How is the 300 win mag? good or no good? im thinking about buying it for a deer rifle. this is what i want Thompson Center Arms Encore Rifle SST 26" 300 Win Mag , do they come with scope mounts or no? another question
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Definately on the high-power side. Some guys will tell you its great...I'll tell you its overkill, but if anyone understands the ordeal of not having enough dough to go out and buy an ideal gun for each and every game/situation its me. Besides, its all personal preferance anyways. It may be very easy for you to get a flinch from the higher recoil than other popular deer cartridges. That's about the only objective criticism I can thing of, that and the cost of ammunition.
If you're feeling it...go for it.
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I have used both the 300 Win Mag and 300 Weatherby Mag for deer. To me the 30-06 is way more than I need to use for deer so that would tell you that its much more than needed. However if thats what you want, there is no reason not to get one. They work fine and with a good 180 grain bullet you won't have a lot of extra meat damage. To me the 300 Mags are nowhere near as enjoyable to just go out shooting with. My wife kills deer dead every time with her 250 Savage and to me the 250 to the 280 are perfect deer cartridges.
The T/C comes drilled for scope mounts but I don't think it is included.
I'd also echo that it's more gun than you need for deer but as long as you aren't bothered by the recoil enough to degrade your ability to shoot it accurately then there's no real reason not to get one if it's what you truely want. Meat damage can be a problem with light weight or highly fragmentable bullets like ballistic tips so as James said I would stick with 180 grain bullets. If you like to shoot a lot then get a good recoil pad.
I was also thinking of geting a nice bolt action 7mm-mag, or 308 , or 30-06 , or 270, and 7mm-08 ... Its way to hard to pick a new deer rifle, maybe i should just but all of them!
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I have one in a savage 116fss ,I changed the stock to a laminated one from midway arms. it is a good shooter but two years ago the barrel nut broke !!! I noticed it while in my stand and there was a great buck standing broad side at about 100 yards. I wouldnt shoot because I was afraid of it coming off. But before that it shot great ,It is a great round and in the hands of a competent shooter you can kill deer along way. It is usally more then enough for whitetail/mulies.
I would suggest that a 300 Win Mag or 7mm Rem Mag are not good choices if it's your first deer rifle. Recoil on these is quite substantial, which can lead to flinching problems. So, I'd need additional info from you:
Is this your first deer rifle? How much shooting experience do you have? Is it only for whitetail deer, or are you also planning touse it for bear, elk, moose, caribou, etc., etc., etc.? What kind of yardage will your shots typically be?
Any of the rounds you've listed would be more than sufficient to kill deer. It's these other considerations that will lead to giving you good advice.
The .300 Win mag is fine if you can shoot it accurately. I used to use a .300 Wby as one of my rifles for deer hunting, but had it rebarreled this year to .300 Win Mag and am looking forward to using it. The rifle itself (stock design, weight,etc.)can have as much to do with recoil as the cartridge. A friend's lightweight .30-06 model 70 was the most painful rifle I've every fired, a lot more unpleasant to shoot than the .300 Wby.
On the other hand, I think you'd be well served to get something like a .270 Win or maybe a 7mm-08. These are plenty good for deer.
300 win mag deer rifle?
