My favorite deer rifle is a lightweight Browning ‘Micro-Hunter’ in 284 Winchester, 20” barrel. It’s very close to 7mm-308 ballistics, just a touch more. How I hunt, anything over 80 yards would be very uncommon. Most all my loads are loaded by me, I have some factory ammo here & there. In IL with the regulations, I’ve used the shotgun slug gun, 400 Legend and 45/50 cal Knight muzzle-loaders. This year I plan my 45 cal Knight Elite as primary, the 444 Marlin in the testing phase. In IL the shots can drift to 125 yards, maybe a touch more. We also strive to anchor any deer inside the 383 acres we hunt on, ‘Hail Mary’ shots are really frowned upon.
