22-250, 223, or .308
 

Help me pick a caliber for whitetail deer in Wisconsin!

.308 out of those three without a doubt!

i killed my first deer with a .223 but i would not suggest trying that. i used a .308 last year and loved it. .308 is very accurate and all around a great deer gun. i shot a does heart in half with that gun.

out of those 3 I pick the 308.

out of those 308 great gun crazy accurate and light recoiling.. i have heard of hunters hunting with the 223 but 100 yards is about it most the time

Fixed it for you... It pays to know the difference...

I also agree with Top about the .308... Particularly for one that is still learning the difference between "caliber and cartridge".

Based on yer initial question you were basically asking if you should use a .22 caliber or .308 caliber for whitetails... Not to be misunderstood, all 3 "cartridges" you mentioned are capable of killing a whitetail... but so is a .22 short under the right circumstances. Learning about, and understanding the capabilities of the cartridge your using is very important...

You should name all the animals you like to hunt and maybe we can steer you towards something that will be right for you.

Any reason why your only looking at those 3?

Is a 22 caliber bullet legal beyond the Cheddar Curtain for whitetail? Sorry for the nieve question.
22-250 will do it. But I definitively would rather use 308 win.

Go bigger of course, you can use all 3 but the 308 is the best choice of the 3. I've got a soft spot for the 308 case and own two 7MM o8's and two 243's. Wouldn't mind a 260 but the ammo is crazy expensive for some reason.

:D Al

The 308 is most versatile. You can use it for 200+ yd shots if needed. Sounds like you have only these 3 choices. My favorite deer gun is the 30-30, but I am never shooting over 120 yds.

A couple of variables i'd need to ask 1st:
1) are you an experienced hunter
2) do you handload
3) yardage that youre gonna shoot deer at
Reason for these questions are ive seen some nice deer taken with the 223 with handloaded NP and Barnes TTXS.
These guys where experienced hunters.
If you put a quality bullet thru a deer vitals with a 223 and keep the yardage reasonable its gonna kill them.
HOWEVER... if it was me, out of the 3 cartridges you mentioned ,I'd pick the 308 and shoot plain ole C&C factory fodder in 150g class... because IME that's what has killed deer for me!

Of those 3 to be used in WI I'd FOR SURE recommend the 308. Sure I love my 22-250 & I've killed a doe with it at 300yds before (neck shot). But you are in WI & can very likely get a crack at a 300#+ deer, I would NOT recommend anything smaller than a 243 for such critters. (& even with a 243 you better have QUALITY bullets shot ONLY at ideal angles & even then it might not reach all the way thru a brute buck!)

A 308 with 150-165 bonded "super bullets" or even better, my fav the Barnes, will drill thru the biggest whitetail around! Distance & power wise the 308 can kill well in excess of a 1/2 mile but I'd personally keep the shots under 500yds...

.243 worked fine for me this year! Nice buck 80 yrds to 100 yrds. No problems. Just gotta know your range and limits thereof.

I prefer a 3006 and have killed many deer with mine Ive shot deer out to 300 yards but I prefer shots of 100 yards or less I shoot a 150 grain round and have very good results

Of those 3, the 308 wins hands down.

.308 hands down out of those choices!

+1

At first I thought it was a IQ test - LOL !!! :lmao:

Oh, DEAR GOD.
Are we really gonna do this again?

OP, use the search option at the top of the page.

Every couple of weeks, this same or nearly same thread pops up.

At least this time the guy is actually asking for advise instead of bragging about how good he is on big game with his .22 caliber cartridges:confused0024:

That's true.
I doubt it won't devolve into that though. They always seem to.

Maybe not. It is February... The off season tends to draw the more serious folks into this forum.

308 .

I shot a deer at 225 yards with my .308. Deadly accurate.

February.....just makes me want to get out of the house. Not sit in front another screen.

Getting a little cabin fever lately.

Maybe you should learn your calibers!!! A .308 caliber does not exist. .30 caliber on the other hand does. But to answer the OPs question I would go with the .308. I personaly love the .270 for whitetail hunting.

I guess it's back to the books fer me...:sad:

This is how I pick my new deer caliber for Wisconsin hunting . When I see a gun on the used shelf I really like and price is right. If it's bigger than 22 cal. it's good to go. That's how I pick my deer calibers if it isn't a 30-06 or a magnum.

