Deer hunting rounds....

[zombiehunter]

What is the suggested/most liked rifle round for deer hunting in Indiana? I know they have to be withing a certain size so what do you all use? Or do most people just use shotguns for deer?

Thanks guys.....it's tax season, which means I'm looking for new firearm ideas.

 

[Bfish]

I personally have chosen to hunt with a 300blk pistol for "firearms season" otherwise I use a bow and or muzzle loader. There are a lot of socom lovers here so I'd look into that, and i'd also consider a 450bushmaster for deer. That is all of you are looking for an AR. Another option would be something like a 44mag. My dad's got a ruger bolt gun in 44 mag and it groups and shoot very nicely.

 

[oldpink]

Probably the three most common calibers used in rifles here are .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, or .45 Colt, all more often than not in a lever gun.
Those who like the AR platform who are willing invest in it have a lot of good things to say about either .458 Socom or (more popular and a bit more powerful) .450 Bushmaster, both of which will outdo .44 Magnum by roughly 1000 foot pounds muzzle energy.
I personally use a Marlin 1894 chambered in .45 Colt, and it's an absolute sledgehammer, as long as I do my part.

 

[Hookeye]

.35 Remington trimmed to legal length.
CVA and TC single shots. Remington pumps and autos (the latter pretty old).
Some lever guns (Marlin 336 popular).

 

[ambushunter]

12 or 20ga shotgun, or muzzleloader. Also use a single shot 44mag at times. Will be getting a 450 bushmaster upper this year for this up coming season.

 

[bstewrat3]

I second the trimmed 35 Remington. I have tried the extremes from 357 Mag to 500 S&W and the 35 Remington just makes the most sense for my situations.

 

[den57]

X3 the .35 Remington trimmed to 1.8

 

[Spear Dane]

50 Beowulf.

 

[NKBJ]

Saw a Model 81 Remington at the Hammond Cabelas today. Almost sorry that I sold mine ten years ago. Mine had the original Stith take down rifle mounts on it. Oh well. I might find another .35 some day to use the dies, all that brass, the molds, the Hornady 200 grainers... if it happens I'm ready.
Meanwhile I will be on the look out for when those .41 Henry's hit the street. The 18 3/4" twist to give 40-65 performance in a 20" lever gun package is gonna be plum nice.

 

[ScouT6a]

Can't say enough good things about my .450 Bushmaster. It is an all around solid performer. Accuracy is outstanding. One inch groups at 100 yards and have dropped deer out to 255 yards. It has more energy at 100 yards than a .44 Magnum at the muzzle. Reliability is top notch and the cool factor is high. If you are familiar, at all, with an AR-15/M-16 platform, you'll love the Bushmaster in that platform. Ammunition is no higher than premium shotgun slugs and every time I pull the trigger, deer die. Seven Whitetails and one Mule deer, so far.

 

[ScouT6a]

Of course, my Winchester clone 1873 lever action in .45 Colt is big medicine on deer, too.

 

[srad]

Plenty happy with a Marlin 1894 .44 mag; Winnie White Box 240gr JSP groups 2" at 100 yds (my longest shot on a buck has been 167yd). Picked up the Marlin three years ago and have taken four deer with it, one shot one kill (3 buck, 1 doe).

 

[6mm Shoot]

I use a 358 Hoosier. It is a shortened 358 Winchester case. You take .1" out of the body and .1" out of the neck. I am getting 2450 FPS with a charge of 35.5 gr of 4198 using a 200 gr bullet. That gives me a point blank range of 200 yards with a 6" kill zone. Longest shot I have taken with it is 200 yards at my son's range. I have taken deer with it at 108 yards. It never made a step. It fell where it was shot. The hole in the off side was big enough to stick 4 fingers in.

