any of you guys ever deer hunt with a .223. i know the knock down capability is not much . just wondering if any of you guys ever took any whitetails with this caliber and how far was the shot?
Everyone please answer the man's questions if you have experience shooting deer with the 223.
Tim
OK Tim, I will. Some hold back due to the arm chair pros, but here is some experience. I have taken several Whitetails with 55 gr. softpoints, I have done alot of hunting in the past with my brothers, a few years ago we counted up 18 Deer that we killed with a 223, probably 20 or so now. All were "lunged" & none were hard to find. None were on their feet more than seconds after the shot. None were shot more than 100 yards away. We lost no Deer while using a 223. A couple of Deer big brother killed were with 60 gr. bullets & heavier, the rest were 55 gr. I do not hunt with a 223, I think little brother hunts with one only under specific conditions, basically something we did for a while. I will get to why we feel that way in a minute.
I have 2 friends that I keep in close contact with & we trade notes in regards to Deer hunting & shooting. One has taken over 50 Whitetails with
a 223 using 55gr. Corelokts. I know he lost 1 Deer, but I think he may have lost another, whether he hit too far back or hit a limb first, I don't know. He is not quite as precise as my other friend. The other guy, well his count was 114 with a 223 at the start of the 06 season, I think he took a couple more last fall & I know his Granddaughter took a 6pt. at just over 200 yards, a little further than almost all of his & he agrees with the rest of us that shots should be closer to 100 yards. He is very honest & tells me he has lost none. Because I know his character, I do not doubt that for a second. He uses the Winchester 55 power point the last time I asked him. He owns a fine custom 264, 270 & a '06 that he hunts bigger game with, but prefers the 223 for Deer & down & I don't argue with his results, but keep in mind that he owns 1,000 acres of
great hunting land on the AR/MO border & he has all season to pick his shots.
These Deer ranged in size from 125# or so up to a few 200# plus River Bottom brutes.
So with just these, I am aware of nearly 200 harvested Deer & with some other friends in the community that have taken a few, I could easily come up with another 30 or so. From this, you may think that I am a big advocate of the 223 for Deer, I AM NOT!!!!
You have a narrow set of parimeters when using this round that you MUST adhere to & these very limitations are why I use a 25 cal & bigger,
of course it would be silly to say that a 243 with the RIGHT bullet is too light, just that I prefer 25 & above.
(1) Keep your shot close, within 100 yards is best. At this distance, the bullet still has enough vel. to give a very good wound channel in lungs, but
yet the 55gr or heavier or any TSX will penetrate into the rib cage more than enough. Well, I see Deer that I want to harvest at times well beyond this yardage & that excludes the 223 in that case.
(2.) Watch the angles close. I will not use a 223 to shoot the near shoulder of a Big Buck, too much chance of underpenetration. I want to be able to penetrate that Deer from any reasonable angle. I can do this with a 25-06 with a good bullet, the 223 is too iffy.
(3) Watch for obstructions, even small ones. I am not talking about "brush busting", I am in reference to the small limb right by the Deer that you did not see. Again, a good bullet of 25 cal & bigger gives you an extra margin of safety here, but a 22 cal can have trouble with this.
(4.) Blood trail. There are times when a blood trail is nice, for example if you shoot a Deer standing by a Southern clearcut. Again, if you double lung a Deer with a 223, it won't go far, but if it runs into a clearcut that you have to crawl into, blood helps. I shot a Deer in this situation once
with a bigger gun, yet it did not exit, I found him, but it was not fun.
So these 4 reasons is why I don't want to hunt with a 223 today. I want to maximize my opportunities when I go into the field by not being limited by range & angles. If you have the discipline to hold your fire in these cases fine, but why limit yourself?
But to say that the 223 will not take a Deer at 100 yards & under with the right bullet placed in the rib cage is the voice of inexperience, period!
A Bow Hunter would know this because if you penetrate the lungs with a sharp broadhead, the Deer will die, they have to have those lungs. Well, a 223 with the right bullit will cause a much bigger wound channel with alot more damage than a broadhead, for Deer sized game & down. For Elk, the Broadhead woud win because it will still penetrate more than enough for the big stuff, where a little bullet would come up short.
And this is prefered to a head or neck shot, because the head moves a great deal & the neck is iffy with a small round unless the spine is hit directly.
Midway raider, we have beat this to death in the past, if you need to read more, check out this thread:
http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,95338.0.html 
