Best long range deer caliber
 

Whats the best deer caliber with the flattest trijectory at 200 + yds?

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

my vote on a good longer range deer gun is a 30-06 which is my favorite deer gun and it shoot good at that distance.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

.243

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

a 270. or 300. magnum

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

.243 85 gr sierra gameking. flattest shooter, and very little drift.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

All things considered the 270 is hard to beat in all catagories.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

7mm is really good past 200+ yards and packs a wallop, but you probably could get good, clean kills at that range with a 243. flat shooter, not a lot of recoil and they have a nice assortment of load sizes. never hunted deer with a rifle her in upstate new york but if i could i probably would start out with a 243. happy shopping and go kill a slob this year:D



THE FOOT

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

6.5mm Swede and Win. .270!

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

.300 up north.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

Ya the .270 looks good on paper, but my expierence with them is they werent very impressive on grouping at a 100 yds, much less 300.
never seen a .270 that was a shooter.
my bud just bought and got rid of a rem LSS in .270, for the same reasonI just mentioned. Dont know why. I here a lot of good things about them, but havent seen it.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

Interesting. I've never seen a .270 that was not a shooter. I have owned 4 and shot quite a few more. My g/f's current 700 BDL will stay inside 1 moa with four different loads we have tried.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

If you guys look at actual balistic charts you will see the .270 is junk COMPARED to other calibers. I personally use a .270 and I know it's a good gun. 30-06 is NOT good to 200 yards. Lots of drop and not much energy retention that far out.

.243 is flat and fast yes, but others havemuch better knockdown power.

.300 WSM (winchester short mag) would be my choice although I believe the 7mm WSM is flatter and faster, just a smaller caliber bullet.

Check out the WSM calibers. The performance is unbelievable.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

Please reread your firstfour lines, think about what you said then please decide to stay in school it will help you in the future.Maybe pick up a Jack O'connor book or two for evening reading.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

Weatherby 257 Magnum ...its faster thena phone call !

DD

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

The 270 shoots plenty flat and hits plenty hard to take deer out to and beyond the range that anyone should be shooting at game animals. People have been taking deer for many years and long before the 300 WSM was even an idea. Others are right. Learn something then speak.:D

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

I'm stuck in a shot gun state - but - was weened on the 30-06 and never knew it was NOT good to 200yrds or By Golly By Gosh - I would of taken those Muleys with a shotgun:eek: I've used the 270. Never relalized it was junk compared to other calibers until now[&o].

These 2 calibers have taken billions of deer well out to 300yrds which is one helluva shot for most hunters.

I hope you didin't post this in the Gun forum or you'd get eatin up alive.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

I have a 270 in a Remington 700 ADL and it's very accurate. I've cut bullet holes at 100 yards lots of times. I think most Remington 700's in any caliber will do the same. I've lost count of the deer I've taken with this rifle. As for the 300's, I don't know why you would need something that powerful to kill a deer with.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

I suggest you check some ballistics charts. I am not saying the 300 win mag (or WSM) and 7mm mag don't have any advantages over a .270 or 30-06. The fact is though, that at 200 yards, there is absolutely no difference in effective trajectory or killing power. Drop for all, across almost all factory loads is virtually identical (at virtually 0, if sighted in properly 1-2" high at 100) and difference in power delivered is insignificant in terms of killing any N.A. game animal.

We could have this discussion at 300 yards, but you said 200.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

THERES NO SUCH THING AS KNOCKDOWN POWER !
30-06 and .270 have killed more deer than you have seen in magazines, tv, and ever dreamed about, at over 300 yds.


Make sure brain is in gear before engaging mouth.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

THERES NO SUCH THING AS KNOCKDOWN POWER !
30-06 and .270 have killed more deer than you have seen in magazines, tv, and ever dreamed about, at over 300 yds.

