Matthew Ekdahl 11.18.24
All over the country, deer hunters are ramping up for another rifle season for the elusive whitetail deer. This can look drastically different depending on your location, your current laws – as well as what you already have – and people can oftentimes hunt with drastically different firearms all hoping to score the big one. Trying to determine what the best hunting cartridge is can be tricky, and frankly, it’s a timeless argument, and various rounds have their strengths and disadvantages. Let’s take a closer look at what the best cartridge for hunting whitetail deer is with all factors considered.
Factors to Consider
When looking at various cartridges for hunting, it is important to consider all factors that come with a widespread cartridge making it accessible to hunters in general. While some cartridges may have incredible performance, they may be considered niche cartridges so the widespread availability may be low. Even though it may have incredible characteristics, it may not win because it’s not widely available yet. Now, here are a few factors to consider when looking at what the perfect whitetail cartridge would be for you.
Price
A pretty substantial factor when looking at rifle cartridges is the overall price of rounds in the market. Depending on what part of the country you live in along with your local laws, it can be tough to justify paying $110 per box for a 300 Weatherby Magnum when the longest distance you will shoot is 250-300 yards. At that point, there’s a fairly good argument for using something like a 30-06 because the energy transfer is similar to those rounds costing a fraction of 300 Weatherby Magnum while delivering similar performance. Is 300 Weatherby Magnum typically a better round than 30-06? In most circumstances the answer is a definite yes, but in shorter distances, the price difference doesn’t justify the extra price. This is where finding the right cartridge is rather tricky.
Availability
One of the most important factors is overall availability where you can easily find the ammunition. Just like the price category, availability can also impact how viable a cartridge is if you can only get rounds off various internet stores. There have been a few times when I was traveling and wanted to grab extra ammo for my hunting rifle during my early days of hunting. The ability to grab hunting ammo in any hardware store or small gun shop where I can grab a couple of boxes of the same ammo just to be sure.
I have traveled a few times for night hog hunts and there was one time when FedEx lost my box of ammo that I shipped out ahead of time. Once I arrived to no ammo, I had to make a last-minute run into the local hardware store to pick up whatever 308 variant the local hardware store had and luckily I was able to pick up 200 rounds of hunting rounds even though it was significantly priced. The ability to go into a store and purchase ammo in a tough spot is certainly an important factor when looking at the best cartridge.
Energy Transfer
Another really important factor when looking at the bigger picture. Several cartridges offer affordable pricing and plentiful availability, but don’t have effective energy transfer. An example of these would be .223 Remington and .17 HMR because they are cheap and plentiful, but certainly don’t have the energy transfer to ethically harvest a deer. There are a number of cartridges that are excellent for whitetail deer as well as larger game in North America.
When talking about energy transfer – when it comes to hunting whitetail deer- it can look drastically different. For example, a .243 Winchester and 300 Winchester Magnum are two drastically different rounds and even though they are talking about two cartridges that certainly have the ability to harvest a deer, they are drastically different in terms of performance. It’s important to look at adequate velocity and energy transfer.
Hunting Location
The last major category to consider when picking a cartridge is your general hunting location. Trying to pick a cartridge for Northern Wyoming is going to be drastically different than trying to find the perfect round for the swamps of Eastern Michigan. These two places will have very different terrains and their requirements to be effective can be radically different as well. Certain cartridges are fantastic options for out west hunting where it’s not out of the realm to make a 500 – 700 yard shot if the animal is in a tough spot. If we are going to look at the honest best cartridge for whitetail hunting, it’s important the cartridge can do both effectively without worrying about having a kill that’s not ethical.
Best Overall Cartridge: 308 Winchester
When it comes to hunting cartridges for whitetail deer, I’m not sure there’s a better choice for all of the categories that I mentioned above. When it comes to price, the 308 Winchester rounds can be found for as cheap as 65 cents a round with the ballistic match ammo going higher to $1.50 per round depending on your choice. There are options for every budget. Whether you want a basic ballistic tip round for hunting, you can oftentimes find them for 85 cents per round or slightly more depending on your local shops and area of the country. In terms of pricing, it’s not the cheapest option on this list, but all things considered, it’s an extremely reasonable round for its capabilities.
As I touched on earlier in this article, being able to go into a hardware shop or local gun shop and pick up a few boxes of 308 in an emergency makes it extremely reasonable. Other options like 6.5 Creedmoor are becoming more popular and mainstream, but they still aren’t at the level of other cartridges on the market like 308 yet. The fact is you can go almost anywhere that sells gun-related parts or ammunition and find 308 Winchester rounds. The widespread availability of this round is a big part of the reason why it’s considered the best round for whitetail. When it comes to velocity and energy transfer, the 308 Winchester has one of the most ballistic charts on the planet. You can find all kinds of information about bullet drop, terminal velocity figures, and any other information out there.
