Author Topic: varmint/deer caliber? (Read 1373 times)

slickest · « **on:** January 28, 2009, 02:20:59 PM »

what caliber rifle would you use for coyotes/fox and also for deer hunting?

In minnesota you cannot go under .243 for deer hunting. ive looked at a .243 and a .25-06 but looking for other suggestions.

mjbgalt · « **Reply #1 on:** January 28, 2009, 02:30:22 PM »

6.5x55 and .260 remington. both do about the same thing. 85 grain hollowpoints for varmints and 120 to 140 grain bullets for bigger game.

they both eat very little powder, kick not at all, and penetrate a LOOOOONG way when they hit game.

both are very accurate.

they are harder to find, due to most people needing huge magnums to make up for what's missing in their pants and their lack of target practice.

-Matt

wareagleguy · « **Reply #2 on:** January 28, 2009, 03:03:44 PM »

I truely believe the 6.5x55 is the best deer round ever made. Only problem is manufatures just don't offer enough choices for the round. If you reload it would be fantastic!!!. If you don't reload I would say you already looked at the best choice the 243.

billy_56081 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 28, 2009, 03:12:16 PM »

Until the 2008 dear season you were correct about Minnesotas caliber restrictions, Now it is .224 or larger centerfire rounds are all legal. I would say rtheough a .243 is about the perfect varmint/deer caliber. A .223,22-250 or a 220 swift would also work as would a 6mm rem. The 243 probably has the most factory choices available.

james25889 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 28, 2009, 03:20:25 PM »

You already said the 2 choices i was going to recommend the 243 and the 25-06. I personally wont deer hunt with anything less than the 243

slickest · « **Reply #5 on:** January 28, 2009, 03:22:28 PM »

Quote from: billy_56081 on January 28, 2009, 03:12:16 PM

Until the 2008 dear season you were correct about Minnesotas caliber restrictions, Now it is .224 or larger centerfire rounds are all legal. I would say rtheough a .243 is about the perfect varmint/deer caliber. A .223,22-250 or a 220 swift would also work as would a 6mm rem. The 243 probably has the most factory choices available.

Didnt know that. thanks for the info.

trotterlg · « **Reply #6 on:** January 28, 2009, 04:09:03 PM »

Have any of you ever seen a Fox shot with a .243? You can throw a cat through the hole, the only good thing you can say about it is the Fox will be dead. A deer is not a varmint, and a varmint is not a deer, there is no one rifle fits them all solution. Get a proper rifle for what you are going to hunt. Larry

flintlock · « **Reply #7 on:** January 28, 2009, 04:13:41 PM »

Since 1980, I've used a Ruger M-77 in .243...It's taken over 175 deer, 5 black bears and untold numbers of crows, coyotes, foxes, groundhogs, beavers and varous other varmits...

But I would ask...Do you reload or are you buying factory loadings???
If buying factory, do you mind spending $25 bucks or so for a box of bullets???
Also, most 25-06s come with a 24 inch barrel, it's a great round, but once you add another couple inches of barrel and a longer action it just seems too long for my taste...

Frankly, I don't care for the .260...One of my hunting buddies bought one the first year they came out...If you don't reload, forget it, we lost a half a days hunting looking for shells one November morning...Plus, the bullest really go for a premium...

I guess I'm pretty unoriginal but in deer sized cartridges I'd stick to the .243, 7mm-08, .308,
.270 and .30-06...These have gotten it done for years, with the 7mm-08 the youngest at about 28 years old...

All of these can also double as varmit rounds if you don't plan to eat or sell the hide...I've killed many groundhogs with my brothers .270 simply because that's what we had in the truck at the time...

trotterlg · « **Reply #8 on:** January 28, 2009, 07:19:31 PM »

Just because you can kill a PD with a 300 Win Magnum does not make it a Varmint round. Where are you guys from, Mars? Larry

jrfrmn · « **Reply #9 on:** January 28, 2009, 08:38:01 PM »

Why is the 243 chosen over the 6mm for deer? The 6mm handloaded, equals the 25-06.

Quote from: james25889 on January 28, 2009, 03:20:25 PM

You already said the 2 choices i was going to recommend the 243 and the 25-06. I personally wont deer hunt with anything less than the 243

jro45 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 29, 2009, 02:48:25 AM »

I'd use the 22-250. For varmints the 55 HP would work. For deer the 70gr by Speer would work.

james25889 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 29, 2009, 04:21:17 AM »

Why is the 243 chosen over the 6mm for deer? The 6mm handloaded, equals the 25-06.

i choose the 243 over the 6mm because the ammo is a hundred times easier to find and i also have 243 dies,brass and ammo

Old English · « **Reply #12 on:** January 29, 2009, 04:36:54 AM »

The 243 is pretty much the logical choice here. The 257 WBY would be a more interesting choice though, but economical suicide if you don't reload.

benchracer · « **Reply #13 on:** January 29, 2009, 06:01:55 AM »

I am thinking that a .257 Roberts would also be a good choice. Ammo, however, is certainly not as available as .243. Still, ammo can be found in enough places to make it a viable choice. Handloading would still be the optimum, though, for the ol' Bob.

