Preference. & Why?

[versa-06]

O.K. All deer & Black Bear hunters, What caliber 30,35,375,44,& 45 is your preference & why? In my older years the recoil & the loud report is not as exciting as it was when I was 35. What is your favorite?

[versa-06]

P.S. Cast loads Please. -06

[BLAHUT]

You can kill deer with a .22 rim fire, and anything bigger. The old Indian that taught me to shoot and hunt when I was a kid; hunted with a single shot .22, killed everything from ground squirrels to moose and big bear, he hunted with that .22 till he was like 90 then got a 30/30, he would tell me, you shoot them in chest, just like bug bite, have patients, follow along, they will fall down. I usually go with .243, .308., 30/30, .30/06, for bear; my 45/70 guide gun with big heavy pure lead bullets, 515 grs, at about 1200 FPS. Black bears, eah, usually no big deal, for grizzly's, I want down for keeps, like right now..

[dverna]

You have skewed reality. Cast bullets are inferior to premium jacketed bullets.

I can ethically harvest deer and black bear to 400 yards with jacketed bullets. Saving less than $5 a year by using cast bullets is foolish. But ego is priceless I guess. And yes, IMO, the only reason to hunt with cast bullets is ego or being dirt poor.

Anyway, my caliber of choice is the .308. If I was doing it over, I would pick the .30/06.

[1006]

I only go hunting about once a year. I am in agreement with Don, for one or two shots a year, I just use a proven jacketed hunting bullet that my gun seems to like.

I do have a gun of choice: a 30.06 that the local gunsmith installed a muzzle break on for me. It is loud, but kicks about like a 243.

[Digital Dan]

Haven’t hunted with jacketed bullets in over 20 years. Do have a good supply, but no longer need them. Have no favorites for cast, but don’t use them in calibers less than 7mm. .30-30, .38-55, .45-70 and ML of .45 & .50 cal. Used a .44 mag bolt gun with 300 gr pure lead paper patched and it was totally without fault.

[Winger Ed.]

.30cal for deer.
Which ever cartridge you load you'll end up right in line with a full house, factory .30-30 for its ballistics.

For a bear--- .45-70 to make sure it doesn't get any fancy ideas about 'harvesting' me.

[stubshaft]

Being an old bowhunter I like to get close to the game I shoot, usually within 30 yards. I use cast bullets because they have cleanly harvested more game animals than condoms. Being able to get close and picking your shot is hunting, sitting 400 yards away and slinging bullets is shooting.

That being said, I have used one or more variations of the calibers you have listed. It would be a toss up between my Model 94 30/30 and my Guide Gun in 45/70 because they are so handy to tote around.

[winelover]

^^^^This!

Most of my deer are taken with archery equipment. Few, with muzzle loaders. Occasionally, I'll harvest one with my Marlin 1894 and cast.

Winelover

[hc18flyer]

Where we hunt shots are within 100 yards, so my own cast bullets in .357 Max and .358 Winchester are my choice. Were I to hunt out West, my .280 Rem and jacketed bullets would be the better option. Over the last 40 years, most of my deer have been taken with a caplock and round ball, from a tree stand. There is something special about using a bullet you have cast. hc18flyer

[Texas by God]

I think that only hunting for horns to put on the wall is where the “ego” comes in.
I’ve killed deer with .22,.24,.25,26,27,28,30,35,38,41,50 and 54 caliber guns. Jacketed or cast bullets.
I only take shots within the cartridge of choice’s effectiveness.
I limit cast bullet range at 150 yards due to holdover of the 2000 fps loads.
If I won the Texas Grand Slam, I would take my 30-06 bolt action with full tilt jacketed soft points. Same if I hunt Wyoming or Colorado again.
Around here, I’ll just use what the mood that day makes me grab- and adjust accordingly.


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[centershot]

Here in western NY the shots are close, less than 50 yards, most are within 30 yards. I like my '06, loaded with 175 gr. cast at 1900 fps. Occasionally I'll take out my Marlin 1894 .357 Mag, loaded with 158 gr. cast, or my 12 ga. M500 loaded with cast round balls. They all do the job, no drama, just venison on the table. I wouldn't feel undergunned if a black bear presented itself for a shot. Come muzzleloader season it's my .54 Renegade with PRB's.

[Thumbcocker]

You have skewed reality. Cast bullets are inferior to premium jacketed bullets.

I can ethically harvest deer and black bear to 400 yards with jacketed bullets. Saving less than $5 a year by using cast bullets is foolish. But ego is priceless I guess. And yes, IMO, the only reason to hunt with cast bullets is ego or being dirt poor.

Anyway, my caliber of choice is the .308. If I was doing it over, I would pick the .30/06.

It depends on your reality. Apparently in your reality: 1.) Centerfire rifles are legal.
2.) Shots out to 400 yards are available.

In many places east of the Mississippi it is slug gun or muzzle loader only and shots are 75 yards or less. 400 yards could well be three property owners over. Under those circumstances cast projectiles work fine. I have used home cast in a TC Hawken, 870 slug gun, and .44 revolvers. All put venison in the freezer. The longest shot I have ever had on a deer was 72 yards, most are 30 to 50 yards.

Here is typical hunting habitat in my area
. No 400 yard shots. There is also the issue of price. Premium deer slugs go for north of $5 a pop these days. Allowing for practice and sighting in you could be looking at serious money for people of limited means.

