.223 for Deer?
- Thread starter DrawBlood
- Start date
Can you shoot sub MOA with a .223? Can you accurately judge ranges? Can you put 10/10 rounds into a 6" paper plate at the expected range? Are you totally familiar with the anatomical makeup of the selected game? Are you using the best bullet you can find for the game/range/rifle combo? Can you be patient enough to wait for the shot? Can you turn it down if it doesn't present itself? If you can answer yes to all of the above, then you can definitely use the .223 on ANY game on this continent. Seriously, there isn't any thing walking that will go far with holes poked in it in the proper places. Heart shot with a .17, and it will be just as dead as with a .577 Tyrannosaur.
However, if cannot, then take something a little bigger with you. Here in AB, you can't use smaller than a .243, which my wife successfully used twice last year. However, there are at least 300 people on this forum who will tell you that that is too small and should not be used on anything larger than a gopher, since anything bigger is evolving armour plating or some such stuff.
If you can consistently make the kill, if it is legal in your area, and that's what you have, then by all means use it. Just use it properly. Take it out gopher hunting, that means ground squirrels here. If you can consistently hit them at 1-200 yds, then a head shot on a deer will be a piece of cake.
However, if cannot, then take something a little bigger with you. Here in AB, you can't use smaller than a .243, which my wife successfully used twice last year. However, there are at least 300 people on this forum who will tell you that that is too small and should not be used on anything larger than a gopher, since anything bigger is evolving armour plating or some such stuff.
If you can consistently make the kill, if it is legal in your area, and that's what you have, then by all means use it. Just use it properly. Take it out gopher hunting, that means ground squirrels here. If you can consistently hit them at 1-200 yds, then a head shot on a deer will be a piece of cake.
The older 223 rifles had a 1:12 twist barrel. Maybe some are still made with that twist. I spoke to the guys at Sierra about 223 on deer one day because I have a combination gun in 223/12ga. It has a 1:14 twist, so the 69 gr match bullet would not stabalize at all.
They said they get a lot of reports of the 69 HPBT match bullet doing a good job on deer. They said the second choice was the 60gr HP bullet - and it would stabalize well in a 1:12 barrel. I found that if i drove it at full speed it would stabalize in my 1:14.
I cannot tell you how the 60 works in a deer, but it held together well and punched a big hole through a wet Toronto phone book.
I have shot 120 pound kangaroos with the 55gr Hornady soft point in a 223. It went right through, leaving fist-sized exit holes. I was impressed.
They said they get a lot of reports of the 69 HPBT match bullet doing a good job on deer. They said the second choice was the 60gr HP bullet - and it would stabalize well in a 1:12 barrel. I found that if i drove it at full speed it would stabalize in my 1:14.
I cannot tell you how the 60 works in a deer, but it held together well and punched a big hole through a wet Toronto phone book.
I have shot 120 pound kangaroos with the 55gr Hornady soft point in a 223. It went right through, leaving fist-sized exit holes. I was impressed.
Pathfinder
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northeast Ontario
I cannot tell you how the 60 works in a deer, but it held together well and punched a big hole through a wet Toronto phone book.
QUOTE]
Hell....I would of been impressed if it had survived the "Lee" section of that book never mind the whole thing.
Im curently putting a whole bunch of old catalogues together for a similar test....not sure what bullet I will be testing yet. Perhaps the Barnes 50 gr. X @ 3700-3800 fps
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
At one time I tested the Sierra 63 gr and the Speer 70 gr bullets, and concluded either would have been an improvement over the normal 55 gr PSP for someone who had a desire to hunt big game with a .22. The Speer being a round nose flat base design was short enough to shoot well in a standard 1:14 barrel and would have been my top choice at the time. Today's TSXs have dragged the .223 and the .22-250 kicking and screaming into the realm of big game cartridges, at least for smaller species of big game. I doubt there is much difference between the performance of a premium .224" or a premium .243" bullet on game.
before i phoned Sierra, I was thinking the 63gr SP would be the best choice. They told me it would open up faster and have less penentration than the 60 HP. That was counter-intuitive, but according to the wet phone books, they were right. the 60 would be the choice.
When Bell distibute the new edition of the phone book, they leave a mountian of them in the lobby of high rise apartment and office buildings. Good time to stock up o bullet-testing media.
I leave a pair of books in a bucket of water over night. They expand a lot and just about empty the bucket. If you want to compare two or three bullets, make sure each book only gets hit once. The bullet strike squirts a lot of water out of the book, so a second hit on that book would be drier and therefore different.
When Bell distibute the new edition of the phone book, they leave a mountian of them in the lobby of high rise apartment and office buildings. Good time to stock up o bullet-testing media.
I leave a pair of books in a bucket of water over night. They expand a lot and just about empty the bucket. If you want to compare two or three bullets, make sure each book only gets hit once. The bullet strike squirts a lot of water out of the book, so a second hit on that book would be drier and therefore different.
Takujualuk
CGN Regular
- Location
- Whitehorse, Yukon
The 223 works ok on game North of the treeline. There the issues of limited blood trail and marginal killing power aren't that apparant. Shot placement can be precise as opposed to game weaving in and out of trees.
My wife used one as her caribou rifle. We liked it. Most bullets worked ok. The 63 Sierra and 70 Speer were ok but they did core shed. The 60 Nosler Partition and 64 PSP were absolutely first rate.
The 223 has about 75-80% of the wound channel of the 30-30. Penetration with good bullet is not to 30-30 standards/ The 53 X is a good penetrator but here the wound channel falls to about 60% 30-30. The wound channel is actually similar or greater than the 30-30 in the first 40% of penetration but closes up a great deal when the velocity is gone.
I tested my wife's 223 against various bullets from a Stevens 30-30. The 30-30 bullets are around the outside. The 60 Nosler and 64 Win PSP are in the middle. The no good bastard with the shed core is the 225 Sierra BT from a 358 Norma. If 75% of the power of the 30-30 is good the 223 delivers.
My wife used one as her caribou rifle. We liked it. Most bullets worked ok. The 63 Sierra and 70 Speer were ok but they did core shed. The 60 Nosler Partition and 64 PSP were absolutely first rate.
The 223 has about 75-80% of the wound channel of the 30-30. Penetration with good bullet is not to 30-30 standards/ The 53 X is a good penetrator but here the wound channel falls to about 60% 30-30. The wound channel is actually similar or greater than the 30-30 in the first 40% of penetration but closes up a great deal when the velocity is gone.
I tested my wife's 223 against various bullets from a Stevens 30-30. The 30-30 bullets are around the outside. The 60 Nosler and 64 Win PSP are in the middle. The no good bastard with the shed core is the 225 Sierra BT from a 358 Norma. If 75% of the power of the 30-30 is good the 223 delivers.
