.223 legal for deer in PA?

[hornady]

I may have miss spoke on this, memory not what it once was, But I seem to remember something in the Hunting digest about a minimum Bullet Diameter for Deer in the 60s or 70s, It never effected me as I always used a 30 caliber. I may have been thinking of something else .

[JDC]

Do all us hunters a favor and don't hunt deer with a 223. The chances are your going to wound the deer and never find it. If you want to do something challenging go bow hunting

[CL3]

Do all us hunters a favor and don't hunt deer with a 223. The chances are your going to wound the deer and never find it. If you want to do something challenging go bow hunting

Agreed. No matter how good of a shot you think you are, there are too many variables that can occur in the field that would change your accuracy, especially if this would be your first time.

No ARs here in PA (or Modern Sporting Rifles, if you like). .243 minimum, .270 even better. .308 or 30-30 (what I use) is good too. Aim just behind the front shoulder and the deer might not even run that far. Aim for the front shoulder and drop him in place, but lose some meat.

[knight0334]

A .223 will do the job so long as you do your job. Shot placement is king, and keeping your shots within range is critical.

A female cousin of mine only uses a Remington 722 in .222Rem for deer. She's taken deer with it since the 1980's and as far as I know has never lost a deer or had to "finish one off."

When using a .224" caliber gun you will need to pay special attention to the type of bullet being used. Absolutely do not use varmint projectiles. And milsurp FMJ or no expanding projectiles are illegal to use.

Use a good bonded bullet that is meant for large game. And load it to it's peak accuracy with your given firearm.

[cdi]

Quoted: No ARs here in PA (or Modern Sporting Rifles, if you like). .243 minimum, .270 even better. .308 or 30-30 (what I use) is good too. Aim just behind the front shoulder and the deer might not even run that far. Aim for the front shoulder and drop him in place, but lose some meat.[/QUOTE]

Hopefully, the day will soon arrive when AR's will be legal hunting arms in Pa.
BTW, when you say "front shoulder" do mean as opposed to the back shoulder?

[CL3]

Quoted:
BTW, when you say "front shoulder" do mean as opposed to the back shoulder?

ha! hey now...


As far as people who have been using a .223 for years, they were probably trained well. I think the OP was contemplating using an AR (I could be wrong). I think .223 is a bad idea, unless he's cold as ice when the moment of truth comes for his 1st time.

[dk99358]

I may have miss spoke on this, memory not what it once was, But I seem to remember something in the Hunting digest about a minimum Bullet Diameter for Deer in the 60s or 70s, It never effected me as I always used a 30 caliber. I may have been thinking of something else .

You were pretty close, it was a restriction on 22 and 25 caliber RIMFIRE cartridges. When I started hunting in '73, I could have used the 32 long rimfire in the cabinet (but had better choices). I'm not sure when they changed the wording to the current version and dropped the rimfire stuff from the digest, it's been quite a while. Like I said on page 1, it's moot point now.

Seems to me we had this discussion a while back, someone actually had an old small digest and posted a picture of the pertinent page.

As stated several times already, use a good bullet, pick your shots and the 223 will do the job both legally and ethically.

Dale

[stud40111]

Kinda pointless without the iconic rifle that's an inseparable part of its identity.

In my case it is for overcoming a significant other's recoil sensitivity. For her, even a .30-30 has too much recoil.

Agreed. No matter how good of a shot you think you are, there are too many variables that can occur in the field that would change your accuracy, especially if this would be your first time.

....

Mind sharing what some of those variables might be?

A .223 will do the job so long as you do your job. Shot placement is king, and keeping your shots within range is critical.

What kind of shot placement and range would you suggest?

BTW to all posters, no, the person using the .223 would not be using an AR (it is illegal and I do not have one and am not fond of them either) but would be using a Savage Axis XP chambered for .223. So when answering, please keep that in mind.

[knight0334]

In my case it is for overcoming a significant other's recoil sensitivity. For her, even a .30-30 has too much recoil.



Mind sharing what some of those variables might be?



What kind of shot placement and range would you suggest?

BTW to all posters, no, the person using the .223 would not be using an AR (it is illegal and I do not have one and am not fond of them either) but would be using a Savage Axis XP chambered for .223. So when answering, please keep that in mind.

A very still standing deer at no more than 200yrds, with 100-175yrds being a more ideal limit. Heart/lung shot, or a neck/head if you can MOA accuracy with the gun and loads. If the hunter can only reliably do 1-3MOA then stick with the heart/lungs.

[CL3]

Mind sharing what some of those variables might be?

Heart racing due to excitement, lighting conditions and it's effect on confirming antler points (or doe), wind/weather effect on trajectory, terrain & foliage (don't hit any brush, tree limbs with that light round), deer move into range fast and spook easy, woods hunting vs. open field, ground blind vs. tree stand, still hunting, etc... like I said, if you can be cold as ice and get your shot right where you want it, by all means. But why not use a round that gives you some flexibility?

will you hunt in the woods, or more of an open field / edge?