what .224 bullet works best f or whitetail?

C

Cody221

New member
i use a weatherby vanguard from the custom shop in .22-250 for coyotes and woodchucks but i would like to try it sometime on a doe.. i wont use it as my big whitetail gun..i have 2 7mm rem mags and 2 300 win mas and 1 300 savage for whitetail.. but this 250 is my favorite gun and it might be fun..i wont take a shot unless its a perfect slightly behind front shoulder shot..but i would mostly be trying for a head shot.. which would work best?nosler partitions?

if this ppost doesnt make much sense srry but i am just typing random questions inside quickly..o and i use 55 grain moly coated vmax's but i dont think those would work well...
 
Hey Cody, We might both get some flake on this subject! I usually always fill my Doe tags with one of my .224's (.22-250)--(.223) I handload 60 gr.hornady for them both and have never had a problem. As you said you must pick your shots, no long shots! For me that means about 100yds with the.223 and about 150 to 175 for the .250. note that both these rifle's will put every shot inside an inch at a 100 yds If I do my part! Last year I took one at 65yds with a head shot and one at about 80 yds with a heart shot. The heart shot Doe ran 40yards, the head shot did not move. If you want my pet load for my .250 just ask!!! HAVE FUN /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
i figured i might catch some flach but i think it would be fun to use if i shot my buck already and go doe huntin only with it
 
.224's will kill anything out there, if you ask me. Your right, it's all about shot placement. This year I'm hunting deer with my RRA AR-15. I'm using a 40 gr. Supreme® Ballistic Silvertips®. I hunt hogs with this combo. The only worry is tissue distruction. So shoot in the head/neck if possible. If it's one for the wall, try BEHIND the shoulder. And the 55 gr v-max will turn the, "pump station," into jell-o. Be careful with those ratchet-heads try to get a head on shot at the neck/head.
 
I have shot a about 4 deer with my 223, all were high neck shots...I am using the 55 gr. V-Max...none of them took a step after the shot. I have bought some 60 gr. Nos Partitions by Ultramax this year for my carbon 15. They shoot very well, but have not been able to shoot anything with them yet...but, think they would work well on body shots under 130, but more then likely will not be shooting at them over 100.
 
bullets reccomended by the manufacturers in the 224 cal for whitetails are, the 60 gr. nosler partition, the 64 gr. win power point, the 63 gr sierra, the 55 gr trophy bonded, and I am thinking I read somewhere that barnes is making a .224 x bullet. I use soft point ammo 55 gr and always take the double lung broadside shot. they take a sprint and pile up.
RR
 
If your interested in a factory load, the 55gr trophy bonded bear claw is a very good choise for deer. Dont be suprised to see a exit wound useing these. I use to load a sierra 69gr bthp for my ruger No-3 & they worked well,though they really aren't designed as a hunting bullet. These require a fast twist of at least 1-9 if im not mistaken.

Coyote#1
 
Hi i too like using my 22 250 on a doe and if a buck if he walks out i have a 300 wby mag i hand load a nosler 55gr BT and i killed a buck the first day of season last yr at 218 yrds shot him in the heart he ran around 20 to 30 yrds and fell over there was blood ever here i have a new 223 i am going to try out this yr i loaded some 50 gr bt for use that 22 250 it will do you good and good luck hunting VM
 
I have shot a few blacktail bucks with my 22-250 tikka using a barnes 45gr XLC at 3850fps. Both bucks were small, about 130lbs dressed, both shot through the lungs/heart one at 50yds the other at 280. both died 10' from where they were shot, both bullets exited. barnes makes some 53gr triple shock bullets, that should work well, but I could not get better than 3moa out of them :rolleyes: the 45 grainers shoot about .75 moa, and same poi as my coyote load. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
A good behind the shoulder shot will work fine with most heavier 224 caliber bullets. I know of one savage 340 in 222 that has killed over 100 whitetails, most with 50gr SP factory ammo. It just happens to be the rife behind the truck seat and so gets used most by an older guy that I grew up hunting with. The bullet only has to penetrate 2" of rib bone/meat before it hits the void of the lungs/heart region. You just have to specifically place your shots.

I would strongly advise against head shooting deer. I have on three occasions whitnessed the aftermath of headshots gone wrong. A neighbor I used to have was famous for trying head shots all the time. The first occasion was a week after rifle season I jumped up a pretty decent 8pt that had a hanging jaw. Apparently my nieghbor shot a littel low on the head and just blew out the bottom jaw so that it hang at almost a 90% angle to the head. It wasn't pretty and the buck could hardly get up to run away, luckily I was rabbit hunting at the time and could put him out of his misery. It hadn't been deer season for 10 days so it had been at least 10 days with a hanging jaw.

The second time was when I noticed a small doe wandering aimlessly in my back field about halfway thru rifle season. It was obvious that somethign was wrong with it. I grabbed my rifle and walked back to see if it was wounded. A good protion of its head was missing from the eyes forward, both eyes were missing and part of the nose. It was still dripping so it must have happened either that day or the night before. One 100gr .243 bullet behind the shoulder ended the ordeal.