I had a Remington model 7 re-barrelled to 358 Hoosier. The model 7 started life in 308 and was a beast to shoot. It had the 18" light barrel on it and it kicked like a mule. It had no recoil pad. When I had the barrel replaced I had a 20" magnum contour installed. I also had the smith install a recoil pad. The rifle is a pleasure to shoot and is very accurate. Needless to say I am very pleased with it. It is now my go to rifle in Indiana.

 

[NKBJ]

200 yards was the in the criteria used in designing my pre-Indiana cast bullet deer rifle, .375x45-70. For bambi's that's always seemed to be plenty of distance. Usually when you get a useful shot they are somewhere between eyeball to eyeball out to a little over a hundred yards.
Re-thinking the cutting back of the neck to meet the 1.8 rule, maybe it will work with the 330 grain hollow point paper patched but it will require a different sizing set up. That will cost forty bucks to try, well worth throwing the dice on.
Reloading is always such a fun hobby!

 

[padawan]

+1 for the 'fo-fiddy' 450 Bushmaster as others have stated above. Since you are getting an early start you could easily put together a nice build by summer.

 

[Niles Coyote]

A Michigan hunter here... we had a similar firearm rule change a couple years back.

I put together a 450 on a Remington action last year.

I wanted something that matched the weight and balance of my competition rifle and ended up going with a 22" M24/M40 contour barrel. Factory ammo ends up about 135fps faster than Hornady advertises with the extra length and no gas system. Feeds well from a AICS mag and is a 1-1.2 MOA shooter at 1-2 hundred yards. By 400 it starts to get a little tricky in the wind and the ES of the factory load starts to show its self.

I had two of seven that the wind carried just barely off on each side of the plate.

Making this 30 yard quartering toward shot at 30 yards a piece of cake... that exit hole was about 1-1.5"

In 2014 I made a light recoil 44 mag load for my daughter to shot from a 20" barreled contender. I have settled on 19.7 grains of 296 with the 225 FTX which are moving along at 1411fps.

4 shot groups at 75 yards... One inch group yesterday measured on the outside edge.

I was able to get the 225 FTX going as fast as 1940fps and shooting 1.5" at 100 but that had a little more recoil than I thought she would enjoy.

Nov 7th 2014
17 degrees, 20 mph winds in a snow storm with 4 layers of dad's cold weather clothes...

She spotted it first. Waited for it to move from cover... Passed up several not so great angle shots. Final, what seemed like for ever, it offered a near broadside shot at 55 yards with 20 minutes of light to spare and a clear bullet path... The Michigan deer smacker dropped it's hammer on it's first blood. Mr 7 point bucked and ran 40-50 yards with a hard double lung hit.

My Daughters first deer was down.

Most treasured head

In short, I really like both calibers. the 44 mag would be a home operating inside 150 with 200 not out of the question. The 450 is an easy 300 yard cartridge and 400 under perfect conditions. I ran it a 500 yards also but even a tickle of wind would cause a miss on a 12" target... that said it still carries more velocity and energy than a 230 grain 45acp at the muzzle.

 

[Leadeye]

45 Colt if you reload, 44 mag if you don't. Covers everything at woods ranges.

 

[dnc59]

Cant go wrong with a 44 mag lots of good factory loads available and if you reload you can make it even better.

 

[dye]

.358 Winchester. Cases trimmed to 1.78. Still enough mouth left to seat the bullet. It's a compressed load, as the case is filled to the brim with Varget. I shot a big doe with it last season at 240 yds. She made it about 10 ft, and it was over.

 

[Stang51d]

Saw a Model 81 Remington at the Hammond Cabelas today. Almost sorry that I sold mine ten years ago. Mine had the original Stith take down rifle mounts on it. Oh well. I might find another .35 some day to use the dies, all that brass, the molds, the Hornady 200 grainers... if it happens I'm ready.
Meanwhile I will be on the look out for when those .41 Henry's hit the street. The 18 3/4" twist to give 40-65 performance in a 20" lever gun package is gonna be plum nice.

Kinda like this?