Flawed poll for sure. 30-30 would be my choice.

Forty years ago, I would have said .22-250 or .30-30.

What is a .223 Swift?

The .308 will always be my #1.

Free range grass fed .22 Hornet

I grew up in CO hunting mule deer, elk and pronghorn. My father and both grandfathers shot the Rem 7mm Mag so that is what my brother and I shot as well. I have the same 7mm Mag that I got when I was 13. I am 60 now. I don't know how many heads of game I have seen fall to a 7mm Mag but it is a bunch. My rifle has even made it to Africa 5 times where it has racked up a bunch of plains game up to zebra and kudu in size.

All that being said I have been using the 308 Win for the last couple of years and I really enjoy it. But if I absolutely need to put game in the freezer it is my old 7mm that I will grab. I am confident at rages over 400 yards with it and it has been shooting the same handload for over 30 years. I know where it hits and if I get a shot and don't get the game I know it will not be the rifle's fault.

+1

I think that would be a 220 Swift ... my dad killed truck loads of deer with that little rifle after he got to an age where his 30-06 recoil was more than he wanted.

My favorite deer rifle is currently Sig Cross in 308. Secondary choice is Borden 280 AI. Riding drag is my Weatherby MK V in 7 Wby.

30-30 with Ghost rings…Put the “hunt” back in hunting.

Older Remington 700 in a 270 cal. Next would be any of my 308s

.308 is my favorite all around caliber, it can just do anything I need it to. It gets the most use. Up next for deer is the .270. I have killed many o critters with that gun.

I've owned dozens & dozens of "deer rilfles" in many different calibers. I spent 13 years selling deer rifles to dealers in 5 states from super cheap stuff to high end import rifles. Yes I like other calibers too but day in day out on every day WT/Mule Deer /Pronghorn/Elk & Hog I've never had a failure to Make Meat if I Do What I'm supposed to do and place the bullet where it is supposed to go. Only the 30'06 would be my 2nd choice, & then the 7rmg & 300Wmg shine for me before you get to the Dangerous African Game calibers. My best off hand shot while leaning over the hood of the guide's Bronco was on a Pronghorn we'd spooked at full speed away from us at about 300 long steps of the guides 42" long bluejean seam's. MIssed barely, leaving a ripple in his right shoulder skin on the 1st shot and scored on the 2nd round when the pronghorn bucked to the left and gave me a clean shoulder shot. . The 10 point Mule Deer over my head as I write this was taken at about 150 yrds with a 270 & 150's as I recall with the Buck in full exit mode to be surprised out of his bed under a bridge.

I tell a not so funny story about my first brand new 25'06 Ruger Christmas Present about when my 1st hog hunt buddy was called away - he was a Prison Asst Warden Sr Officer and no showed on a planned hog hunt in a North Florida/South Georgia US Park where I -10 cross's the E/W Freeway west of Jacksonville and me being tree'd by a sounder of huge hogs that almost could reach me 8' off the ground by standing up off tree from the ground level judging by the mud tracks they left on the tree bark . After the On Duty wardens finally realized I'd failed to exit the trail on time, and heard my yelling "I'm tree'd over here the other side of the muddy waterhole " did the sounder retreat from the search party.

On the way back to the Park's HQ I kept being asked by Staff what kind of rifle and caliber is that one, I've never heard of it or seen one before....followed by my ?'s about what should I be using on hogs out here....The Site SR Officer who'd checked me in and directed which trail to take, replied most people just carry "Injun Rifles"- aka 30-30's so they can climb out of danger easier, or mebbe one of the cheap beat up '06 M1's leftover from WW II. The next week I bought a WWII M1& bayonet super cheap @ $29.95 and a paper lunch bag of full of M1 FMJ ammo for 10 or 20 cents a round couple days later and spent 2 weeks cleaning all the dirt and rust out of it so it would give me reliable hard ball to sometimes softball sized group's at 100 yards offhand , and the rifle was deemed it Good Enough for Hog Hunting by the Prison Range Master at under 100 yards when I showed it to him. Later I backed into a 20" barreled vent rib Remington carbine in 308 for cheap and it like to beat the snot out me as it didn't weigh but about +4lb's scoped and loaded and did not have a rubber butt plate.

I did get to use my new Ruger 77 25'06 later to shoot crows out of my range buddy's father's fruit tree orchard and got paid 25cents per each dead bird recovered. That was fun for sure ..hit one and it EXPLODED in a SHOWER OF BLACK FEATHER's especially when shooting hollow points.