Why no likey the .243? Too powerful/destructive on varmints/predators? Or are you looking for something less common and more unique?

I would think that if something in the 6mm or .257 persuasion won't do the trick, you probably should consider separate rifles for varminting and deer hunting. You can go up in caliber from a .243 and still serve both roles, but not very far before your rifle becomes more of a deer rifle that can be used on varmints in a pinch. Conversely, you can also step down in caliber to the .224's, but then you have more of a varmint rifle that can be used for deer in a pinch. The balance offered by the .243/6mm class of cartridge is pretty hard to beat-- hence the long standing popularity of the .243 Win.

If you went with the two rifle approach, something like a .204 Ruger and a 6.5x55 would cover you from prairie dogs to elk. If you handload, you could replace the .204 with a .223, and expand your envelope to include squirrels (using cast lead bullets and pistol powders to duplicate rimfire loads).

Bart Solo · « **Reply #14 on:** January 29, 2009, 08:37:35 AM »

I have been using the 6mm Remington since the early 1970s. Because of it's longer neck and slightly larger case capacity I find it superior to the .243 in nearly every way. Of course, I reload. It is a great cartridge that got short shrift back in the 1960s. Sorry Swampman but bad marketing on the part of Remington let the lesser round win.

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #15 on:** January 29, 2009, 09:17:26 AM »

308Win.
there are a lot of loads for 308 all stores carry it and you have a wide variety of choices as well as loads.
And while a 125 grain bullet is more than what you need for varmint it does work. As far as Coyote the same cheap 150 grain soft points you use for deer will work.
More than caliber what defines a deer gun and a varmint gun is the sights you stick on them.
My deer rifles are either opened sighted or with 3-9X40 to 50mm scopes and my varmint scopes for centerfire guns are 6-18 or 24 X40 -42mm in order to see smaller targets at 200 yards. The 3-9 gives me good field of view and I can see the whole deer in the scope and with the option of 3X for walking and 9X for long shots I'm OK.
With the varmint rifle they tend to be heavier in construction as well as the glass and I tend to shoot them from a stand rather than walk around with them.

Will_C · « **Reply #16 on:** January 29, 2009, 09:22:04 AM »

Take your pick-,243, 6mm, .250 Savage, .257 Roberts, .25-06, .260-all have combo rifle written all over them. I would stick with the .243 if you don't reload.
Pelt damage- if that's a concern, use a stout big game bullet-like a Partition- and I don't think the pelt damage would be too bad.

Will

Cowpox · « **Reply #17 on:** January 29, 2009, 08:08:19 PM »

What Will_C said +1.

Back in the 1960s, 70s, and early 80s, when a decent fox pelt won you about half a weeks wages, our group learned game calibers caused less hide distruction than the hot 22 numbers.

As I recall, One Member used an Ackley Imp 280 Rem, another used a 243 Win, the third used a 257 Roberts, and I favored my 6.5/06. Hide damage was quite acceptable, as long as we used bullets intended for medium game.

A fox pelt is graded by the width, length, and quality of the "coat strip". That is the dark red fur that runs from the ears to the tail, on the top of it's back. As long as you don't damage that, it matters little what happens down lower, as the furrier sells the lower trim by weight, to outfits that make felt.

If your buyer is docking you for damage away from this coat strip, find another place to sell your pelts.

Zachary · « **Reply #18 on:** January 30, 2009, 03:44:20 AM »

I think it boils down to which game you will be hunting mostly. If most of your hunting will be deer with only some varmint hunting, then I think that a .25-06 would be a better choice than a .243. However, if most of your hunting will be mostly varmint with the occasional deer hunting, then, conversely, I think a .243 would be a better choice than a 25-06.

Zachary

Graybeard · « **Reply #19 on:** January 30, 2009, 04:00:33 AM »

There really are no right or wrong answers to such a question. Since you are wanting one round to do two vastly different tasks it really should boil down to which do you do most often? Are you wanting to save the hides on foxes to sell? If so that makes a major difference in the answer.

To save the fox hides you will need either a bullet that does not exit or a FMJ that doesn't expand and thus makes a small hole in and out. If you care not about saving fox hides then that greatly simplifies the matter as any round that will work on deer will certainly kill fox.

As a deer killer any of the rounds from .243 up thru the various .30s will work just fine. Just pick the one you like best. If factory ammo is all you'll shoot then you'd do well to select one of the more popular rounds with more ammo choices and for which ammo is more likely to be stocked. That means .243, 7-08 and .308 in ascending order of caliber.

If saving those fox hides is important then availability of FMJ ammo has to be important and I suspect you'd find that only in .308 among those three.

If fox is the primary objective then anything from a .223 up in the .22s would likely be a best choice option. Still I don't think much of using .22s for deer.

You really need to face facts and just accept reality. You need a separate rifle for each chore to do them correctly and if that's just not an option then decide which is most important to you and select a best choice for it and make do for the other.

If hides aren't important I'd get a 7-08 personally.