Deer Rifles?
 

I am going to be buying a gun for this years hunting season. I was originally looking at a .270 but I don't know for sure yet. My dad has a .300 H&H Magnum and I was wondering if I could get away with using that on deer

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

my suggestion is the 300 my opinion

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

With the .300 you will have double the price of cartridges and double the recoil, and the deer will be just as dead if you shot it with the .270.

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

300 is ridiculous.

.270 is a fantastic chambering for deer.

Not only is timber talking straight to you but the recoil is quite unneccesary.

Bottom line is that as long as a round is adequate enough to take the game, thebest choice is the one you shoot thebest.

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

I dont know your experience but I can tell you a 270 will do just fine on deer and wont have as much kick. Good Luck this coming season and keep us posted.

Just seen what unc matt stated and he is dead on.

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Nothing wrong with the 300 H&H. Kinda think 300's are overkill for deer, but there is no question about it getting the job done. Nothing wrong with buying a new rifle in 270 either!!!;)

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The .300 Mag is ridiculous. Unless, of course, the deer on your property are 600 lbs.

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

I kinda like my .243...;)

If you're comfortable with that .300 and can shoot it well and you don't mind a whole boatload of recoil, it'll certainly kill a deer dead as a door nail. But, it's WAY more than you really need. I'm sorta recoil averse, so I like a rifle that is easy on the shoulder. That way I'm not closing my eyes for the shot...

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

The 300 H&H mag.has less recoil than the 300 Win. mag. due to shoulder of the case. The 300 Win mag has a sharper shoulder on it. With that being said the 300 H&H mag. is a pleasure to shoot. It seems to have a push instead of a sharp recoil. I inherited a Remington 721 in 300 H&H mag. from my dad. Dad shot many of deer and elk with this gun. The only problem with it now is there is only one factory load for it at around. $45.00 a box. Cases for reloading your own is expensive too. Your therory on 270win is good. There is plenty of factory loads and reloading componets for this cartiridge. Hope this helps.

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

A 270 is fine a 30.06 is even finer. 300H&H for deer ???????????

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

Anything between .223 and .458 Lott will kill a big game animal. Find what you like that will perform at the range you are most likely to be shooting and go with that. You are the only one that needs to be happy with your rifle.

I like to shoot long range, but where I hunt, you can't see over 100 yards, much less shoot that far, so buying a rig that will shoot 1000 yards doesn't make sense to me.

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

If you're buying a new gun for deer hunting only, you would be hard pressed to find anything better than a 270. Good Luck!

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

If you are planning to use the rifle for just deer then i believe that the .270 is the better option for 2 reasons. 1. It is a classic deer cal., it has a very good flat trag. and more than enough hitting power.
2. If you decide to go after larger game such as elk or moose you will have the perfect excuse to purchase the .300.
It would be very logical to me. Plus, he who dies with the most toys wins.

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

a .300 might be a little stiff for deer if you can't find a light load. There is truth to that. However, if you shoot a light enough bullet, it isn't as much of an overkill as folks might think.
My buddy bought a .300 for the reason that he can load it light for deer, and not have to buy another rifle necessarily for bigger game since he now lives in Alaska.
We took our rifles to South Dakota for deer a couple years back, and the .300 was just fine. He shot 150 or 155 grain Federal High Shocks (sorry if i don't have the name dead on) it was just fine for deer. Not much wasted meat.
I would ask myself how much hunting am I gong to do this season before I buy something new. You might be able to hunt dads gun this year, save up more from now till next year, and really get a shooter.

Nothing wrong with anyof the others mentioned here either. For that matter, many of them are probably better for deer. If you are lookng to maybe hunt this season though with your dads rifle, then just find acouple boxesof lighter weight bullets. A couple boxes of these will certainly cost less for this year than a new rifle, and all the godies that go with it.

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270, 308, 243, 30-06 are perfect for hunting deer with in all areas.

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I am a die-hard .270 advocate. Read the ballistic charts at Remington, no bullet travels straighter than a 130 grain .270 shell. Also packs more punch and moves faster than almost all bigger caliber rounds with more grains.

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If you are going to buy a new rifle (for whitetail only) that .270 will work as good as any.I have had one almost my whole 29 year deer hunting experence.I now have a .270wsm and it is doing a good job to.If you are just wanting to hunt that .300 H&H will be ok to,I here it all the time about my .300wm it is to big ,it will blow them up.I just like that cartridge it works in all situations.

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Ditto.

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I switched from the .270 to the 25-06 Rem....but to be honest... .243, 25-06, .270, or 30-06 are hard to beat when it comes to killing deer.

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

perfectly suited for whitetail the .260, great round, but i cant say its as versatile as the .270

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I bought a Mossberg ATR-100 in .270 at Wal-Mart a few years ago. I put a nice Leupold Vari-X III scope on it, and it has shot 1-1.5" groups with Federal Fusion ammo consistantly since I bought it. With handloads, it is right around an inch consistantly.

