.223 For Deer?

[kel ruger man]

didnt read any of the other posts, but why would anyone consider a 223 when you have a hundred better take down options? i wouldnt consider anything smaller than a 243. to me its a poor excuse to injure a deer and make it suffer. i dont care how well you shoot. just use a 410 shot gun with number 8 bird shot if thats what u want to do.

[mauser]

didnt read any of the other posts, but why would anyone consider a 223 when you have a hundred better take down options? i wouldnt consider anything smaller than a 243. to me its a poor excuse to injure a deer and make it suffer. i dont care how well you shoot. just use a 410 shot gun with number 8 bird shot if thats what u want to do.

You might want to read the other posts to find out why someone would consider a .223, if you're going to step into a discussion it helps to know what's being discussed.

I'll help you out with a brief summary of some highlights:

I've killed many deer with a .222. My dad bought it for me as a graduation present so he could get his .243 back. When he tried the .222 himself he hunted with that more than the .243. He'd take the .243 when he thought he'd be making long shots but up to 300 yards the .222 was deadly.
We butchered our own deer and made our own sausage, we saw first hand what the damage of the bigger calibers was. If you pay someone to process your deer and think they must be keeping some of the meat for themselves you could be wrong, they're just getting rid of what was ruined by poor shot placement, especially with larger calibers.

Magnum calibers leave a lot of wounded deer with poorly placed shots, possibly more than smaller calibers due to overconfidence of the shooter with the thinking that you only have to hit it somewhere to score a kill, especially a novice or someone impatient.
It has more to do with the hunter than the gun, but getting back to answering the question posed by the OP, no, you aren't crazy for considering this, and if you are confident that you aren't going to take a shot that isn't a good shot (like so many big caliber hunters might be tempted to do), your .223 has plenty of killing power for what you want.
Good luck, have fun, and enjoy more of your venison.

From what I've heard on this debate is the people that have not hunted with a .223 are horrified at the very thought, and the people that have hunted with .223 swear by it. I've talked to quite a few people that hunt with it, most of them older and switched to it because they couldn't handle the recoil of the larger caliber rifles they had used in the past, and they all have had similar stories; the deer dropped instantly or only walked a few feet from where it was shot. Granted these were seasoned hunters and were putting well placed shots into the vitals. They all said just make sure you use a good hunting round designed specifically for hunting deer.

Been without internet all weekend, so I'm just getting to this.

Bullet placement is what matters most. I have a younger female cousin that uses a .222 Remington for deer. She has used it since she was 12, which was 19 years ago. My oldest female cousin also used that very same rifle when she was young, in late 70's to early 80's. Never was the gun's limited bore diameter a a factor because they(my cousins) put the bullets where they need to be.

I have taken dozens of deer with the 223. Matter of fact I have taken 22 hogs with one of them the last 2 nights I went out. It is a very capable and quick killing bullet. I have lots of proof with a 55gr. v-max, and 75gr BTHP in an AR-15. These are not just head shots either, most are running shots and are very lethal. If you would like to see for yourself look at georgiahogcontrol.com. We now use 223 and no other caliber. If you can shoot it doesn't matter whats in your hands just hit where you are looking.

I would rather use a .223 than a 30-30 any day. Yes the bullet is small but it's also flying at 3000+ fps. Buy the right bullet and they will drop a deer no problem. In my opinion the 30-30 is way more useless.

I guess my hatred for the 30-30 has more to do with one of my dad's Elmer Fudd hunting buddies than with the actual gun itself. Every year, "I got one it's right over there". Never found any of them. After 20 yrs of either missing or wounding deer he borrows my old man's 30-06. Two shots, two kills. Ever since I've always thought of it as a pistol cartridge. Good to 100 yrds not much more. I know it's a capable round and more deer have been dropped by it than any other, but I still hate that gun. If the .223 is good enough to kill people it's good enough for deer. Buy some high quality hunting ammo that doesn't fragment as soon as it hits and it will drop a deer.

Definetly Elmer. But also look at the drop on a 3030, I know people who have emptied their guns, reloaded the tube, and emptied again because they don't know how to shoot over 100 yards. I'd rather see them using a flat shooting 223 than a 3030.

I have a friend that has a son that is 12 years old but quite small for his age. He absolutely loves being in the woods with anyone that he can. Anyway his dad bought him a Rem. 700 SPS tactical in .223. He took him to the range a couple of times to sight it in and get custom to shooting at full sized deer paper targets. He hunted the first few days with his dad and the first Saturday his dad wasn't able to go so I took him along with me and I left my rifle him and just brought the handgun. Anyway we were sitting on stand when a very large doe came out at about I'm guessing in the 145 - 155 yrd range. I see him going for his rifle and I asked him "are you ok making that long of a shot?" His response was "Watch this". I thought oh boy here goes an entire day chasing a wounded deer. All I saw was the deers head and I hear the BANG. I told myself there is no way . . . So we walk over and there was the deer as dead as the day is long with a perfectly placed .223 bullet right behind the ear, she was dead before she even hit the ground. I wanted to see ifthis kid was a fluke or was really that good of a shot so wen went to the range, he was grouping 5 shots in a quarter at 100yds. It was a great experience for me and it goes to show u that a well placed shot is better then a big bang . . . .

