First off I'd like to say hello, this is my first post on the board.

I know it's fairly early, but I thought I'd start looking for a new rifle. I was wondering what you guys think is the best caliber for CenTex deer hunting.

.243 .308 30-06?

Recoil is not really a factor for me. Mostly looking for accuracy and takedown power.

Thanks in advance

.308 by far. Straight shot everytime. I shot my elk at 850 yards and my last muley at 800yrds. One shot for both. My bud shot his 3006 times to bring down his bull. You should have seen him reloading as the bull was running. I thought he was going to shoot himself.

308,,270wsm,300wsm, 7-08, These are short actions

270,2506,3006,300mag

I personaly would pick a short action jmo. I shoot a 270wsm

elk at 800 yards with a 308? theres almost 8 ft of drop at that distance.

impressive to say the least

I sighted it in at 850.

Any rifle from a 243 on up will do the job. Practice. Confidence in your gun and good shot placement is more important than a big bullet.

Thanks for all the input.

I probably wouldn't even try for anything 850 yards away.

More like 250 yards and in.

So is it fair to say that a rifle in any sensible caliber that I can shoot MOA would be ideal?

I guess I'll just see what Kind of deals I can find out there in these calibers. I've got plenty of time.

There is to many choices and opinions to choose from. Pic one you like and go for it

Quote:

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elk at 800 yards with a 308? theres almost 8 ft of drop at that distance.

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And less than 800 ft-lbs of energy remaining. And 60+ inches of cross drift in a 10 mph wind, with a 165 grain bullet.

850 yards for elk? Sounds like you were much to far away. The probability of wounding the animal is to great. I have been hunting elk for years. I used to live in Durango, Colorado, the longest shoot I have ever taken was about 350 yards. I shoot a 300 win mag for elk

-Duckfoot

Entered the right shoulder, grazed the heart, through the lung and ended up in the left shoulder. I have the mushroomed bullet reinserted in the spent brass beside a drilled out shell recessed in the plaque.
Guess I was lucky?

just impressive to say the least

what kind of scope were you using?

OK What you asked for is an idea of something to shoot 75-160lb WTDeer with at 30 yards to under 300 yards. Like sumbody sez way too many caliber choices ...and some gooduns too as this criteria fits just about all WTDeer hunters in the USA about 80-90% of the time.

Couple questions though come to mind. How often will you actually shoot the rifle in practice and for hunting: 1 box a year? 5 box's a year? more? Do you handload or want to learn to handload? Do you ever intend to hunt out of Texas for other things like Elk?
Rule of thumb is that it takes 1000lbs of energy on a deer sized target and 1500+ lbs of energy on an Elk to effectively kill it. That Rule is bogus and yet is also super true at the same time, as bullet placement is KING! plus the kind of bullet used is next most important.

If you don't place a African sized critter getter's bullet where it needs to go, you won't each much vension most of the time, but on the other hand Poacher's usually use a 22LR as a way to keep the noise levels down and successfully kill WTDeer all the time.

So think about the cost of ammo to support your shooting habits, how easy is your caliber & deer bullet choice to find in a wide selection of bullets ... as ALL of the Centerfire 22's thru the 300 & 338 caliber Magnums and larger will kill Texas sized WTDeer at under 300 yards quite easily WHEN THE BULLET IS PLACED WHERE IT IS SUPPOSED TO GO.

While I am NOT a fan of the 22 & 24 caliber centerfires on WTDeer they are quite successful for some folks. I shot a 243 for 10 years and killed enough WTDeer with it to speak from experince.

The best way for me to relate my preferences is to say that I prefer bullet weights greater than 120 grains and bullet speeds above 2600 fps aka Feet Per Second in 25, 264/6.5mm, 270, 7mm/284 & 30 caliber bullets for use on WTDeer that can shoot up to 300 yards using a 100 yard ZERO and not drop anymore than 7-9"s...as the behind the shoulder kill zone is about 9"s in diameter. You can fudge this a little by "ZEROing" at the 100 yard distance about an inch or two high which'll give you an actual deadnutz zero at about 150-200 yards depending on a given caliber's speed in a given bullet and still not be but 4-6's low at 300 yards....and truth be told most of us do just that.

