Nice buck!

I've killed more animals with my Walmart special Savage 110 .243. Granted I don't hunt as much now as I did as a teenager, but that rifle never failed me. Killed a lot of deer and turkey in Coke County with that rifle.

Interesting thoughts.. My go to Texas rig is a 1972 Remington 700 BDLin 22/250. This has served me well for many many years and see no reason to change.

Jim

6.5CM what??? nobody votes anymore for the CM? Now we can look at the new Mo Bettah CM CPR, even though I'd already bought a TC Creedmore for cheap at Atwoods . Anybody seen a CM CPR rifle?? or shot one?

Any body seen a rifle in CPR ? Academy in Tyler dinnit have no CPR rifles in stock & I saw the plenty of ammo the other day when I bought a new Hornady Load book at Academy in Tyler. Hornady sez it go's enough Mo Faster to earn a place long term in rifle sales volume, so ya'll need to pay attention to it....I still own a little over 1100 6.5 bullets now that I am not gonna shoot the Tikka 6.5 Swede & the H Book sez the new cartridge is gonna chase all the other tried and true medium shooters outta town....kinda like th 7-08 has.

I've been shooting a 270 for longer than I can say, .... I'm turning 79 years old this fall, if I last that long ....and a 270 gives me 99% of all my needs...but I also like some other stuff for special occasions, and favor 300wmg over 30'06. I've had several favorites over the years, after starting with a 243. Used a 257 Rbt's for anything under 200 yards until I shot the barrel out. Earlier I bought a Ruger 77 in 25'06 starting about 50 years ago when we came home to Dallas from Jax for Christmas & Schoellkopf had just received a shipment of the 1st 25'06's in Texas ....made some $'s at $2 a crow with it shooting in a Florida HWY PATROL's father's Pecan Grove.

Always liked 7Rmg's ...the 10 pt'er Muley over my head came from one of Mr Carter's hunts and took it one shot after my hunting partner missed his shot as the big WT hauled it out of a creek bottom ,. I even downloaded a 7Rmg to to 280 speeds for a time when my shoulder was healing after a major surgery and was happy with the results, even have used a 9.3x62 on a big White Tail one time on the School Lease Property hunting with Crazy Horse just to show him how well the take down is at long ranges.

Was invited to go to Finland in '83 for a Plant tour & Moose Hunt when management found out I had won a 10 day trip to England from Holiday Inn that could be coordinated with their annual Moose Hunt & Company Management Meeting.

Most fun I ever had was shooting at the underground target range & qualifying for a Finnish Hunting License. I learned how to over come some of my bad habits, and was told it's not the caliber or the bullet that is not accurate, but some bad habits most of the time within a range of bullet speed, design and weight. I learned a couple things about my own bad habits and did qualify shooting at a moving paper "Moose" that has score rings. In Finland you MUST score a certain score or better or you don't get a Hunting License to go on the Hunt ....the Finnish Army Officer who was guarding a special guest the Russians had already tried to "eliminate" 3 times in broad daylight in England, shot 90+ % 3 times with a Army Issue handgun and freehanded in half the time allowed. All this takes place at 100 meters and from an Offhand standing position
Ron

This thread is timely for me as I am looking forward to hunting again after all the "fun & games" I've had with the Shingles and it's related side issues is about to finally come to an every day average status, if that's possible, in time to think about hunting again.

I have a couple of 270's that could/will fill the bill for more than just an average Texas WT or EXO hunt. I also have a NIB TC CM 6.5 to play with and learn what all the hoorah is about, and a WW Model 70 7x57 FWT I'd like to make meat with before I pass it along. I also feel like I need to get another long range shooter in 7Rmg or 300Wmg again, on the off chance of winning/finding a hunt where I could benefit from using one of these LR calibers again.
Ron

For me a 308 Win. If I go back to my native CO after elk I use my old 7mm Rem Mag.

308 and 45 - the Lords Calibers.

I guess my favorite caliber for deer in Texas is the 25-06. There are many rounds that will do everything that this round will do but I've owned at least 2 25-06 for nearly fifty years now. Pick a caliber and learn to shoot that rifle well and I'm sure you will have a new favorite cartridge as well. Let's go hunting fellas

i want to chime in too, 308 is my vote.

