Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .223 for deer hunting

I am gong to take my wife deer hunting the small California coastal blacktail deer and plan to let her use my .223 rifle, as I back her up with my .30-06.

Plan on trying the 60 grn Nosler Partition or Hornady 70 grn spire point. Looking for input on those with experience with .223 and these bullets in particular.

I live in CA and have taken both deer and pigs with a 223 with great success using simple 64gr power points. I even took a blacktail with a 204 ruger one year. My wife is hunting deer this year for the first time and she is shooting the 204 ruger. We tried several different rifles and that is the one that she shot the most accurately and was the most comfortable with. You simply need to know the cartridges limitations and place your shot well with the 204. The 223 has always worked fine for me, even with hard quartering shots. The nosler partition should be a great bullet.

This is probably going to be a long, heated thread, so prepare yourself.

Ive seen enough evidence to prove it works.....do it.

I would have no adversion to a well placed shot with a .223, but here in Kansas, it's out of my hands, minimum .24 caliber for deer.

I think a 223 will kill a deer.

How would you know?

It's on now.

Was I supposed to put a with that?

I'd send a PM to Jeff O, he'll be able to give you real world guesses.

Along the same question, my wife is also going to be using a .223, my Rock River Arms 16" Coyote Carbine. I have a really accurate coyote load worked up with a 60 gr. V-Max but consider that bullet too lightly constructed for deer. Just being lazy and not wanting to undertake another loading project, I looked for a factory load that might be useful for her deer hunting and wouldn't break the bank. I came across the Federal 62 gr. Fusion loading. I know the Fusion seems to be gathering some good reviews in the larger calibers for both accuracy and terminal performance. Thoughts on the .223/62 gr. Fusion for deer? My initial leaning was toward the Black Hills loading of the 62 gr. TSX but I can get the Fusion for considerably less cost wise.

I know a local guy who bought one of the older slow-twist Ruger Compacts for his young grandson. They have been using it for 2-3 seasons now and report good results with the 60gr Partition factory load. He says that several deer have dropped at the shot and those that ran did leave adequate blood to follow.

I have no personal .224 Partition experience but can speak about the TSX in that caliber. It is a fine bullet for small to medium sized deer at reasonable ranges. I've had good results with quick kills.

Thanks for all of the feed back so far!
Anyone have experience with the 70 grn Hornady??

Hornady don't make a 70 gr. I've killed deer with 55 and 60 gr. Horn's and they worked fine but if you want to shoot 70 gr's you'll have to shoot Speer.

I'm not so sure...


Glad we got a thread started on the subject to hash it out....

I think the 70 grain Hornadys are sized a little bigger and for the 22 HiPower

Right you are bgg...they are .227s...don't think I'd try one in a .223....

I wish I could try in VA, but .23 cal or larger here. I know a NP, the 64 gr PP or the fusion should work. Then there are the tsx lines. I don't see why a 6x45 is ok, but not a 223 with the same weight bullet. I know of one person who claims to shoot a 30 30 with 223 bullets in sabots. Apparently nobody asks questions cuz he shoots a lever gun.

the .227s suck in my hi-power too, at least without a slight trim via mill bastard file.

I think they are designed for the 5.6X52R twist rates.

Maybe I'll hunt elk this year with my 22 HP just to prove a stunt shoot'n point...

OK, just learned that the 70 grn Hornady bullet is .227, not .224. I was wondering why those that use .22 caliber rifles had not tried the 70 grn Hornady. Now I know why.

So that being said, and with me backing up my wife with a .30-06, what do you recommend for a bullet in the .223 rem. rifle.

Lol...

I guess it wouldn't be my first choice, but I guess I'll defer to your experience in the matter and guess that properly placed it'll do ok.

I guess I've seen even 22 LR poleaxe deer so... oops, not guessing there.