What gun for 300 pound deer?

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BigFatKen

BigFatKen

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Walnut Hill, about 35 miles west of Auburn, AL
I have been using my favorite rifle, my 1976 Ruger .25-06 M77. I have been shooting through and through on lots on deer here in east Alabama. Mostly 1 1/2 year olds to 3 1/2 years old. The 9 year old doe I got was only 90 pounds. Poor thing, no teeth. The only deer that left the bullet in the body was a 140 pound buck. I took a body shot that traversed the left lung, 4 inches of the bottom on the heart and broke the right front leg. Only bullet I ever had a chance to recover and the butcher lost it. Should have just done it myself.

Anyway there is a monster around here. A full 6 1/2 years old.
I am afraid that when they go into rut in a few weeks, the 'ol Ruger may not be enough gun at 200 yards, my max range here.

I have a Ruger M77 in .338 Win. magnum with 1.5-4.5x scope. I checked it out and 4.5x is enough scope. I aimed at a deer decoy at 200 yards and I could hold it steady on the target.

Should I use my old Ruger that I am used to or my bear gun that I have not fired in years?
 
I shoot lots of deer under 50 yds here in Iowa with a 12guage slug. Most of my deer are close to the 200# mark. Some times the slug stays in the deer, sometime it exits the deer, depends upon if I hit a shoulder bone on the exit.

I don't why your 25-06 shouldn't be enough to take down the deer. Shot placement, take your time and get a good shot off.

Charby
 
The 338Win mag is way too much for deer, don't get me wrong that round will do the job it's just overkill.

A Ruger M77 in 30-06 loaded with Winchester 180gr Fail Safe given that the deer is a 300 pounder.
 
WillBrayJr said:
The 338Win mag is way too much for deer, don't get me wrong that round will do the job it's just overkill.

A Ruger M77 in 30-06 loaded with Winchester 180gr Fail Safe given that the deer is a 300 pounder.
Click to expand...

+1

.338 is fine for moose, and is common on bear/moose combo hunts. On a white tail, you'd be eating ground beef, at best.
 
.25-06 will be fine, a friend of mine used a .30-30 for years on the BIG old swamp bucks in Southern Indiana. They regularly run 300#. Thus, you should have no problems using your deer rifle as it's stouter than the .30-30! Good hunting!

Take Care,
Mike
 
.25-06 would work just fine I think. A 115 grain bullet from the .25-06 and a 125 grain bullet from a .30-06 has near the same energy at 200 yards, just for some comparison.
 
thank you

I think I will stick with the old tried and .true .25-06. That rifle I am way more used to shooting. Besides, I don't want to hunt with ear muffs on and I don't want to shoot the mag without them. EVEN ONCE.

I am shooting Rem. 120gr pointed. They shoot very well in this rifle.

I had a Rem. 700 BDL just before I got this and it would not keep Rem. ammo under 2.25 MOA. I changed to 117 gr Siera in a Fereral premimum ammo and the Remington 700 suddently shot sub 1 MOA.
 
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Your .25-06 should do the job, especially since you know it well.
Biker
 
It's all in the bullet choice. Sierra Game Kings and Nosler Ballistic Tips expand rather quickly and don't penetrate as far as Nosler Partitions (a controlled expansion bullet), Barnes X, or Hornady Interlock. There are other choices.

I like the Barnes bullets, but know specifically the 117 grain Interlock in .257 inch will penetrate a friggin' ELK! The problem I had with it was getting it to expand. I shot a typical Texas 7 point (120 lbs dressed) with that bullet quartering angle, just behind the shoulder and out in front of the diaphram through the lungs and it went through like a pencil. Deer dropped about 75 yards from the shot. I shot an 8 point, a little smaller, a week later in the rear near the ???? (he turned away just as the friggin' sear broke) Danged thing dropped like a sack of potatos. The bullet went completely through the length of the deer and exited behind the throught, severed the aorta on the way through. The exit hole was more what it should be. That was something like 5 FEET of penetration and through the big part of the right hind quarter. Good bullet test, but I coulda made a lot better shot on him. :rolleyes: I started using 100 grain Sierra Game Kings in my .257 pushing them about 3150. They're accurate in the extreme and expand VERY readily, which is what Texas whitetail need. I've had one of them stop on the off side under the skin of a doe, bounced off the left scapula, hit the spine at the neck, glanced down through the ribs in the right side and stopped under the skin. That deer dropped so fast it was scary, LOL! Hitting the spine is a sure thing. :D Wasn't what I was shooting at. Friggin' bullet just decided to take its own path when it hit the left shoulder.

