My personal favorites for deer hunting are the .243 Winchester and .270 Winchester mainly because that is all I have for now, but every time I see a new hunter posting up that they got some new .400 Wizzbang Magnum I cringe a little because even though I'm not recoil shy I don't care for unnecessary recoil when I'm shooting a 120 pound deer down here. I'm waiting to get home next week to buy a new rifle and I'm looking at probably a .243, .25-06, or .30-30 and was wondering how many other people prefer using lower powered though more than adequate cartridges.
Non-Magnum Hunters
- Thread starter Anschutz
- Start date
dont know where .308 falls, but that is my go to cartridge for hunting, plinking and everything in between
I use a .270 winchester. Most people don't know this but it is considered a Magnum cartridge.
My go to rifle is a 257 Roberts Ackley Improved. Low recoil and flat shooting. I have one magnum and have had several. My main reason for them was when I was hunting south Ga. And my shots would average 250-300 yards. For that I just wanted something a little more flat shooting with heavy knock down power.
i dont hunt anymore but, every deer i ever shot, was with my .243. and every time they dropped.
I have three rifles that I use for deer hunting. Each has it's place and use:
- My Ruger M77 ultralight in .308 Winchester is my general, all around rifle. Light weight, quick handling and capable of taking out about anything on the North American continent!
- My Savage Model 116 in 7mm Remington Magnum fills two purposes. #1 It works great for long shots when hunting clear cuts
and #2 it is stainless with a composite stock, so I carry it when the weather sucks 
(I hate getting a good blued/wood stocked rifle wet!)
- My Smith & Wesson M&P15 .300 AAC Blackout is great for close in/thick cover. It's short, light and fast handling. In addition, it proves Bill Clinton wrong that..... "There is no sporting user for an AR"!! It's also hell on zombies!!
- My Ruger M77 ultralight in .308 Winchester is my general, all around rifle. Light weight, quick handling and capable of taking out about anything on the North American continent!
- My Savage Model 116 in 7mm Remington Magnum fills two purposes. #1 It works great for long shots when hunting clear cuts
and #2 it is stainless with a composite stock, so I carry it when the weather sucks (I hate getting a good blued/wood stocked rifle wet!)- My Smith & Wesson M&P15 .300 AAC Blackout is great for close in/thick cover. It's short, light and fast handling. In addition, it proves Bill Clinton wrong that..... "There is no sporting user for an AR"!! It's also hell on zombies!!
Where do you get this? I've never heard it considered a magnum cartridge. Being it's based on a 30'06 case, which isn't magnum either, it's odd to think of it as a magnum.
Generally speaking, magnums have specific attributes, like the 7mm, 300 and 338 with the belted case.
My ballistic book calls my 35whelen "near magnum", and its a 338cal stuffed into a 30-06 case.
When I hunt with a rifle, I use the 22-250 exclusively. Works great for me.
