Best Deer Cartridge
Deer hunters are always wondering what the best caliber is. What they really mean is what's the best cartridge?
Caliber refers to the diameter of the bullet. Cartridge means the shape AND caliber.
A .30-30 Winchester, .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield and .300 Weatherby Magnum are all the same caliber, but vastly different cartridges. They can and often do shoot the same bullets, but at different speeds. The .30-30 can drive a 150-grain flat nose about 2,400 feet per second (fps). A .308 Win. will push a 150-grain spire point 3,000 fps, a .30-06 will move it 3,100 fps and the .300 Weatherby will send it screaming at 3,400 fps.
They'll all kill deer.
So which is best?
None. But this doesn't mean there isn't an ideal deer cartridge out there.
The thing is, one man's ideal is another man's garbage. For argument, let's outline what a good, all-round whitetail cartridge should have/be:
1. Accurate. Of course, but how accurate? Despite everyone's preoccupation with sub-MOA (Minute of Angle), target-grade performance, any rifle that clusters three shots inside of a 2-inch circle is going to hit every broadside deer out to 300 yards. But most factory rifles shoot closer to MOA right out of the box, so no worries.
2. Minimal recoil. Experienced shooters can teach themselves to endure the kick of .375 H&H magnums, but the average deer hunter doesn't shoot enough to resist flinching when he fires a .30-06. Accuracy (hitting what you shoot at) is way more important than a few hundred more fps or foot pounds.
3. Reasonably flat trajectory. The sleeker and more aerodynamically efficient a bullet, the farther it flies before being pulled to the ground. The faster it leaves the rifle, the farther and flatter it flies. But too much velocity means increased recoil, so there's a limit here. A good rule of thumb: the bullet should strike the deer somewhere in the chest if aimed center chest. Any cartridge/bullet combination that can do that out to 300 yards is more than ready for prime time.
