[mountainlyons]

To hunt deer a 308 is the minimum I would use. I usually use an old Springfield 30-06. Marlin 45-70 is good for elk if they are not too far away. M1 carbine can be used to punch holes in paper. M1 Garand is 30-06 and good firepower. Chesty puller liked them but preferred the Springfield for more accuracy. 30-30 would work up close but most people can't judge range too well so they would tend to shoot too low. FMJ surplus ammo is illegal on big game in a lot of states. What kind of bullet do you want?

[Last Dakotan]

I keep a copy of the Federal Ammo catalog handy in the kitchen. They sell a 7.62x39mm Soviet soft point (and FMJ if you want them) round.

[jeddavis]

On the off chance you or anybody you know should ever set out to try to hunt with a Garand rifle... there’s something you need to know. The 30-06 cartridge was made for the kinds of smokeless powders in use in 1905 or thereabouts while a 30-06 loaded with modern powder is going to be somewhere between a 308 (which has identical ballistics to the military 06 rounds with a much smaller case) and a 300 WM. That won’t hurt a modern bolt action rifle but Garand rifle won’t survive it.

[El Gato]

To hunt deer a 308 is the minimum I would use.

While 30-06 was once the most popular big game cartridge, probably more deer have been killed by 30-30, which as others have pointed out, is very comparable to 7.62x39. Probably get better expansion, with the 7.62x39.

But of course it depends on *where* one is hunting deer. Northern whitetail are bigger. Ranges are apt to be shorter in the much of the east. But in the west and north, the bigger animals and longer ranges may drive one to the .308/30-06 class. (Or something in between the 30-30 and 30-06 classes).