Right now I own a pair of 270's in a Winchester M70 270 and a Marlin Stainless 270, both of which are super accurate. FWIW Even if I could not ever be able to get another Deer Rifle I'd still be perfectly satisfied the rest of my life, but I know other old time Gun/Reps who have other calibers they cherish, and I hope to inherit the magnificent Tikka 30'06 I put my buddy onto at a Academy store closeout couple years ago, if my last living Hunting Partner passes before I do.
Ron

Old Springfield 1917 sporterized 30/06. I've taken so many deer with it that I can't count them all. 45 years ago I
gave it to my wife and she has shot it 28 times and has 28 kills of whitetail, mule deer, antelope. My three grandsons
this year all took their first deer with it. 7 years ago when my wife turned 70, she asked for a muzzle break as she
had shoulder operations and that gun did kick a little.
My deer gun is a Weatherby stainless 270. But it's not near the gun that the old Springfield is.

Montana Rifle Company .308 Win with a Nightforce 2.5-10x42 and a 130 grain Barnes TTSX.

Mine has to be the Tikka 260 that Chad had put together for me. Super accurate and not heavy. It made me put up my Sako 270 that I had hunted with for decades.

My old .270 Ruger MKII is my favorite deer rifle.

Killed a literal dump truck bloat of deer with it….was my only hunting rifle for many years.

Shoots 130 grain hornady customs and its a lights out rig.

The late Howard Dietz of New Braunfels put the shine on it and it will shoot cloverleafs.

So simple and so effective - I miss that ol' sum of a gum.

I`ve been carrying this Remington 700 ADL /270 since August of 1977. Bought it with almost every cent I had. Just graduated HS, moved out with a friend and had basically been supporting myself since I was 16 by working @ the Winn Dixie. I scraped up and was able to save another 69 bucks for a Redfield 6X before deer season that year and killed my very first buck that year. It was a spike.

That's a gun to be proud of.

I remember it well.....back then a Ruger rifle came with a 7-9 lb trigger from the factory, and a stock that had contact all down the barrel. I never got to see how well that rifle would shoot because I couldn't overcome the trigger. About 3 or 4 deer seasons in I got tired of it and took it to Howard after school one day to get him to install a Timney trigger and float the barrel and bed the action. A few days later he called me and said he couldn't put a trigger in it because Timney didn't make a trigger for a left handed Ruger, and that Ruger triggers were non-adjustable, but he thought he could work on it some.

About a week after he called me and told me it was ready. I went down to pick it up and re-sight it in. He was able to take a non-adjustable trigger and get it down to around 3 1/2 lbs. Bedded the action and floated the barrel. Total on the gun was a whopping $53.

For years it was my only hunting rifle and until 2014 my main rifle. Now I rarely hunt with it, I've since moved mostly into bowhunting whitetails and have a travel rifle that is much more capable than the old Ruger, but that thing fits like an old shoe. I have 100% confidence in that rifle.

A 270 is my old reliable, go anywhere shooter. Also really like a 300 WinMag too.
Back in the good old Gun Rep Days days I always had a new to me rifle to finish the season with so's I could tell Game Getter Stories to my dealers , and usually a new caliber too that I finished the Hunting Season with...AFTER I'd made Meat with one of the various the Old Reliable 270's game getter's.

I've Made Meat with ummm mebbe a dozen different caliber rifles. Gonna sell the Tikka Swede some day...only 'cause it's too pretty to go where I like to hunt ..but it shoots factory ammo at 100 -150+ yards in groups the size of my thumb nail all day out to past 200 yards when I'm on. This next Shooter to get to go anywhere is a inexpensive My Thompson Center 6.5CM feels just like I like it for a go anywhere wet weather rifle, that can be used to paddle the pirough with it if need be.

Longest kill shot I ever made offhand was with a Ruger 77 in 25'06 at a paced 350 yards with the critter in high gear when the 1st shot missed close enough to him to see the bullet hit dirt beside his left front foot with him facing away from us....the guide had +40# inseams, while I was leaning against the front fender of the guide's Bronco.
Ron

+2 but I picked my 2nd favorite .270

6MM Remington, Rem Model Seven SS w/ 20" barrel. New PTI bolt, old style dogleg, and re-headspaced for hotter reloads

How could anyone not include the beloved 257 Roberts!??

Depends on distance. Up close, a lever action 30-30. Over 75 yards, a scoped 30-06.