Deer hunting with different calibers

use enough gun · Rookie Member Joined: Oct 20, 2007 Posts: 9

I generally use my trusty Marlin 1895 in 45/70 on deer. This year I shot the first deer with it, with the expected results. You pretty much just hit them anywhere in the body and they drop like hit by lightning, (300 grnJHP with max load of H4198). After that deer I put the rifle away and grabbed my fox rifle, Browning SS Stalker in 25/06, (117 spbt, Serria gameking, shoots 5/8" at 100yrds). I shot 2 bucks with it, one rather large one too. When gutting it I took pains to try and recover the bullets. Although the 25/06 did the job, penatration and bullet performance sure aren't on par with a big bore. I found that bullet placement is critical. I think this morning when I leave for the deer stand I'll grab the 300 WM, 180 grn spbt,(Serria gameking). Dave

SwampFox · Last edited by SwampFox on Thu Nov 08, 2007 9:34 am; edited 1 time in total

Welcome Dave,
Drag up a stump, kick back and join in.

One thing you have to watch on forums such as this is that deer are not the same everywhere. For example, your deer may be 250 pound monsters, while our deer usually run about 100 pounds and look a good deal like a shepard dog with long legs. So, a 300 Winnie is just not necessary in NW FL. Also, we must be careful not to destroy large portions of the meat with the higher velocity cartridges. I like my 444 and 45-70 just for that reason. But my current favorite is the 357 SM rifle shown in my avitar. It is a Bambi roller of the first order. So far a one shot terminator with 180s at 2,150 fps (170 / 94 = 2,200).
Ed

Bushmaster

Welcome to this fine site. I see that SwampFox has already offered you a stump...How about a beer to go with that stump.

The deer that I hunted in the West averaged 120 to 200 lbs. The deer that I have seen here in Missouri (haven't hunted here yet) so far seem to be about the same. If I am working under 100 yards I use a .30-30 Winchester Mod 94 and a 170 grain Speer bullet. If I plan to hunt at better then 100 yards I use my Browning A-bolt .30-06 with either a 165 grain Sierra HPBT or Sierra 180 grain BTSP. In the West these combinations work quite well for me...

Looking at the terrain here in Southwest Missouri they should do the same here as well. Looks like my Ol' Thutty-Thutty will be my mainstay...Rolling hills timbered with mostly oak, maple and wild walnut.

moose2

I use different calibers for deer, mostly because I have different calibers and it fun to switch off and use a different rifle or two every year. My mainstay through the years for whitetails and mulies has been my 6MM and .257 Roberts. This year planning on using my old 30-06 mainly because I've never shot a deer with it. Lotsa elk with it though. Will find out this weekend if the old .06 finally downs a buck.--tr

skb2706 · Member Joined: Apr 10, 2006 Posts: 269

SwampFox wrote:

Welcome Dave,
Drag up a stump, kick back and join in.

One thing you have to watch on forums such as this is that deer are not the same everywhere. For example, your deer may be 250 pound monsters, while our deer usually run about 100 pounds and look a good deal like a shepard dog with long legs. So, a 300 Winnie is just not necessary in NW FL. Also, we must be careful not to destroy large portions of the meat with the higher velocity cartridges. I like my 444 and 45-70 just for that reason. But my current favorite is the 357 SM rifle shown in my avitar. It is a Bambi roller of the first order. So far a one shot terminator with 180s at 2,150 fps (170 / 94 = 2,200).
Ed

Very true statement about generalizations regarding deer. A mule deer timber buck from the Rockies at 350 lbs. plus is a far different animal than a skinny 45 lb. WT doe from the south. With that I would add that I have used probably ten different chambering to take deer all of which were large mule deer save for one very unlucky WT doe. I have used .357 mag, .357 max, 7-30 W, .308, 30-30, .300 WM (there are times its required), .32 SP, .338 Win mag (not necessary but available) and more. By choice if you can make a rib to rib, thru and thru shot it really doesn't matter what gun you use the waste is minimal.

