A Caliber You Would Not Use
 

Friends:

Is there a caliber that other hunters "rave" about that
you would not use to kill whitetail? Tell us what it is and
why you personally would not use it?

Thanks,
Bolt Action

i would not use 7mm mag. because of one reason range

the dang bullet will go 4 miles and i have no intention of killing a deer and a person with one bullet

You are going to hear the small caliber shooters as well as the magnesium shooters claim their caliber is the best. I wouldn't use anything less than about a .243 or anything magnetised or over .30 cal. Jack O'Connor said the .270 was the best all round caliber and I generally agree with thim.

Zink.... So will at least 100 other other centerfire rifle chamberings.... 100 is probably a conservative estimate..

I guess you are limited to shotgun slugs and handguns..

Hey... No problem , Pilgrim...

I've killed lots of deer with shotgun slugs..

I would never use a small cartridge, that is, smaller than a .243, like timbercruiser said. I know one girl who killed 3 deer with a .223 Rem, and the shot placement was good (the range was less than 50 yards), but I still believe in Human Error. Not worth the chance. I'm not saying that a less accurate shot won't kill it, but that if the deer does run anywhere close to 100 yards, recovery could be difficult since the blood trail could potentially be smaller.

Buckshot. I had one bad experience with it, never again.

Anything less than .243 and although I have used a 7MM Rem Mag, you do not need anything with the word "magnum" on the end of it!
Funny how one persons "perfect" is another persons bane! The .308 Winchester is about as close to perfect as you could get for Deer sized game.

Not so much the calibers that bother me, it's the bullet construction that seems to jump out at me.
Ive heard so many stories of faliures over the years, from various calibers, then find out later in the conversation, the hunter was using something like a 180gr A-frame style bullet in a 300mag.
It probably just zipped right through the 90lb deer without veering or expanding, making a little hole. A 150gr cheapo Core-lokt would've dropped the deer.
Thats a rough rendetion of just one actual story, but you get the idea.
In that case, the 300Mag was compared to, as being less effective than a 7mag.
Heard many others using too light of a bullet, or HP's or Btips,......

It doesn't take much to kill a deer, but it does take a balance of everything involved.

In center fire rifle my minimum is .243. In center fire pistol it's .357 mag (would also use .357 mag in rifles). With shotguns I'd go down to a .410 with slugs, and buck shot down to 20 gauge. I know smaller could be used, but that's as low as I'd take it short of a survival situation.

Simple...if it's illegal I won't use it.