22-250 for deer

[KodiakHntr]

I could tow my fishing boat with a small compact car, but why would I when there are much better tools for the job?

Or you could use a Toyota instead of an F550 to tow your 12' aluminum.... Overkill.

[QUOTE} I could pound 3.5" ardox nails with my finishing hammer, but why would I when there are much better tools for the job?[/QUOTE]
Or you could use an 20oz hammer instead of a 10lb sledge.... Overkill.

I could split my fire wood with a small camp hatchet, but why would I when there are much better tools for the job?

Or you could use a 3lb splitting axe instead of a hydraulic powered splitter you tow behind a 150hp tractor. Overkill.

It is simple physics, a heavier projectile is harder to stop than a lighter one. I don't want my bullets blowing up on the surface, and hopefully creating this magical shock wave to break ribs and create shrapnel to enter the organs and do the job that we know an equally well placed 6mm, 6.5mm, 7mm, or 30cal well constructed controlled expansion bullet would do. Why take the chance? If it was a survival situation, and all you had was light and fast, no question, do what you have to do to survive. But most of us are out there for recreation, and have a rifle that is more suitably appropriate for the task at hand. Proper tools help get the job done more efficiently, I won't question anyone's experience in dropping big game animals on the spot with light fast bullets, in fact I am very happy it worked out that way for you. But I believe, from my own experience and that of many others, that the high speed 22 centre fires are better suited for varmints and predators.

What is wrong with using a properly constructed controlled expansion bullet in a 22 centre fire? There is very little difference in the wound channel (if ANY) of a 62 ttsx thrown at 3600+fps from a 22-250 and a 170gr softpoint from a 30 30. At some point using a tool that will achieve the desired results should be considered appropriate, no? What is the obsession with using more than is required simply to offset a scenario that may never occur? Lets be real, for most people this stuff is recreation, not necessary to eat. And if it was, I think most people would use the rifle they have the most confidence in, that they have the most familiarity with, that will get the job done.

I myself was guilty of overkill for years, using a 300 Ultra as my go-to elk rifle, just in case I had to run a TSX from hip to shoulder to anchor a big bull where he was. Now, my preferred elk rifle is a 280AI, using 150TTSX instead of an ELD X, just in case I have to run a bullet from hip to shoulder to anchor a big bull where he stands.

Less powder used in the 280AI, less rifle weight, less recoil, less muzzle blast, still perfectly adequate for any angle a bull will present at any range I will shoot him at. And yet, still overkill for what is required. I could achieve exactly the same results with a 7/08 and appropriate bullet with less powder, less recoil, less blast.

A rifle that is fun to shoot, will get shot. It will get shot MORE than a rifle that is NOT fun to shoot. And consequently, the person holding the rifle will shoot it better than a rifle that is not fun to shoot.

Consider this scenario.... You are looking at a 190" mule deer, about 183 yards out. He's standing in some brush, on the near edge of a gully where he will be gone forever if he takes a step. For 50 yards between you, there is a tangle of sticks and twigs, but you can see a softball sized hole to place a 62 ttsx through that will hit both lungs and his far shoulder. You can see the back of his skull, and those big tall tines sticking up from the tangle.... Are you going to use that 22-250 that you have shot gophers and rocks and steel plate with all summer that you ran 600 rounds through, or are you going to pick up that 338 Ultra mag that you shot 3 times at a paper plate back in August "to check zero". You know the one, that one you carry in case you run into an angry grizzly on a river break in Saskatchewan...

Personally, I'm going to get snuggled in behind the 22-250 over my pack, and I'm going to KNOW what the outcome is going to be before I squeeze the trigger. Dead deer, with two popped lungs, a broken shoulder, and an exit would. Perfectly appropriate.


But that's just me.