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Author Topic: AR- 15 hunting or not  (Read 1573 times)

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Offline shomagman

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AR- 15 hunting or not
« on: July 22, 2003, 03:50:47 PM »
I live in Mississippi and have taken a lot of deer.  Most with standard deer calibers.   I have two good friends who are excellent shots and they have some very big racks on their walls that were killed with their 223s.  They both use REM 55 gr PSP.   I have a .223 and it is very accurate and Im being tempted to take it hunting this fall.  I always shoot to kill and have rarely ever missed or wounded any game.  Any advice on a good hunting load or should I stick with my 270 WSM or '06 and forget this little caliber?  Anyway, let me have it!
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the art of the trigger pull

Offline myronman3

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AR- 15 hunting or not
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2003, 05:28:03 PM »
stick with your deer guns, save the varmint rifle for the varmints.
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Offline Mainspring

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We have a second...
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2003, 07:08:38 AM »
I second myronman3's advice.  Do we have a motion?
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Offline redial

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AR- 15 hunting or not
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2003, 04:47:14 PM »
Motion passes!  (or at least hearing no objections .... )

223 will work on textbook shots, but most shots are not of that variety in my experience.  A bigger caliber that gets to the vitals will save you hours of tracking.

Cheers!

Redial
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Offline hyltoto

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223 for deer
« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2003, 10:07:16 PM »
Killing a deer is easy, finding 'em dead is the hard part. That is why big holes and knocking 'em down is preferred. I shot one through the heart with a .40 cal once and it dropped no more blood than would cover my little finger nail. Luckily there was fresh snow and I tracked it till i found it dead about 200 yards away, not typical for a Missisipi hunt I reckon.
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Offline 444encore

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AR- 15 hunting or not
« Reply #5 on: December 20, 2003, 09:08:03 AM »
Never had to chase a blood trail and never used anything smaller than .30caliber. Nuff said.
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More one shot kills

Offline hillbill

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ar for deer
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2003, 04:14:04 PM »
hey sho! put a scope on that rifle! if yu can hold it in group the size of an egg at 100 and dont mind waiting for PERFECT shot, have a dog to track if yur a little off, yu know, go for it. im a .243 man myself, 100 grn is my min for deer.
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Offline Dogshooter

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AR- 15 hunting or not
« Reply #7 on: December 24, 2003, 03:47:30 PM »
While I don't reccommend it, lots of states allow 223 for big game. You can hunt ELK in Utah with a 223! I prefer my game to remain reasonably close to where it was when I shot it and I don't think the 223 is a sound means toward that end. If it's all you got, I'd never want someone NOT go hunting when the opportunity arises, but if you have a choice, use a more substantial weapon.
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Offline papajohn428

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AR- 15 hunting or not
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2004, 02:06:24 PM »
If it's legal, use the heaviest bullet your rifle shoots well, and pick your shots carefully.  Poachers have used the 22LR (and even shorts) to kill deer for years, The .223 should kill like lightning with properly placed shots.  I'm NOT saying it's a great deer caliber, just that it can be done.  A 2X4 also works, if you get close enough, but I don't recommend it.   :wink:
PJ
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Offline Ghostrider

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AR- 15 hunting or not
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2004, 03:03:39 PM »
I own one and love it! but she has to stay in the safe during deer season. I have been huntin for 43 years , and have ran the gamut from outlaw nighthunter(as a youngster) to Rehabilitated hunter(the past 34 years). from .22 short to 7mm.rem mag believe me , do yourself and the deer a favor stick with the larger calibers(6 mm& up) :gun4:
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Offline les hemby

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AR- 15 hunting or not
« Reply #10 on: March 24, 2004, 07:47:53 AM »
if you do try it give the Federal 55gr Trophy Bonded Bearclaw a try. At 150yds and under it will break ribs and totally mush the lungs. i usually shoot a 243 but the Federal bullet kills way better than it should, however this is TX deer and they aint very big. The bigger calibers are alot better at long distance after 125-150 the 223 slows to much to be effective.  :D
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Offline Lawdog

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AR- 15 hunting or not
« Reply #11 on: March 24, 2004, 03:17:49 PM »
shomagman,

The littler the bullet the greater the chance that something can and will go wrong.  Sure the .223 Rem. CAN kill a deer(and has) but the chance that the .224 bullet can deflect on a rib or twig or whatever that you didn’t see greatly increases the chance that you can end up with a wounded deer to track.  You got a good deer rifle(s) so why take the chance on using a varmint rifle for taking deer?  Safe the .223 for what it was designed for, varmints.  Lawdog
 :D
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Offline NYH1

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AR- 15 hunting or not
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2004, 04:46:29 PM »
shomagman, if its the "rifle" you like and not necessarily the "cartridge" find yourself an AR10 of some sort. Armalite make the AR10 in 308 Win. DPMS make one called a Panther. It comes in 308 Win. and I think 243 Win and 260 Rem. I'm not sure about the last two, I haven't been able to get on DPMS's web sight. The Panther is priced better then the Armalite. Like $900 compared to $1400-$1500. Eagle also makes an AR10 for a less money then Armalite. Eagle's a division of Armalite.

If you were ever to get "ambushed" by a herd of deer, the AR10 would be a more effective weapon then an AR15. If you were to "engage" an enemy "buck" at long range say 200-300 yards the 308 Win would really out shine the 223 Rem. :blaster:
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Offline rockbilly

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AR- 15 hunting or not
« Reply #13 on: May 14, 2004, 01:10:13 PM »
As an "outlaw" hunter looking for meat back in the 40s I used an old Salvage .22, shooting mostly shorts.  But this was head lighting at night and never taking a shot that could not be made between the eyes.  I killed lots of deer, but I have often thought about those that ran away.  Today I recommend nothing smaller than a .243 for deer.  That's my choice because I have seen too many deer lost with the smaller calibers.  Today, if I can't make a clean kill, I don't take the shot.  and all my hunting is during legal hours.

By the way, those early years of night hunting was mostly on the Natchez Trace in the upper part of Mississippi.
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