I wind up talking to all kinds of people through work or at the store or wherever life takes me, some folks know I’m an outdoor guy and some even read my blog, others are just engaging in the normal small talk about their deer season. After hearing lots of these folks conversations I notice two trends happening with the deer rifles hunters are choosing, and that is the vast majority are over-gunned and/or over-scoped. Before you think I’m picking on your .300 WSM with the 4X12 Nikon scope, if you shoot it well and it works for the type of hunting you do, I think you’re doing better than people who use .22 center fires for deer. There is such a thing as being under-gunned, too. But back to the problem at hand. Most of the people who hunt deer stick with the five most popular rifle calibers for our hoofed and horned 4-legged quarry. The top five are .30-06, .7mm Remington Magnum, .270 Winchester, .243 Winchester, and the .30 Winchester Centerfire, also known as the “Thirty-Thirty”.
All except the .243 can have a good amount of recoil in light rifles, enough so that most folks don’t shoot them very well. If you aren’t going to practice with a rifle much, if it kicks the hell out of your shoulder, you aren’t going to be very good with it. So let’s start with the light kickers, and go from there.
Many folks start out deer hunting in their younger years with a hand-my-down .30-.30 lever action, and that still works good for deer if you shoot not much further than 100-yards. (Note: Hornady “LeverRevolution” Ammunition LeverRevolution can extend your range somewhat, but you still aren’t going to be picking off deer at half a mile. Getting a 7mm Magnum won’t instantly let you do that either, but more on that later). So what’s wrong with a lever gun chambered in the .30 Winchester Centerfire? Not a thing. Matter of fact, if you hunt from a tree stand or in deep woods, there are very few other rifle/cartridge combinations that work so well. Sexy and brand new? Nope, but time tested and reliable. Recoil isn’t bad in the standard rifles, but the “youth” or compact models with short barrels can be more that a beginning youngster can handle.
How about the .243? I’m a little biased here because I’m a big fan of the .243, although mostly from it's use as a varmint rifle. Initially the 6mm cartridges (.243 and it’s ballistic cousin the 6mm Remington) were designed as dual-purpose rifle rounds, for both deer and varmints. I think with careful shot placement, they excel as deer killers, and due to the light recoil, precise shot placement is easier than with a harsher kicking rifle. I’ve shot everything from heavy barreled varmint rigs to featherweight youth rifles in .243, and none had any recoil to mention to my shoulder. Realistically “kick” is a subjective thing, and everyone can handle different levels, but a light kicker sure helps a newcomer succeed. I think .243 is just on the light side for deer, but miles away better than .22 centerfires. I know that here in Missouri plenty of people bag their deer with .223’s and 22/250’s every year, but where I grew up in Kansas, .243 is the minimum for big game, including the smaller Antelope. Makes plenty of sense to me. Just be sure when you are buying your .243 ammo you are buying the stuff made for deer, not varmints. Stick with 90- to 100-grain bullets, not the little 75-grain or lighter “screamers” meant for coyote or ground hogs. My last thought on the 6mm’s versus the .22 centerfires is this: If someone can’t handle the recoil of the .243, maybe they aren’t big enough to hunt yet.
Unfortunately, there aren’t really many popular caliber choices until you get to the .270 Winchester, and by popular I mean in stock in the sporting goods section of your local X-Mart. And that’s too bad, because there are plenty of “cult” cartridges that are such good deer calibers that the average hunter will never see. Great things like the .250 Savage, .260 Remington, the 7mm-08 Remington, the .257 Roberts, and European favorites like the 6.5X55. All of these are available in great rifles, and just plain ruin a deer’s day without much kick or blast. All are capable of 200-yard+ shots, which is further than the average shooter can hit accurately, anyway.
Here you see the drop, velocity, and energy figure for some factory loads for the .250, .257, and .260: .250/.257/.260
And here is the 6.5X55 and .260 versus the 7mm-08: 6.5X55/.260/7mm-08
For reloaders these calibers are simple and easy to use, and great for everyone from beginners to experienced rifleman. For people who have to buy off the shelve ammo, your choices can be limited, with the exception of the 7mm-08, which is becoming a favorite for light “mountain” and youth rifles. It's my favorite deer rifle caliber. Light kick for serious punch downrange. Maybe a little more recoil than the others, but noticeably less than the .270 Winchester.
