The author's lineup of great deer rifles (left to right): Marlin 336 in .444 Marlin, Remington Model Seven in 7mm-08, custom Ruger No.1-B in 7.21 Lazzeroni Tomahawk and a custom Ruger 77 Mk II in 7mm WSM--the author's generic western deer rifle.

Just what is a deer rifle? At the risk of sounding stupid by stating the obvious, just about any centerfire rifle used for hunting deer qualifies as a deer rifle. Obviously, though, some rigs are better suited to the task than others. Over the 37 years that I've been writing about guns for a living I've come across some outstanding deer rifles--at least they were to my way of thinking. Of course, it depended on whether I was hunting whitetails or mule deer and where and how I was hunting, but that, too, pretty much goes without saying.

One of my all-time favorites for eastern whitetail hunting is a no-brainer because it's been a favorite of five generations of deer hunters. I'm talking about the Marlin lever action. Yes, the Winchester 94 proved to be even more popular over the years, but I've always favored the Marlin 336 action and its side ejection that allows a scope to be mounted over the bore. Winchester did address the side-ejection issue in 1983 with its Model 94 XTR Angle Eject, but with all 94s now history, it's a moot point.

Like a couple of other rifles I'll be talking about here, the fact that I consider the Marlin to be one of the great deer rifles is not based on my having used them to take hundreds of deer. In fact, most of my deer hunting, by choice, has been done from elevated stands that command long shooting lanes where typical lever-action cartridges are not at their best. Indeed, I've used Marlins to take more black bear and mountain lion than I have deer because those are two applications where I knew that any shooting was going to be at close range.

With the advent this year of Marlin's 24-inch-barreled XLR and Hornady's LeveRevolution ammo, the balance and handiness of the traditional lever-action rifle is compromised, but its ballistic potential has been dramatically increased. The Guide Gun (bottom) is more in keeping with the basic nature of the genre.

That's all changed, though, now that Hornady has introduced its truly revolutionary LEVERevolution ammunition with FlexTip bullets. In conjunction with new, high-performance loadings, this new technology changes the very nature of the traditional lever-action rifle. Now that highly efficient spitzer bullets can be used in tubular-magazine rifles like the Marlins and Winchesters, trajectories and downrange energies have been dramatically improved. In the .30-30 chambering in particular, the retained energy and drop figures are such that it actually becomes a near-300-yard deer cartridge.

This laminated-stock model is an example of the several iterations of Remington Model Sevens seen over the years.

I've owned Marlins chambered in .35 Remington, .375 Winchester, .444 Marlin and .450 Marlin. All but the .375 Win. is available in the new Hornady loadings, along with the .30-30 and .45-70 Gov't. In these new LEVERevolution loadings, these larger-caliber rounds become 200-plus-yard cartridges. Amazing.

Whenever it's been appropriate, then, I often use my Marlins because there's just something so right about being in whitetail country with a traditional lever-action rifle in your hand. It looks right; it feels right.

Prior to this year I would have picked a 336 carbine in .444 Marlin with a low-range variable scope like a 1.5-4X as being one of the great deer rifles I've known. With the advent of this new Hornady ammo, however, and Marlin's equally new Model 336 XLR rifle that was developed specifically for it, I'm not so sure I wouldn't take it in .30-30 caliber because, like I said, it's now a whole 'nother ball game. In any event, it would still be a Marlin lever action in my stable of great deer rifles.

As much as I like the Marlin, the vast majority of my whitetail hunting has been done with bolt-action rifles chambered for short-action cartridges. I'm not talking about the new generation of short-action magnums, but the short-action standard calibers like the .260 Rem., 7mm-08 Rem. and .308 Win. I really can't envision any eastern whitetail scenario any of these three cartridges couldn't handle short of purposely stretching beanfield tactics to the limit. By that I mean deliberately posting oneself at the edge of a 500-yard crop field.