Deer Rifle

[Grahamwb]

Which is best for deer hunting?

Winchester 25 wssm or
257 Seatherby magnum

[Grahamwb]

That is 257 Weatherby magnum

[taylorce1]

Depends on where you are deer hunting? Either one might be too much or not enough. They however will not kill a deer any deader than a .250 Savage, .257 Roberts, or a .25-06. There isn't a majical deer caliber but several that work well and I imagine any deer that you shoot with either caliber will kill a deer equally well, neither one will be better than the other. Flip a coin and go hunting and have fun.

[hogdogs]

I don't like them mouse magnums Them little diameter bullets are varmint rounds to me. I feel IMHO that it is fair to use only .30 cal with the minimum being the .30-30. I have carried the .270 but would have been mighty choosy on taking a shot.
I know others who use a .243 and many here feel the quarter inch rounds to be suitable for deer however...
Brent

[Grahamwb]

I'm not really a deer hunter. I have a 257 weatherby and was just wondereing which was the best rifle. Thanks for your response.

[hoghunting]

Since you already own the Weatherby, use it. There's nothing wrong with that cartridge for deer hunting. It will work amazingly well.

[butta9999]

In Victoria Australia the minimum caliber is .277 and 51mm for case length with 130gr bullet for Reds and sambar. Hog deer and Fallow minimum .243 with 85gr bullet and 51mm case.

Your .257 Weatherby mag will be fine for deer. It has a huge energy transfer cause of its ultra high verlocity. Personally i like using .30 cal on all game larger than pigs.

[hogdogs]

Don't take my post wrong... I do not consider myself a "deer hunter". Those guys are far more likely to use those calibers with great success. Heck I don't fire a hundred rounds per year "sighting in" or "perfecting" my aim. I do not buy premium ammo and balk at them 2 extra bucks for core-lokt when I can get a cheaper round. Due to my lack I feel I need to offset with bigger rounds...
Brent

[butta9999]

i like the bigger cals too, i load premium bullets, and practice often. We have a lot of regulations in Australia with animals classed as game. I choose not to go with the minimum cal specified. Ferals can be shot with a slingshot though. Even so with the biggest bullets it comes down to perfect shot placement.

[ziggy222]

a 257 weatherby magnum is a truely effective deer cartridge.any deer hit with it will drop immediately.the man that made it traveled the world killing every animal he could find with it.a 117 grain soft point is going 3400fps.

[taylorce1]

a 257 weatherby magnum is a truely effective deer cartridge.any deer hit with it will drop immediately.the man that made it traveled the world killing every animal he could find with it.a 117 grain soft point is going 3400fps.

Not true, you have to hit the deer properly to make them drop immediately, for a .257 Weatherby will not turn a gut shot deer into a instant drop. The man who traveled the world killing those animals was a far better shot than most can aspire to ever be. Plus you never heard of any bad shots made by ol Roy Weatherby, that just wouldn't sell rifles now would it.

The .257 Weatherby is an adequate deer rifle no more no less than many other cartridges out there. If you can shoot it well and put the bullet where it needs to be it will work. Don't for once think that it will kill a dear any easier, faster or deader than the next.

[kraigwy]

I believe in big guns for hunting, I use a 257 Roberts for deer/antelope and a 270 for Elk.

Just picked up one of those New Wincherster Featherweights in 270, its almost (wood wise) a perfect match for my 257 Featherweight.

[skydiver3346]

The .257 Weatherby Magnum (I have one on a Blaser rifle) will kick any deer's butt hands down. Big deer, medium deer or small deer, they are done when they get hit by this round. It is so fast, accurate and does not kick very much. Therefore you don't flinch, etc and make the shot. Each and every deer I have shot (and I am not a Roy Weatherby) dropped in it's tracks. I consider myself a decent marksman and this round is the best hunting round I have ever used. A certified bad ass round, period....

[T. O'Heir]

"...I have a 257 Weatherby..." Except for the cost of the ammo(adding the word Weatherby to anything raises the price), it'll do nicely. Make sure you use the right bullet though. Not all .25 calibre bullets are made for deer.

[kametc]

Either one of them will kill any deer on any continent at just about any range. You already have a Weatherby or is this a rifle breeding question.........................."Honey I think I need a new rifle for huntin this year"

[taylorce1]

I never said that it wasn't a good deer cartridge, just that I don't believe:

any deer hit with it will drop immediately.the man that made it traveled the world killing every animal he could find with it.a 117 grain soft point is going 3400fps.

I'm sure the .257 B will work as well as any other deer cartrige that is out there but will it work better, I doubt it. What works for you happens to be far different than what I choose.

[nate45]

I've shot deer with a .22 lr, .22 Mag, .222 Rem, .223 Rem, .22-250, .243 Win, 6 mm Rem, .240 Wea, .257 Roberts, .25-06, .257 Wea, .264 Win Mag, .270 Win, .270 Wea, 7 mm-08, 7x57R, 7 mm Rem Mag, .308 Win, .30-06, .300 Win Mag, .338 Win Mag, .358 Win, and a .375 H&H. Also with .44 Mag from a pistol, bow and muzzle loader with round ball and sabots. I may have left something out, but I'm not sure, too much water under the bridge.

Of all those deer I only missed two one at over 500 yards with a .270 Weatherby, I found some white chest hair on the ground, but no blood. The other one was a clean miss with a .25-06 at about 325 yards, I still don't know what happened. I was sitting down in a box blind with a rest, but I missed. Every deer I did hit though, with every cartridge listed, died. Some ran some didn't, but they all died.

