[BattleRifleG3]

Now that I'm safety certified, I'll hopefully be going for deer this year. Though most of my milsurps and shotguns are legal to hunt deer with, though, I'll probably be taking modern sporting arms, both with cartridges carrying the Remington name. One is a Savage 111G in 300 RUM. Yes, a pretty heavy round, but at 200 or 300yd, wouldn't it have similar power to a closer range shot with a 30-06? That's the general idea. For the shorter shots in heavy brush, I will be getting a Rem 760 pump action in 35 Remington. Would of course pick one or the other depending on where I'd be hunting.

But does that sound like a good covering of both bases? For shorter range or shotgun only hunting areas, I'd have a slug gun.

 

[lefty o]

any of the cartridges you've listed will work just fine on whitetails. now remember when you go out hunting, you are trying to kill fast. can you take out a deers heart at 300yds off hand? i recommend keeping your shots close untill you get a few kills under your belt. the vast majority of deer are taken inside of 100yds, and its a good thing because most hunters dont belong shooting at much more than a 100yds.please dont think that im trying to belittle you or your shooting ability, just trying to caution you that shooting a living creature is not the same as shooting a piece of paper- even if its standing still. let me tell you wounding an animal is not good, ive only wounded one while i was bowhunting and it is a rotten feeling.

 

[wirehunt]

What are you shooting moose????

 

[BattleRifleG3]

Sounds like a good idea, starting off with closer shots. I would most likely hunt with a buddy, and I do consider myself the shorter range shooter among my friends. So me with a 35 and buddies with a 30-06, 270, or 250 would seem like a good combination.

 

[Thrawn]

What are you shooting moose????

Them Whitetails in PA are the size of moose! I know first hand that they get pretty grown in northwest PA.:nod:

 

[dave375hh]

Brg3,
If your going to hunt western PA, I'd suggest getting a level 4 bullet proof vest with front and rear trama plates. I only live about 25 miles from the PA line and I only hunted there once. Shortly after it got light an AH put a bullet into the tree two feet over my head. I could see him plane as day, and me in an orange vest is like an orange barndoor. I went prone behind the tree and had my crosshairs on the bridge of his nose so fast I never did figure out how I moved that fast. About that time my common sense caught up with my very mad self, and I vowed never to return to PA to hunt again. I was hunting with the owner of the land we were on so I wasn't taking someones spot. The land owner caught up with this guy later in the week(his neighbor) and he said he thought I was a deer. I came very close to ruining the rest of my life that morning, not to mention STUPID'S IGNORANT LIFE. Since then I've hunted deer in nine states with no problems, but never again in PA.

 

[Pumpkinheaver]

In all my years of deer hunting I have only shot 2 deer that where over 100 yards away, a big doe at 250 and an 8 pt at 275 both with a .308win. If you can handle the recoil of the .300 rum by all means shoot it(I know us hunters are all manly men but recoil sucks!!!). I have used a .308 for 90% of my deer hunting and have never found it lacking.

 

[BattleRifleG3]

Dave, I'm glad you came out of there alive to tell the story. While PA has its share of loonies, the law can be pretty serious if called upon. If the guy thought you were a deer and he shot at you, I mean it's not like you were wearing antlers or something, I mean you were in orange for pete's sake. That's something that should be prosecuted and I sure as heck would should it ever happen to me in the future.

The good side of hunting with body armor is that it's usually in the colder months of the year.

 

[SilverRun]

As previously said, sounds like good choices. Of course many other calibers with less recoil would work just as well. The only thing I would suggest would be buckshot instead of slugs (if legal there). I like OOO buckshot in 3â€￾ for heavy brush.

I have been hunting on public land before and had bullets come flying overhead. A big oak tree was never so pretty! Some real idiots out there! I am not that familiar with body armor, but it seems that most hunting rifles would go through most vest.

 

[BattleRifleG3]

Correct that "most" hunting rifles would go through "most" vests. Hence why Dave listed level 4, rated to stop a 30-06 AP.

 

[Oxford]

BRG3...what Lefty 0 said was true about not wanting to only wound a deer (or any other game, too). Just as I pulled the trigger the whitetail deer I aimed at ducked down. Got it in the spine instead. Two choices I had were to shoot it again...or to cut it's juggler and wait. I chose the second choice and when the deed was done I swore that'd never happen again. I'll use my Ruger .357 Magnum as a finishing gun in the future if it's ever needed.

 

[wirehunt]

Now that you have a Ruger 357 Ox. Lol

 

[Bountyhunter]

The question becomes, which rifle can you shoot the best?

As a beginning hunter, your 760/35 Rem is more than sufficient to cleanly kill whitetail deer and black bear. Remington produced over a million 760's. At the ranges you can expect to shoot, the big .358 bullet is designed to be a one shot stopper. Recoil is manageable, and the accuracy is excellent. It has a 4 shot box magazine that you can buy extras of so you can carry a spare in your pocket. Ammo is 1/3 the price of the UM. Take the 760 out and practice with it until you are proficient at 100 yards, then go hunting. After you have hunted for 2-3 years, try the UM and see if you really like it. The .35 uses about 40 grains of powder. The .300UM uses about 90 grains of powder. That should send you some messages.

