The luxury is the stand is 30 yards behind the house, and it overlooks a corn field, which will be cut in another month.
The gun season lasts 2 months.
So.....
every week day, I will pick her up at 4pm from school; we will haul ass home and be in the stand by 4:30.
Then sit for an hour.
The shot will present itself.
If it ever becomes harder than this, I will rethink the strategy.
That said, I used the 222 on weekends when I went deep in the brush or woods and rarely got a good broadside shot. Get your heresy chimes ready, because I'm going to say "head and neck shots".
Choose the wrong bullet and you will have a fine mess on your hands.
I'd look to either the 60gr NPT or the 64gr BSB.
Most .222s have a 1 in 14 twist. I have a Sako Vixen that's been rechambered to .223 and it shoots lights out with a 55 gr. bullet. I don't think it's likely to stabilize a 60 or 64 gr. bullet, but you may just have to try it. Miracles do happen!
Well, I consider the .222 a fine deer cartridge. My brother and I have killed more deer with a Hornet though and never lost one. If I am "horn" hunting, I use a .280 or 7x57. Meat hunting or culling I now use a Fireball or .222.
The luxury is the stand is 30 yards behind the house, and it overlooks a corn field, which will be cut in another month.
The gun season lasts 2 months.
So.....
every week day, I will pick her up at 4pm from school; we will haul ass home and be in the stand by 4:30.
Then sit for an hour.
The shot will present itself.
If it ever becomes harder than this, I will rethink the strategy.
That said, I used the 222 on weekends when I went deep in the brush or woods and rarely got a good broadside shot. Get your heresy chimes ready, because I'm going to say "head and neck shots".
I like neck shots. Generally they are either a DRT or a clean miss.
You didn't use logic or reason to get into this opinion, I cannot use logic or reason to get you out of it.
You cannot over estimate the unimportance of nearly everything. John Maxwell
I just worked up a load with 45 gr TSX's for my .222. Haven't shot anything with them yet, but am seriously contemplating it for my deer tag this year.
We've used this bullet a fair bit and it works real well on whitetail.
Not a writer. When I was a rookie trooper in a lightly populated area, my one and only gun store guy told me that the duce was the most popular cartridge for his poacher customers. He was correct, and they seldom bought beef. Smallish deer, head and neck shots, and relatively quiet all worked for them. Using the same thinking, if one has the discipline to use it, it will work in legal circles as well.
I have taken many ferrel goats with head shots from a .218 Bee and a total of one cull deer with a between the eyes shot with a .22LR. All DRT.
JACK
"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people...who have...rejoiced in their loss of freedom....Blame the people who hail him when he speaks of the 'new, wonderful, good, society'...to mean ,..living fatly at the expense of the industrious." Cicero
The second deer I ever killed (1967) was with a .222 shooting Norma factory ammo...50 grain bullet...nowadays I have "stepped up" to .223 with 65 grain SGK's over 27 grains of Varget.
Obviously the pics by experienced hunters prove a .222 will kill a deer. Why someone would choose it, when they have other options, is beyond me.
+1
Have been hunting deer all my life and have never considered using my .222, perhaps out east where the distances are shorter it might be more viable. out west where the distance can be long at times I know there are always better options. I will keep my .222 for hunting coyotes,rockchucks and shooting prairie dogs.
Not sure what you consider "shorter" but I have killed them out to 400 yards in the east. Last one I killed with a .22 CF (223) was right on 275 yards.
I'm with JGR on this. The 15 or 30 mph winds in west Texas, changed me to an 06 pushing 180s at respectable speed. That is much more than needed to kill deer, but absolutely needed to hit them with careful hold off.
Jack
"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people...who have...rejoiced in their loss of freedom....Blame the people who hail him when he speaks of the 'new, wonderful, good, society'...to mean ,..living fatly at the expense of the industrious." Cicero