223rem in the deer woods my two cents

J

JON86

New member
I know this horse has been beat to death but I just want to put my two cents in.
223rem is a geat deer round with well placed shots out to 300 yards by good shooters and not for joe the redneck down the street.
I have been useing a Mossberg MVP this year to see what the little gun can do and I must say its a great gun 1/4 moa at100yrds with 75gr vld and put down three deer with the little pop gun
First was a doe at 45yards she was dead on arrival , second was a little buck maybe 150lbs at 308yrds and an old 11 point that dressed out at 210lbs at 145yrds none of them whent more then 10yrds. No 223 is not a longe range deer round but it will put bambi on the table. But if its not for you its not for you im sure that those of us that want to use 223 and can bring down a deer clean would and will use it no matter what anyone say. Thanks for reading and Ill get off my soap box now happy hunting

 
No you can not use 223 in Indiana I hunt on my folks place in Ky and me and my dad whent on a quota hunt were I got the first buck and doe.
I only bow hunt in Indiana it gets a little dangerous on public land when the guns come out people shoot first the go see what it is in Wabash
 
I wish they would enable .223 here in VA but for now I'll rely on the trusty .30-06 until I can fork out the dough for a 6.8 SPC upper.
 
I agree with jon86. I've used my .223 for deer a few times with 65grn game king hand loads and just shoot em where I would with any other caliber and it's game over.
 
Agreed, I use 6x45 and 300 Blackout for Elk. 223 will take deer no problem. It's all about shot placement. Last Tuesday one of my hunting partners made a bad downhill shot on an elk about 60 yards away with a 30/06 using Nosler Partitions. I don't know what he did but the blood trail I followed consisted of about 1/4 cup of blood that trailed off to nothing. We never did find the animal. A full power 30 caliber won't make up for poor marksmanship and a bad zero.
 
I will never again intentionally take a deer with a .223. I did so once, double-lunging a doe at 100 yards. Perfect pass-through, wrecking both lungs, about half-way up the body. She ran 150 yards, with VERY little blood loss. When opened, she was full of blood, but due to the small bullet and little damage, the entry/exit holes somewhat plugged themselves off. I have NO reason to take a .223 for a deer. I can use .270, .280, or .30-06 and have better results.
 
Funny how that kind of stuff happens. My oldest brother shot a medium sized deer with his 30-06, and we had a really hard time finding blood. It was a good shot, and a piece of meat or something blocked the exit of the deer, leaving little blood to follow.
 
The buck I shot earlier last week was taken with a .50 CVA using 240 grain TC Mag Express. That deer was hit in the boiler room and still ran a good ways with very little exterior blood loss. Funny things happen sometimes.
 
Originally Posted By: born2climbI will never again intentionally take a deer with a .223. I did so once, double-lunging a doe at 100 yards. Perfect pass-through, wrecking both lungs, about half-way up the body. She ran 150 yards, with VERY little blood loss. When opened, she was full of blood, but due to the small bullet and little damage, the entry/exit holes somewhat plugged themselves off. I have NO reason to take a .223 for a deer. I can use .270, .280, or .30-06 and have better results.

That can happen with any of the cartridges you listed as I just witnessed 6 days ago Elk hunting.
 
An old friend of my dad's harvest dozens of deer here in WI with a .222Rem hardly ever tracked any of them. He was a meat hunter one heck of a marksman most of the deer he shot were under 100yds and in the head behind the ear. I remember when I was a kid and went to pick up one of his smooth heads I got a hand full of brains.
 
I don't care what anyone says IMO based on 52 years of deer hunting from Canada to Florida and lots of states in between a 22 cal centerfire is a varmint/predator cartridge and will NEVER be a deer caliber in my eyes.

Sure it will work under ideal conditions on 70 lb fawns or head shots on larger deer but there are very few 22 cal bullets constructed well enough for a 22 CF to work consistently with body shots or less than ideal conditions.
 
Originally Posted By: GhostmanI don't care what anyone says IMO based on 52 years of deer hunting from Canada to Florida and lots of states in between a 22 cal centerfire is a varmint/predator cartridge and will NEVER be a deer caliber in my eyes.

Sure it will work under ideal conditions on 70 lb fawns or head shots on larger deer but there are very few 22 cal bullets constructed well enough for a 22 CF to work consistently with body shots or less than ideal conditions.

You really shouldn't be so resistant to change. I try to keep an open mind to new ideas and developments in the firearms world. Bullet technology has come a looong way in the last 52 years. There are actually quite a few .224 caliber bullets with excellent construction that are perfectly adequate for deer. Barnes TSX and TTSX all copper bullets especially the 70 grain TSX,Cutting edge Raptor, Nosler 64 grain bonded solid base, Nosler 60 grain Partition, Nosler, Sierra or Hornady 75-77 grain OTM's, Sierra Gameking, Speer 70 gr semi-spitzer, Swift Scirocco Bonded will all do a good job on deer.
 
I can tell you this, out of a 22/250, a 60g Partition at 3400 WRECKS a deer! These bullets will shoot 1 1/2" out of 1-14, but a 1-12 or faster is better.

Most people that I have met that shoot a .224 on deer, are very experienced marksmen and know their equipment very well.

There is a guy there that owns an apple orchard. Deer will wreek havoc on the orchard. So, he puts his Sako 22/250 to work with rem factory 55g PSP's. He kills a lot of deer every year sitting in his living room with a window open, Shots are from 200-300 yards.

One thing that many people do not get with guys that shoot varmint calibers on deer is that most of them shoot all year. I have personally killed deer with a 223 with the 55g Hornady Sp loaded at 3050 fps, they were DRT at the shot. Antelope also died right there at bullet impact.

I hunted with a Game Warden from Wyoming and he used a 6x47(222mag opened up to 6mm). He shot the discontinued 75g Barnes x bullet.
 


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