Typically 308 rounds have a velocity of 2,600 – 2,750 depending on grain weight and bullet shape, but the beauty of these rounds is the overall speed they travel combined with the larger bullet weight than other cartridges. Other cartridges may have higher speed with a better ballistic coefficient, but the amount of energy transferred from this round puts animals down better than the faster, lighter options in most applications. Although, your holdover may be slightly higher than other options out there like .270 Winchester or 6.5 Creedmoor, it’s important to think about the effective range. The 308 Winchester can make accurate, consistent shots at 1,000 yards with an 18” or greater barrel and match-grade ammunition. That means it’s perfectly suitable for most hunting applications whether it’s out west taking shots at that trophy whitetail deer, mule deer, or taking a shot in the woods of Wisconsin. Either way, the 308 has the ability to perform.
Runner-Up Cartridges
30-06 Springfield
If you’re looking for a heavy-hitting classic round, the 30-06 Springfield is one of the best bangs-for-your-buck on the market. This round has been around and is one of the original heavy-hitting rounds hunters have used for generations. The “06” in 30-06 is from 1906 which is the year the round was created. With 110+ years of proven reliability in putting animals down, the 30-06 Springfield has been notorious. With prices being anywhere from 70 cents to 1.20 per round, this cartridge is still really reliable and almost as common as 308 Winchester.
When looking around local stores, you will typically see 30-06 Springfield being stocked at about 85% of the gun shops and hardware stores I’ve looked at which is fairly easy to find as well. Regarding energy transfer, the 30-06 is one of the heavy hitters on this list. If you’re within 600 yards, the 30-06 has manageable bullet drop, but after 600 yards, the 30-06 round drops like a rock with a massive amount of drop. If I had to argue, I would say 60% – 70% of the hunters in the northeast part of the country go out and hunt or have hunted with a 30-06 rifle in their life. When it comes to hunting cartridges, this one is one of the older options still on the market today. Given all the research to new bullet types and ballistic improvements, there’s never been a better time to jump into the 30-06 Springfield.
270 Winchester
When it comes to another flat shooting round with the least bullet drop on this list, you have to talk about the 270 Winchester. Out to 400 yards, this is one of the flattest shooting rounds on the list with almost no adjustments. Anywhere up to 400 yards will have less than 7” of adjustment which is a huge plus in the close or mid-range zone. Having the ability to shoot without a huge holdover or having to adjust your optic. When it comes to price, 270 Winchester can regularly be found for about $1.00 a round to $2.00 a round depending on the bullet and manufacturer. Out of all the options, this caliber is one of the more expensive options and is by far less popular than 308 Winchester or 30-06 Springfield.
Due to this, the availability also takes a hit. It’s a 50-50 shot that hardware stores or local gun shops will have 270 Winchester on their shelves and out of most places it’s hit or miss on availability sadly. Out of all the areas I’ve been to around the country, it’s mostly stocked on shelves in the Northeast or Midwest part of the country. It’s not nearly as popular out west with other options having better range and energy transfer. This is a great round for shorter and mid-range hunts, but it certainly isn’t the best option on the market but good enough to at least mention in this article.
Straight Walled Cartridge Winner: 450 Bushmaster
When it comes to states with straight-walled cartridge requirements, nothing really beats the overall knockdown factor of the 450 Bushmaster. I went back and forth on the idea that 12 gauge slugs should be here, but the performance improvements really do make up for the other shortfalls that may be present with 450 Bushmaster. When it comes to price, the 450 Bushmaster is typically $1.25 – $2.00 per round which is slightly more than 12 gauge slugs, but the variety of platforms you can get chambered in 450 Bushmaster is wonderful.
Whether it’s a bolt action, AR15 pattern, or single-shot rifle, the 450 Bushmaster has a number of options for weapon platforms. In terms of availability, the 450 Bushmaster is fairly available in areas with caliber restrictions, especially in the Northeast or Midwest, but out West there are way more long-range cartridge options and no need for straight-walled cartridges. So, that’s why I put it in its own subcategory. When it comes to energy transfer, the 450 Bushmaster typically will have a velocity of anywhere from 2,200 – 2,500 FPS throwing a 250gr bullet with an energy transfer of 2,700 Ft-Lbs. That is a massive amount of energy and a range up to roughly 300 yards, it’s still possible to make shots past that distance, but it’s rather tricky. I think this is an excellent choice
Overall Thoughts
There are plenty of fantastic choices out there when it comes to the best cartridges for hunting whitetail deer. It’s hard to pick just one as the best because some wildcat cartridges are fantastic options, but lack the necessary availability to become mainstream while others are available yet lack the performance to be a good candidate. Of all the options out there, 308 Winchester is the clear winner with all the options considered.
What do you guys think is the best cartridge out there for whitetail deer? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below. If you have questions about calibers or firearms in general, feel free to shoot me a message on Instagram @fridgeoperator. Stay safe out there and we will see you in the next article.
