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Picking Out the Best Deer Hunting Rifle for You

One of the most important decisions for you to make in your hunting career is what deer rifle you should purchase. The keys to achieving your deer hunting goals come in the form of the best firearm for you. When you go to pick out a firearm, you want the one with the best style, action, sighting, size, and ballistics for your hunting area and physical capabilities. Whether or not you make the kill is largely reliant on whether or not your deer hunting rifle matches up best with the criteria above.

Match Your Rifle To Your Hunting Location

The two main types of deer hunting environments are the deep woods/dense brush and open range country. You may be hunting in an area that has a mixture of both these environment types. Every hunting environment has different styles of shooting and require rifles with different characteristics.

Deep Woods/Dense Brush Deer Hunting Rifles

Deer hunting rifles with short to medium range shooting characteristics are needed for situations when you’re in the woods. Typically, you’ll be shooting anything from 25 to 200 yards at deer in this environment, so this range is important. You should avoid a deer hunting rifle that’s too heavy; it shouldn’t be more than nine pounds, and don’t get a barrel that’s longer than twenty-two inches - it’s gotta be short and light to get you to move quickly. When in dense brush, you have to be able to move around. Get a deer hunting rifle that offers fast reload - automatics or lever action would be best; you might have to do a quick follow shot when you’re deer hunting in rough terrain. You need to penetrate the brush, so get a bullet with a heavy cartridge - nothing less than 120 grain and .270 caliber. In order to prevent the bullet from getting deflected by brush, don’t get too fast of a cartridge, more than 2,200 feet/second is not needed. I would recommend a scope that goes down to three power with variable power, and you may prefer an open sight if you can only shoot within fifty years of your position, If you want to find out if open site shooting works for you, test it out at the range.

Deer Hunting Rifles for Open Range

Deer hunting rifles which are good performers in open areas are those designed for longer range shooting, up to three hundred yards or farther. Rifle portability is not as important as accuracy and velocity in long shot situations and the rifles will be heavier and with longer barrel lengths than deep woods rifles. In open range shooting, high velocity rifle calibers and cartridges are needed. Calibers in the 6MM (.243) range or higher will be satisfactory and bullets from 100 grain up will perform well. Generally, the larger the caliber is, the heavier the bullet will need to be for the best ballistic accuracy. Scopes with a 6 X 9 variable power are what most shooters will need at the very least.

Personal Choices

As you select your deer hunting rifle, heed the advice you’ve just read where it talks about the environment in which you’re hunting; once you do that, figure out what other characteristics you need to fit your shooting style. Do you really want to have almost twelve pounds of rifle to carry around when hunting?

Visit a nearby hunting rifle dealer and test out various models, kinds, and sizes from different makers of deer hunting rifles to see what feels good. Whenever you have the chance, ask successful hunters what they use and why. Ask friends to permit you to hold and handle their rifles and find out what you like and dislike about it.

If you want to know about what deer hunting rifle to use, and what deer hunting tips can help you, check out Deer Hunting Rifle - You can also get our latest eBook, “Secrets of Finding Monster Bucks Revealed” for free at Secrets of Finding Monster Bucks Revealed.