I have a big 7 mag. The thing is a friggin' cannon and wastes a lot of meat, but it sure does kill a whitetail RIGHT NOW. No 300 lb animal will walk away from it with a good lung shot. Just that the off side of the friggin' deer will evaporate when a Sierra 150 Game King passes through it. :eek: My favorite rifle now days is in .308 winchester. It's easy on meat and deadly.
 
i've shot some pretty massive mulies, and i've dumped some monster whitetails, and while i don't think the 25-06 is the ultimate in deer rifles, i never had too much trouble getting them to fall over w/ it.

the misconception that the 338 will turn the deer into burger or whatever is nonsense. i shot a fantastic whitetail w/ the 338 last year at 30-ish yards... far, far less meat damage than 25-06 on deer at similiar ranges. even most ranges.

the bullets for a 338 tend to be tougher, so they expand slower, so they don't grenade in the deer, so they exit nicely, so the deer gets dumped... same ranges w/ a 25-06 exit sometimes, and return to you a lot of bloodshot meat. exit holes w/ the 338 are about 50-cent piece sized.

while i far prefer the 338 over the 25-06 for most anything, the 25-06 will work just fine for you...
 
What Dakotasin said. A 7/.300/.338 mag is just as effective as the more traditional deer chamberings, and it's more effective over a bigger range of circumstances, assuming you use the right bullet. In short, use whatever you want.

Sub
 
thank you

Thank ya'll. Maybe over next summer, I'll work up a hand load with a stouter bullet.

I now like the high shoulder shot placement that just drops them. The 140 pound buck with heart shot ran 30 yards in field plus 30 yards into the woods with three legs working. Hate to do same on #300 and have him go 100 into woods. They can't go father as then they are running out of the woods here towards a Jeep road. Another 140 past that is the paved road.
 
Deer are really thin skinned game and does not take much to kill them with propper shot placement. I have killed 5 bucks with my 270 and never had one to go over 20 or so yards. I also killed a small buck a few weeks agoe with a 38 pistol when it was hit by a car and couldn't use it back legs, one 38 to the back of the head and the little fellow never moved. The sad part was 2 other hunters found the deer in the roadway but would not shoot it because they were afraid they would get in trouble, when I drove up the deer was in terrable pain and they were just looking at it.
 
MY Aunt wants to know how I can shoot them

MY Aunt wants to know how I can shoot them between bites of venision steak. She eats everything else, but once my wife put a name on some, they all became Bambi. I am sure the old deer which I told about in another post was over 8 1/2 now. 8 1/2 is the limit of my jaw samples. But the DVD that came wth it shows sub gum wear patterns. Not only were the teeth worn to gum line, they were fitting a pattern of a older yet deer.

I'm sure she would have suffered this year; already 40 pounds under peak weight.
 
I carried my 7 mag up to the Guadalupes one year, in south eastern NM, after mulies. Managed to bag one. We stayed up there 7 days before season started. There's one little store that sold burgers in "Queens", the only gas for 60 miles and the only store. We got laughed at by the locals when we were there discussing our guns. One was carrying a .257 Roberts, my oldest and most favorite of whitetail guns. No belted magnums in the bunch. Even saw one old fellow with an iron sighted .30-30. They were telling us "Whadda ya bring them cannons up here for. Ain't no grizzlies up here, ya know. Harrrrdy har har."

I have been invited on a pack hunt up there next season and really and truly, I consider my .308 caliber M7 Remington stainless as the perfect rifle for that country. It has plenty of power, though the 7 shoots a little flatter. I have connected on one coyote at just shy of 350 yards with that little rifle, though, and it's nice and light and handy when you're climbing mountains. It's also a very accurate gun.

