Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting What's the better .223 deer bullet

What's the better deer bullet in a 1-12 twist .223? 55gr. Bear Claw or Gold dot.

Both work GREAT! Whatever shoots best for you.

I'm going to have to go with one or the other without pre testing.

Barnes 53 or 55 tsx

Haven’t killed a deer with either but my guess is they perform very similarly. I believe the Trophy Bonded are made by Speer no?

Pretty sure I trust Ingwe in this department however

Thank you for that vote of confidence!

I've used them both and was equally impressed. Ive never seen a deer I wouldnt use either one on.

I’d vote Bear Claw just because I knew Jack Carter

We've used 62gr. Fusion and Bears Claws with complete success. I'm going to do a deer load for my 1-12 Browning and need to drop down to 55grns. I can buy the Gold Dot or Bear Claw.

Knowing how well the 62gr. bullets have worked, I should probably not over think it and just go with the 55gr. Bear Claws.

223 give me a plain vanilla 55 grain cup and core spitzer. Not enough velocity there to put any strain on a bullet.

I’ve have no experience with the bear claw in 223, but the 55gr gold dot is good to go. I can’t imagine the two would perform much different. I’ve seen the 55gr gold dot break a whitetail’s shoulder and penetrate at least 20 more inches on a quartering shot.

I've used 70gr Speer semi-spitzers with good luck.

Nosler partition 60 gr woks well

Well, if nothing else you're getting a long list of bullets to use instead of the two you asked about.

Another vote for Nosler 60 gr. Had good luck in both the .223 and 22-250.

check out the Hammer bullet list you will be impressed , this brand bullet really shoot well and kill game excellent. Pete53

Yep. But, I enjoy and welcome other opinions and experiences. Have experience with 62gr. Bear Claws in a 1-9 and 1-8 rifles and it worked great.

So, I've just ordered a supply of the 55s for my Browning.

As is usual with 24HCF it took two whole replies before folks started mentioning things you weren't asking about and weren't interested in...

Why do you need to drop down in weight?

I know from previous postings that you are very much in favor of softer bullets for deer and I agree with you to a great extent. With 55gr. bullets being driven at 3100 + fps, I don't think a bonded bullet is a mistake. I want an exit. Our lease is on a pine plantation. If they get off the food plots very far, you are in for a serious tracking job and probably won't find them without a blood trail.

Using Fusions and Bear Claws we get exits on angle shots, not so much with Hornadys.

We've used 55gr. Hornady SP with success and I would use them again. I am well supplied with them for my general purpose bullet.

Send it to H&H.
Have then install a gold plated barrel 22x 375H&H, new stock of the finest wood.
A custom wood case.
Custom S&B glass.


Hand turned platinum bullets, 133.98gr.

A doe from last season with my brothers American and 62gr. Bear Claw. Shot was just over one hundred yards. Inside the left shoulder and out the right ribs.

10gauge,

Why do you need to drop down in weight?


I missed this question while typing aother post. My Browning has a serious dislike for anything over 55 grains and really prefers 50s.

10-4.

Is that 50 or 55 a poly tip or lead tipped?

Just asking as many poly tipped 55 are longer than an SP version of same weight. More of a length issue vs weight.

The only plastic tips I've shot out of it were Hornady 40gr. Vmax. It liked those very well. Every thing else has been lead tipped.

The bullet shot out of it most over the years was the Hornady 50gr. SXSP. Killed praire dogs, crows, a hand full of woodchucks and a few coyotes with it.

In my old age I'm starting to like these smaller calibers for deer hunting, thus the interest in the bullets.

I have never had a sp bullet out of the 223 exit. Used 55 gr Hornady, 55 gr Remington, 63 gr Sierra, 70 gr Speer. Barnes have given me exits but A little to much running with lung shots. Will have to give those Bear Claws A try.

👍🏻👍🏻

My answer is NONE! Use an adequate deer caliber! Not a LADIES GUN!

Hip

This schitt is never not funny!

I ain't never met anybody from Long Island that knew their ass from a hole in the ground.

😂

I hate to see grown men cry!

Hip

Because it takes so much horsepower to kill a 200# animal

I'm not the worlds biggest advocate for .22 calibers, but how bout you post up a photo of what type of gun you use, the ammo and a game animal taken with it.

I'm pretty sure the one I posted shows plenty of damage. I can tell you the deer dropped where it stood and almost completely bled out on the ground.

I'm sure the pictures you're going to post will obviously show more acceptable damage.

Pics or it didn't happen!

Of course a 223 will kill deer. Why waste an excuse to buy a 257 Roberts?

Don't tell this guy that a 60 grain Partition wasn't adequate.