Bullet placement is a product of practice time shooting...of the bench or in the field...and trigger time is expensive in ammo costs especially if you don't handload.

One way to fudge this prohibitive practice time cost is use a 22LR in a full sized rifle and switch back and forth during the practice session. 22LR's drop at 50 yards is about like a decent deer caliber's is at 100 - 150 yards, and 22LR at 100 yards is about like a deer caliber at 200-250 yards.

As to a specific caliber you need to think thru your priorities and begin to handle rifles to see what "feels right" to you.
Proper fitting rifles are more accurate. Think about what I just said. A well tuned but ill fitting rifle is not as accurate or comfortable to shoot.

You can spend $300 for a pretty good plain vanilla deer shooter that could stand some 'smith work to make it lots better ...to $3000 or more for a great one ...with the most of the common brands running from $450/500 to $7-800 PLUS you need to spend a couple hunnert bux minimum for a decent scope.

For a caliber choice look at the sheer number of of bullet & brand selections at Academy or Walmart and you won't go wrong with any of the most popular ones. Are there better choices? Mebbe but only your experiences will tell you if somebody else's critter getter is really that much better than yours. FWIW I've been shooting a 270 at WTDeer since 1969 and almost never been without one...but always owned more than one other caliber too. Right now I am shooting a 6.5x55 most of the time instead of a 270...but I still got one in addition to a couple others that will all kill WTDeer at 300 yards ...or better. Have fun and don' t worry about making a mistake.
Ron

Weaver 10-Power T-10 Mark I Mod. 0 was a take-off from a S.E.A.L. 50cal sniper rifle.

Well, you've probably gotten enough opinions to be thoroughly confused but just case you're not, I'll throw mine out there.

I've hunted the woods of the Post Oak Savannah to the almost-plains of West Texas with the same rifle. My kill shots have ranged from 30 feet to 360-something yards (laser ranged but I don't remember the exact range) and I've never changed my targeted point of impact at 100 yards. My scope is always set at 1.5" high at 100 yards.

I shoot a Win Mod 70 .270 Carbine loaded with 150 grain boattails.

.243 (I've owned and loved), 25-06 (a buddy of mine swears by and I've seen the good results), 30-06, .308 (which I've been using for 20 years: it's simply the smokeless powder variant of the 30-06 developed for the m14 due to its shorter bearing surface and highly similar ballistics), and probably a bunch I've not mentioned. Certainly the 7mm magnum is a good round. A friend I used to hunt with used one very successfully and I enjoyed shooting it. Some say the recoil is punishing.

Any of the known good calibers such as these (and others) will do fine. GO to a range that rents rifles and try out a few and see if any of them tickle you in particular.

260 or 7mm-08....257 Roberts & 6.5x55 are also great.

Wow, did I ever come to the right place to ask my question.

So I feel like my questions is answered. There is no "the best".

Looks like I've got some shooting to do

Thanks everyone!

OK, sorry, but I gotta call BS on this:

First you say you shot an elk at 850 yds with a 165gr 308.
Then you say you sighted in at 850 yds.

A)According to my ballistic software, to sight in a 308 165gr Hornady BT at 850 yards, it would have to be about 2.5 FEET hi at 100 yds, 4.75 FEET hi at 200yds, 6.6 FEET hi at 300 yds, and about 7 FEET high at 400 and 500 yds. We are talking mortar shots here!
B) If your range estimate were off by a few feet at 850 yards (at 750 yards you would be 4 FEET high and at 1000 yds you would be 9 FEET low) you would miss or wound the animal.

C) At 850yds, with a gentle breeze of 5mph, the bullet would be off by almost 3 FEET.

D) so if you really did what you said, it sounds like you were both incredibly lucky and incredibly irresponsible

D) the guy what started this thread was asking about central Texas deer, probably at 30-150 yards. Your comments are not relevent, even if they were correct!

You Einsteins can massage it, look it up, look it down and hand spank and rub it but the facts are the facts.
“Guess I was Lucky?” I wasn't by myself and we all were amazed but it didn't surprize me using my gun and scope.

What about Carlos Hathcock?

I know it is possible

7mm-08, 270, 7mm rem mag, 308, 25-06. any of these would be plenty. i personally like the 7mm-08.

i shoot a 300wsm mostly