What’s your go-to for “Straight Wall” season?

[loganwayne]

I killed my first big buck with a marlin 1895 trapper in 45-70 . About a 30 yard chest shot DRT . I grew up around houndsman so lever guns was very familiar to me . Seems like no kidding that every deer hunter around here gets a 300 magnum to shoot less than 200 yards . WNC mountains . I always thought that was just ego or fad . I guess I shot everything with a lever till I got my first bolt gun 14 years ago . Still use a lever gun now often . I now carry the Henry big boy x - suppressed with a vx3i 1x4x20 which rides on the buggy all the time . No cartrige restrictions here . Straight wall is just some really cool rounds . View attachment 751529

WNC here as well. longest shot is 60ish yards up in the woods. I have a 1895 trapper 45-70 also. got alot of crap for getting it saying it was over kill. But when the deer drop where you shoot them you dont loose them in the thick mountain laurel.

 

[ryanww]

In MI we are limited to cases that have a length between 1.16 and 1.8 inches so 45-70 is not legal.

 

[sage1]

I'm in MI, used 450 bushmaster ar platform, that gun drops em on the spot. This summer I bought a TC Encore 360 buckhammer, I was having a hard time sighting the gun in, so I changed all the springs, big improvement. Anyway what I have learned is after 2 shots the barrel will heat up and poi moves, not a problem because hunting will be 1st shot on a cold bore, now I like the gun I'm sure it will drop deer, using remington 200 grain core lok

 

[TheWhitetailNut]

For me it's more of a continuum than a go to. Hunting in Illinois and Indiana before straight walls I went through a few muzzleloaders. Killed lots of deer with the T/C Pro Hunter .50 before the Remington Ultimate came out. I highly customized the Remington until it became a .45 Bullet to bore Smokeless. That worked so good through the Great Lakes to Kansas I just built a long range straight wall. Looks great shooting <1/2" groups with 327gr. bullets 2300FPS. I may get to shoot some more after I get back from Montana but otherwise feel good.

 

[sage1]

That will work

 

[wpcexpert]

My dad gave me his .444 Marlin last year. It is a hammer...on both ends. Ballistics has a slight edge over the 45-70, although there are a lot more options for rifles and cartridges for the 45-70.

 

[keystone112]

I highly recommend the Superformance 265 grain load for the 444 Marlin.

I’m getting 2325 fps out of mine.

 

[hunt1up]

350 legend and 140 grain HV rounds from Bear Creek Ballistics. I love that ammo. My daughter high shouldered a mature buck during youth season last week at 146 yards. Just flat out stoned that deer. He fell over in his tracks and made a 10 yard desperation flop and was done. Penetration was great, lungs were trashed, and there was no track job. Kills have been accumulating with this setup and I can't ask for better results.

I do want a 400 legend and would use the Bear Creek stuff if I ever got one. But the 350 hasn't given me a good reason to switch.

 

[longrangelead]

My straight wall hunting gun is a 450 Marlin conversion kit for a Desert Tech SRS A2 w/ Dead Air Primal. It currently has an ATACR on it but that's a 3-15x42 in the pic.

View attachment 753157

I prefer to shoot subsonic and transonic loads with this caliber. The factory loads have a ton of recoil with a 350gr RN at 2200fps. The recoil isn't too much in this rig but they rock me with my Ruger No.1 in same caliber. I use the No.1 to practice off hand shooting and sitting unsupported shooting w reduced loads which right now are a 300gr HP running around 1250fps.

View attachment 753156

I want to test the Hornady 410 Sub-X this year and 250gr TSX but I usually shoot a 300gr HP or 350gr round nose interlock at steel.

I did a AR-10 in 458x2" a long time ago. It was impressive but not a lot if fun to shoot and getting a mag to feed correctly took years off my life...

 

[ShooterGrade]

I recently picked up a Marlin 1894 in .44 mag for the season here in Michigan, so hopefully I'll get an opportunity to see how it does!

 

[goalie]

45/70

 

[TSnave]

"Straight Wall" really isn't a problem here, but I have been known to drag my 444 out of the safe now and then if I'm going to be hunting where shots are going to be pretty close.