The cartridges are because I am getting a TC venture predator

Have you ever bought any bullets to hand load? 30 caliber is not one of the choices. It's .308 caliber. I use .308 caliber bullets in my 308 Win, 30-06, 300 Weatherby Mag and 300 Winchester Mag.

I know what you are trying to say to Lunkerdog. But you are the one who is wrong here. The caliber represents the diameter of the projectile. And, for the 30 calibers, that's .308 inches. Or, .308 caliber.

Ummm... I guess at this point about all I can do is refer to my manuals... What your saying is true in some but certainly not all cases.

Here's a few examples... All of the .308's are listed under the heading .30 caliber... The .270's are actually .277 in diameter... The .35 calibers are .358 in diameter... The .44 calibers are .429 in diameter.

The American system is actually a bit screwy when listing cartridges... For example the 30/30 was meant to represent a 30 caliber loaded with 30 grains of a certain powder (I can't remember which powder) The .30-06 represents a .30 caliber cartridge that was developed in 1906, that due to performance pretty much replaced the .30-03 which was a .30 caliber cartridge that was developed in 1903.

The European system is a bit more cohesive as it designates a cartridge in milometers based first on bullet diameter then case length... For example the 9mm Luger (Parabellum) in the European system is designated the 9x19. While our .380 American designation is a 9x17 in the European designation.

We know that all. 30 calibers are .308 in diameter, but in the end they fall into the .30 caliber family of cartridges.

Not sure what you mean by this... Are those the options available where your buying the rifle? Because the Predator is available in other cartridge offerings.

http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/bolt-...nture-predator

The Predator isn't like the T/C Dimension with the LOC system (Locking Optimized Components) Even if it was, the .223 is in a different LOC family than the .22-250, and the .308... Not sure if that's what you meant, but thought I'd mention it just in case that's what you were thinking about the Predator.

http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/bolt-...ion/components

Yea those are the three caliber the store has.

Then I would suggest you go with what I believe has been an almost unanimous reply, and suggest that you buy the .308 for whitetails.

Not sure if this is really relevant, but I had a former boss that had been a Marine sniper... His go to cartridge was the .308.

I would suggest deciding what you want and then find it rather than limiting your self to what 1 store has.

Make sure you get what you want is my advice.

Sage advice Rock... But if the OP is anything like I was in my younger days, sometimes he just can't help himself... It is after all, a new rifle... ROFLMAO!!!

Lunkerdog - I was defending your position that .308 was a caliber and not just a cartridge. :D

BarnesX308, I suppose we could discuss whether it's just a matter of semantics... Either way in the end I was really just trying to convey a bit of info to the OP... If we've accomplished that threw this discussion I'm good with that.

Don't matter to me. But, when I buy bullets to load for my 308 Winchester cartridge, I will buy .308 caliber bullets.....Barnes X, to be exact. :D

I'm not loading any .308's at this point... but did a quick check of my 7mm components... Again I'm wondering about the semantics... This time between the Manual writers, and the Bullet manufacturers.

My Barnes Triple Shocks don't actually say "caliber" just 7mm (.284) They're at least 5 years old so can't say about today's packaging. But... My Nosler Accubonds do list the caliber as 7mm (.284).

I don't own a Barnes manual ( I called them and they were good enough to snail mail me the data I was looking for... Thought that was pretty cool) I would be interested in how your Barnes manual classifies the .308 Winchester vs. how the current Barnes packaging classifies the .308 bullets... Semantics:confused0024: Manufacture designation:confused0024:

Either way, again, I hope that the OP is catching on to what we're discussing here.:happy0001:

When buying a new rifle, many offer different "caliber" options, but in the end you are actually buying a "cartridge" offering. Two of the offerings he mentions are designated as .22 calibers, but are different cartridges. We're currently having the discussion about his 3'rd option.

Hopefully as the OP reads this it prompts him to do some further research, rather than just take some random online advice, even if that advice in this case has been overwhelmingly for the .308... I know that it has prompted me to do some digging myself. Tho for other reasons.

of the 3, the 308 is the deer caliber.