HI! 10ga.
Your handle is 10ga mag.----why are you pushing the heaviest gauge scattergun when you could use a BB Gun? 1 BB=17 cal. (would be listed as 0 size shot (not buck)----That should be all that you need?


Pick a cal. or gauge that is efficient----Not to Big, Not to Small!

Hip

Abolt,
Shot many deer back in the day when the limit was 1 deer a SEASON in N.Y. State! A few 8 ptrs which were considered very nice for N.Y.!
Calibers .357 RM pistol, '30-30, 30-06, .35 Rem. .358 Win.----Some with cast bullets.
We hunt woods/forests here, if a deer is not well hit we can easily lose them!

We hunt here, not snipe from elevated stands with heat, A/C, wet bars, full kitchens and flush toilets!

Hip

Are you implying that it isn’t possible to hit a deer well when using a .224 caliber rifle?

I’ve never shot a deer with anything bigger than a 458 Win or smaller than a 222. And I’ve never shot anything bigger than an elk with a 22 centerfire. Probably not talking anything much over 400-500 head of animals killed discounting varmints like coyotes and Pdogs. If you hit them right it doesn’t make much difference what you’re hitting them with in my experience, hitting them right is the important thing. And when a good bullet from a 223 will give over 2 feet of penetration and leave a 2” wide wound channel the margin for error argument doesn’t hold much water with me.

You're a badasss. Are you Blackheart's twin brother?

I sure got you guys going!

Hip

Pics or it didn't happen.

😄

Yep.

DF

It doesn't take much to get this Dumbo eared moron going.

Has anyone tried Nosler Bonded Solid Base , 64gr? They say they work great on deer. They're discontinued but still available with some looking.
I have a 22-250 12" twist. I'm wondering if these would stabilize.

I hate it when people ask a question with a question. However , don't any bullet companies make a .224 cal designed just for hunting? If they would advertise a bullet that is made just for pigs and deer, I think they would sell very well.

How does one ask a question without a question?

IIRC, ingwe has and he no likey.

I agree with that. Federal, Barnes and Nosler particularly, could market their Fushion/Gold Dot, Bear Claw, Partition and TTSX ammo as game loads. They act like their larger caliber bullets. It would simply come down to how large a game animal the hunter would be comfortable using them on.

I've been a very reluctant convert to the small caliber big game concept. I didn't even like the 6mm cartridges. My favorite caliber is still .35, but the more I use them the more confident in them I've become. I do know that if I go for pronghorn again, I'll take my Tikka .223 and 77gr. TMK loads.

All kinds of them marketed as hunting bullets.

Partition, TTSX, Gold DOT, Bear Claw, etc.

Federal Fusion, Winchester has a 64 grain Power Point in 223. I am sure there are other factory load options as well.

I’ve used them on several deer and pronghorns, no complaints. I’ve only caught one the rest have exited and all game was taken cleanly with a single shot. It should shoot fine in a 1-12”, 22-250. Here’s an old thread where I used them.

64 gr Nosler

thanks. I see that Shooters Pro Shop has some blems for about $35/100. I think I'll buy a box and give them a try.

Bought a bunch of them when they were less than half that price. I'd buy them for the current tithe with out any qualms. They stabilize just fine in a 1-12".

I've found them to be very accurate in my 12 twist .223 bolt rifle.

Dis be true. Couldnt get them to shoot under an inch ( which is actually fine...) but I tried them on a couple deer. If I were to complain about anything its that they were TOO destructive. Killed sho' nuff though!

I killed one deer with the Nosler, as said, it was most sincerely dead. Varget got them down to the "about 1 inch" mark for me, which was sufficient for my usual 200 yd or less OK deer. Bought some more from SPS recently, I'm determined to find a sub 1" group. Film at 11:00.

I’ve never used one of the 64’s but my brother and a couple of friends bought loaded ammo years ago. Small sample but I bet them and kids have shot 8-10 deer. Some pretty decent sized deer too. No drama and one shot kills the way I remember.

I don’t really have enough 1-12” twist experience to comment but I sure wouldn’t hesitate to use what has been recommended by the guys above.

In asking my question, i was probably making things more complicated. We've used Fusions, Bear Claws and Hornady 55s with no issues. As mentioned previously, I ordered the 55gr. Bear Claws.

They came in today along with some more 62s. Looking at them side by side, the length difference is obvious to the eye. Just for the heck of it, I measured them so that if anyone was wondering, you would have the info.

The 55s were .725, the 62s. .810.

I just got curious and measured the Hornady 55 w/can. Mine are older flat base, they're .705.

I scored a really nice older M70 223 (1-12 twist) so this is great info!

Back before I started hand loading I used both the Win Power Point 64gr and the 62gr Fusion out of a Model 70 Ranger (1-12) and had great results with both. I'm thinking about two little Cali blacktails per cartridge and they performed about the same. Only ever caught two of the Power Points on a buck at 260ish yards. Both perfectly mushroomed.

