Hmmm. Well I live here in Ohio and we can't hunt deer with a rifle. Shotgun (slug only, no buckshot) and muzzle loaders only. The past few years I have been using my BPS in 12 gage, but this past year I switched down to a 410. I got one of the new Winchester 9410 lever action shotguns chambered in the 2.5in 410 shotshell. It looks just like a 30/30 win 94. What an excellent and fun gun. I have shot sporting clays, skeet, and a ton of squirrels with it. I was amazed how well it shot slugs when I was at the range, so since 410 slug was a legal deer hunting cartridge here in Ohio I gave it a try. Took my largest whitetail ever with it on the afternoon of opening day. A nice 8pt wieghing about 125 pound after feild dressing. This is far from a nitro express cartridge but it was a fun and challenging deer cartridge.

I have booked an elk hunt for october of this year in Colorado with some of my faimly. I will be using a 270 Win for that hunt. Probably pushing the lower limits on what is a good elk cartridge but I have used that gun all my life hunting groundhogs and I am a good shot with it and comforable with it. I was suprised to read that a 243 win was legal to hunt Elk. That seem pretty light for such a big critter.

mcb