doubleA

I have used the 416 Rigby, 378 WBY and 30-378 WBY IMP, all of which burn well over 100 grains of slow powder on deer and hogs....with great success I might add. I have also taken many deer and feral hogs ( up to 400lbs) with the little 223 Remington. It's all shot placement and knowing your limitations. Besides I can practice more with the 223, ya see I can reload appx 10 rounds of 223 Rem to 1 round of the big boomers!

I did shoot 3 hogs lined up in a row once with my trusty Rigby, the last hog inline really was tore up, the entrance hole was over an inch in diameter ( who said those heavy bullets dont open up in "light" game?), lost both shoulders, neck and blood was coming out of the ears. The carcus looked like it was hit by a grenade.
................oops, I am rambling on, sorry..........doubleA

bigcountry

I have seen a barnes shot from a 416 Ridgy on a small doe. A guy wanted to get some blood on his rifle before going to South Africa. Actually it didn't do that much damage. Looked like it was shot by a slug. Of course that solid slid right thru.

I want to get a Marlin 45/70 for deer pretty bad. I like all guns.

Vapodog

I once used a .375 H&H on deer and I can assure you that a .270 would have been a better and more humane tool to harvest a whitetail.

The bullet performance was very poor.....the deer ran off a couple hundred yards and died. Thanks to an exit hole the blood trail was adequate for me to track it.

bigcountry

I bet a ballistic tip from your 375 wouldn't have performed poorly.

Pro-Line

Funny story about too big...

A guy that hunts at my camp comes from Canada. It was Nov, 2001 (just after sept, 11th) and he didn't have his paperwork correct. He couldn't bring his gun across, so he put it in storage at the border and headed to WV, hoping to borrow a rifle.

We had a spare gun...a 308 Norma Mag. It was sighted in, but hadn't been shot a lot. Was my father's moose gun. He isn't into bullet types, he just made sure to hit the right spot, so he didn't even tell the guy that loaded the shells what kind of bullets to use.

This Canadian shot a 9-pt the first morning at about 100yds. I have never seen such damage in my life. He hit the front shoulder, and the near side was destroyed. The opposite side was decimated. I mean tore up! The meat on the ribs was black most of the way back.

I cannot remember the exact bullet type that was used, but it seems it rivled a Fail-Safe or something like that.

Last year, he used the same gun...to avoid having to bring his. I had him a load worked up with 180gr Boat Tail soft points. Similar shot...normal damage.

The bullet is key when using any caliber.

BTW...as I think about it, I am not sure on either account of what type of bullet was used. All I know is that there were no shoulder roasts from the 1st deer...My memory is going to hell. LOL

biggunz.45-70

I've been using 2 very different cartridges for deer over the past few years, .25-06 and .45-70. I have seen faster kills with the .25-06 but meat damage is also more severe. The blood trails with the big bore are impressive and short.

ELKampMaster

Interesting how different (degree of general consensus) this thread is versus the ".223 for deer" thread.... perhaps not in the direction anticipated.....

EKM

bigcountry

I am curious on how you thought it would go Elkamp? People need confidense first and foremost and they got it licked. Its half the battle or more.

ELKampMaster

BC,

No, I was referring to the direction/tone set by the thread’s originator.

EKM

DANTHEHUNTER

I bet you are right abuot that EKM . Most who havent shot a big bore =dont know about serious wound channels.