Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Talk about North American big game hunting.
K22

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by K22 »

GTOHunter wrote:Looks like some more great Rifles to add to the growing list....and K22,thats a great looking Rifle You got there. :idea: I've got a great idea for You if You want a Rifle that kicks less.....keep the very same Rifle You have and get the Remington "Managed Recoil" shells,they work great and shoot awesomely with a lot less recoil and it will probably only be an inch lower or even right on the money from whatever grain bullet Your shooting now? :chin:

I'm using them in my older Bolt-action Remington 30-06 and I shot tight groups that literally touched out at 100 yards,the bullets are 125 grains and have the felt recoil of a .243 Rifle...I don't think You'd be disappointed in the Managed Recoil shells! :D ;)
Sounds like a great plan. They shouldn't call them "Managed Recoil" rounds, they should be called, "The Rifle Wimps" round. :lol: I shoot the Nosler 165gr. Partition with 57.5gr. of H4350, Remington Brass and Primers (9 1/2). It was a load suggested to me by an old Camp Perry shooter. One of those rare occasions where I never even tried anything else in it. Loaded that suggested (I trusted him a lot :shock: ) load, it shot super groups and that was that. I bought 2lbs. of that 4350 back then and still have 1lb. of it left. Card board cans no less. :)
Guy M
Senior Member
Posts: 409
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:58 am
Location: Washington state

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by Guy M »

My favorite deer rifle is a .25-06 Rem 700 CDL, with a 6x Leupold. It's done real well for me for several years now on both deer & coyotes:
Image

For some reason I went back to my old .308 Win/Rem 700 with the Krieger barrel & 4.5-14x this year, to shoot this GIANT whitetail... The backstrap steaks did cook up real nice on the BBQ last night, but I'll admit the antlers are just plain tiny! He's actually a 3x3 if I count the eye guards, and no, I didn't quite have to use a magnifying glass!
Image

My youngest son favors his 6mm Rem 700 BDL with the 3.5-10x Leupold, but this year went with our .30-06 Model of 1917 for his whitetail buck. Showing off his 6mm Rem on a muley hunt:
Image

Pleased as all get out with his Veteran's Day buck this year, using the ancient M1917, topped by a 6x Leupold, shooting 165 gr Noslers. He's the fourth generation of my family to use that old rifle:
Image

Don't have a good field photo of it, but time to time I like to break out the traditional Thompson-Center .50 cal muzzle loader and try for deer. It's done real well in the past.

Best of luck to all who are still hunting! Regards, Guy
GTOHunter
Senior Member
Posts: 178
Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2011 2:07 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: none
Location: Southeast Missouri

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by GTOHunter »

Those are some really nice looking Rifles and some great Hunting Photo's..."Congratulations" to You and Your Son! ;)

I ended up shooting a very nice 11-Point Buck this past week during our Rifle Deer Season...ended up taking it with my Savage 7mm-08,just waiting to get me an account at a Site so I can get some photo's loaded up and the story behind the Hunt! :duh: :wall: :roll:
TONK
Senior Member
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:22 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: I own a .204 Ruger & 25-06 Ruger!
Location: Ozark Mountains, MO. ARK. Col.

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by TONK »

Well gents, my favorite all time deer rifle was a RUGER .44mag carbine with a handloaded 240 grn bullet. My wife ended up with it after I made the mistake of letting her use it one year because it was very light to handle. I never got to tote that rifle again guys! Then I picked up a Marline 1895 in the .444 Marlin level gun and it took care of most of my deer/blackbear hunting in the lower 48. It is wicked on hogs, deer and blackbear using Beartooth Bullets made of hard cast and 350 grns worth of lead. :)
Thank a VET for your Freedom!
User avatar
bow shot
Senior Member
Posts: 778
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2009 8:04 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Rock River Arms AR-15 Varminter
Location: Central NY: infested with liberal wack-jobs and their damage

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by bow shot »

How could I miss this???

My beloved '94 Mauser in 6.5x55. The only problem is I never get to use it for deer!! It is the nastiest woodchuck slayer in the world though. Now if I can only get them to grow antlers!!.