Make sure brain is in gear before engaging mouth.
******************************************

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

I am on my third 270. This one as well as the other two shoot as good as any other caliber that I have ever owned. Caliber has little to do with accuracy some rifles are accurate and some are not

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

7mm ultra mag has the flatter trajectory. 300 mag is good as well. my personal favorite 7mm rem mag with 140gr. sierra boat tail balistic tip. 30-06 looks like a pig of a 30-30 in comparison to any of the aforementioned rounds past 200 yards.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

Another vote for the .257 Wby Mag. You say you want fast and flat....doesn't get any better than this. If you don't reload, look at the .25-06.

clattin

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

The 264 winchester magnum is one of the best ,it is flat shooting and very fast.

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I took a muley once with a 264 that belonged to a buddy.That is/was one bad ass round.I hear the barrels are short lived.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

I hunt with and love my 270. I shoot a Weatherby .270 Mag with Weatherby 130 grain partition rounds. With it sighted in at 300 yds it will hit 2.8 inches high at 100 yds, 3.5 inches high at 200 yds and at 400 yds it will hit -8.3 inches low. I think that is a pretty amazing round! IMOmy .270 is the bestrifle I have. All of the deer I have taken with the exception of one, droped in their tracks. And the one that didn't was an easy recovery with a blood trail Ray Charles could have followed.:D

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

Most people are kind of biased in their opinons because they believe what they shoot is the best thing since sliced bread. I shoot a 7mm rem mag and have not had problems dialing at&t with that baby but i have a few friends with diff cals that also have the same capabilities if they know their rifle good enuff. Lots of guys here shooting 300s and 270's reaching out well into the 300 yard range but the question states what is the best long range deer rifle. Assuming money is not an option i would vote for the 7mm stw hands down. I do not own one but sweet jesus some day it will be mine.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

"Please reread your firstfour lines, think about what you said then please decide to stay in school it will help you in the future.Maybe pick up a Jack O'connor book or two for evening reading. "

Ya, I'll stay in school alright....miss those days when weekends started Wednesday. Sorry for the 200 yard technicality....lets compare at 300 yards....federalcartridge.com. So maybe I failed to read the original question properly....sorrrrrry.

Lots of hard asses on this site guys. What's up with that???

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

When this round came out powders that burned slow enough were not available,now they are .I own two rifles in this caliber ,One is a model 70 with a 6.5 to 20 leopold scope it easily stays under an inch at 300 yards.The other is a Ruger model 77 with a 4.5 to 14 leopold scope its not the shooter the winchester is but it is he!! on whitetails.
Both of these rifles have hundreds of rounds thru them with no wear.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

....and how can we say no such thing as knockdown power??? Are you telling me a 180 grain bullet traveling the same velocity as a 130 grainwill have the same effect on a target??? I think not...but I could be wrong??? It makes sense to me that the 180 grain bullet will create much more energy in Ft/lbs on a target than a 130 grain at the same speed.

Our 270's were working fine this weekend. We managed only a 149 inch 8 pionter.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

Everybody has their own opinion, some stronger than others as we can read. My personal experience, I favor my 7mm Rem Mag witha 140 gr. load. Took one down at a little less than 300 yds level shot.

A big factor is the shooter and their capability... ...and their personal favorite.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

I don't think anyone would dispute your statement, there no doubt is a difference in the power delivered to the tissue of the animal. It has to do with the size of the slug, the power behind it, and also the construction of the bullet.

But the real question, to me is, what is the effect on the animal or how you hunt it, assuming the proper choice of the type of bullet? Since I'm one of those who called "BS" on some of your previous statements, I just want to repeat that in the range you were talking about in an earlier post (200 yards), there are a lot of guns, non-magnums and magnums, that will perform exactly the same for hunting - in terms of where/how you aim (dead on the "kill zone") and their effective killing or knock down power (plenty, more than you need for a quick kill). You later clarified your statements by bringing in the longer distance of 300 yards. You're right, this is probably more on the lines of what the original poster wanted to know about. In my opinion, it is at that range that the cartridges separate themselves and I agree with you there.