The point I'm trying to make is that shot placement is paramount and that most any rifle cartridge thats projectile will penetrate to the heart and lungs will kill a deer.

The difference between a .250 Savage, .257 Roberts, .25-06 and a .257 Weatherby, all lets say loaded with a 100 grain Nosler Partition, to their maximum potential, is mainly one of flatness of trajectory and their useful range. In terms of killing power there is little difference, dead is dead.

Lets say the animal is 110 yards away, you shot it right behind the shoulder with any of the .25s I named, all loaded with the same bullet, or different ones for that matter and you are going to get the same result, a dead deer.

Now perhaps the extra shock and tissue destruction from screamers like the .25-06 and .257, might cause the deer to DRT or not run quite as far as say with the little .250 Savage, but dead is dead. It may DRT with any of them and it my run 50+ yards, but if you hit it behind the shoulder, it is dead.

I will personally recommend anything from the .22-250 with the 70 grain Speer or 60 grain Nosler up to the .375 H&H Mag with the 275 grain bullet as being good for deer. If you want to use something bigger more power too you.

If we just single out the .257 Weatherby, I personally believe no thin skinned game in North America can stand up to it. Loaded with the 100 or 117 grain bullet a heart lung shot would kill anything even large bears, but maybe not as fast as one would like. Of course so would a .243 Win loaded with a good 90 or 100 grain bullet, you just can't take as long a shots and some animals, like elk, may run pretty far before they die.

P.s. I forgot I've also shot a deer with a .300 Savage and a shotgun slug. Guess what, they both died.



That little .22 Hornet on the right end of the front row of the rifle cartridges, will kill a deer, it is not ideal and shot placement becomes even more critical, but it would do the job if thats all you had. Look at the little .25-20 on the other end. It is certainly under powered for most anything, but there is no telling how many deer were killed with it, back in the days before people knew better.

[SWMAGMAN]

People always seem to ask the wrong question. Much better would be to ask - this ( ) is the caliber/rifle I am using [B]Which bullet would perform best for this () game?[B] There are very few guns out there that don't have the oomph to kill a deer, but how the bullet performs in creating a wound channel and transferring energy is second only to putting it in the right place. A bullet meant to penetrate a heavy dense animal deeply may blaze right thru a thinner skinned one with relatively minor damage. Bullet weights and types can even be managed to minimize meat loss...as so many that take their small-caliber hyperspeed rifles with near explosive bullets find out.

[fbrown333@suddenlink]

Shot placement,shot placement,shot placement, Did I mention shot placement.

[RYY]

I do not want to hijack this thread, however my question is about spot on to where this thread has ended up. At what point does one consider a gun to be over kill for hunting small to med size deer? If I am looking at using a 7mm what grain would be recommended? Same question if I was to use a 300 win mag.? My predicament lies in the fact that I want to hunt several different species with the same gun. I think I can answer my question for my self........shot placement, shot placment, shot placment!!!!!

RYY

[nate45]

At what point does one consider a gun to be over kill for hunting small to med size deer?

I really like guns and I like variety, so I would never deride or make light of what caliber rifle people want to use for deer. However the truth is that a .243 Win or 6 mm Rem, both have more than enough power and flatness of trajectory, to kill any deer that ever lived out 300 yards. However I don't believe you can overkill something, you can only kill it.

If I am looking at using a 7mm what grain would be recommended?

You don't specify which 7 mm, but the 139/140 grain .287 is a good performing bullet. A man armed with a 7x57 or 7 mm-08 loaded with a 140 grain bullet could kill most anything. In my 7 mm Remington magnums and the one 7 mm Wea I had, I really liked the 160 grain Speer flat base. It is a really good looking bullet and loaded to around 2900 fps accurate and devastating out to as far as it is practical to shoot with a hunting rifle.

Same question if I was to use a 300 win mag.?

I've only ever owned three .300 Win Mags a Ruger 77, a custom built one on a Mauser 98 action and the one I currently own a Stoeger J9. The only one I killed a couple of deer with was the Ruger 77. I used a 150 grain bullet, that was back in the mid or late eighties and I believe it was a Nosler ballistic tip. You can see several of the rounds in the above picture I posted loaded with ballistic tips, green is .308 caliber, yellow is .277, brown is .264 and blue is .257. I thought they were neat back then, what with the caliber color coding and the tips that didn't deform in the magazine well under recoil.

Anyway back to you question a 150 or 180 grain bullet in the .300 Win Mag is pretty much the only choices for deer. I would not go lighter and I don't see why you need heavier. The better 150s will hang together OK on deer without being overly destructive.

I've shot quite a few deer with a .30-06 a various 150s loaded to around 2900 fps. It is absolutely devastating, my longest shot with .30-06 from my pre-war Winchester Model 70 was on a doe at 340 yards. When I pulled the trigger you could hear the bullet screaming across the field and the whomp of the 150 grain bullet hitting the rib cage, she went down like a bolt of lightening struck her, fun stuff.

My predicament lies in the fact that I want to hunt several different species with the same gun. I think I can answer my question for my self........shot placement, shot placment, shot placment!!!!!

If you use a good 160 grain 7 mm bullet or a good 180 grain .308 caliber bullet( Nosler Partition, Swift Sirroco, etc) and you do your part, you can kill anything in America and most of what is in the rest of the world.

Shot placement is like the four rules of safety, whether it is hunting or self defense shot placement can never be over mentioned.



There is my .300 Win Mag Stoeger J9. I've never killed anything with it, but loaded with a good 150 or 180 grain bullet, it will flip any hog or deer I've ever seen on its ass.