Question for the 223 Deer hunters.

[teddy12b]

I've never hunted deer with a 223 and will likely never have the chance due to state laws.  I am curious about what distances people feel comfortable shooting at a deer with their 223.  Assuming good bullet placement and a hunting bullet, what's the farthest distance you feel comfortable shooting a deer with a 223?


I'm not looking for the anti 223 for deer arguement, so please nobody open that can of worms.

[Graybeard]

I'm personally not really comfortable with it at all but I do have a nice Remington Model Seven Predator in .223 I do plan to eventually attempt to take a deer with. First I wanna take one with my Remington LSS .257 Weatherby Magnum.

I've been working with the Barnes 53 grain TSX-FB trying to find a load accurate enough to take hunting. So far I'm not having a lot of luck with that but I do have another round of test loads made up using what has worked best so far. If these prove up to the task then it will go on my list of things to do.

Now back to the original question you asked. For me I think that distance will be under 150 yards and hopefully under 100. Since most places I have an opportunity to hunt 100 yards is a long shot I suspect that if the opportunity is presented it will be well within that range limitation I place on it. If I'm gonna be somewhere that a long shot might be required well that is why I bought that .257 Whby. Mag to begin with.

[R.W.Dale]

For me I'm comfortable using my ar at "brush gun" ranges. Essentally inside the range you'd  use a 30-30, 44,


This also happens to coincide with my maximum iron sight range of around 100yds plus a tad