Carbine vs Hunting Rifle

I presume if you're reloading, you're also recovering brass. A semi-auto will chuck that brass and you'll have to bend over to pick it up, so I'd go for the bolt or lever gun.

The recommendation for the .357mag lever gun is good, but if you're going to largely be sitting at a bench, a bolt action rifle is a bit more convenient, IMO. My recommendation, then, is to consider a Ruger 77/357 or 77/44 bolt action carbine.

Either of these will be fine over the distance you'd be shooting, and are enough for deer as well. The rotary magazine gives some extra versatility in the bullets that can be used, compared to a level gun. They'll also shoot .38 & .44 specials, respectively, giving them even more versatility, possibly for small game, or if you just want less recoil sometimes.

the older I get, the more I like carbines, light, fast swinging, and easy to carry,
I picked up a Voodoo Tactical shotgun scabbard for my chester 94 in 30-30.
Can't wait to try it out-doors.
7mm mauser
30-30
375 winchester
7.62x39

Nice looking carbine with some fine looking wood! Looks like the 9mm did the job just fine. What ammo and bullet weight did you use?

Head shot is obvious! Is that also one to the top of shoulder near base of neck? Midpoint on bottom of neck a shot or knife stick to bleed it out? Regardless, nice carbine and deer.

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I used handloads. 5.1 gr of power pistol under 147gr speer gold dots. yes the head shot was to keep it down. she was running when I shot her and I didn't time my shot right so my first shot to the torso hit much higher than intended, it cut diagonally through the spine and lodged just under the hide on the opposite side. the shot to the head was at the same range to put make sure she stayed down.

I have had one too many animals get up and run away on me so it's become SOP for me to double tap just to be sure. also, I don't recommend the wood. I really liked it at first but it adds a great deal of weight and all of mine ended up splitting and separating, I've since gone with evil black furniture for it and now it's even more fun to shoot.

I'm a fan of carbines, just not in pistol calibers. Even with the longer barrel and extended range, it's still a pistol round with the typical trajectory of a bullet with large cross sectional area and low aerodynamic efficiency. As a class, pistol rounds tend to drop a lot more than rifle rounds. Holdover is more problematic.

I found after I was injured, and with the onset of advancing maturity in my 50's, that long walks to a remote stand were becoming a problem, too. And that included hiking overland with a long rifle. The manual actions weren't helping, either. The problem as I saw it was that once the rifle was shot, I had to break my sight picture to cycle the action at the precise time I needed to keep on target to make another shot. Chasing down a deer that would run to the nearest low ground to expire is normal, I don't need the extra work. I don't know to many who would risk loss of the animal, plus hauling it out of the low ground as being "more sporting." The answer to me was a semi automatic in a gun I knew well, that worked for the shooter, not against him, and that would allow another shot within a split second if needed.

That IS the AR 15, I assembled one in 6.8SPC, with a 16" barrel.

It's easier to load, insert legal hunting capacity magazine on an open bolt, release the hold back, flip to safe, down. It's easier to unload, depress mag catch, pull the charging handle back, retrieve cartridge. No cycling each round thru the chamber with all the nicking and scratching up the ammo, or worrying about the reputation of the gun and it going off. Bolts and levers can be made to do so much more than the AR by cycling every round out of the action the way we are forced to do.

The AR can be more ergonomic, more customized, carry the optic of choice, be the color you want, it much much more resistant to the elements, the stock won't warp, the aluminum parts can't rust, the barrels are available nitrided, the parts are designed to be easily broken down to clean much more than most civilian bolt actions.

I have a Remington 700 and Winchester 94 Saddle Ring carbine, I know which is easier to carry and use in the woods. I've had an HK91 and extensive experience with the M16 in 22 years Army Reserve duty, I'm quite familiar which is easier to shoot and get a repeat shot off more accurately. Taking the AR as a hunting rifle, most of the alternate calibers are designed and intended for hunting use, plus the .223 is still effective out past 100 yards if needed - with well over 1000 pounds of force quite a bit further. The pistol calibers run quite a bit shorter, with much more holdover, too.

I'd rather hunt with a durable carbine I won't be afraid to see get used. It's pretty much why the 94 looks so bad - it was, but blued steel and birch aren't all that after being somebody's truck gun for 30 years. I have seen 30 year old AR's and they don't look nearly as bad. They were designed to put up with harsh conditions, civilian guns are designed to need replacement to sell you another one.

Build an AR and you will like it.

I don't know to many who would risk loss of the animal, plus hauling it out of the low ground as being "more sporting."

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I don't exactly know what hauling the animal out has to do with the caliber choice but personally, the "sporting" is that when properly executed, the animal has a greater chance of survival. in much the same way that archery and muzzle loader hunters take on the extra challenge of requiring very close range engagement, the same is true with pistol calibers. I have only taken my 300 weatherby magnum deer hunting once and I shot a deer that should have had a snowball's chance in hell of surviving and I still lost it. on the same side of that coin I've only taken my 9mm deer hunting once and I brought home a deer when the hits were less than textbook. it is all about forcing yourself to adopt new tactics and give the animals a fighting chance. if you do take a shot, you need to understand that there is no margin for error, and that you only get one chance to cleanly dispatch the animal.

