When I started deer hunting in the 1970s, most of my friends either used a 30-06 or a 30-30. The .350 Legend, in fact, produces about 8.5 pounds of felt recoil in a 7-pound rifle—less than a .243 Win. 10 Best 6.5mm Rifle Cartridges Available Right Now Ammo 10 Best 6.5mm Rifle Cartridges Available Right Now Joseph von Benedikt - August 28, 2020. RECOIL: With lighter bullets, the .450 Bushmaster, .350 Legend and other straight-wall cartridges generate less recoil than a 12-gauge slug (especially a rifled version) in a standard hunting load. The fine for being caught afield with any variation of these, or any rifle with a non-legal caliber is $250 and a 2-year hunting privilege suspension! Available in multiple deer-hunting friendly caliber options, these rifles feature barrel lengths check in at just under 22 inches and have a twist rate of 1:10. 30-30 Winchester. There have, arguably, been more deer taken with this cartridge than any other on the market. Five Best New Cartridges for Deer Hunting Derrek Sigler 09.22.20 Each and every year, the ammo and rifle manufacturers get together and at least one of them will release a hot, new deer cartridge that will revolutionize the deer hunting world – or so they say. Hunting rifle calibers for large game may include belted magnum cartridges such as .300 Win Mag or .375 H&H, or heavy big-bore cartridges like .45-70 or .458 Win Mag. The 4 Best Straight-Walled Rifle Cartridges for Deer Hunting For generations, a lot of states have allowed deer hunters to use only shotguns with slugs or maybe a muzzleloader during gun … Iowa is not planning to open a special season for these weapons. Some are easier on the shoulder than 20-gauge slug loads. Think about how many years good old boys used a Winchester 94 to hunt deer with. The State is, however, allowing them to be used during qualified youth hunting season, as well as, disabled hunter’s seasons. DAVENPORT, Iowa — For the second time, Iowa deer hunters going out for the first shotgun season on Saturday, December 1 will be able to use straight wall cartridge rifles… I use several different handgun caliber carbines for Wisconsin deer, none of them are 45-70. I question why you are set on 45-70? If I thought I really needed something larger than a .44 mag rifle, I would go for a TC in .460(actually used to have a T/C Pro Hunter Katahdin Hunter Carbine in .460). A few folks used a 243 Winchester (the smallest caliber that was legal for deer hunting in Kentucky at that time), a couple of fellows that I knew used a 270 Winchester, and one guy used a 280 Remington. WIth that, what is the best caliber rifle for deer hunting? Rifle Equipment: Centerfire rifles .357 caliber or larger, shooting straight-walled ammunition with an expanding-type bullet where: Straight-walled, centerfire, rimless cartridges have bullets that are from 0.357" to 0.500" in diameter and have a case length from 0.850" to 1.800"