We have a serious case of magnumitis in this country. I was afflicted with it in my younger years and purchased a 7mm magnum myself. It rarely comes out of my gun case now. Nothing wrong with it but it's just way more gun than you need for any whitetail that ever lived. I currently use a 7mm-08 for my woods gun and a 25-06 for my field gun.

With the exception of the large bears a 270, 30/06 or 308 will kill any game animal on the North American continent quickly and efficiently. Not only that but they will do it at distances well beyond the range at which 90 percent of hunters can consistently hit anything anyway. And despite the fact that most people like to imagine themselves in that 10 percent whose shooting skills can make full use of magnum power most are only kidding themselves. Most have a magnum recoil and magnum muzzle blast induced flinch that makes accurate shooting out past 300 yards impossible. This is ironic because it's not until you get out past 300 yards that a magnum caliber offers any real world advantages over standard calibers.

Magnum calibers also often cause more problems than they solve. By accelerating bullets to these magnum speeds you start to see core/jacket separation on impact and bullet failures at close range. To fix this people often buy premium bullets that are not only way more expensive but often are so toughly constructed that they don't expand well on whitetail sized animals. Especially if you shoot them behind the shoulder where only rib bones will be impacted. Because of this many magnum men have to start taking shoulder shots to insure the bullet expands properly. Problem with that is that you will pretty much just have to throw away both front shoulders. Not the prime cuts of meat but thats a lot of good sausage and stew meat gone. In fact extensive meat damage is one of the reasons I stopped using magnum calibers for deer. Because shooting a large magnum is not exactly a pleasent experience at the local range, many people don't shoot them as much as they might a milder caliber. Another reason many people cannot shoot them very well.


They hunt a lot of moose in Finland and Norway. Their moose get just as big as ours. Do you know what is by far the most popular caliber for moose in those countries? The 6.5 x55 millimeter. That's a 26 caliber cartridge with the whopping muzzle velocity of 2550 fps. And it kills moose dead dead dead. Those countries have hunting cultures that for the most part value marksmanship while we have a serious case of magnumitis. In Finland you have to pass a marksmanship test to even get your hunting license. Not a bad idea in my book. .

If bowhunting teaches us anything it teaches us that it's not what you hit them with but where you hit them. I have killed deer with everything from a 243 to a 300 magnum and you know what? I have seen no definate difference in terminal performance on whitetails. I can honestly say the following about the 243, 25-06, 270, 30-06, 7mm-08, 7mm mag, and 300 mag. Sometimes they dropped at the shot and sometimes they ran a little ways. Never very far if it was a good hit but no caliber caused consistent lightening strike kills every time. One thing I do know a gut shot deer will run just as far whether he was hit with a 243 or a 300 magnum.

Most of the local hunters I know go through the same evolution. They start out with the big mags and slowly gravitate down to the milder calibers as they get older and wiser. As for me, my 7mm-08 has a muzzle velocity of about 2700 fps. At that velocity regular soft lead tipped bullets (Winchester super X) perform perfectly on deer and cost 11 dollars a box. Because of it's low recoil I can shoot it all day at my local gravel pit and not need a chiropracter when I get home. And I have yet to have a deer make it farther than 40 yards.