Beware the man with one gun. He can probably use it. -Jeff Cooper.
This is a theory that I fell into, accidentally, when it comes to my choice in a whitetail rifle. I now look back at it as a happy accident. And here’s the story and reason for my choice.
Okay, let's get this out of the way, I own more than one rifle and more than one caliber. If I had to choose one rifle in one caliber it would be a 30-06 and probably a bolt action. Yet, when I got my whitetail gun I didn’t have a choice, I was in a jam literally and figuratively.
My Savage 111FCXP3 in 30-06 was my only big game rifle at the time. It was just before deer season in New York and I was having feed issues. (later remedied). I have a great friend Mike who let me borrow a Remington 7600 30-06 carbine for a few days but I needed my own gun. Mike just so happened to win a Savage 116 Weather Warrior with Accutrigger and Accustock at a banquet earlier that week. I had an AK I had gotten third hand from Mike that he wanted back, so we traded. He was really getting me out of a jam here!
The problem was that this rifle, which was exactly what I had lusted over for a few years, is chambered in the venerable .270 Winchester. This may come as a surprise but even after shooting .270’s and seeing friends and family kill all sorts of animals with them including , whitetails, elk , black bear, caribou and moose….I was not an advocate. I think, I had always thought and still do from time to time, a .270 is an over-valued round. I love Jack O’conner’s writing but dismissed his caliber choice.
My mild disdain for the ninety plus year old round probably came from working in sporting goods stores for years. In doing so you hear all sorts of outrageous claims, 100 yard .410 slug shots and other lies like “the .270 is so much faster than the 30-06.”...Let’s all say it together when loaded with similar rounds such as a 150 grain BTSP they impact almost identically. I can not shoot the difference between them in most practical hunting situations.
I got the rifle and immediately put a 3-9x40 Leupold VX1 on it. I had shot a deer or two with Federal fusion and decided I’d like to use that round if it agreed with my new Savage. After a quick laser boresight I took it to the range and was happy to see that it did like the 150 grain Fusions that I wanted to feed it. I hunted all of the rest of that season with the rifle and killed a nice doe at 120 yards with a frontal shot. I came to the realization that with this rifle and bullet I could take any whitetail that walks within reason. That reason only being limited by my marksmanship.
In 2016 I was planning a trip to go to the Adirondack Mountains with my Uncle and a friend, of course I was planning on hunting with this rifle. This trip prompted me to change out the scope though. Leupold makes a great optic but I wanted something smaller with a bit lower power. I topped it with a Vortex Diamondback in a 2-7x35. The first deer I killed with the frontal shot is the longest distance I have ever shot a deer at. This scope is plenty enough for me and excels at all of the still hunting that I tend to do in NY and PA. I can’t imagine there will ever be a shot I can’t make at 7 power.
That hunt in the Adirondacks got snowed out. After three days of not really leaving the tent we decided to head to the southern tier. After twenty minutes of walking down a trail in the deep snow I got to fill my freezer again with this gun. A big doe was paralleling the trail when she made the happy accident of stepping onto the clear edge of the logging road I was on. With that Vortex on two power, 20 yards wasn’t too close for a shot. The .270 did its job as reliably as a Pennsylvania coal miner goes under ground.
My feelings about the rifles status as the perfect whitetail rig was confirmed in spades again. I was in my Trophyline tree saddle and a doe came up the hill I was looking down. Never being one to look a gift horse in the mouth at 50 yards I took the shot. One bound was as far as she could muster. I decided to get down and walk over to her when my cousin texted me to say he was heading to the truck. When I got to her I heard the tell tale crunch from above me on the hill. I looked up and at about 135 yards I saw a deer. I dropped to my knees with my rifle at the ready. I turned the scope up to 7 and put that Federal Fusion slug where I wanted it to go. The buck dropped in its tracks and slid down the hill on the crusty snow. He eventually came to stop at the logging road just above me. I couldn’t have been more elated.
I’m happy with my do all whitetail rifle. Who knows it might end up being the only one I’ll ever need….not want...but need.
