Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Da .223 and deer/lopes @ longer ranges (experiences)

Curious here guys but I was having a chat with a fella the other day. He was sort of having kittens about the fact I'd dare...to use a 223 on deer/lopes let alone at longer ranges.

I told him of my experiences with it and mentioned to him that he might wish to check in and look for this thread.

My question is, using the 223 and or the 223 Ai what are your long range kills with it in terms of yardages.

I know that Ingwe and Steelhead have used it more than a fair bit so am interested to hear their experiences as well as any others who wish to chime in.

Thx in advance

Dober

Doe antelope at 267 yards with a 40 grain BT. Its one of the few BT's I have got to exit.

I know that's not very far but it's the farthest I used the .223 on big game.

Dink

Thx Dink, I've seen a couple of lopes doinked with a 40 NBT. Mainly via a pistola.

From where I sit 267 yds is fairly long range on deer/lopes with the .223.

Dober

Hopefully I whack one with my AR at 250 or a little more. Probably will be more like 50-75 yards though:(

My furthest was a nice antelope buck at 312 yards with a 223 WSSM/60 grn Hornady.

Broadside, through the rib cage. Dime sized exit. Buck ran about 80 yards, then cartwheeled.

Many whitetail and a couple muley does and fawns with the same combo at 50-300 yards. All have been pass throughs, with immediate or short trails.

The 60 grain Hornday holds together very well from my experience.

I've killed a pile of deer with a 22-250, the longest and largest being last year. Killed a 200# 8-point whitetail at 150 paces last fall. Through and through both shoulders with a Barnes 53 TSX. He dropped like a stone, stuck his legs straight out and expired. With today's modern bullets these high power 22 rounds are true deer calibers.

150 yard black bear 64 grain power point at 3300 fps mv from a 22 250. DRT through the shoulders. Bullet exited.

I've killed a couple dozen deer with a .222 and .223. Never had anything but quick kills except once when I stretched the range to 350 yds.. That one ran 125 yds. before it fell and left no blood trail to follow {perfect broadside lung shot}. Bottom line, I'm perfectly confident on deer with a .223 in my hands but probably won't push the range past 200 yds. again.

65 grain SGK over 27 grains Varget in the .223...longest kill to date just over 300 yards...lung shot....medium size WT buck (150#)...ran about 100 yards and expired.

MAark,

My brothers and I as well as my dad have been smoking deer and big pigs for over 15 years with .223's and .22-250's...

Usually with factory 55's or my handloads of the 63 SMP. Have never even come close to losing anything. Some pigs we have lost but not because of the bullet or cartridge. These situations were either in a pickup at night with 30+ in a field and all hands on triggers...

Shots have ranged from probably 30 to well over 300 yards in some occasions. My brother, who is the best field shot I know, routinely smokes deer/pigs/dogs/cats with his .22-250 and factory 55's at 300+...

Stuff is only as hard as people make it. But we've talked about this before...

I plan on using the 62 fusion factory load next week in AR out of a savage 20" 1/9".
Probably just pop a couple does to make sure its good to go before I'd take a long shot at a big deer though.

all with 223 and 53 TSX

this year
doe ~55 yards: bang flop neck shot


last year
doe 211 yards: bang flop neck shot


two years ago
wife's doe 190 yards: heart lung 5 steps and down
unbelievable exit wound damage to the skeletal structure. Out the shoulder blade and spiral fracture of the humerus 3" below the exit. I wish I had taken a picture after removing meat.

Got into a rather spirited discussion of 22CF's for deer with some guys on a local outdoors forum recently. It sort of faded out when I asked how many of the naysayers were speaking from experience.

Dober I like to keep my shots at 300 or under because thats my 'comfort' zone for bullet performance. Id have to scratch my head for "personal bests" but I killed a doe antelope last year at 308 lasered yards with a .223AI and shot a big whitetail doe with the same gun at 275 yds. Most of my shots are 200 yds or less...got a doe last evening with the AI at 150 yds....

What was the internal damage like? I have some of those Sierras loaded.

I killed a WT buck at 220 yards with a .22-250rem. using a 55gr. V-max.

Also killed a couple 50 pound hogs at 345 yards with a .22-250rem. using 55gr. Nosler Ballistic Silver Tips.

My longest BG kill with a .223 was a good sized hog at about 170 yards using 55gr. V-maxes. That one took two running shots to bring down.

2 does I put down last friday were with the 65 GK, and they worked great. HUGE wt doe at 150 yds, broadside, ran 50 yards and croaked.. Yearling at 235 yards, shoulder, went down there and croaked on the spot. No exit on both, but couldn't find the bullets.

I've got a 12" twist .223AI that happily shoots 65gr GK's @3200fps, killed a big whitetail buck (250#) a few years ago at 350yds with that rifle/load. Shot behind the shoulder, found it under the skin on the offside, deer went 50yds. Also recall shooting a smaller buck (body wise) at 300 with a 60gr Partition. Same results but with a small exit wound..

Have killed several other deer with a straight .223 and a faster twist using MK's and A-Maxe's. Furthest of that lot was also a nice buck at about 325yds with a 69 MK.........No longer own this rifle but I would not hesitate to shoot the largest deer walking out to 400yds with a fast twist 223AI and a good bullet. 75gr Scirocco comes to mind here!



X-VERMINATOR

What about the 62 gr. TTSX's?


ddj

Those who know, what kind of fps are you getting out of your .223AI with a 62 gr TSX.

First load out of the gate is H335 at 26.3gr. No pressure signs-better than good accuracy-and from drops I'm guessing around 3000fps. Maybe a little more.