Whats a Good Deer Rifle?

[OSUBucks1500]

Where I am currently living you can only use shotguns for firearm deer season, so I bought a NEF Tracker 12g and now really like the feel of the gun and NEF/H&R. I want a rifle thats good for deer for when I go to Minnesota on hunting trip next year. What Caliber and model NEF/H&R would be best for deer and some other small game thats not expesive to shoot.

[Dinny]

We're gonna need more info from you. What distances are you likely to shoot a deer at? Do you reload? How well do you tolerate recoil? Just be prepared for everyone to tell you their favorite caliber and that varies just as much as our loyalty to specific automobile manufacturers.... Dodge vs. Chevy vs. Ford....


Thanks, Dinny

[Slufoot]

If I were going on a hunting trip to MN and taking a Handi-Rifle it would be my 30-06 without a doubt! Not knowing the terrain and the distances I might be shooting I would feel more confident on  those big MN whitetails with my old trusty '06 Handi.

GOOD SHOOTING!
Slufoot

[Winter Hawk]

Ya get into those north woods, you better have your thuty-thuty, by golly!

-WH-

[gcrank1]

Ya, ...but da .44 would do jus fine dare, docha know.

[spikehorn]

45-70
308
30-30
44mag

[Hit or Miss]

You said "deer and some small game" up there.  I'd say .45 Colt in a BC carbine would do the trick.  From plinking loads for rabbits to whomper stompers for deer it will do the trick.  It's also next on my "list" of Handi's to get.

[Tommie D]

Around 20 or so years ago I was hanging out in Guns & Stuff and a guy walked in a wanted a Deer rifle, so Bill picks a gun off the rack and hands it to him. The guy screamed this is a .22 magnum, Bill said yep and said the .22 magnum has killed more deer in Kansas then any other round, you didn't say you wanted a legle deer rifle. 

[necchi]

Dinny has good questions.
I live in MN, and a little more info sure would help.
 You could be on a power line or wheat field and have flat open for 1/2 a mile,,30-06,,308,,7-08
You could be in the thick, and not see further than 50 yards,,45-70,,30-30,, your 12ga slug barrel
 What small game?,,.223 is legal here. (a little too small a projectile for MN deer and turf, IMO)
Find a smoothy barrel for your 12 and bring that with ya-- for Rabbit, Squirrel, Grouse, Pheasant
(if yer Grousing a short 20 is hard to beat)(look for barrels in the classifieds)
 Off the top of my head, get a 308, then a smoothy barrel (12 or 20) with your slug gun and your set for what MN has to offer in terrain and cover.

 Up here the 243 is considered a youth/ladies gun, the 270 has a following but poor in the thick brush. I'd put money on the 30-06 being the most used/popular round here in the MN Deer woods with 500,000 hitting the field opening weekend.

[Lon371]

MN Deer woods with 500,000 hitting the field opening weekend.

 Holy crap! I think you better find some body armor for your trip as well


Lonny

[petemi]

I think the first question is do you reload or not?  If you don't, you need to get into it.  It took this dumbassed Yankee 69 years to figure that one out.  Reloading, I'd take my 22 inch .45-70.  I'd load tiny collar buttons for bunnies, plinking and stuff, and I'd load the Rem 405 gr. to 1900 fps.  I'd also take my 22 inch Pardner 20 ga. for grouse.  I live on Da U.P. of Michigan, and it aint a lot different than Wisconsin or Mintasota (dats how it's said here).  Here, we shoot deer anywhere from 10 feet to 300 plus yards, and the .45-70 will do it all.....with authority.   Ya gotta shoot it and learn it first.

Pete

[walkingwolf]

   First thing pick one you can shoot. If you hunt for meat a .44 or 45 cal. and a lung shot.

 I shot a .405 win. it will put 3 shots in a clover leaf @ 100. I don't lose 2 oz. of meat.

[Lazermule]

7mm-08, 280, 45/70, 30-06, 308 any or all will suffice for the terrain up here.

I like the 7mm-08 in terms of performance vs. recoil and the off the shelf Fuzion ammo is good stuff at a good value. If you reload it's got a lot of options as well.

LM

[cwlongshot]

GUYS, where is our manors???

OSUBucks1500 , WELCOME!!!

 As you can see from the posts, there is many good calibers that would meet this criteria!! What your getting is everyone's favorites and they are all good suggestions!

I agree with Dinny and Necchi, give us some more info and lest see what we can come up with for ya!

 Merry Christmas and Happy new Year,
 CW

[Lazermule]

 As you can see from the posts, there is many good calibers that would meet this criteria!! What your getting is everyone's favorites and they are all good suggestions!

C'mon CW...I don't even own a 7mm-08...well not in a NEF anyway....good point though, I haven't really heard and bad recommendation from the bunch..but on these big bruiser's we have up here I'd certainly recommend something north of 25 cal...a lot of guys may flame me for not suggesting the .243 but I'd grab a 7mm-08 over it any day unless I were going rabbit or squirrel hunting..

LM

[carbineman]

 As you can see from the posts, there is many good calibers that would meet this criteria!! What your getting is everyone's favorites and they are all good suggestions!

C'mon CW...I don't even own a 7mm-08...well not in a NEF anyway....good point though, I haven't really heard and bad recommendation from the bunch..but on these big bruiser's we have up here I'd certainly recommend something north of 25 cal...a lot of guys may flame me for not suggesting the .243 but I'd grab a 7mm-08 over it any day unless I were going rabbit or squirrel hunting..

LM

I agree where I hunt in northern Manysodas the whitetails can and do dress out at over 200 lbs. I have used a 30-30 and will try the 30-06 this year and am looking at a stainless 7mm-08 in a CVA Scout also. Some of the hunting is more open if you can find a clear cut with good sign, while at other times 100 yard shots would be hard to come by. Ridges and swamps are mainly the terrain where I am near Orr (St Louis County). What area you going to hunt?