I thought the rules and regs stated ".25 caliber and smaller RIMFIRE prohibited".If it would be all,where does that leave .243 and 6mm? The energy of a .223 at 100yds is the same as a 30/30 at 200yds.Not that I've ever shot a deer at 200yds with a 30/30(longest was 100),I think with proper shot placement in heart/lung area at 100yds it'll work fine.I was witness to such a shot by a 13 yr old girl in WV. The bullet took out the top of his heart and he dropped like a bag of rocks.The reason she was using the .223 Rem. 700 was she had better accuracy than with her grandfather's .243 probably due to less recoil.If you can hit where you aim,the deer doesn't care if it was a .223 or .30-06 that killed him as long as he goes down.

My dad & I have tracked more deer hit with .30 caliber rounds than we could count, we've never had to track one that either one of us shot with .222 or .243. That's proof enough for me. Several of the guys we hunted with moved away from their bigger guns in favor of the .222 when they saw the effectiveness in the field and then the resulting harvest having more usable meat.
If you like to track deer and/or waste venison you're free to use as large of a caliber as you want and take whatever shot you want. I was taught respect and that means shoot for a quick, humane kill. That's why we chose the smaller caliber.

[kel ruger man]

has a handful said, experinced shooters only...i know a guy that takes his daughter out with one, shot it, hit it the deer wasnt stunned and took off. im guessing died weeks later from gang green or something....and the ones that said they have shot dozens with one...well your either 90 years old, or poaching. i have been hunting for 37 years and can assure you, i dont have dozens under my belt and have taken deer for alot of those years. at least with a larger cal. and you dont hit it right, it will do more damage to shock it or stop it from running far. and dont say you gut shot one with a 20 and it ran a mile...true, if your chasing it...false if you let it sit a few mins before looking for it. it will lay if you dont move. just to many variables to hunt with a 223. i lost one deer in about 30, and it was because i jumped up and chased it after i gut shot it

[dteed4094]

If someone were going to shoot you and you knew you would die, What caliber would you want them to use? Your thoughts and reasons for wanting to use the smaller round are rather sadistic. And you don't even care if you don't kill it humanely because you want to test your tracking skills? If you really want to test your tracking skills, Track him down before you shoot him at 30 yards.

[mwmarksman0308]

I use a 308 Win, and I think that's about right for big game hunting. I'd rather lose a tad more meat and have the deer drop dead right then and there than have it wander off. Tracking sucks.

I've never really cared for 270 Win, it's an old cartridge and its performance can be equaled nowadays with modern powders in a short action. I think I'd pick up a 7mm-08 sooner than a 270. Next rifle will be a 260 Remington. Lots more bullet options (IMO) in 6.5mm, 7mm, and 7.62mm than 270/6.8mm.

What kind of bullets and where are you hitting these deer??? I have used a .308 all my life for deer hunting and never wasted anything but some rib meat that I wasn't going to particularly use in in the first place...

And before the claim of gut shot is made, I have put every bullet right behind the front shoulder. I have honestly never had to track more than 15 yards.

[MrKnowItAll]

You people don't understand what bullets are for what. For Hunting you always want to use SP,"Soft points". If you shoot a animal with FMJ it will just poke a little hole threw it .If you use HP or ballistic tips they explode and fragment. Plus you want a heaver slower bullet so it don't explode off twigs and branches. But I think a 75gr SP soft point will drop a deer just as well as a 90gr .243.75gr .233 shoots 2750fps and 1400 ft lb of energy, that's as much as a .44 mag. The trick is you need a slow bullet that will expand and mushroom to .50 cal size plus the 69/75gr bullet is a lot longer. so it retains a lot of its weight. If you use soft points the bullet will expand and release all of the energy in the deer.

[Walleye Hunter]

Do you always cruise around responding to 9 year old threads?

[knight0334]

You people don't understand what bullets are for what. For Hunting you always want to use SP,"Soft points". If you shoot a animal with FMJ it will just poke a little hole threw it .If you use HP or ballistic tips they explode and fragment. Plus you want a heaver slower bullet so it don't explode off twigs and branches. But I think a 75gr SP soft point will drop a deer just as well as a 90gr .243.75gr .233 shoots 2750fps and 1400 ft lb of energy, that's as much as a .44 mag. The trick is you need a slow bullet that will expand and mushroom to .50 cal size plus the 69/75gr bullet is a lot longer. so it retains a lot of its weight. If you use soft points the bullet will expand and release all of the energy in the deer.

The problem with 55gr to 75gr+ bullets is, most pre-2000's bolt actions have slower twist rates. 1:12" can have a problem properly stabilizing longer 55gr bullets at .223Remington velocities. Proper twist rate is a figure compiled from bullet length, velocity, and diameter(to a smaller degree).

Lots of your bolt action .22Hornet, .222Rem, .223, .22-250, and .220Swift guns had 1:12", and the faster units(.22-250 & the Swift) often had 1:14". The .22Hornet had rates as slow as 1:16".

Our deer loads for the .222Rem were either 50gr or 55gr softpoints, but we also used bonded bullets when we could so they would stay together. The 55gr loads were rather hot to keep them stabilized.

[mrat]

Do you always cruise around responding to 9 year old threads?

I liked the necro. That thread had my 1st post in it.

[PAMedic=F|A=]

One of my friends has hunted with a .223 bolt gun for a decade. Got a deer every year but one.