So my ersatz "deer rifle" for this year was a bit heavy / overkill / what in the name of all that is holy?!
(Rem 700 in 308 in an AICS w/ my TBAC 338 can and a leupold LRT 6.5-20/50mm...it's my "medium range" gun, and used for deer because I just bought house and didn't want to buy dedicated deer rifle at the time...and it was the best choice out of the myriad of weapons I have, but GOD is it heavy)
So anyway.
Looking at the following requirements:
1. Cartridge/barrel combo that yields reliable whitetail kills at (normally 50-100yds)
2. Mounts a reasonable scope with variable mag up to 10x, down to below 4x
3. I not have to reload for it unless I want to
4. Doesn't -have- to share a cartridge with things I already have, but preferably should be able to share a can.
5. Preferably suppressed, but that's way secondary.
6. As light as goddamn possible...
So far I'm going back and forth between:
1. 300BLK in a 10.5-12" upper with optional 30 cal can and 2-5-10x illuminated scope (I have an SBR lower to use with it, and this would mean supersonics for deer, subs for coyote at night)
2. A 16" 308 Rem 700 with 2.5-10x scope and optional smaller 30cal can
3. A T/c modular rifle
4. Marlin 1895SBL lever gun in 45-70, because I really really want one.
5. Use my FAL for deer hunting with a 4x trijicon I have lying around
Ideas? #5 is basically free, #1 is otherwise the lowest cost option, #2 is kinda redundant I guess but not really, #3 is probably the most modular/useful, and #4 is...well, adds to the collection :)
I do most of my deer killing at 25-100 yards, depending where I have my blinds. I hunt with both a 870 with fully rifled slug barrel and a inline .50 muzzle loader. I live in a state where rifles are not allowed for deer season. On my 870 I have a 2-5x33 shotgun scope, it a Cabelas's brand but it holds zero for the last 8 years. One my muzzleloader I have a 2-7x33 Burris Fullfield II with the ballistic drop. Either weapon I am comfortable clean killing deer out to 150 yards and I have taken deer at 200 yard with my shotgun. I saw a deer across a grass field eating, so I got into a prone position and DRT after a 15 seconds of figuring out the drop of the slug before pulling the trigger.
I do hunt other states with center fire rifles for big game, in my hunting stable I have .300 WM, .243 Win, .444 Marlin and soon a .338 WM. I primarily use my .300 WM, its an ultralight Win m-70 and kicks the snot out of you, but I have killed an antelope at 429 yards with it in Wyoming.
I guess you need to ask yourself if you are going to go after other large game or just stick with deer. I'm a big fan of getting really good with one rifle and using that for most of your hunting. I like my 300 wm because I can reach out and touch things with it and will kill anything I want to hunt. I'm getting the .338 WM for a future African hunt and I may use it for Elk, feral hogs and if I ever get the money together a brown bear hunt in Alaska or Canada.
If I was going to get just a deer rifle, I would probably consider .243 Win, .270 Win or .30-06. All are proven deer killers, not bad on recoil and you can buy ammo everywhere for it. One of the reasons I use a .300 WM, I can get ammo for it anywhere I hunt out West. I'd love to have a .300 Rem Mag or a .300 Dakota, but ammo can be hard to find for them.