It has accounted for several nice bucks when on loan to friends that hunt rifle country (shotgun only in my area) though! A pic to come...!
roooster_11
Junior Member
Posts: 50
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:43 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Ruger #1 .204

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by roooster_11 »

I know I'm late and it's after deer season, but the first rifle to come out of the closet for me is my Sako A7 in .25-06 topped with a Zeiss 3-9x50. No pictures of it with a killed, but it's killed several. I LOVE that gun. Another favorite is my Rem 700 in .308 topped with a Nikon Buckmaster 3-9x50, and restocked with a Boyd's Forrest Camo Laminite. This is a pic of my paw-in-law with a deer he killed with is this year.
Image
"If courage is a word that knows not fear, then I have never met a couragous man; a brave man is one that puts his fears aside, and does his job" Unknown
KiwiMonkey
New Member
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2012 2:40 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Savage 12 VLP
Location: New Zealand

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by KiwiMonkey »

Only have one so its easy to pick a favourite! Ruger Hawkeye .308 wearing a Weaver Classic V9

Image
Savage 12-VLP .204
Savage MkIIF(B)SS .22LR
Ruger Hawkeye .308
Guy M
Senior Member
Posts: 409
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:58 am
Location: Washington state

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by Guy M »

KiwiMonkey - nice looking rifle! The Hawkeye is a very nice update of the good old Model 77, which was a mighty good rifle itself.

Something to be said for only having one hunting rifle, particularly if it's a good one like yours.

Regards, Guy
KiwiMonkey
New Member
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2012 2:40 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Savage 12 VLP
Location: New Zealand

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by KiwiMonkey »

Thanks Guy - its a really nice rifle to handle and fire, well balanced etc and feels solid enough that you could beat animals to death if you ran out of ammo! I'm temporarily parted from it at the moment while my uncle develops some handloads for it, the animals might not notice the difference but I expect my wallet will. :)
Savage 12-VLP .204
Savage MkIIF(B)SS .22LR
Ruger Hawkeye .308
User avatar
RAMOS
Senior Member
Posts: 765
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2009 9:30 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Savage Model 12 FLV, Cooper M21
Location: Sherman County, Oregon

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by RAMOS »

Well, that sucks! I can't see KiwiMonkeys' picture. My meat in the pot is a Rem 700 BDL I bought new in 1981, 270Win. Synthetic stocks were just starting to become popular in hunting rifles. Unfortunately, nobody offered them yet for lefties. I had a guy build me one out of fiberglass and it's been in it since 1983. IIRC, I spent <$400 for the rifle and the stock set me back $225. It still wears the Leupold 3-9X40 (glossy) I bought from Payless Drug Store. Nosler partition bullets, 130gr for deer and 150gr for elk have worked well. It may not be the biggest gun in camp but, it sure has been a faithfull friend.
User avatar
bazz
Senior Member
Posts: 176
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:15 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: tikka
Location: east gippsland vic australia

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by bazz »

Image



my tikka varmit in 338 wm with vx3

Image
Sth Oz Dan
Senior Member
Posts: 406
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:52 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Ruger M77 Hawkeye
Location: South Australia

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by Sth Oz Dan »

:D Beautiful!!
Is it a red?
Didn't realise they were in velvet this time of year.
User avatar
bazz
Senior Member
Posts: 176
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:15 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: tikka
Location: east gippsland vic australia

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by bazz »

Sth Oz Dan wrote::D Beautiful!!
Is it a red?
Didn't realise they were in velvet this time of year.
no its a sambar and it shouldnt be in velvet there just starting to wallow or rut but this felar was chasing the dairy cows around cheers bazz
Sth Oz Dan
Senior Member
Posts: 406
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:52 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Ruger M77 Hawkeye
Location: South Australia

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by Sth Oz Dan »

bazz wrote:its a sambar and it shouldnt be in velvet there just starting to wallow or rut but this felar was chasing the dairy cows around cheers bazz
Ah. I'm not very experienced with deer, but bagged myself a big red earlier in the year (photos on here somewhere). That was around March I think, and he'd rubbed out his velvet.

Sounds like that Sambar's not too experienced with deer either - mixing up his species :lol:

Did you get him under the light? I spotted a Red stag a couple weeks ago while spotlighting, antlers dropped. Property owner wanted the deer (wild ones) left alone so had to pass that target up. The saying is pretty true - deer in the headlights. He just stood there for ages, longer than a roo would've.
User avatar
bazz
Senior Member
Posts: 176
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:15 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: tikka
Location: east gippsland vic australia

Re: Your Best/Favorite Deer Hunting Rifles?

Post by bazz »

No shot just on everning when the farmer said come and shoot this bloody dear stiring up the cows a week a go I didn't think he would still be there so went not fully prepared any how he dropped me of showing me where he was coming out of the bush and i sat there for a while and started to get to dark and there he was I could see he's outline and took a shot and he bolted back into the scrub I had no torch or camera went home and got them and the dog he didn't go far the Barnes tsx done its job cheers bazz
Post Reply