When I would meet someone who was the real he-man chest beater type of hunter, I’d ask them out of the blue if they use a 7mm Rem Mag. “You betcha!” was the answer 90-percent of the time. There are a couple of fantastic shots who I know who use the 7mm Mag, but it was the choice for a certain type there for a long time. Now they seem to have moved on to the WSM cartridges, so they have to decide which they think is more Macho, the .270, 7mm, or .300 WSM. These are fantastic flat shooting cartridges, but for most deer hunting not really necessary. I’ve noticed most “7 Mag guys” hate, no, loath the .270 Winchester. One was heard to say “I’d rather shoot a .308 Winchester than the .270.” I asked why, and no rational answer could be found in the words that came forth, basically it was “I just don’t like it”. I don’t understand that, because if you want moderate recoil, long range, and plenty of choices in rifles, .270 should be your thing.
Ballistic bias? Nope, one would have to understand the ballistics of a cartridge first. So it's some half-assed personal bias, but people aren't logical very often. Want proof? Here’s the comparison between two loads in popular bullet weight for both the .270 and the 7 Mag, both using the streamlined Nosler Ballistic tip bullet:
.270 vs. 7 Mag
Velocity, wind drift, and bullet drop are within a gnats hair of each other. Energy numbers are higher for the 7 Mag due to the slightly heavier bullet, but no deer hit with either one in the same spot would know the difference, but the recoil of the 7 Mag would be more in same weight rifles, and want to take a guess why? The slightly heavier bullet accounts for some, but the real reason is the amount of powder in the load. Seriously- when a ballistic program asks you to input the weight of the powder charge of the load to calculate recoil, that’s exactly why. The more powder, the more of a “rocket effect” you get in recoil. I stole that term from “Rifle Loony” John Barsness because it’s a really good description. Looking at a couple of reloading manuals I have shows most .270 loads call for about a 60- to 64-grains of powder, but the “big 7mm” loads for the 150-grain bullet call for as much as 80-grains powder to boot that bullet down range. Science, man.
This brings us to the venerable .30-06 Springfield. Many people love it, but in lightweight rifles it too has plenty of recoil. In heavier rifles, most experienced shooters can handle it and the 7 Mag. It’s just in light weight rifles that most people buy it can be excessive. You probably see a trend here: Light rifles and a pretty good sized bullet going downrange with plenty of powder behind it = recoil. This can be as much of a rifle style problem as a caliber selection issue. The most popular style of bolt-action rifles, the “sporter style” was developed when people actually had to go out and hunt for their deer- spotting and stalking, or “still hunting”, slinking quietly through the woods and talking what shots presented themselves. This style is represented by slim 22-inch barrels and trim wood (or synthetic) stocks- you can easily recognize this type rifle. These days most hunters sit in a tree stand and wait for a deer to walk by, and carry their rifle to that point on a padded sling. The simple answer is to get a heavier, target type rifle for the serious kickers. For lighter, more easy-shooting calibers a sporter remains a good choice.
The second problem I keep seeing is hunters putting really high magnification scopes on their rifles, on the order of 12 or 16 power for the high side of a variable scope. 3X9 variables are probably the most popular, and while not the worst choice, what usually happens is our stereotypical hunter- let's call him Brad- goes to the range to sight ‘Ol Bessie in, cranks that sucker up to 9X, shoots his couple of shots to verify he can hit…something, then leaves it turned up to the highest setting. You see what’s coming. A deer walks by at 20-yards, and Brad can’t line up the shot in the scope because all he sees is hair or tree, and either spooks the deer fiddling with the scope or shoots- poorly, then cusses the scope. If he thinks he’s smart, (he thinks he's a genius) he gets a “peep through scope mount” which makes it possible to see the iron sights, but makes the scope too high to use without taking his head off the stock, making it essentially useless. Smart? Uh, nope.
The simple answer is a low powered variable scope. They aren’t as popular as the standard issue 3X9, but are much more useful for the average big game hunter, especially where shots a often less than 100-yards. I’ve used a 1.5 X 4.5 on my 7mm-08 for several years now, and the key is to leave the scope turned down to it’s lowest setting. A 3x9 really isn’t a bad choice either, just leave it turned down, and if you feel you need the magnification for a longer shot you can always turn it up. It won’t spook a deer 100-yards away to do it, but I’ve made some great shots out to 200-yards with that little 4.5 power scope turned all the way up, and it has made me re-think all my scope choices. I only use higher magnification scopes for varmint or targets, and my highest powered “hunting” scope is a 3x9- and that’s on my Squirrel rifle for making head shots on the little varmints at 50-yards or more
For a riflescope primer, start here: http://www.opticsplanet.net/how-to-choose-riflescope.html