[pmeisel]

Deer and small game -- 30/30, or 243. 

[Shu]

Welcome

Any rifle you can hit a paper plate from 25 yards to 200 yards, first shot everytime. Having said that
and guessing you are not a reloader. Any of the centerfires will do you well, factory ammo for all calibers may not be easy to get everywhere.
I prefer a rifle that will have 1000 lbs of energy at 100 yards for deer. 30-30 and 30-06 are 2 good choices.

Throwing small game into the mix maybe the 30-30. Ammo available everywhere. Easy on the wallet, enough gun for deer and not way to much for small game.

A smooth bore shot gun barrel for bird shot maybe a good addition to your 12 guage.

[OSUBucks1500]

thanks for all your comments for what you asked about the terrain im hunting is a mixture kinda. The hunting shack has 170 acres in north east Minnesota, around Duluth. The land is mostly woods with some small grass fields, swamps, lots of hills and even more woods. My uncles just leased another 300 acres next to the 170 which i havent seen so im not sure what it will be, but most likely woods and small fields or openings. So would the he 30-06 or 30-30 be good for this. I also have a tracker 1 so its smoothbore and im gona use that for the grouse which ive hunted before with a single shot when i first started and still got a couple grouse. But i guess from it sounds the 30-30 or 30-06 is my best. With what ive told you of the terrain does that sound right.

[stimpylu32]

With the info you have given , your down to a couple choices , either the 30/30 or the 243 Win , both will do fine on deer size game out to 150 yards , just my .02 , but the 30/06 is just too much rifle for small game and your bullet weights are going to be limited in factory ammo .

Now just about any hardware store in hunting country will have a couple boxes of 30/30 or 243 on the shelf , and your bullet choices in factory ammo will be much better in these two rounds . Myself , I'd lean more to the 243 , just my take , for what its worth . 

From chat the other night I understand you don't reload , so thats why I stress Factory Ammo .

stimpy

[mitchell]

ok being that your name is OSU and your in a slug gun only state your from ohio (dont ever leave , wish i never did) but if your new to the game try and get something thats well rounded , in ohio yotes groundhog and the like are all fair game for a rifle, but you also want to use it in MN. hummmm i would go 30-06, 270, 308 , all of them will work from mice to moose and from muzzle to farther then you can shoot and there all cheap to feed so you can get good at those long shots on groundhogs.


btw go buckeyes

[stimpylu32]

ok being that your name is OSU and your in a slug gun only state your from ohio (dont ever leave , wish i never did) but if your new to the game try and get something thats well rounded , in ohio yotes groundhog and the like are all fair game for a rifle, but you also want to use it in MN. hummmm i would go 30-06, 270, 308 , all of them will work from mice to moose and from muzzle to farther then you can shoot and there all cheap to feed so you can get good at those long shots on groundhogs.


btw go buckeyes

Too late Mitch , he already moved to that place above Toledo that we don't talk about = ( Mich )

stimpy

[mitchell]

to mi ....to mich.....to mi... i just cant say it how could a buckeye even think about that!!!!!

on a lighter note this E-5 (p) had a great time smoking my 1 Lt (from that place above toledo) after the game due to a bad bet on his part!!!!

either way even up there in that place we wont talk about, a good 30-06 , 270 , or 308 would do very well or anywhere else in the US 

[Sourdough]

Hay Guys, come on.  there is no debate.  The one cartridge all others are judged by is the best.  The venerable old 30-06.  Wide selection of bullets for reloading or from the factory.  Range is no problem.  Any decent shooter should be able to take a Deer out to 300 yards.  With a little work, 500 yards is not an issue.

I just got back from a visit to Tennessee.  I went up to Smith County to visit my Cousins.  We were sitting out on the carport talking when one of the kids yelled "Looky yonder at that Coyote".  Across the creek and up the hill was a Coyote, trotting down a trail that led to a neighbors barnyard.  I went to the truck and got out my Handi 30-06.  I determined the yardage with my Lazer range finder to be 620 yards.  I dialed in 620 and took the shot.  I hit high, just over it's back.  Coyote took off like it had been shot out of a cannon.  I realized my high shot was due to elevation.  After running about 70 yards the Coyote stopped with a bush between it and the spot where the bullet struck.  As it looked back I took a second shot holding a bit lower this time.  Whap, Coyote rolled off the trail and down the hill.  Kids went over and drug it back to the house.  A small female.  I showed the kids how to skin it and salt down the pelt.  The one that saw it first claimed it, saying he was going to get it tanned and hang it on his bedroom wall.  I was using the 165gr load I use up here for Caribou, and Wolves.  Bullet passed through with very little expansion on that small an animal.  Not a big exit wound.

For the next hour we talked guns.  Discussing the differances between my 30-06 and their 30-30s, .444s and .35 Rems.  They also realized that as they gradually clear off their hillsides of brush and trees to increase the graze for their livestock, they are increasing the distance they can see and shoot Deer and their pray.  No longer are their shots going to be 30 to 40 yards.  14 to 15 years ago I made pretty much the same shot using a Ruger .338 win mag, and shot a nice Whitetail buck.  He was just a little higher up on the hill.

[cult .44]

Being a big-bore believer this Minnesotan votes for .45-70. In a single shot especially, I want good knock-down power. And at ranges likely to be found in thick woods and occassional open grassy areas, it's pretty much ideal. Also, there's good availability and variety of factory ammo for non-reloaders. But, if I wanted one rifle to use where I might be hunting thick woods one year and the sandhills of Nebraska the next, I'd probably go with a .308 or .30-06.