I've taken deer with 12 GA (slugs and buckshot), .308, .30-06, .45-70, crossbow, and I finished off with .40 S&W a very tough deer who believed that a .35 Remington through the boiler wasn't enough to put HIM down. I have been looking for the "perfect" deer caliber for over 20 years. I define that as not over-powered, but with enough juice to put a deer down decisively, even with quartering shots. Years ago, I thought that about a 100-grain bullet at close to 3000 fps was about ideal. My candidates for this rifle include .300 BO (at proper ranges), .224 Valkyrie, fast-twist .22-250, 6.5 Grendel, and probably eventually 350 Legend. A standard-pressure .45 Colt at closer ranges should also do this perfectly: @Walkalong kindly loaded some standard-pressure heavy cast loads for me that took 10 milk jugs of water to stop. I imagine rifle recoil will be just enough to tell me I've fired.
HOWEVER, I also have the competing idea of the North American "one gun" rifle. That's the cartridge that isn't overkill on deer, but that has enough power to even take on the heavy/dangerous NA game like elk, moose, grizzly and brown bears. I'm not likely to encounter those in GA or AL, but I have seen hogs well over 300 lbs. My (owned) candidates for the one gun include 7mm Remington Magnum, .308 (just barely), .30-06, .35 Whelen, and at appropriate ranges, .45 Colt, .454 Casull, and 12 GA.
The cartridge of course is only part of the equation: even "perfect" calibers can underperform or fail with bullets poorly chosen for the application. Dearly deceased buddy Byron Quick had issues with bullet construction with both 7mm Magnum (fragmented on deer) and .35 Whelen (took a shot to each shoulder to stop a decent hog). I believe ammunition in each case was the common Remington PowerPoint. I took a deer with a very tough .308 better suited for elk or hogs: as I did, I was very clear that I needed a very clean shot for the heavy controlled-expansion bullet to work well. If I hadn't been using a precision rifle, and just come out of two years of firing thousands of rounds while preparing to deploy overseas, I would not have used that bullet.
I am not aware of any real candidates for both the "perfect" deer rifle and the "one gun". I believe the closest you could probably come would be something like 6.5x55mm or 6.5 Creedmoor, but I definitely would want to be holding something heavier if I surprised a moose at close range. How are you likely to choose your rifle(s)?
Edited to add: I was looking for this pic, and found in the thread a description of a doe I killed with .35 Whelen, so add that to the calibers I've used. These two does were taken at 225 and 178 yards, with a sporterized 1903 I got from Art Eatman. Miss you guys...
HOWEVER, I also have the competing idea of the North American "one gun" rifle. That's the cartridge that isn't overkill on deer, but that has enough power to even take on the heavy/dangerous NA game like elk, moose, grizzly and brown bears. I'm not likely to encounter those in GA or AL, but I have seen hogs well over 300 lbs. My (owned) candidates for the one gun include 7mm Remington Magnum, .308 (just barely), .30-06, .35 Whelen, and at appropriate ranges, .45 Colt, .454 Casull, and 12 GA.
The cartridge of course is only part of the equation: even "perfect" calibers can underperform or fail with bullets poorly chosen for the application. Dearly deceased buddy Byron Quick had issues with bullet construction with both 7mm Magnum (fragmented on deer) and .35 Whelen (took a shot to each shoulder to stop a decent hog). I believe ammunition in each case was the common Remington PowerPoint. I took a deer with a very tough .308 better suited for elk or hogs: as I did, I was very clear that I needed a very clean shot for the heavy controlled-expansion bullet to work well. If I hadn't been using a precision rifle, and just come out of two years of firing thousands of rounds while preparing to deploy overseas, I would not have used that bullet.
I am not aware of any real candidates for both the "perfect" deer rifle and the "one gun". I believe the closest you could probably come would be something like 6.5x55mm or 6.5 Creedmoor, but I definitely would want to be holding something heavier if I surprised a moose at close range. How are you likely to choose your rifle(s)?
Edited to add: I was looking for this pic, and found in the thread a description of a doe I killed with .35 Whelen, so add that to the calibers I've used. These two does were taken at 225 and 178 yards, with a sporterized 1903 I got from Art Eatman. Miss you guys...
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