Quick question about white-tail deer hunting.

[Ri22o]

I have a friend that is wanting to get back into deer hunting. He wanted to know what calibres are legal. Also, is the .458 Socom legal to hunt with? TIA

[bigcraig]

The .458 SOCOM IS legal for deer hunting in IN, in fact if I was going to get back into deer hunting, the SOCOM would be my first choice.

A couple of Pro's for the .458 SOCOM
1) If you already have an AR you can just buy/build an upper.
2) Uses UN-modified AR mags.
3) Ammo variety is awesome, everything from slow and heavy to fast and lite.

[melensdad]

The new regulations opened up a line of cartridges (aparently intended for handgun) with lenth and caliber stipulations that would be legal for big-game. They didn't actually say that it had to be fired from a handgun though so that opens up lever action, pump, single shot, and semi-auto rifles that are chambered for large bore pistol calibers that meet specific case/caliber requirements (and thus assure enough power to cleanly kill a deer size animal)

The cartridge has to:

a) fire a bullet of .357 diameter or larger;
b) have a minimum case length of 1.16 inches; and
c) have a maximum case length of 1.625 inches.

As for the 458 Socom, that round is specifically mentioned as LEGAL for deer hunting in Indiana by the DNR.

[bwframe]

Anybody familiar with or got any good links for the 458 Socom?
Manufacturers, ballistics, accuracy, pricing?

[Cwood]

Rock River Arms

Rock River Arms: RRA LAR-6.8 6.8 SPC

[Don]

6.8x43 IS NOT legal for deer in indiana.

[indyjoe]

The Hunting Guide has caliber information on page 18 of the PDF (16 of the guide).

Edit: Re-reading that, it is talking about handgun cartridges in rifles. I thought that was where I read about rifle hunting... Hmm.

[melensdad]

Originally Posted by Don

6.8x43 IS NOT legal for deer in indiana.

Don, you are correct, the 6.8 SPC is illegal because it fires too small of a projectile and uses a 6.8mm diameter bullet, the minimum diameter for hunting would be 9mm, which is equivalent to .357".

Here is the correct link: Rock River Arms: .458 SOCOM CAR A4 Upper Half

Originally Posted by indyjoe

The Hunting Guide has caliber information on page 18 of the PDF (16 of the guide).

Edit: Re-reading that, it is talking about handgun cartridges in rifles. I thought that was where I read about rifle hunting... Hmm.

Please see the attached image below, from the Indiana hunting guide, this is a screen capture from that brochure. It mentions that rifles are legal, gives the cartridge restrictions I listed above. For reference, the 458 Socom cartridge is 1.575" long, easily short enough to fall under the DNR's maximum case size, yet long enough to qualify above the minimum requirement.

[Cwood]

Originally Posted by Cwood

Rock River Arms

Rock River Arms: RRA LAR-6.8 6.8 SPC

errr I did it twice, wrong link... must have been still sleepy!

Thanks melensdad for the correct link

[indyjoe]

I think there still is a loop hole for typical high power rifle cartridges less than .357" in a handgun form.