My grandpa gave me my first large rifle in 1960. It is a M742 in .308. It has accounted for more deer than you will likely ever kill. The only difference between the two is that the 742 is an auto and the 760 is a pump. The .35 is a better brush bucker than the .308 for your purposes. For the first few seasons, buy off the shelf ammo. Reloading the .35 is tricky, as the low velocity--compared to the mags--will not expand some of the available bullets correctly for hunting.

Bill

 

[BattleRifleG3]

Sounds like a good plan. I'll give both rifles a bit of practice though. If I'm as good with the 760 as I am with my RUM, that'll be great, but realistically that Savage 111G in 300 RUM is probably responsible for some of my most accurate shots. It might depend on who I'm hunting with too. If I'm with a bunch of 30-30 folks, I might round out the spectrum with a rifle for the long shots. If I'm with a 270 guy, the 35 would seem like a good brushbuster complement.

Wow. My shoulder is hurting already just thinking about it.

 

[Jesse]

The question becomes, which rifle can you shoot the best?

As a beginning hunter, your 760/35 Rem is more than sufficient to cleanly kill whitetail deer and black bear. Remington produced over a million 760's. At the ranges you can expect to shoot, the big .358 bullet is designed to be a one shot stopper. Recoil is manageable, and the accuracy is excellent. It has a 4 shot box magazine that you can buy extras of so you can carry a spare in your pocket. Ammo is 1/3 the price of the UM. Take the 760 out and practice with it until you are proficient at 100 yards, then go hunting. After you have hunted for 2-3 years, try the UM and see if you really like it. The .35 uses about 40 grains of powder. The .300UM uses about 90 grains of powder. That should send you some messages.

My grandpa gave me my first large rifle in 1960. It is a M742 in .308. It has accounted for more deer than you will likely ever kill. The only difference between the two is that the 742 is an auto and the 760 is a pump. The .35 is a better brush bucker than the .308 for your purposes. For the first few seasons, buy off the shelf ammo. Reloading the .35 is tricky, as the low velocity--compared to the mags--will not expand some of the available bullets correctly for hunting.

Bill

Good to know someone else respects the .35 Remington as much as me. What's your opinion of the Marlin 336 in .35 Remington? I'm itching to find one as a twin to my 336 30/30. I will use it for feral hog.

 

[BattleRifleG3]

If you like 35 Remington, you'll LOVE the AK I'm building...

 

[Specter]

As previously said, sounds like good choices. Of course many other calibers with less recoil would work just as well. The only thing I would suggest would be buckshot instead of slugs (if legal there). I like OOO buckshot in 3â€￾ for heavy brush.

I have been hunting on public land before and had bullets come flying overhead. A big oak tree was never so pretty! Some real idiots out there! I am not that familiar with body armor, but it seems that most hunting rifles would go through most vest.

Even level IV Body Armor will only take 3 rifle hits at the most about 2 inches apart where impacted. Most of the tests I've seen have been done with handgun bullets and AK 47 bullets. I think alot of the hunting rounds out there will hit harder than an AK 47 round.(non-AP) If anything it's not the bullet itself that will kill you it's the massive blunt trama. Point Blank Body armor seems pretty good. They have alot of options. It may cost a pretty penny but I'd use the thickest vest at the highest level rating with the Ceramic plates.

Point Blank Armor

 

[Bountyhunter]

Jesse,

You dont mention where you are from. I have a Winchester 94, .30-30 and must say, I am a fan of lever guns. The Marlin is a good gun, no doubt about it. Moving up to a .35--The .30-30 will put a 170 gr (heaviest normally available bullet) out at about 2150 fps. The .35 will put a 200 gr out at about 2050 fps at max load.

If you keep your range short enough, say not over 50-75 yards, then those rounds should work fine. Thing is, that after a couple generations in the wild, those feral hogs develop that gristle plate over their shoulders, and it is tough to punch through. On a big old boar hog of 300-500 pounds, that gristle plate can be an inch and a half thick, acting like armor plate. If you dont punch through that plate and get a killing shot, you will have a wounded, mad hog on your hands. Then, you become the hunted. I'd say even if you knock one down, follow up with a quick second shot just for insurance. We have a lot of the big feral hogs here. They call them Great Plains Grizzley because of what some of them have done to people.

Bill

 

[mdclark]

Good ole 30-06 covers a lot of territory. Not sexy but sufficient!!!

 

[Jesse]

Jesse,

You dont mention where you are from. I have a Winchester 94, .30-30 and must say, I am a fan of lever guns. The Marlin is a good gun, no doubt about it. Moving up to a .35--The .30-30 will put a 170 gr (heaviest normally available bullet) out at about 2150 fps. The .35 will put a 200 gr out at about 2050 fps at max load.

If you keep your range short enough, say not over 50-75 yards, then those rounds should work fine. Thing is, that after a couple generations in the wild, those feral hogs develop that gristle plate over their shoulders, and it is tough to punch through. On a big old boar hog of 300-500 pounds, that gristle plate can be an inch and a half thick, acting like armor plate. If you dont punch through that plate and get a killing shot, you will have a wounded, mad hog on your hands. Then, you become the hunted. I'd say even if you knock one down, follow up with a quick second shot just for insurance. We have a lot of the big feral hogs here. They call them Great Plains Grizzley because of what some of them have done to people.

Bill

Thanks, I thought about using a .303 British w Hornaday 165 gr. light magnum load that is balistically similar to a .308 165 gr.



"Good ole 30-06 covers a lot of territory. Not sexy but sufficient!!!"

No arguments here!