It's easier to load, insert legal hunting capacity magazine on an open bolt, release the hold back, flip to safe, down. It's easier to unload, depress mag catch, pull the charging handle back, retrieve cartridge. No cycling each round thru the chamber with all the nicking and scratching up the ammo, or worrying about the reputation of the gun and it going off. Bolts and levers can be made to do so much more than the AR by cycling every round out of the action the way we are forced to do.

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this is an over-generalization that makes this statement come out more false than true. not all states have ammo capacity limits, this may be true for you in MO but not for other people in other states. also not all bolt actions require you to cycle through each round and at this day and age it is harder to find one that requires this method than not. most have either a detachable box magazine or have a hinged floor plate which allow you to dump the mag and then manually cycle the round out of the chamber in much the same manner as the AR15 only with the added perk of being able to control the ejection into your hand which is difficult to do with the AR. also, I have never seen a bolt action that scratches and scores brass during ejection although this is quite common with many semi autos(including the AR). keep in mind that I shoot mostly old military actions in which things like scratching brass on extraction is pretty far down on list of errors to fix.

The AR can be more ergonomic, more customized, carry the optic of choice, be the color you want, it much much more resistant to the elements, the stock won't warp, the aluminum parts can't rust, the barrels are available nitrided, the parts are designed to be easily broken down to clean much more than most civilian bolt actions.

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even though I am a die hard AR15 fan I must point out that the alluminum parts can indeed rust, just not under most standard hunting conditions. also the stocks will warp. they are plastic, you can church it up and call it synthetic or polymer if you wish but it's plastic, clear and simple. if you live in an area where it gets very hot during summer, leaving the gun in your vehicle, or shooting it too much, too fast can cause cheaper made plastic parts to warp.

I've had an HK91 and extensive experience with the M16 in 22 years Army Reserve duty, I'm quite familiar which is easier to shoot and get a repeat shot off more accurately

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you're comparing 7.62x51mm to 5.56x45mm, two very different beasts when it comes to recoil. you are offering some conflicting information here. first you state that you shouldn't handicap yourself by choosing a substandard hunting cartridge and then you go on to extol the virtues of a gun chambered in a cartridge that is considered by many to be substandard and is prohibited in many states for hunting purposes?

The pistol calibers run quite a bit shorter, with much more holdover, too.

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not exactly true. depending on the zero range and the range you limit yourself to there should be no holdover. I've zeroed my 9mm to 200 yards before, it was completely worthless for any other range because of the velocity however a 50 yard zero essentially makes it point of aim shooting for any distance between 20 and 100 yards.

please do not get me wrong. I will never ever get rid of my AR15s and my 5.56 has proven itself as a 200 yard deer rifle, I am simply putting in my .02 that it has it's weaknesses just like any other platform.

The 6.8 SPC in the AR is a dandy deer cartridge but they do tend to be spendy although one could be built for around $800. Out of a 16" barrel it beats the .243 out of the same length. Ammo availability does tend to pose a problem at present . This actually probably not the best option with your admitted lack of firearms knowledge.

Many deer are now being humanely taken with the 5.56 AR but I would highly recommend only using loads with monolithic bullets like the Barnes TSX and keeping shots under 200 yds.

I don't see how the 223 and deer hunting thing can be true. After all, "everyone knows" that the 223 is only good for taking small varmints. But the same folks (typically) will tell you that a .44 mag pistol or KY rifle is somehow a "powerhouse". Well, hunting experience puts all 3 at about the same level of performance (ie, marginal, best limited to broadside shots at <100m). You do have to know to avoid using varmint, target or fmj bullets in the 223, too.

Consider the .300 Blackout. I built a 16 inch barreled AR carbine in that caliber. It is a light, handy little rifle, in a caliber which is effective for SC white tails out to about 200yds.

I've not figured out the attraction to the .300 Blackout cartridge. I can maybe understand it to some degree for the AR fans with a suppressed rifle to play with.

The name sounds impressive but to me it stops there. Some folks (not all) seem to think it is the hottest thing going. I had one fellow that wanted to buy two boxes of .300 Winchester Magnum to shoot in his .300 Blackout rifle. He assumed they were the same thing.

Not slamming the guys that like the cartridge. It is really just one more thing that I know nothing about.

essentially it is 7.62x39 for AR15s. the AR is a versatile platform and can be chambered in just about any intermediate cartridge under the sun but it just doesn't do the commie rounds well, there are a number of mods that have to be made and the mags are very hit or miss on quality and reliability. enter the 300 BLK. it's made by cutting down 223 brass so you can keep the standard bolt carrier groups and magazines and have almost the same ballistics in a much more reliable package. 308 is also a bit easier to get quality bullets for than 310.

however that is were all of it's advantages are, in a bolt or any other rifle for any application it is one of the worst performing 30 caliber rounds out there just in front of the 7.62 tokarev and 30 mauser(both pistol cals BTW). I like 30 calibers but to me the 300 BLK is just too much bullet with too little powder to be of any serious use, you may as well just go with a straight walled pistol cartridge if you are going to compromise on so many points. anything that an AR15 in 300 BLK can do a lever action in 30-30 can do 2 as well in a lighter, more compact package.