You can kill a muley with just about any caliber all the way down to a .223, I enjoy using my .243 due to the light recoil and good stopping power but you can hunt em with just about anything.
My brother shot a good one this year with a 115 grain partition out of a 25-06, shredded the lungs and put him down quickly.
I’d get a 300 wsm with a good 150 grain for deer, that has claimed over 50 deer (whitetail and muley) hit them behind the shoulder and it kills like lightning with no meat damage......except ribs haha
I've shot a lot of mule deer and whitetails with these calibers and they all performed as expected. Shoot the one you shoot the best.
6mm Remington 100 gr. Partition & 90 gr. E-tip
25-06 Remington 120 gr. Partition
280 Remington. 140 gr. Partition
280 AI. 140 gr. Partition & 140 gr. Accubond
30-06 165 gr. Partition & 165 gr. Accubond
I shot my muledeer with a 30-06. I would not go any larger. If I go again I will still bring my 06 however my sons 243 maybe going along too. In all reality, they are deer and should not need anything designed for large game.
A moderate to fast 6 or 6.5. Going bigger thumps you more than necessary. 25s and 27s are about the right size but why use something with inferior bullet options?