What do you guys use for deer in open county like eastern washington? Whats your favorite?

I use a weatherby vanguard .270 with Federal Vital Shock 130 grain bullets. I've killed several deer with this combo. Very flat shooting, which is a must in this terrain.

What's your .02?

Thanks!

.54 cal muzzle loader.

my dad hunted a 50 cal muzzle. very powerful guns. he had to be close tho because he wasnt the quickest at reloading lol

i'm setting down the modern rifle for a .50 muzzleloader this year. i can reliably hit an 8" target at 100 yards with a peep sight and my shooting sticks. lots of fun to shoot.

before that, i carried a model 70 in 7mm-08.

i love the 130 grain bullets for long range. Tear right through my deer

Nice combo RD, with bore/bullet commonality and all.
I'm one shipment away from completing my first 6.8 (20" A4 style) scratch build.

Ruger M77 in 25-06 for long shots on deer.

i like the 25-06. the only thing that pushed me away from it and made me get the .270 was the abundance of ammo. It's not easy to find 25-06 ammo where i live.

When I was shooting that one a lot I was rolling my own.
The last batch was from some select 30-06 brass I had necked down.
Off the shelf ammo drives sales but handloading opens up almost endless possibilities.

Edit :
Buying ammo online is yet another option.
Some good deals to be had.

Any legal caliber will do its part if you do yours. Your part is to put the bullet in the boiler room at an effective range for your ballistics. My favorites are the ones I've killed with 30-06, .308, 12-ga, and .50 muzz. I'm a huge fan of the Barnes ttsx or tsx for a projectile. Those damn things are just f'n killers. I hear good things about the Scirocco II's by swift as well.

.270WSM with 140 grn Accubonds. Killed deer, elk, and moose in WA. Good combo IMO.

Yeah, I think so.
The first barrage will be Silver State Armory factory stuff so I can accumulate some good brass as well as form opinions on bullet weights/types.

I can see where it's going though, there are a few 6x6.8 wildcats that look really interesting.


But then there's the .458 SOCOM thumper that would be fun.
It's an amazing platform.

Don't have any complaints about X's as they have served me well over a few decades. There are slipperier options in A-Max & VLD as well. Being one who hikes in to distant honey holes, I prefer a light rifle as opposed to a chunk. For light in both weight and recoil, a .243 Kimber 84M spitting 85gr TSX's or 87gr VLD's would a lot of buck for the bang.

Of course the vanilla .243, like others, can be Improved upon for 105 VLD's and similar fodder....

264 mag 130 grain

150gr Nosler partitions have done well in my .308 lately.. . might try the 180gr this year .. .

.270wsm in 130grn has worked well for me!

When I rifle hunted i used either a 243 or 270. Both took a lot of deer.

Kimber Montana .338 Federal

185gr TSX.

If you need a sample of projectiles for either 6.8 or .458, I have lots of weights and designs for both, if you are interested in trading.

Thanks DF, I'll keep that in mind.

CPD finally released their stainless steel 25 round mag...$10.99 - $15.99
The 10 round is next and has supposedly just been shipped to dealers.
First reports say 2.30" COAL is doable.

Cool! At .44mag.com?