Input For New Deer Rifle
- Thread starter bigsky2
- Start date
bigshot
Very Active Member
I've been thinking about this for a bit.. I agree the 270 is a great deer round, super easy to find ammo and dirt cheap! but if I could only pick one rifle to hunt deer with I'd have to go with the 7mm mag, short or long. Pick what ever rifle you can afford or like (I'm partial to Remington 700's) and a good scope (I'm partial to Leupold's, rest is decent but not good enough for me) and practice practice practice. This is 30+ years of hard hunting and guiding talking.
7stwluver
Member
A savage would allow you some caliber flex ability if you reload and no need for a gunsmith. Myself I primarily use one of my 7stw for everything from coyotes to elk. I use a .300 win mag a lot also. For strictly mule deer I'd go with a .257 weatherby 6.5-06 .270 weatherby or Winchester or a .280 most likely ackley improved. You can load a .280 close to 7 rem mag velocity with less felt recoil. If you don't reload then a standard caliber with off the shelf ammo is the only way to go. Whatever you decide don't skimp on glass ! I prefer zeiss or kahles myself. Pricey yes but the lowlight performance is worth the extra pennies to me. Leupolds are nice as well. Shooting to 500 yards doesn't require super high magnification. 10-12x has worked well for me. I use 3.5-10x44 or 3.5-10x50 the most usually around 8x for longer shots. I killed a New Mexico bull at 397 on 6x with no trouble a few years ago. The best advice I can give is to practice practice practice and not just from a bench but more real world type shooting positions. And utilize shooting sticks if possible. Good luck !
Winchester
Veteran member
I agree 100%
... also, if you're going to use it for elk you may want to get that pre 64 Win in 30'06 instead. Great all-around gun!
Ricochet
Active Member
I got a Tikka 25-06 a couple months ago. I tried a few bullets and ended up with the Barnes Vortex 100 grain. The Barnes shot one inch or better at 100 yards. I really like the feel and weight of the gun. I do have big plans for the gun. New stock and a coating. I have a Redfield scope on it but I'm going to put a Vortex 4-12x44 on it this winter. If you go with the Tikka 25-06 you will be happy.
mnhunter
Active Member
If you go with the Vortex you will be happy. I put a 4-12x44 HS LR on my 300WSM this spring and it is awesome. Check out CameralandNY for some good deals.