Too much gun for Whitetail? - Page 2

Brian Pfleuger · March 9, 2010, 09:29 PM

Quote:

if shooting whitetail with a 45/70 is overkill, then what would you call shooting baby groundhogs with a savage smokeless muzzleloader at 25 yards with 300 grain bullets

Funny is what I'd call it.

Ridgerunner · March 10, 2010, 10:02 AM

I do all my big game hunting with either a .45-70 or .45-90 slung from Marlin 95's or Win 1886. I mostly use 405 gr hard cast or pure lead bullets. Have killed deer, moose, caribou, and black bear with them. Nothing ever goes far. I load them to around 1600fps and have killed out to 250 yds with no problems; the bullet always goes completely through unless it hits either the base of the neck or an upper leg bone. Very effective and minimal bloodshot meat. I have also done in a moose with a 400gr Barnes at 1880fps. That moose went down like he was hit by lightning and bounced when he hit. Impressive. I nearly cut a deer in half at 50yds with a 350?gr Hornady hollowpoint at 2100fps one time. Spine shot that took out 3" of spine... totally gone. Most impressive. A shoulder shot with that would have ruined a lot of meat. I'm a big bullet guy and mostly like lower velocities that don't ruin meat. I think the .45-70 is an ideal deer gun with the right load, that being not too hot. The bigger bullets are more accurate also.

AZwarts · March 13, 2010, 09:52 AM

ha bout those targets, i guess when the label says 22 lr only they were right because it was destroyed by my 38 special.

22-rimfire · March 13, 2010, 10:40 AM

Too big is only in the eyes of the shooter. However, there is something called overkill if you are using the very large caliber as an insurance policy. Shot placement is a better policy all around. If I owed a 375 H&H (which I have absolutely no reason to own or then I want one), I would try it out on whitetails just to see how it does. But that does not offset the need for good shot placement. The 270 > 30-06 range is still the best all around choice for most whitetail hunters in my opinion.

Scrapperz · March 13, 2010, 11:32 AM

I think a BAZOOKA would be OVERKILL LOL. Although if you get the load correct you may have a nice medium cooked piece of meat.

March 10, 2010, 10:02 AM	#27
Ridgerunner Junior Member Join Date: March 9, 2010 Location: Fairbanks, Alaska Posts: 13	I do all my big game hunting with either a .45-70 or .45-90 slung from Marlin 95's or Win 1886. I mostly use 405 gr hard cast or pure lead bullets. Have killed deer, moose, caribou, and black bear with them. Nothing ever goes far. I load them to around 1600fps and have killed out to 250 yds with no problems; the bullet always goes completely through unless it hits either the base of the neck or an upper leg bone. Very effective and minimal bloodshot meat. I have also done in a moose with a 400gr Barnes at 1880fps. That moose went down like he was hit by lightning and bounced when he hit. Impressive. I nearly cut a deer in half at 50yds with a 350?gr Hornady hollowpoint at 2100fps one time. Spine shot that took out 3" of spine... totally gone. Most impressive. A shoulder shot with that would have ruined a lot of meat. I'm a big bullet guy and mostly like lower velocities that don't ruin meat. I think the .45-70 is an ideal deer gun with the right load, that being not too hot. The bigger bullets are more accurate also.

March 13, 2010, 09:52 AM	#28
AZwarts Senior Member Join Date: December 2, 2009 Posts: 112	ha bout those targets, i guess when the label says 22 lr only they were right because it was destroyed by my 38 special.

March 13, 2010, 10:40 AM	#29
22-rimfire Senior Member Join Date: February 19, 2005 Location: Tennessee Posts: 5,323	Too big is only in the eyes of the shooter. However, there is something called overkill if you are using the very large caliber as an insurance policy. Shot placement is a better policy all around. If I owed a 375 H&H (which I have absolutely no reason to own or then I want one), I would try it out on whitetails just to see how it does. But that does not offset the need for good shot placement. The 270 > 30-06 range is still the best all around choice for most whitetail hunters in my opinion.