Which caliber for me?
 

I am looking at purchasing my first deer rifle. I've been hunting with my Rem 870 w/slug barrel in rifle country for too long.

I will only be hunting whitetails with this rifle. The farthest shot I could get off where I hunt is 200yds. max. I would say the average shot would be 100 yds or less.

I am seriously considering the .270 Win as the caliber. From doing some reading on here, this sounds like a fine choice, but I would like to hear what your thoughts are.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

welcome erope, the 270 will be a fine choice, others you might consider if it's strictly a whitetail gun 243, 260, 7mm-08, 308, all have very light recoil and are well capable at the ranges listed and beyond, just as the 270 is, i know a lot of people that the only rifle they have ever used for whitetail is a 270, and they have killed plenty of deer;)

best of luck, let us know what you end up with,,,,,

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

The .270 is a fine caliber. My favorite, if I had to choose only one, would be the 7-08. Short action, light recoil and super ballistics.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

Ditto, the .270! You could spend a decade trying to decide, or you can go get a .270. You will not be dissappointed.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

.270 good choice!

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

I will be hunting with my dads .270 (Winchester Model 70) this season. Going to be hitting the range this weekend to pop off a few and see how it feels. I'm sure my mind will be made up after that. :)

My hunting buddies both shoot .30-06 and love them and recommend them, but for where I hunt and the average shots I get, just seems like a little much.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

I second the recommendation for the 7mm-08.Every bit as effective within your 200 yard limit with evenless recoil.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

erope welcome to the forum,

Probably my favorite Whitetail cartridge is the 270 Win.I just shot a couple of bucks using a 7mm08.It did a nice job on them. If I had to choose one I would have to stick with the 270Win.

Ruger Redhawk

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

What is the max effective range i'd be looking at with the .270?

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

Further than you can shoot.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

well beyond your original question, the 270 is a necked down 30/06 case and is a very capable to 400+ yds. that is not for every shooter though, when you start taliking extended (300+ yds) most people prefer mag calibers and shoot on a regular basis, as with most guns they are capable well beyond the ability of the shooter, myself included[&o], although i used to enjoy the longer ranges... but the 270 is a great cal for whitetail, it or the -06 in no way is to much, remember its better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it;)

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

remember its better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it;)



Ditto M.t

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

308 or 7mm/08. Keep you self in a short action rifle they are lighter and the cartrides are still capable to 300 yds. The 270 is good but like the bigger bullets in 7mm and 308.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

The 270 is in the top five caliber for deer hunting and I would rate it the best of the best. The 280 would be fine too but 270 shells can be found anywhere. That is not true of the 7MM-08. Walmart and many of the store like that just don't stock them. Other than that the 7MM-08 is just as capable. I will be carring the 270 on opening morning.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

Hi Eric. From experience, you won't go wrong with either a 270 or 30-06. Both are excellent deer calibres.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

270 is an excellent choice below 220 yds. I have a 30-06, and don't get me wrong, it is a great rifle and versitile (in case you want to hunt larger than white tail). For the most part, a 270 is an excellent white tail rifle. Another caliber you may want to look at would be the 30-30. Not everyone likes lever action, but to me it is faster to get off a second shot (not that I...or anyone else...would need it :-) ) than a bolt action. The semi auto world, in a lot of calibers, have a tendency to jam if you aren't using the rifle's "favorite"ammo. The barrell length of the 30-30 is usually a smidge shorter which makes it nice and easy to pull into position in "brush" shots. I hunt in the 70-200 yard range, and my usual rifle of choice here in the NC mountains is my 30-30. Best advice is to handle and shoot a few different rifles, see which ones seem to "fit" you.I have afriend with HUGE and long arms...he looks pretty goofy trying to shoot my 30-30, but the 30-06 fits himpretty good.

Be safe, happy hunting

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

Curious to know how you came up with that number ( 220 yds ) as the maximum range for .270.
If thats it's maximum range for a whitetail then the 30-30's maximum range is 42 yds.
LOL!