I won't use a belted magnum on deer anymore, overkill. That little M7 is my absolute favorite, now. I won the thing in a door prize raffle at a gun show. Put 300 bucks into it anyway for scope and mounts, but hey, I'd been wanting a M7 stainless for quite a while. I love that thing. It's taken four deer, three coyotes, and three hogs since I got it 7 or 8 years ago. Now, I have confidence in it. It's a lot lighter to haul over mountains with when spot and stalking and it's very short and handy in a deer blind. Why would I want that overweight, overpowered Elk rifle along for deer? If I have a need for it, I have the magnum. But, it's a heavy beast if I don't need the power. And, heck, out to 250 yards or so, the .308 makes enough juice with 140 Grain Barnes Xs to take elk cleanly. If I go elk hunting, though, I'll pack that cannon loaded with some 160 Grain Nosler partitions that it shoots extremely well.
 
Use your .25-06, you know how to shoot with it. If you miss the deer the gun doesn't matter.
 
The Gun to Bag a Big Deer

I would use my .375 H&H Magnum or maybe my .222 Remington or .22-250. If I had a .25/06 I'd be happy with that as well.
 
.338 is FINE, don't listen to that other CRAP.

First things first, the 3 most important things in killing are:

1.) Accuracy (without it, it doesn't matter what your shooting.)

2.) Bullet Construction/Quality (many calibers are satisfactory, as long as you have a good bullet.)

3.) Caliber (bigger holes, make dead souls, use Rourk's motto, "Use enough Gun.)


Now that we have that down, let's look at calibers. Many, many calibers would be fine for deer. I do think that your .25-06 is a little small for a deer that large, now can you get a nice heart shot or spine shot that will drop it, sure. My friend has killed many deer with .22 caliber 10/22 Ruger. Now would I advise that? No, but he's a former Marine Sniper who is an expert shot. But it goes to show you how low you can go in caliber. But if you ask him if he's going after the BUCK OF A LIFETIME, he would pick a larger caliber, because taking a shot on a buck like that isn't one where you want to play the "let me use the smallest caliber possible route."

Over kill???? There's no such thing. If it dies quickly and humanely, what's the problem??? Plus a trophy buck is more about the trophy, less about the meat....lets admit that.

I've shot over 10 deer, all with a Winchester Model 70, in .338 win. mag; shooting Winchester Fail Safe in 250 grain. NOT ONE of those deer had tons of meat ruined. All were heart/lung shots. I've included pictures of a buck that was shot with this gun. You will see there there isn't tremendous meat damage. The pictures are of both the entrance and exit wound.

Would I like to have a .270 Winchester Short Mag, yes. But can I afford one? Nope....hahaha. So I shoot the .338 for now. I hammered a buck that was running directly away from, and the bullet went right in and ended up breaking the pelvic bone and thru the heart and out. That was the biggest buck of my life, a 250 lbs. buck with 10 points. Would I have taken that shot with a .25-06??? No. I wouldn't think it was ethical, even if I thought I was a good shooter. That's why I have no qualms taking most shots with the .338, because it will get the job done in almost any situation.

My advice: Shoot what YOUR comfortable with. If it's the .25-06, go for it. If it's the .338 go for it. That's most important.
 
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Didn't Do my Job??? (Running Away)

Just because it was a running away shot doesn't mean I didn't do my job. A doe came running of the woods on a powerline, shortly followed by a buck. I just took the only shot presented too me. (Although I would have loved to have him stop for a nice broadshide shot.....as I bought a grunt tube and learned how to use it, if I had it all over to do again, I would have definitley gave a grunt first, hoping to stop him....it usually works I've found.)

I also read in a Peterson's hunting about a "SHOULDER SHOT" that absolutely hammers them. If you miss high, you hit the spine, if you miss low you hit the heart/lung area. Perfect. Supposely there's enough arteries and nerves in the shoulder that it causes catastraphic overload the the 98% of the deer just drop in there tracks like in some of the videos. I'm going to try it next year. And meat loss is also minimal, because the shoulder only has about a 2 lbs. piece of flat meat.

Also, every single deer I've ever shot has never taken more then 1 step....all of them have fallen dead in there tracks....those were all heart/lung shots. Except one, but that was a running buck that when hit took a running leap and landed about 20 feet from where it was hit, that was interesting. Everything else was stone dead....and almost no meat loss. With a .338 win mag.

Use a good bullet though. No matter what gun you use. And GOOD LUCK.
 
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