.223 for deer

[rem700-3]

here is one more couple hundred pounds of disapointed pork, someone told him not to fear a 55 gr sxsp at long distance,   THEY LIED!  I can go on all night ,I have hundreds of these!

[John R.]

No one said it wouldn't work, but there are better choices. We hunt hogs up close and personal, I like big holes in and out.

[rem700-3]

I hunt hogs most often with duct tape, I prefer no hole, But the kids like to shoot them. Name an animal that would suvive that head shot...How much more hole could you possibly need? Are there other calibers that can be used ? yes! Do I sometimes use other calibers? YES! do you need bigger holes? No! Dead is dead.

[John R.]

I agree that dead is dead, and I've killed deer and a few hogs with the 223. It's just not my go to gun. When hunting 200 lb.+ deer or hogs in thick brush, there's just no guareentee you'll get that perfect shot placement. And no I don't advocate gut shooting anything with big calibers, but the bigger calibers do offer a better margin of error. I know of no hog that can survive a "head" shot with a 223, but I have seen missed "head" shots that have resulted in blown off jaws and a gone hog and a long tracking job. My favorite hog gun is a 500 S&W in a handi-rifle. Nothing has walked off from it yet.

[rem700-3]

If you are hunting in thick brush, its a whole different story, Not many people hunt in the "woods" anymore. If I want to hunt thick places I would carry my 336in 35 rem. Most people nowdays sit on a green field and shoot what comes out. A 22 caliber bullet is to easily deflected to use in thick cover.

[John R.]

That 35 is a great brush caliber. I agree that shooting them in a field definitly gives you time for the perfect shot. My game warden buddy has shot a truckload of hogs out of farmers fields with his 22-250. Where are you located, I'm in Mississippi.

[yooper77]

Still hunting through thick cover I choose my Ruger Blackhawk in 45 Colt loaded with H-110 powder and 310 grain LBT bullets.

Fast pointing on moving deer in awkward conditions.

yooper77

[John R.]

I use a Ruger Bisley in 45 Colt. You're right it does a great job.

[Brithunter]

I hunt hogs most often with duct tape, I prefer no hole, But the kids like to shoot them. Name an animal that would suvive that head shot...How much more hole could you possibly need? Are there other calibers that can be used ? yes! Do I sometimes use other calibers? YES! do you need bigger holes? No! Dead is dead.

Whitetailed Deer for one  again personal experience. I shot a young Button Buck three times in the head to put it down using a 7mm Mauser handload with Hornady 139 BTSP at around 2850fps. I watched the Buck come across a creek and up the bank to appear from the brush that lined the creek only 30 yards from me. A shot through the ehad behind the eye dropped him, only for him to get up and make for the thick stuff:-



that was a few yards in front of us and once in there getting a clear shot would be a nightmare. he made it to the edge and I took a shot as he moved and missed. I was aiaming for the ehad again as we wanted a clean carcase for a buddy who was ill and not able to come hunting. Luckily for me the buck stopped just short of the brush and I put a 2nd 139 BTSP though his head from the back and it exited below the right eye and down he went only to get up a 2nd time  but this time he could not raise his head much off the ground so I knelt down and shot under the chest into the head a 3rd time with the bullet entering the neck jaw juncture and exiting through the top of his head. The head was so blown apart that Steve would not put him into the back of his pickup until we had wrapped the head in a plastic carrier bag. The guy at the check station wanted to know why the head was wrapped up so we told him and at first he didn't believe us that is until we unwrapped it and he saw for himself.

To this day we still don't understand why the 1st shot did not lay that poor beast down for good  and that's the reason why I no longer consider head shots on deer! Oh and the lower jaw was still intact!

[rem700-3]

sounds like some tough deer.

[jmayton]

I shot a 110 class buck yesterday morning with my Colt M4 using the same bullet as Krochus (55gr Sierra GameKing).  When I shot him, he looked at me and mouthed what I think was, "Silly man, that wasn't a 300RUM."  Then he fell over and died. 

Ok, not really, but he died quite quickly when that 55gr tore through his shoulder, heart, and lungs.  Truth is, if the bullet can reach the heart, it will kill the animal.

Around here, where we reportedly have the highest concentration of deer in the nation people hunt with all kinds of wonder mags.  But they are not from here.  The preferred deer calibers with those I know who hunt a lot are .222, 22-250, 25-06, and .308.  And that's in order of popularity.  I even know of one guy who hunts with a 22 hornet.  They will kill if you do your part.

Also, I don't know if I would classify the whitetail as "big" game.  Seems to me it's a medium game animal. 

[huntfamily5]

During April 2010, I killed a Scimitar Horned Oryx with my AR-15 .223 using Federal 62Grain NP Bullets.  Took two shots, but this is a 400+ LB animal.

Travis
http://www.hunthavensranch.com