New hunters often ask me what cartridge their first deer rifle should be chambered for. This is an important question, but some definitions are in order before I answer it.Every modern firearm shoots what we call a 'cartridge.' You know that shiny thing that you take out of a box and put into the gun to make it go 'bang?' That is a cartridge, not a bullet. The bullet is only one part of the cartridge. Some well-known examples of cartridges would include the .30-'06 (pronounced 'thirty ought six'), the 30-30, the .357 magnum, and the .22 LR (colloquially called the 'twenty-two' or the 'twenty-two long rifle').
Usually a given model of rifle is sold in different versions that are each 'chambered' for different cartridges. You could have a couple of otherwise identical Remington Model 700 rifles and one of them shoots the .308 Winchester cartridge and the other shoots the 7mm-08. The ammunition between them is absolutely not interchangeable.
Think about it like picking out the hardware for a new computer and then choosing the operating system.
There are many hundreds of different firearm cartridges that have been invented. Most are obscure and the beginner does not need to be concerned with them. Different cartridges were developed to do different things well. For example, some are designed solely for long-range accuracy to be used for competitive shooting. Others are meant to propel an especially heavy bullet in order to quickly kill very large prey. There are all sorts of engineering problems that various cartridges were intended to solve.
Most of these can, under the right conditions, theoretically kill a deer. But some are better suited for deer hunting than others. For example, you could hunt deer with a .50 BMG if you really wanted to but this would be sort of like commuting to an office job every day in a dump truck.
The new deer hunter should narrow down the list of options first by ignoring every cartridge that is not readily available in local stores. Suddenly, our list of hundreds of cartridges has been reduced to perhaps a few dozen at most. Next, for hunting deer we should ignore magnum-sized rifle cartridges. They have more power than you need, with more recoil to boot. Magnums also tend to be more expensive ammunition.
Lets throw out everything that shoots a bullet with less than .23 caliber. All of the .22s, such as the .22 LR, the .223 Winchester, the .22-250. All of these shoot bullets that aren't quite big and heavy enough to reliably kill deer for a beginner.
By the way, the word 'caliber' refers to the nominal diameter of the bullet. Calibers can be expressed in either English or metric terms, though a given cartridge is usually named in one or the other and stays that way. Strunk and White might not approve, but it is standard practice to mix metric and English units within the same sentence when discussing cartridges.
We are now left with a pretty short list of cartridges, which I will list off with a brief summary of their features:
.30-'06 - This is the most powerful of the non-magnum cartridges commonly used to hunt deer. It can be found any place in America that sells hunting ammunition. As of this writing, you can buy a box of ammo for anywhere from $18 on up. A rifle chambered for the .30-'06 can do double duty on elk or black bear, if need be. In fact, you could use this for anything in North America if you really needed to. The .30-'06 is a very flexible cartridge that can do many different jobs with the trade-off being that it has relatively heavy recoil. Out to around 200 yards distance, this cartridge can punch through the body of a deer at any angle to hit the vital organs.
.270 Winchester - The .270 was created by putting a narrower bullet into a .30-'06 shell casing. It offers much of the power of the .30-'06 with a little less recoil and a flatter trajectory. By 'flatter trajectory' I mean that it is easier to shoot accurately with this cartridge over long distances. On deer, you won't notice the different trajectory until you are shooting out past 150 yards. The bullets that the .270 shoots are somewhat light and this wouldn't be a great choice for a gun that you might want to also use for elk or other big game. But for deer, it works great.
.308 Winchester - This cartridge is significantly shorter than the previous two that I mentioned. This means that the magazine, bolt, and receiver of the rifle can also be shorter and result in an overall lighter gun to carry around all day. The .308 is what we call a 'short action' cartridge. It has a lot less recoil than the .30-'06. The .308 is used by many long-range competitive marksmen. It doesn't hit as hard as the .30-'06 but it still does a great job. The ammunition is inexpensive and plentiful. The .308 would not be a good choice for prey larger than deer.
7mm-08 - This short action cartridge was invented by putting narrower bullets into the .308's case. The original purpose behind creating the 7mm-08 was to get most of the performance of the .308 with less recoil. It excels at this. My daughter first shot a 7mm-08 when she was six years old and the recoil didn't bother her a bit. And she's small for her age. Like, the .270, this cartridge is known for its flat-shooting characteristics. It performs very well on deer-sized prey, but what you lose here versus, say, the .30-'06 on the opposite end of the spectrum, is flexibility. If a deer is standing 200 yards away and it is quartering away (facing mostly away from you, at an angle), then I would not take that shot with a 7mm-08. The lighter bullet cannot be relied on to punch through so much flesh on the way to the vital organs.
.30-30 - The .30-30 is a cartridge designed to work well in lever-action rifles. I won't bore you right now with a lot of technical details for why this is the case, but most .30-30 ammunition is loaded with round-nosed bullets that aren't very aerodynamic. They lose velocity quickly. Even if your accuracy is perfect this wouldn't be a great gun for shooting deer out past 100 yards. It just can't be relied on to penetrate enough. But in the Eastern US, the vast majority of deer are taken within 100 yards anyhow. A .30-30 is usually intended for short-range work. It is good for hunting deer in brush or woods with low visibility. All things being equal (which is to say in rifles of the same weight with identical recoil pads), the recoil is milder than a .30-'06, but heavier than a 7mm-08.
These five cartridges are what I suggest a new deer hunter narrow their choices among. If you have the opportunity to try shooting each of them then you'll be able to make a more informed decision.
I believe that a new deer hunter should hunt with the most powerful of these cartridges that he or she can shoot comfortably. There is a limit for all of us at which the recoil of a gun begins to affect us. One of the differences between a good marksman and a poor one is being able to recognize and admit where this line is. There is nothing unmanly about admitting that recoil is bothering you. If the recoil is making you flinch even very slightly right before the gun goes off then you should probably be shooting a lighter cartridge. At the very least, try using a slip-on recoil pad (The 'Limbsaver' model is one that I can personally vouch for).
In my opinion, the especially light cartridges are tools for advanced hunters rather than beginners. Cartridges like the .243 or the .223, where it is legal to use them on deer, are best left to experienced hunters who are very good shots and who have an instant and detailed grasp of every detail of deer anatomy from any given angle. Heavier cartridges provide a little more room for error, which is important to a new hunter.
As for choosing a specific rifle for a beginner, I discuss this (as well as more about cartridges, etc.) in my book, 'The Beginners Guide to Hunting Deer for Food.'
[Photo copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers.]
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