whay is the best rifle for hunting whitetail deer?

[Wyatt]

iam bout 5,7 130 lbs

[maintman73]

Not legal ,but thousands of deer have been taken with a .22 Long rifle. Stick with the gun you shoot the best. I would go with 22.250 .243 .270 7.62 X39 .308 win. 30/30 win . Anything bigger is a waste of your shoulder and meat and money.

[Daystar]

First of all your size doesn't matter. My nephew is 12 and just took his first buck last fall.
The best rifle depends on where you hunt. Thick brush, then a good ole 30-30. Woods with open areas, 30-06. Long rolling hills or plains with long distances, 308. Up close and personal 223.

[suprasteve]

oh man, is this gonna cause some debate...... starting with what I have: Ruger M77 in 308 Win. It's more gun than necessary, but i like it that way. There's lots of people who love bullets as small as a .223 and have taken lots of deer wiht them. There's people who want something 30 caliber or larger just for the increased energy of the projectile. I think most would agree that a .270 is one of the most popular calibers out there for deer, so you can't really go wrong there. The longer the shots you are planning on taking, the more you need to consider retained energy and downrange velocity, but a .270 is a pretty good compromise for those two. Then you get into the different manufacturers and their offerings. The Remington 700 is often credited as the 'best' one, but my Ruger is great, I like Savages (and they're one of the least expensive), and ther are literally dozens of other perfectly suitable guns for deer hunting. Then you can get into synthetic vs wood furniture, barrel length, blued vs stainless, and all sorts of other stuff. Given your size, a smaller projectile will give a little less kick, but you need to remember two different calibers may have the same parent case and will fire similarly because of that fact. For example, a 243 has the same parent case as the 308 (actually the 308 IS the parent case). BTW the 243 is another good choice. I would think most people wouldn't argue with a 270 in any good hunting rifle for most shots you'll be taking at deer, unless you're trying to shoot hundreds of yards away. One more time, my opinions and there's going to be a LOT of disagreement with this question...

[dca2003311@yahoo.com]

* The tried, true, tested, and proved to be the best is the 30-06.* The 30-06 probably never will be excelled as an all-around Rifle for American Big Game.*~~ It has earned its name and reputation since 1906 by making 15 consecutive one-shot kills on American Big Game.* It also is used on many African Big Game Animals successfully.*