What is your favorite caliber and most importantly WHY?

I was having this dicussion here at work yesterday with some of the others who are looking forward to deer season and i was amazed at all the opinions. I didn't think there would be so many.

30-06;good all around cartridge and with the Federal high energy and Hornady light magnum premium loadings you can approach 300 Win Mag velocities,ammo for it is available everywhere and reasonably priced.

22 LR for a mulitple reasons.

But since you mentioned deer hunting I'd go with the .308. The 30-06 would be second. I'm just old fashioned in my caliber choices and like the availabililty of ammo, loading components, etc. I also find the .308 and 30-06 to be accurate, flexible and hard hitting enough for anything I'll probably ever hunt.

My favorite deer caliber is the 257 Roberts. Light on recoil and with 115-120 gr bullets is plenty of caliber for deer. I handload this caliber and trajectory is flat enough for 300 yard shots. That is if the Rifleman is capable of shooting at that distance.

My second pick is the 280 Remington. Manageable recoil for the average shooter and a very flat trajectory with 140 gr. bullets. I have also loaded this caliber with 175 gr. Nosler Partition's and have had good success on elk and large feral hogs.

30-06 because of its versatility in bullet weight. I use it in my custom mauser for javelina to elk. I also like the .270 Winchester.

I've used the .25-06 for many years until I found a .257 Roberts M-70 featherweight and it quickly took over as my favorite. However I always wanted a tad more bullet so now I'm building a .260 Rem on a M-70 action to take the throne as king of my deer/antelope rifles.

30/06 I fill it is the most verstll out there

My favorite caliber for deer hunting would be the 270-Winchester. My 270 has worked just fine on Whitetails, Mule deer & Pronghorn Antelope for many years.
I forgot to answer the reason why?
I like it because it is light to carry, recoil is mild & ammo is easy to find.

45/70, just old fashioned, I love the big bullets and getting close in and then BAM! Let the 440 grain Cor-Bon fly. Of course, if you need a follow up, jack that lever and let her fly. Just a great caliber that has done awesome things.

It would be awful hard to pick a favorite. For deer size game I would stay with my 257 Roberts with the 260 and 6.5x55 right in the same class. The 257 Roberts may be a little better for varmits than my two 6.5 calibers . If I had to only keep only one of my rifles I would have to keep my 7600 30-06 Pump. For now though the 257 Roberts is my favorite to shoot every day. As with Big Bore, I love my 45-70 and 44 mag rifles as well.