If I were concerned about killing my whitetail or moose at 300 yards and beyond instead of 150 to 250 yards, I'd probably invest inat least a 300 win mag, over a .270 or 30-06. I don't personally think the 7mm mag or a 270 short mag would give me enough difference to justify it. Yes there would be a difference in the charts, but not enough in the field to justify it. However, if I currently owned one of those (a 7mm or .270 mag), I certainly wouldn't replace it with a .270 or 30-06 for ballistics reasons, because I think they are both excellent all around cartridges like the .270 and 30-06.

My old 30-30, my nephew's 7mm 08, my friends'.270's, .308'sand 30-06's,and my brother's 300WSM allworked great this season- killing nicevariety oflarge and small moose and deer. They all ended up at orvery nearto where they were hit, their eyes turned to X's and their tongues hanging out. Looking at the bullet holes and hearts and lungs, I couldn't tell the difference. Seeing what the animals did after hit, I sincerely couldnot tell any difference in knock down power.But we shoot at less than 250 yards because (1) that's what the land provides and (2) we're not competent marksmen beyond that.

Don't you wish we were out hunting instead of arguing something we probably agree on anyway? :D

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

.270 Win. or 7MM Rem. Mag.

Between the 2 calibers I've taken 8 deer over 400 yards the longest being 460 yards with the 7MM.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

Can't beat the 7mm Mag.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

Energy isnt what kills, the amount of force a bullet strikes a deer is the same amount of force aplied to your shoulder when you shoot, and not one pound more ! simple physics.
wound cavity's are what kill, the bigger the wound the better, it has nothing to do with energy. An arrow kills in the same way a bullet kills, arrows cut artery's and bullets crush them. Basicaly the sameresults.

Heres a good read , pretty long though.

http://www.rathcoombe.net/sci-tech/ballistics/myths.html

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

Whoooo - Wheee - Yaba Daba Dooo - such absolute knowledge here[:'(]

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

I'll have to say 7mm Rem Mag for my choice of a long range shooter. I didn't realize that 200 yards was a long shot till now. If you want a lighter recoiling gun for 300 or less a guy can't go wrong with the 243. I know my 7mm Rem Mag with 139gr Hornady SSTs (handloads) will group 3 shots at 300 yards at 1.5" I know for a fact I could tighten that group up even more if I had a more powerful scope than my Leupold VXII 3-9x40 on it. I have a nikon 4.5-14x40 that might make its way on my 7mm.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

I quess when I think of deer rifles, the cannons don't cross my mind. Deer are not to hard to kill and IMO anything from 25 caliber up to the 30-06-308 and 270 and 280 come to mind with many other calibers also good choices. If we are ruling out most of the standard calibers then without a doubt, the 50 BMG is a top notch long range deer rifle. Is there ever enough? I like the 250 Savage, 25-06, 6.5x55, 270,280 ,7mm-08 and 308 about the best. Any deer within ranges that are even remotely reasonable is going nowhere when hit in a decent spot with any of these rifles. To me although I have used them both, the 30-06 is a bit on the big side and the 243 is a bit on the small side. That said, those two calibers have killed train loads of deer.

RE: Best long range deer caliber
 

I believe it all depends on the person and there ability to hit where they are aming.all cal. mentioned will do the job out to 3oo yards and beyond in the right hands.

thats why there are all cal. and name brands. noteveryone likes the same. and thats the way it should be.

ifnot then there would be the damdest fight you ever saw. we would all want the samewoman and gun to fight for her with.

I love my 243 and will stick with it till death do us part.I can hit what I shoot at out to 200 yards, beyond that I may could do it , but wait and watch him till later.maybe closer in a day or two. the old eyes and hands just don't hold still like the once did.

good luck to you all , no ,matter what cal. you pick.