One of the things I like best about deer hunting is that you can use just about any rifle you want. For half a century, a 30-30 lever-action was the definition of a deer gun. Pumps and semi-autos had ...

Not everyone wants—or needs—a shoulder-thumping rifle to tag a deer. If you’re recoil-sensitive, recovering from an injury, introducing someone new to hunting, or simply prefer rifles that don’t beat ...

If you want a good working deer rifle for a low price, there are a lot of store-brand rifles circulating that are of ...

This is a very good thing, because if everyone agreed on the single best caliber, the world would be a dull place. Since that old .25/35 Winchester rifle I told you about earlier, I haven’t had a ...

Over the years, my idea of the perfect deer rifle has evolved. When I was young, I had two whitetail rifles that, to me, were perfect. One was my Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, and the other was my ...

Just start a conversation about deer rifles and state emphatically that your opinion on which caliber and which make is the best. Other hunters will willingly oblige you. Most everyone who reads this ...

One of the best deer-hunting memories I have is the morning Betty and I came downstairs to a homemade breakfast prepared by Mom wearing our possible bags and powder horns and toting flintlock rifles.

This story, “Classic Deer Rifles,” first appeared in the September 1997 issue of Outdoor Life. What is classic? Mainly it’s a description we apply to just about anything we happen to like. Which is ...