I’d have a hard time picking from .25-06, .270, or .308. Have had great success with all 3.

a really really big bull elk is 800lb

I’ve killed every thing(minus sitka blk tail) on your list or seen killed with less then 130gr bullet. 90% of that list I’ve personally killed with 115gr bullet including a few elk.

dont over think it it. send it

Dialing, just one more thing that can go wrong.....

Yup
308 is my go to caliber 95% of the time.

There are many, many great calibers out there but it is very hard to beat the 308 especially on deer & hogs

308

With a Vortex scope, yes.

I have everything in my arsenal from a 22-250 to a 7mm mag, but my go to from the being is the old 270. However, I just picked two Tikka T3’s in a 308 and 30-06 that need to be field tested. 😁

They will be fine. I have three, a CTR in .308, a Roughtek in 7mm Rem Mag and a 6.5 Creedmoor in the T3.

If you want to turn your T3's into really great hunting rifles, invest in a Bell & Carlson Medalist stock and bottom metal from High Desert Rifle Works. I did the same to my T3 once I saw what a great shooter it was. With that work it's even better, hunts better. Not that it matters but it looks better as well. There are more expensive stocks, but this one worked out really well, mated up with the bottom metal nicely.

If we're counting deer and hogs or smaller: 6.5x55 Swedish
If we're counting animals bigger than deer: 35 Whelen

My pick is the classy ole’ 270 Win

Lou

There’s not one.

Tools come in different sizes to fit the job/task. Like ball peen through sledge.

Go to caliber? 22 short through whatever the prey is.

It’s pretty safe to say that there’s a very broad range of calibers that will kill well enough on demand in the right hands. Shot placement and bullet selection being two big factors.


I generally favor my .280 Remington. But I don’t hand load and ammo isn’t much of an off the shelf option.
So that would push me to say that me personally I would say. 270 and if larger Texas animals are on the list I’d favor a premium constructed round.

The 30/06 is just very hard to look past too. Factory ammo from 125 to 220 grain and even reduced recoil rounds can be bought still I believe.

If we were talking only light skinned game.
25/06 all damn day.

.3030 or .35 rem is all I need for an axis.

Model 70 Winchester (1968) in 270!

My 1st rifle was a gift from my grandfather as a wedding present, a SAKO 243. I learned to shoot and reload with it. Yes I didn't hit or harvest everything I shot at, despite the hours and coaching received by spent at the old Dallas Police range across the street from the the New Wife & I's 1's first apartment on Greenbriar. I learned how to reload on my dining room table. My first hunt with the 243 I shot a sneaky quail eating bugs 50-60 feet in front of me in the LLano river bottom ...and got whopped " generously" by grandad's heavy walking cane for spooking his shot on a turkey eating his way into grandpop's target area of half a bag of fresh corn. He scored on the turkey the next day....while I held my empty rifle and watched thru the scope, and pulled the trigger on an empty chamber when I understood it was the "right time" milliseconds before grandpop's rifle spoke.

Yes I used that 243 for umm 7-8 years and only traded it off for a more appropriate White Tail rifle like the 270 a new mentor at John Chambers Gun Shop used and ate deer meat regularly....and several other TPW approved game critters and wasps' and at the new Shooting Range a little west of Harry Hines in north Dallas.

I cannot estimate how many "DEER Rifles" I 've owned, in a dozen Plus Calibers but keep coming back to the 270 and never have had a failure in harvesting game if I do my part in bullet placement at a reasonable rang. Just hope to have some 270 ammo in my pocket when I'm gone.

The Tyler Morning Telegraph is my daily morning paper, even though I live in Palestine. Last Sunday's ETX OUTDOORS section had a very interesting article that has rattled around my brain all week and it's pro;s & cons, Titled The Good, The Bad, written by Steve Knight

The Bad concerning the TPW's use of Eminent Domain to resolve the pro's & con's concerning the control of Fairfield Park. The accompanying colored photo of a dramatic shot of the setting sun accompanied the article, along with a comment that "The Sun may NOT be setting on Fairfield State Park and public access ...after the TPW Dept's evoking eminent domain to halt it's sale to a private developer.

Please read...I can't find the Email Address for a complete article that was printed in the paper, that I saw but will post it if I can find it. So.....

What Say Ya'll about these issues.
Ron