Originally Posted by
Pygmy
ZREXPILOT..
I don't think anyone here was arguing what chambering/load is the BEST, for whitetails, but simply discussing thier favorite chambering and load..
I've killed deer with shotgun slugs, a variety of muzzleloader loads, and quite a few rifle/ bullet combos, plus several different broadheads, and I agree, that if you put an adequate projectile in a vital area, you will kill your deer..
Still, many of us still find it enjoyable to discuss our favortite guns and loads for our particular hunting situations..
Pygmy,
You're right.... And I skirted that when I posted a few posts back.
Here's a load grandfather-gunsmith cooked up for my first deer rifle, a 1903
Mannlicher-Schoenauer that he re-barrelled from a shot-out 6.5 X 54 MS to a
7 X 57 for me way back in 1967 when I was 14.
Winchester case (may not matter, but never altered this)
CCI large rifle primer
38 grains of IMR3031
160 grain .284 diameter Sierra Spitzer Boattail
Modest velocities for that rifle and 24" barrel (probably around 2500 fps, I doubt much more) and with the express iron sights and my young eyes it accounted for a few deer that were dispatched with aplomb, albeit at quite modest ranges of from 40 yards to 90 yards.
I still have the old Steyr and it still has the slickest bolt of any bolt rifle I've even owned or held.