One rifle, one caliber for whitetails; your choice?

Bolt Action

Ruger M-77
270 Win


You said one. I have other rifles and calibers in mind. I've had great success with a 270 Win and taking whitetails.

Bold action

Remington M7 Stainless

.308 Winchester.

I love this gun, accurate for western hunting, light and handy for the thick cover, short and easy to maneuver in a sand or box blind. Powerful enough even for elk to 300 yards. I have a 2x10x40 on it which helps versatility, too.

All my ammo in all my guns except 12 and 20 gauge is handloads. I don't buy inferior store bought ammo, well, occasionally some Wolf 154 7.62x39 soft point or some 9x18 Mak Monarch, but other than that....

I'm with MC...

Remington model 7 in 308 Win.

30-30

Of course it is not as fashionable these days with people thinking they can blast them in the head at 500 paces...

Winchester M70 feather weight in 30-06.

Marlin 336 in .30-30

It took me 50 years to finally acquire the "one" I wanted:

Winchester M70 Super Grade
.30-06 Sprg
Leupold 2.5-8 scope
Conetrol rings & bases
Handloads

Geno

.300 Savage Model 99 Savage lever action

.270 for wooded areas and 7mm rem magnum for open spaces. Woops, that's two.

I'd go with .270 between the two.

Wow... Whitetails, in my experience are not hard to kill. Pick a rifle you like, and ammo that's cheap.

I've killed them with a

Savage 110 in .243 - DRT (Winchester Silvertip and Remington Core-lokt)
Remington Model 7 Youth (My Daughter) in .260 - DRT (Remington Core-Lokt)
Savage Model 14 American Classic in .308 - DRT (Remington Core-Lokt and Federal ammo)

Bolt action.
CZ-550
6.5x55mm
Current handload is 39.0gr Varget, 140gr Hornady Spire Point, CCI 200, R-P brass. Planning to try a change to RL-19 or maybe even slower powder.

'Course I don't hunt whitetails. Over in eastern WA (at least the area I tend to hunt) all the whitetails are on private land. Mule deer though are findable in the national forrest, as are blacktail on the west side of the mountains. But anything that'll work on them will do just as well on whitetails.

Bolt gun
Savage 14
.270 win

Marlin 336 in 30-30... light, handy, and has been putting meat in the freezer for generations..

Mod.7 bolt action 7mm08 stainless

Remingon 700 BDL .25-06. But we have mulies out here

Definately a bolt action.
Probably an older Remington 700.
Caliber, either .280 Rem or .30-06. They're my two favorites. I wouldn't be unhappy with either.

For whitetails only, I would take my Sauer 202 Outback bolt gun in 308 topped with a Zeiss Diavari illuminated 2.5-10x50mm.

Here it is.

a bolt in .30-06
shooting handloads with either interlocks or nosler bt's.

Just one?? What fun is that?

Currently, for whitetails only, I'd have to go with my Kimber 84M Classic Select in .257 Roberts topped with a Leupold VX3 2.5-8x36mm scope. That could change when I get my M70 Featherweight in 6.5x55 setup. I make no guarantees!

I can't choose. I have too many good whitetail guns. Life is too short to choose just one. My latest is a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in .270 with a 3.5x10 Sightron II Big Sky scope.

bolt

Remington 700

30-06

My other go-to deer rifle is a Winchester 94 lever action in 32 Winchester Special, manufactured in 1955.

(Didn't even know they made those other calibers)

Action: Lever
Brand: Winchester
Caliber: .30 WCF (Manu. 1948)

Action: Bolt
Brand: Doesn't matter as long as it is well made
Caliber: 30-06

I have several good ones I like. My all time favorite would have to be lever action, Browning BLR in .243 win. wearing a 3x-9x Nikon. I shoot handloads now, but my very first deer was with this rifle shooting Remington factory loads with 90 grain Nosler Balistic Tips. That's a good combo, but now I load 100 grain Sierra Pro-Hunters. I like them too.