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

Not real sure where 220 came from (should have said 200), but the orginal question was surrounding a 200 range hunt for "erope"...and a 270 or a 30 30 would be fine for what he is wanting to do...

ps...never used the word "maximum" when describing the range.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

Boy, lots of good advise here but I would go with the 7mm-08 for low recoil , short action and capable of reaching out to 300 yards without any problem.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

The 270 is fine but I love my 280 with a wider range of bullet weights. But anything from the 243 to the 30-06 will work fine. There is also the 35 whelen a 30-06 necked up to a 35 a fine cartridge out to 250 yards with the ability to use 250gr bullet wt.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

I would vote for the .308. Cheaper bullets and plenty of plinking ammo.

Tom

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

Another vote for the 7mm-08.

firstshot
---------------------------
Make your first shot count!

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

.270 or .270 WSM!

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

id go with the 270 or a 30 06

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

I own a 7mm 08 and a 270 wsm. I love both guns and have killed 2 deer already this year with the 270. However, I would recomend the 7mm-08 as a first rifle.

IMHO it is superior to the 270 for the situation you describe for the followingreasons:

1)lighter
2)the average shooter will be more accurate with the decreased recoil

The 270 does not kill deer any deader than the 7 while the 7 has the above advantages.
Quality ammo should not be too hard to find.All of the mom and pop shops I have visited carry it.

The disadvantage to the 7 is all the yahoo's that will tell you that you need to get a real gun like a 30-06 because how can you possibly dispatch bambi with a 140 grains of certian death from a pea shooter like a 7-08.:eek:

All of that being written, you will kill plenty of deer with a 243, 270, 30-06, 308 or whatever you choose. The differences in ballistics between these calibers don't have any practical application for the average hunter. If you have friends with different calibers try theirs and decide which caliber makes you happy.



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RE: Which caliber for me?
 

You may call that a disadvantage but personally I enjoy seeing those yahoos shut their mouths after the animal hits the ground.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

We also have both the .270 and 7-08 in our home. We got the 7-08 for my wife last year and she shot 3 deer with it. all dropped in their tracks at about 100 yrds. She is staying home this year, pregnant, but her gun is heading to the woods with me.:) I am a believer in the 7-08.

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

Are the following true - or pretty close to true? I'm not arguing any advantages or disadvantages, but am just curious as to whether my understanding is accurate (note when I say "virtually the same" I don't mean "exactly", but pretty darn close, no functional difference):

30-06 and .308: Same (.308 inch) bullet, virtually same amount power behind the bullet. Difference is that the .308 uses a "short" action casing - virtually the same capacity as the 30-06, but shorter and "fatter".

7mm and .270 - virtually the same diameter bullet. I think the .270 is .277 inch and 7 mm calulates into .276 inch (but I've seen it written that it's a .284 inch, and I don't understand how 7mm could give .284). Either way, virtually the same - they both round to .28 to the thousanths of an inch!

The .270 Winchester is a 30-06 casing necked down to the smaller .270 bullet - therefore, generally uses a lighter bullet with the same powder - it goes faster and flatter.

The 7mm-08 is "based" on the .308 case. Is this the same principle as the 30-06: .270 relationship? - an actual .308 size case necked down to a 7mm bullet? To me this would give the 7mm-08 very similar performance to the .270 Winchester - but I don't think that is true. The 7mm-08 doesn't seem to compete in terms of speed or trajectory with the .270, leading me to think it's a different casing than the .308 with less capacity??

Maybe the .308 casing is lower capacity than the 30-06 casing; therefore the 7-08 is a little less powerful than the .270?

Just musing and wasting time!

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

The 7mm bores do indeed use .284" bullets.Rounding to the thousandth, the 270win uses a .277" bullet and the 7mm-08 uses a .284" bullet for a difference of .007".

RE: Which caliber for me?
 

another vote for the 7mm-08. My local wal-mart carries ammo forit as well. It's becoming more popular around here. Light recoil, hard hitting short action cartridge. IMO, its one of the best for whitetail deer. It's certainly no "pea-shooter".

i picked up a savage 110 package with a cheap scope, and sling, in the 7mm-08. right out of the box i was damn near dead on with 1" at 100 yards. the whole thing cost me about $360. My 30.06 now only see's action in inclimate weather (syn stock).

Nothing wrong with a 270 however, but you may as well get a 30.06 instead. Little bit betterselection ofammo and you can always hunt bigger game. just my $.02