Old School Deer Caliber

[ExAgoradzo]

ok, the rules:
From .243 Win to 7mm-08 inclusive.
Non-magnum.
200yards and less deer or like animal.

What is your favorite cartridge/rifle combination?

Mine: Win M70 in .257 Bob
Enough power for job
Good story behind it
Not overpowered
Odd enough to be ‘cool’

What is your flavor? Why?

Greg

 

[The Evangelist Cowboy]

.30-30 Lever Action Marlin, No need for anything fancy and I can hit what I aim with it.

 

[WestKentucky]

So you want something between .243 and 7-08? That doesn’t leave much room...257-08 and .277-08 pretty well fills that range out.

But then again the thread title is old school deer cartridge...so I’m going with one that I want to acquire, 35rem.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Excluding the .30-40 and .300 Savage would be un-American!

Of course the rifles would be a chopped and bobbed Krag and a Model 99 lever gun.

 

[bikerdoc]

Not an odd caliber but rifle, grand pa' s old 30 06 pump gun.

 

[Ironhand54]

Ruger M77 mark 2 ultralight or international in 257 Roberts.

TC contender carbine in 30-30, especially with hand loads.

IronHand

 

[Scooter22]

Well I have a .243 Sako and a 7mm-08 M788 carbine. I can split the difference with my 6.5x55 Swede.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

These are what I think of as "old school" deer rifles.

 

[Duster340]

303 Brit... bubba'd No4 Mk1

 

[ccoyle]

7x57. Mainly because it's what I own, but also because like the OP I like off-beat calibers. Karamojo Bell ups its cool factor considerably.

.30-30 Winchester doesn't technically meet the OP's bore requirements, but it is definitely old school, especially in a Winchester '94 (have handed that one down already).

 

[LoonWulf]

Arisaka t-99, chambered in 6-284.
What's not to like about a bonded 95 at 3350 from a 24" tube.

(It's also the only rifle/cartridge combo i own tha actually meets the requirements of the thread)

 

[hillman23]

My great grandfather’s Win 94 in 25-35. Ole “meat in the pot” has done the job more than once. Not my 1st choice to carry but definitely be old and cool.

 

[M118LR]

Old School: Winchester Model 71 in 348 W.C.F.

 

[SamT1]

Winchester 94 30-30 about as old school as it gets for a Texas guy.

When I was in Kansas old school would have been a pre64 model 70 in 243, 30-06, 270, or 7mm rem mag.

 

[250-3000]

Pre-war Model 99 Savage, 250-3000. Inherited from my grandfather, probably killed more deer and woodchucks than I have seen.

 

[M118LR]

Most productive American Deer Rifle 44-40 W.C.F. Lever Action, predecessor of the 30-30 W.C.F. Smokeless. Real Old School. LOL.

 

[Bbear]

Newton bolt action in .256 Newton

 

[ExAgoradzo]

Yes, the .30-30 and .35 Rem Work for my thread as does the .44-40
The .348 you gotta love just because.
That’s the first .256 Newton I’ve ever seen
The ol guy down the street has a .25-35. I have repeatedly tried to get him up to the hills above us, but to no avail yet...

Thanks guys!!!

Greg

 

[someguy2800]

I don’t think I have a favorite. I’m more interested in actions than specific calibers.

This is my current favorite deer rifle, a handi rifle in 444 marlin shooting a 320 grain hard cast. It has a leupold on it now.



I just finished two more deer rifles for no reason. 1899 manufactured 30-40 Krag



Arisaka in 7.7x58 jap

 

[Ks5shooter]

30-30 has to be all time cartridge. I own a few 30-30's but my go to is my 7mm-08 Long range though is my Savage LRH 300 Win Mag

 

[M118LR]

I don’t think I have a favorite. I’m more interested in actions than specific calibers.

This is my current favorite deer rifle, a handi rifle in 444 marlin shooting a 320 grain hard cast. It has a leupold on it now.

View attachment 783643

I just finished two more deer rifles for no reason. 1899 manufactured 30-40 Krag

View attachment 783644

Arisaka in 7.7x58 jap

View attachment 783645

While I don't consider the .444 Marlin Old School (Perhaps I'm showing my age?) equipping a .444 Marlin Lever action with a Williams Peep Sight when wielded by a shooter able to match the accuracy of the 265 Grain Hornady Load, No Game Animal on the American Continent requires a second shot inside of 200 yards to be harvested. Perhaps time spent afield with this rifle & load has clouded my judgement? And a few years have decreased the eyesight which may have eroded the abilities, but I may still be as good once with this Rifle/Cartridge Combo as I once was. (Hands down favorite)

 

[jmr40]

I own several 30-30's and a 35 in lever actions that meet the criteria. I don't own one, but if I were interested in using an old school cartridge for all of my big game hunting I could do a lot worse than a 7X57.

 

[JeffG]

I'll go with the 243. My current rifle is pretty jazzed out as a varmint rifle, but put 100gr Sierra or 90 gr Nosler Accubonds in it, and there is meat in the shed.

 

[homers]

7x57 mauser

 

[M118LR]

I'll go with the 243. My current rifle is pretty jazzed out as a varmint rifle, but put 100gr Sierra or 90 gr Nosler Accubonds in it, and there is meat in the shed.

View attachment 783668

Nice pictures. Can you believe that a professional hunter used the 7 x 57 Mauser exclusively for shooting Elephant. Yes this has been accomplished, there have been others that actually recorded dropping elephants with the 7x57 Muaser, but that isn't the normal shooter. JMHO.