and 6.5x68, but there's nothing at all wrong with something like 280 Rem. or even 7mm08. What I don't understand, though, is people's propensity to use light-for-caliber bullets that whiz out the muzzle but lose their speed and energy rapidly and have low sectional densities that won't penetrate well. An extra inch of holdover has never seemed to me a big price to pay for good terminal ballistics once the bullet gets to the animal. I even have a lightweight rifle in 7mm Mauser that came with excessive leade, and loaded with those really heavy 175 grain Partitions at 2450 fps at an OAL you wouldn't believe, those pencil-like bullets slowly chug out there and keep chugging , seemingly retaining their momentum forever. That thing should be a short range affair, but when you look at the numbers, it's perfectly capable of the occasional stretch, dropping only a little more than a 270 at 400 yards.

Answer 2

FYI...With all due respect.You are only showing your total lack of knowledge about shooting or hunting if you can make such a totally foolish and ridiculous statement about the 308 caliber. Why bother to ask us since you obviously know more than we do anyway....
308 caliber is used by 95% of the most talented Long Range Competitors in the world, that shoot 800-1000 yards on average on a regular basis. I shoot a large quantity of 308 myself annually and I know it's capabilities..You obviously don't. By your reasoning I guess you have issues with a 270 caliber and 25-06 as well. I've made long range Deer & Elk kills in excess of 300+ yards with these calibers (In addition to 308 caliber) several times in years past, as I'm sure you will find many others here have done the same.........

Answer 3

Well, I feel that there are A LOT of rifles good for long shots (but "long" to me may be short to others). I myself use a Savage .243 bolt action when I am out in the open. Not as expensive as some of the bigger guns. I use a Winchester 100 grain power point... that is the heaviest bullet you can buy for the gun. It is already a flat shooting gun so I want as much power behind the bullet as I can get. In a .243 you can get much lighter bullets but they don't do the damage you need to kill a deer quickly. A friend of mine uses a .22-250. We hunt in Missouri and a .22 caliber bullet is allowed as long as it is center fire and an expanding type bullet. That gun will reach out there. It's a little bullet but the shell is MASSIVE. The gun is heavy too so it cuts back on recoil. There are youth model .243's for younger or smaller people. Depending on what your state allows will be important to know. Some states don't allow anything under .25 caliber. Missouri is very progressive as far a caliber goes because 1.) center fire and 2.) expanding type bullet - is all that is required in a rifle or handgun.

Answer 4

several calibers could come into this category, but I have a 7mm mag, it's a long range and if you keep to a low grain bullet it doesn't drop to badly. I wouldnt be afraid to take a 400 yard shot.
The 30/30 is a good brush gun, but anything over 150 yards and you have a major drop in the round.
For long range shots (200-400 yards) 270 is very good, 243 very good . 30/06 is good too if using a smaller grain bullet

Answer 5

First of all, you are right, the .22-250 is a varmint round. The smallest deer caliber is considered the .243 and in many States it is illegal to shoot deer with anything smaller than a .24 caliber.

My personal favorite deer rifle is the .25-06 Remington and have taken deer at near, medium and long range with this one using the 120 grain bullets.

Best.

H

Answer 6

My favorite is the .280 or .270 Remington. They shoot flat and shoot a long way without drop and have plenty of energy at the target. Their recoil is reasonable. Ethically, I do not shoot long range enough to feel comfortable knowing I can humanly harvest game over 300 yards away. I might shoot at a praire dog at further ranges. At 400 yards with that target, you pretty much miss or kill with a hit. Deer sized animals can be wounded severely and run off before you can ever get another shot at them at those distance.

Answer 7

I have a 270 and have made long one shot kill on deer but, I love my Browning bolt action chambered in a 7mm Remington magnum. It is a true flat shooting, long range firearm and, I have taken deer (and much bigger sized game) with it at well beyond 500 yards. Scope: Leupold's VeriX-III 4.5x14x50.

I also shoot a 338 Lapua Magnum but that is a hole another class of caliber.

Answer 8

I use the .30-06 for my deer hunting. I have a few long range shots and it is able to reach out and take a clean shot. Normally where I hunt I don't need to make long shots but if I did i'd be using my trust ole 30-06 to do it.

Answer 9

Define long range?
I hunt with a Winchester model 70 featherweight in .270 winchester. My longest shot at an elk, during a guided hunt in wyoming was just over 630 yards, measured by the guide.
I tried a lot of cartridges over the years. I setteled on the .270 over 20 years ago. My handloaded 150 grain Sierra SPBT with 52.4 grains of IMR 4831 make one hole groups at 100 yards. (don't use this load in your gun) I developed this load carefully, and worked up to it in my rifle. If you look at the older reloading manuals it is there, but newer books say it is overpressure. It closely duplicates the old jack o connor load, if you have to ask who he was, he was pretty much the father of the .270 cartridge for hunting, having used it all over the world for all types of game.
Anyway, I have taken more mule deer with this cartridge than any other, as well as elk, black bear and hog. I sight my rifle 2" high at 100 yards, this gives me the same point of aim from 75 yards out to 300yards without having to use "holdover". At 600 yards for elk, I put the crosshair 3" over his shoulder, the bullet drop placed the hit direcly in as a heart shot. This was from a prone position, with my backpack on top of a rock acting as a rifle rest, about 60 degrees and no wind at all, in otherwords, conditions were perfect, I had complete faith in the cartridge and my abilities or I would never have tried it. I don't condone shots that far for elk, and having aged a few more years, I probably would opt for getting much, much closer to take a shot myself even under those same conditions. But I know that that cartridge is capable of those kind of shots. I did add a KDF muzzle brake, did a trigger job and free floated the barrel on that rifle to help get it that accurate, and was at the top of my game when I made that shot.

Answer 10

The tried and true 30-06.* The longest shots made by a 308 caliber in combat was at 1500 yards at two (2)* enemy soldiers who are not here to tell about it.* Two (2)* shots one for each one.* That pretty much discredits your statement about the 308 caliber.* Jack O'Connor's favorite Rifle caliber was the 30-06 not the 270 caliber.*