use enough gun · Rookie Member Joined: Oct 20, 2007 Posts: 9

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I'll pass on the beer but I'll grab a whiskey coke. The deer around here tend to fall between 100-200lbs. with anything over 200 a REAL big deer. Honestly, I've never bothered weighing anything I've ever shot. The large one I shot the other day went into the processor yesterday, a friend of mine dropped it off. He said it was the second biggest one they'd gotten in this year but it really didn't impress me that much. (There was a bigger one in the woods that another guy in my party missed the same day.)
I didn't fire a shot today, so I'm hoping I'll get a shot tomorrow for the 300WM. I'm also going to pull my 119 year old HiWall off the wall before the end of the season. It's chambered in 45/120 and it's a real hoot to shoot. I've got a Hoch 604 grain teflon patch bullet mold for it. In the past I've used a duplex load of 12 grains of 4759 and 108 grains of FFblack under that bullet. As Elmer Keith once said; 'It gives good results at both ends'. Shocked

Dave

bhod1

Dave,

The 45/70 and 25-06 are completely different. But don't judge the cartridge on that bullet. Those Sierra GKs are accurate but very soft.

Try a 117 hornady interlock or 120 federal fusion. Even the 120 rem core-lokts stay together far better than the sierras.

Barry

codybrown

I will be using a 25/06 this year with the Fusion 120grain ammo. For the past 5 years, I have used a Remington Model 760 pump chambered in the 35remington cartridge. I figures I'd switch it up, and use my new Thompson Center this year.

Pumpkinslinger

So far I've taken white tail deer with a .45-70 (300 gr JHP at about 1900 fps and 400 gr cast RNFP at about 1400 fps), a .280 Rem. (160 gr Speer Magtip), a .260 Rem (129 gr Hornady SST) and a .50 muzzle loader ( 295 gr Powerbelt over 100 gr Triple 7).

use enough gun · Rookie Member Joined: Oct 20, 2007 Posts: 9

The load I use in my 45/70 is a Fereral 215 primer, 60 grains of (H4198) and a 300 grain JHP. The 60 grains of H4198 is the top load listed for Marlin lever action. They use a CCI200 primer so my pressures may be a little higher than 40,000cup. Over my Crony it registers right in the 2500fps area. It's absolutely murder on deer. Dave

use enough gun · Rookie Member Joined: Oct 20, 2007 Posts: 9

Well I just got in from another day of shooting bambi. I shot 2 bucks and a doe today with the 300 WM using a Sierra 180 spbt gameking. No bullets were recovered as they all passed through the deer. One was a raking shot entering just in front of the rear quarter, exiting through the off side front lung area. The exit wound was about the size of the end of my thumb. Deer was running away, full tilt, at the shot it showed no sign of having been hit, left very little blood and went about 250 yards before expiring.
The doe took one through both lungs at 75 yards, dropped at the shot and rolled down the bank into the river. It took several minutes to expire.
The 2nd buck took one in the front chest area and exited from the back of the rear quarter. This deer also showed no sign of being hit and ran about 100 yards through the brush leaving very little blood.
All the bullets appear to have opened up correctly from the evidence upon cleaning the deer. The load I was using was the 180 grain bullet on top of 77 grains of IMR4831. At this point I'm not impressed with the 300 WM, maybe another bullet selection would work better.
Like I posted earlier, you hit them with a 45/70 you KNOW you hit them and the deer REALLY KNOWS. I've never had a problem finding a blood trail and 9 times out of 10 you don't need one. Very Happy

Dave

SwampFox

Interesting thing is that when you get to 35 cal and above the target has a very destinct reaction when hit. I currently like to use the gun in my avitar (357 SM) if shooting a close target house or stand. If stalking or using a ground blind I wse my 45-70 Siamese Mauser Express Rifle or my 444 Marlin. All are one shot dispatchers and any "tracking" done is well within sight of the impact point.

Dave, Sounds like you are not getting hydrostatic effect for some reason. I should think a 180 at 3k plus should have vaporized the chest cavity contents on at least two of those deer.
Ed

d_hoffman

Hey Dave, great bullet selection if your shooting at a deer that's 3...4...500 yards out. At less than 100 though, maybe the 220gr RN would do better. Now if you had shot a moose at that range you most likely would've dropped in it's tracks.

use enough gun · Rookie Member Joined: Oct 20, 2007 Posts: 9

Well around here shots can be from point blank to half ways across the section. Just the way things worked out yesterday that all shots were in close. I've got a box of Barnes X bullets but haven't had time to load any up for deer. I had planned on loading some this morning before I went out but ended up taking the wife to the ER at 5am. (That's another story).
Anyway, I'm going to go out after dinner with the 25/06 and maybe head shoot a couple. Dave

SwampFox

Man, I hope the wife is OK and no serious results. Hunting is fun but hurt or hurting wife is serious.
All the best.
Ed