There is also the satisfaction of making your own ammo. You attribute that to "ego" I attribute it to getting more from the activity. Working up loads and filling the freezer with home cast projectiles adds a level of satisfaction to the hunting experience. It also gets you a lot more trigger time with your chosen firearm. Is an archer who fletches his own arrows being egotistical?

On a side note I do not "harvest " game animals. I harvest beans, corn, sweet potatoes etc. The animals I hunt are killed. Period. Taking the life if a mammal will never be demeaned to pulling up a turnip in my world.

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[Johnch]

I only can hunt Whitetail deer here in Ohio
Rifles are "straight" wall only
But a 45/70 is OK

For both jacketed and cast bullets I like as big of bore as possible
So I use a Marlin 45/70 rifle and a BFR 45/70 revolver
BUT I do not load hot ammo
For both the revolver and the rifle I load moderate trap door loads
But I use as large of a meplat as possible for good energy transfer

John

[waksupi]

You have skewed reality. Cast bullets are inferior to premium jacketed bullets.

I can ethically harvest deer and black bear to 400 yards with jacketed bullets. Saving less than $5 a year by using cast bullets is foolish. But ego is priceless I guess. And yes, IMO, the only reason to hunt with cast bullets is ego or being dirt poor.

Anyway, my caliber of choice is the .308. If I was doing it over, I would pick the .30/06.

I have huge objections to shooting ANY game animal at 400 yards. Get closer.

[ChristopherO]

In my skewed reality of SW Ohio my career as a deer hunter began when it was smoothbore shotgun with slugs or certain pistols only, unless using a muzzleloader. I opted for a traditional sidelock muzzleloader with soft lead because I enjoy rifles the best and am a so-so shot with a pistol. Lead has always been in the equation due to those parameters. Eventually rifled barrels for slug guns were allowed, but still the big soft lead Lightfield saboted slug worked as well as the pure lead muzzleloader projectiles I casted. It costs much more than $5.00 to sight in with those. Practicing with that 12 gauge with slugs was not permissible for my budget when raising 5 children. Then came the option from ODNR to use straight wall cartridges. My ego loves to shoot, year round, and cheaply. Along came the 45/70 and a couple of molds. Must say, my ego has been perfectly satisfied with the terminal ballistic results those heavy boolits give on our local deer herd. Never had a need to spend money on jacketed bullets for that rifle when the fairly soft lead is so successful. (I know, I've deluded myself to believe the fairy tale. LOL)

CF rifles an interest of mine and I load for a few different calibers. The time I've shot elk many years ago premium jacketed bullets were employed. When a family member dropped 3 different bull elk he was using my handloads with jacketed bullets. When I shoot coyotes, groundhogs, prairie dogs with the centerfires, jacketed bullets are used. It just makes sense to do so. Squirrels, rabbits, deer at my normal ranges and with the acceptable equipment locally? 22LR HP's for the small game and the WFN lead slug for deer gets it done quite adequately.

To answer the OP's question: 45/70, Accurate WFN 420 grains Range Scrap with GC is what I've happily used for about 8 years now. I'd use the 182 grain Noe WFN GC with the same alloy in a heartbeat but don't have a straight wall rifle to shoot them from and bottleneck cartridges are not permitted for deer where I hunt.

[Daekar]

I have huge objections to shooting ANY game animal at 400 yards. Get closer.

This. In my book, if you can't make the shot with a cast boolit, you shouldn't be taking the shot. The only exception would be something like prairie dog elimination with very high speed varmint rifles.

To answer the OP's question, my preference would skew larger. Given the velocity limitations of cast boolits, we're killing with surface area and penetration. I'm sure that a 30-30 works fine with cast, but I'd prefer something bigger. Were hunting a pastime for me rather than an occasional duty, I would just jump to a 45 caliber cartridge and be done. 45-70 is the obvious go-to, but if you want to standardize on 0.452 bullets you can play with 45acp, 45 Colt, 454 Cassull, and and 460 S&W. In my opinion, your quarry is unlikely to be able to differentiate between most of them very well.

One reason to stay with a smaller diameter is to avoid large primers. To my knowledge (which is admittedly incomplete) the small primers peter out at 35 caliber cartridges like 357 Magnum, 357 Maximum, and 350 Legend, although 400 Legend appears to take small rifle primers as well.

[Digital Dan]

I have huge objections to shooting ANY game animal at 400 yards. Get closer.

My longest shot on deer was 125 yards, that being the first one. After that, 20-50 yards was the norm. We got a lot of trees here in Floriduh. OTOH, my longest shot on people was about 1050 meters. Was with jacketed .30 cal, without sights. Miniguns are awesome. I don't like it when they start shooting at my buddies with a 12.7mm.

[MT Gianni]

I hunt a field that gives me a shot at does for about an hour before sunset. Range is hopefully 300-325 yards. They are in the field at 600 yards so the idea of getting past the last tree and sneaking across 2" stubble is not happening. Ditto to digging a blind in the field, they are out there most of the night. I hope to get a close shot at a buck near sunset @ what is usually 350 yards. I would love to have 175 yard shots with levers and cast but this is where I hunt now. I use a 308 or 30-06 with 150 gr jacketed. Deer have about 300 yards from where I shoot them at to non accessible land. property owner is a friend and wants does taken off there, but trusts very few people to shoot there.

[versa-06]

Do any of you hunt with the 375 bore rifles or the 454 casull rifles?