Dear NE-members,

as I am hunting mostly in Bavaria, our bread-and-butter game is roe deer (boar-hunting is a more duty-bound necessity).

I hunted roe deer with calibers from 6mm upto 458 Win Mag (test purposes) and with reasonable shot placement you cannot do much wrong.

However, in the more open country with shots ranging upto 200 meters I was comfortable with the 308 Win and 165grs Ballistic Tips or Sierra SPBT bullets at ca. 750 m/s and a 12 or 15power scope.

However in short ranges (below 50 meters) the exit wound was sometimes "too much" with shoulder shots.

The rifle/cartridge I mostly use in woodland are the
- 7x57 with 140 Ballistic Tips or 139grs Hornady SST @ 780 m/s MV
- 7,65x53 Arg. Mauser with 174grs Hornady RNSP @ 740 m/s MV
- 8x57 IS with the 180grs Ballistic Tip @ 780m/s or the 196grs Brenneke TIG @ 740 m/s MV
- 9x57 with the 250grs Speer SPRN @ 650 m/s MV
- 9,3x57 with the 225grs RWS Doppelkern or the Norma 232grs PPC Vulcan @ 700 m/s MV

best regards
Rolf

...and yes, in case you might wonder, the 458 Win Mag with a 250grs Barnes TSX @ 610 m/s works also, was intended for a car-hit boar, but another hunter collected it, and I got a shot with the 458 at a much needed venision-roe deer