What is the best rifle for whitetail deer hunting?

Answer 1

Where do you hunt most of your Whitetail, for medium to short range (in this order), 308, 7mm-08, 243, and medium to long range, 25-06, 270 and 7mm. Of course there are many others to chose from or add to this list like the 30-30 & 30-06 but every one under the sun owns one, but me. All of them are very effective and will work well with good shot placement.

Answer 2

Best Whitetail Deer Rifle

Answer 3

I also prefer the 30-36 primarily for it's additional knockdown power. This caliber is a little more forgiving if it is a good shot but maybe not a perfect shot. The 30-30 has taken more deer over the years than any other rifle, and is a solid gun. The Winchester Model 94 is tried and true, but the Marlin is probably a little smoother action. The .243 has a nice flat trajectory over longer distances. Regardless of which gun or guns you deer hunt with, I'd say that regular target practice is the most important thing. If you only take your gun to the range the week before hunting begins, do not be surprised if you don't always hit what you are aiming at.

Answer 4

What is the best rifle for Whitetail deer hunting? A good bolt action with good optics in a suitable caliber. I'm strictly 'old-school.' I believe that bullet placement goes without saying but what is even more important: "Always use enough gun."

So suitable deer hunting rifle calibers are:

.44 Magnum (carbine or rifle strictly short range); .30-30 (carbine or rifle short range only); .243 Winchester (minimum caliber for deer); .25-06 Remington (excellent choice); .270 Winchester (excellent choice); .308 Winchester (excellent choice); .30-06 Springfield (excellent choice) and any of the 7mm Mags being slightly an over-kill but good where bigger game range with deer.

Makes: Remington, Ruger, Savage, Browning, Sako, Weatherby, Mannlicher, etc.

Best.

H

Answer 5

Any rifle chambered for .243 Win or larger, up to .375 Win is a good choice.

My preferences are for lever-action rifle. My Browning BLR in .358 Win is the most accurate rifle I've ever owned.

Pick the rifle that suits your fancy and budget and you will do fine.

Lots of folks knock the grand old .30-30 WCF, but it has taken more deer than any other cartridge, and Winchester M-94's and Marlin M-336's are readily available at modest prices on the used gun market.

The point is, you don't need the newest, and fastest UltraShortExtraLong EargeSplitten LoudengoboomerSuper Magnum to kill a deer. Pick one of the old tried and true rounds and you will do just fine.

In my opinion, the best deer cartridges are, in order from smallest to largest:
.243 Win
.270 Win
7 x 57 mm Mauser
.30-30 WCF
.30-'06 Springfield
.357 Magnum
.35 Remington
.358 Winchester
.41 Magnum
.44 RemMag
.45-70 Gov't

All of them will put meat on the ground as will many cartridges I didn't mention. Pick any cartridge and you will find plenty of folks who agree with you, and plenty more that think you are either under gunned, or over gunned.

Good Hunting,
Doc

Answer 6

Best Whitetail Rifle

Answer 7

Bullet placement is the key. If you can't hit where you aim, it doesn't matter what you are deer hunting with.
A 22-250 will kill a deer just as dead as a .300 win mag.
Pick a caliber that is right for the terrain and distance that you expect to have a shot.
If you reload, anything in 30 cal. (.308) can be loaded up or loaded down.
You can load a .30-06 to shoot as mild as a .243 or you can load it up to get real close to a .300 mag.
If you shoot factory ammo and you want something to take you from deer out to 400yds, a .270 will work fine. It's all a matter of what you prefer.

Answer 8

this is not an easy question to answer, generally whitetails are not hard animals to kill, also most game taken with a rifle is taken with in 200yds(note that longer shots are possible but is that really hunting or is it shooting ahh maybe a question to pose) in areas such as farm country calibers with a flat trajectory and retaining down range energy are good ex. are the 300 mags 7mm mag, 270 win, and such, close woods action the 30.30, 45.70 are good choices, for all around conditions a 30.06, 308 can't be beat the 308 is a short action a lighter rifle good when hiking in the mountains, both the 30.06 and 308, with proper bullet choices are great for deer, as well as blackbear and elk, will not do severe meat damage up close and have energy to take game at distance. light recoil calibers like the 243, 260, 7mm-08 are also good deer calibers, where i hunt if the deer doesn't fall were hit it may be shot by other hunters so i prefer magnum calibers that most consider overkill for deer, my favarite rifle right now is a browning blr lever action in 300wsm caliber with nosler ballistic bullet handloads the ballistic expands fast no alot of internal damage dropping deer in thier tracks sever meat damage will occur when hit in the shoulder but this acceptable to me rather than possibly losing the deer to another hunter. the 30.06 is a hard veristale caliber hard hitting up close and ammo is generally available in stores even in the most remote areas.(newer calibers like the 300wsm can be hard to find ammo for in some places)

Answer 9

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What is the best rifle for whitetail deer hunting?

Answer 10

Having about fifteen rifles for deer hunting, I find that the best one is the one I had in my hand just before I decided to take the one I have with me.
How you hunt and where will make a difference, but if I had to pick just one, as an overall best compromise, the one I bought for my father about 15 years ago would be it: Remington 700 Mountain in 7mm08 with a Leupold 3-9x (2-7x would be just as good) on top.