I'll eventually reload for this one too. Both of those you mentioned above, + the Hornady American Whitetail 60gr InterLock (but has apparently been discontinued?) have been popular around here.

Speer 70 gr. seems to work well, however, I have never tried one . They seem like they would work good, almost a round nose and seem very reasonably priced. Abour 21 cents each.

Most any bullet, is as lethal as the next, if you use proper placement, which is paramount using any round, but more important when using what some might say marginal rounds for a job.

Whatever bullet is used, in any round, should be placed to maximize it's design. Soft bullets work best on soft tissue like lungs, harder bullets do better on bone.

I have faves, but I have used 'marginal bullets' - IN marginal rounds, with deadly effect on whitetails. One example, a 70 TNT in a 243, and also in 6mmBR. NOT my chosen HUNTING bullet for game, but in those situations it was what the rifle was sighted in for, so I used accordingly. The 243 nearly decapitated a WT at 50 paces........and a 6BR using said bullet destroyed both lungs at about 200 yds......so yes one was DRT and the other went 60 yds......Both DEAD.

Any 'hunting bullet' made for 223s, avoiding varmint and target bullets, should work fine - when using good placement. I would not sweat bullet choice, but instead be very sure of proper placement which is rather easy to say 250 yds and under in any decent rifle, with good trigger and sights. Lungs on longer shots, MAYBE neck and even head shots on close shots, but not on any trophy deer where you risk messing up a mount, or a last second move causing a wound or miss.........so for ME, I would save neck/head shots for Doe's.

Good hunting folks.

Anyone use the Speer 70 gr.? They are pretty cheap and you can get them.

two of my rifles shoot the gold dots better then the bear claws.

have since upgraded the 223 to 6br. same results with eld-m at 2800fps launch. 0-550 and hooves go up real fast. it's just a more legal one gun option that sodak and wyoming require for elk

70 grain Speer.
I have not shot anything but paper with them. But I get good accuracy in a cz527. The load is a max charge of 28.0 grains H380, LC brass , FGMM small rifle primers.

If a 223 is good enough for the army to take out a man it should be fine on a deer!

The 223 “works” for deer and in the right hands is an effective tool. But there is a difference between taking a human out of the fight and fire suppression by volume, and humanely killing an animal and finding it after the fact. I use a 223 to kill deer sometimes, but I’d never use a 55 grain FMJ to shoot a deer.

70 grain Speer SMP is a fantastic deer bullet. Pigs too.

I'm right there with ya on that choice... its always my first choice...

I think the Barnes X is probably better, than the 70 Speer, but I'm a traditionalist...

Don't give up on something that has worked for me and never ever failed to get the job done.

I'm repeating myself, but this choice right here... with this powder and that charge also...

28 grains of H 380 and the 70 SMP Speer has never failed me... neither has the same powder and charge, using a 63 SMP Sierra either.

In "fairness",Shefire is a Lying CLUELESS Piece Of Fhuqking Schit and is issued (1) Deer Tag per year. Though she hasn't filled same in years. Hint.

The .224" Speer 70grainer is fair to middlin' in a 223. I MUCH prefer the Hornie 75 HPBT,as it digs deep and upsets nicely. They do good thangs even at 3500fps+. Hint.

Just saying.

Hint..............

The TBBC bullet continues to work out of the .223. My brother shot this nice sow on the lease today. Approximately 90 yards behind left shoulder and out the right shoulder. Dropped where she stood.

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i have been killin deer with a 223,22-250,220 swift, since the 1970s back in the 50s-80s my dad killed a bunch with a 22 hornet. this was all back before the armchair gun writers said it was a sin to use a 22 cal. for years my bullet was a speer semi point 70gr. it worked well. then at the end of the 70s i found out Hornady's 60gr. flat base HP had a thick jacket and they had engineered it for deer! so i started using them, and i ain't looked back. but being an experimenter i am always looking, in the 90s midway had a sale on Winchesters 64gr. PP-SP, i bought a couple of thousand or so. these bullets have a thick jacked and mushroom in deer like a picture! i still have a mess of them. they do not group like the tack driving Hornady 60gr. but they are plenty good enough. you probably won't find them anymore.

i am not saying a 17 Remington is for deer. but over at my hunting lease i was overrun with does. my buddy has a 17 Remington on an AR platform. i wanted to try it out on a deer. in SC it is legal to hunt deer with any centerfire, so he brought it over. he shot this 100 LB doe with a Hornaday 25gr. hp. and a full charge of powder at a measured 100yds, she ran no more than 50yds. after the hit and was stone dead. it took out 3 ribs going in and made the lungs into fluid,,,,,,,,,,,,,