The last time was in the late extended doe only season. I heard him shooting in the morning and saw three small does run out of his woodlot and bed down in my back feild. I kind of thought that one of them might have been wounded because of the way it was running. Just to be sure I walked along the property line to see if there was any blood. Sure enough there was drips and some spray of blood. It had been a couple of hours since his shooting and he hadn't made any attempts to track so I figured it would see if it was laying dead out there and drop it off at his place. I jumped it up in the tall grass and was able to get a shot at it at the end of my field, 100gr .243 bullet thru both shoulders did the trick. The whole end of its nose was a soggy mess, looked like the bullet endered about center of the nose and exited at an angle thru the upper jaw/nose bone.

Every time I hear somebody advocating head shots on deer these times come to mind. I actually got into quite a heated arguement with my neighbor over this and we are not longer on speaking terms as a result. In his case it was ego, trying to say he was so good he could head shoot deer with his 270. If I had a dime for every time I heard "clean kill or cleam miss every time, I don't even bother to trackem, cause if they ain't laying there I missed them" The actual vital part of the deers head is very small, and moves around a lot. I'm sure it has happened to work out for a lot of guys, but its a very poor percentage shot and should never be tried for.

Don't take this as a personal insult, its not intended as such. If I had never had these negative experiences with head shot deer I would probably think it was a good place to shoot too.

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I used the 60 gr Nosler Partition in a .222 twice this year. Both deer about 50 yards. Both deer shot squarely through both shoulders. Both deer died instantly. The wound channel was about 1.5 inches all the way through. There was little damage other than the hole. The damage was less than what my 25-06 w/100 gr. bullets does at a distance of 350 yards.
 
I have to say I would "Never" attempt to kill a deer with a v-max or any other sx type bullet!! I've shot to many crow's with them and seen first hand the lack of penetration. You might get lucky, I'd rather not rely on luck.. But thats just me and my silly way of thinking :rolleyes: /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I have posted my opinion on head shots before but will so again. Growing up the Grandson of a full time taxidermist and spending as much time as I possibly could in his shop I have heard and seen more examples of head shots than most. I will tell you that what I have seen reflects the earlier post describing hanging jaws, sinus area in front of the eyes blown out and all sorts of other examples of them going wrong.These deer suffered horribly before some one came along and was able to put them down. The amount of area in the head that is truly instantly fatal is quite small.
Tuco
 
TheBear78 said it right. No V-maxs for me either. Stick to soft-points 55 grains and heavier, or the bullets derived from their big game counterparts. Trophy bonded, Barnes Triple Shock, Nosler partition, and names like this should be the ONLY bullets used for deer sized game.

IYM
 
There are just as many horror stories about gut-shot and leg-shot deer from hunters who think they are better shots than they really are. Or hunters who take wild shots at running game hoping they hit it "somewhere".

Some folks are confident with head/neck shots and prove it by filling tags. Saying that ALL hunters who take head shots are irresponsible or shouldn't do it etc is just not a fair statement.

Some folks think they're good enough, but are not. Hunters who make poor shots should be surrender their license or stop hunting, regardless of what aiming point they use.
 
This is why I love this site... I got on here to ask this SAME QUESTION for my brothers and dad since they are going to Texas in a couple weeks and want some accurate rifles to shoot while they are down there. I konw my 22-250's are accurate so I told them I'd find out which bullet we should load up for them and how it'd work... they're gonna freak when I have the awnser by lunch! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Thanks;
 
I have been using the 55 grain Trophy Bonded bullets in my 22.250 for filling extra antlerless tags for several years now. They get good penetration and I've been very impressed with the performance. I have always aimed for the heart/lung area, and have never taken a shot over 150 yards. I purchased the Federal factory stuff. But, I will reload the same bullet when I need more.

Thebear_78 nailed it in my opinion... I have never really understood the head shot. Why aim for a much smaller area that moves around so much more? You miss the center of the lungs by a few inches and you still have a dead deer. You miss the brain by an inch and you have a ugly wound and most likely a lost animal on your hands. I came a across a cow elk one time with an almost shot off lower jaw. The thing was in tough shape, I don't think it had eaten for a week by the looks of the wound. I'd bet some guy thought by taking a head shot he would save a few pounds of meat instead the whole critter was lost.
 
Stiff Neck,

I respectfully disagree with your last post. I know that there are way too many "slob" hunters out there, but no matter how good you are with a gun, there are just too many variables that come into play when shooting at a live animal. I have a safe full of guns that are plenty accurate, and I as a shooter know I could do it, but why take the chance? The brain is the size of your fist. It is always moving, and has heavy bone completely surronding it. Why on earth a hunter would choose such a poor target, when the lungs/heart region is the size of a basketball, does not move nearly as much, and has only thin ribs covering it. I know there are those who take this shot, make this shot, and recommend this shot, I am just not one of them. Keep those bullets flying at the chest, and we as hunters will all look better in the long run. The last thing we need is a jaw-less deer ending up on the news. You can argue that gut shot deer could do the same, but gut shot deer dont run around if they are not pushed, and die within a few hours. We as hunters owe it to the game to only take high percentage shots, and kill as humanely as possible.

IowaYoteMan
 


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