The trigger is pretty nice, and, for a rifle I drag up behind me into a climbing tree stand, I couldn't be happier. As an added bonus, the rifle comes with a scope base already installed, so you just need a scope, sling and rings to be set for hunting.

As for the caliber choice, the .300 H&H will kill a deer, but so will a .270. If you don't mind the recoil of the .300 H&H, then use it and save the money.

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

Kick really doesnt bug me much. I guess I have enough padding to take care of most of it:D. But I have been hunting with a 12 guage for the past 10 years. They just recently opened rifles in our area, and this will be my first year in North Dakota too. I was just thinking with the cost of all of my tags (Out of state for 3 seasons bow, rifle, and waterfowl plus res. rifle and bow, possibly pheasant) and I am going to end up looking for a new shotgun for waterfowl season since mine got stolen last year. I will definately have a .270 for next year, but I just wanted to get some input on the .300 H&H. I know the cartidges are expensive. I was looking for them last year and about crapped. My dad does have a .30-06 too, but I just liked to .300 shooting a little better.

I guess if I end up doing a drive or something through the woods I could carry the .30-06 with open sights. and save the .300 for stand sits? Someday I plan on having more guns that I know what to do with, but until then my options are limited I guess ;)

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

In that case the 300 H&H would do fine. Sounds like the 30-06 does not have a scope on it. Does it have only open sights? The 30-06 will work fine also. This year you may want to spend the money for scope base,rings and scope for the 30-06. For deer use a 150gr. or 165gr. factory load that shoots goodin the 30-06. Natchez Shooter Supplies run specials all the time on rifle scopes. Just another thought.

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

As you can tell, you have stirred the biggest "opinion pot" in hunting - whichcaliber and/or rifle is best.So, here are some thoughts. The270, 280 Remington, 7-08, .308, and the 30-06 are all comperable - period. Each of them will achieve 3,000 fps with either 130 (270, 7-08) or 150 grain bullets, and the ballistics for each is close enoughthat neither you, nor the game you hunt,will be able to tell the difference out to400+/-yards.

The mags - 270WSMup throughall ofthe standard 300'sshoot between 200 and 400 fps faster assuming you are shooting identical bullets (i.e. - my 150 grain .308 = 3,000 fps vs my 145 grain 7 mag = 3,250 fps), but require 25 to 40 grains more powder which equals a lot more recoil, but also addsfunctional "cross hairs on meat" distances of about 100 yards.

Me, I own a .308, a 30-06, a 7 rem mag, and a 300 win mag. Ilove all of them,have killed several deer and hogs with each, and have made up to 400 + yard shots with each.I nowshoot the .308 with 150 grain hornady light mags 75% of the time out here in CA.(blacktail, hogs, muleys, black bear). I have retired the 30-06 and the 7 rem mag and carry the 300 as my second rifle.

I guess the point of my rant is - the 270 is as good as any, and better than a lot of them,for deer, black bear, hogs, etc. If you are hunting where you think you need morebullet weight for long range or large animals, or just want more punch, the 300is a great choice too!.It all comes down to you, your hunting area, and what makes you most comfortable when you pull the trigger.

Oh, and if you want to compare ballistics between bullets, or between different calibers, Hornady provides a very good free ballistics calculator which can be found here http://www.hornady.com/ballistics/ballistics_calculator.php

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

I will say this for the 270, my dad has shot 4 deer with it and all 4 fell where he shot them. I think it is a great round for deer hunting. However, if you aren't taking shots past 200 yards the 30-30 is great for the job (thick woods gun.)

I don't see a need to go any bigger than a 270 IMHO!!!

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

Consider me retarded. I don't know why I said .30-06 in my last post. He has an open sight .30-30 lever action. That is why I was think that it would be better while stalking through the woods over the scoped .300. I have shot both guns and felt comfortable with both of em. I knew that I would stir up a debate, but I am pretty open minded and like to hear different opinions from everybody. So far so good. Sounds alot like personal preference. I knew the .270 would be a good all around gun, but just wanted to hear some opinions on everything else out there also.

The guy at work told me to tell me friend to ditch the "gopher gun" (my friend shoots a .270) and the guy shoots a .338 with a 200 grain bullet.

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Thinking of going with the 7mm-08 or the .308 in a Savage. This will be my deer rifle now that NY has allowed rifle use in some counties.

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

You can get away with using the .300 H&H on deer if you wish to. You did say that you werelooking to buy a new rifle and initially looking at the .270. While Ido not even own a .270, it has a fantastic rep and following and would be a great choice.

RE: Deer Rifles?
 

I think I am gonna go with the .300 H&H for this year, and get a .223 for some yotes this winter..Thanks for all the input guys