Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Lightweight stalking woods rifle optimal caliber help

The little 223 is not a good choice for big game hunting. Just because someone in AK uses one does not make it good.

It's not even legal in many places for that reason.

Have you considered the German made Blaser R93 with its switch barrel configuration, alloy receiver and alloy QD scope mounts?
Not a turnbolt but straight-pull bolt for fast action. I love mine with its 4 interchangeable barrels from antelope to Cape Buffalo. Mine is walnut stocked but they are also made with a synthetic stock.

Newest version is the R8 but is a bit heavier than the R93.

Blaser R93

Don't think every rifle gets the hogback buttstock. They're more for the European clientele.

I've heard practical is not very good for enemies though?

Savage 99,

I suspect that would get you to rise again. Please repeat your vast experience with the .223 on big game. I'd like to hear all the stories again!

Sold my CZ 550FS because of the hogsback stock. Blasers are very interesting rifles, especially if you're in a European country that places importance on stupid restrictions for their gunowners. In that case, a switch barrel makes sense . Here in the States, for what a Blaser offers, when I think switch barrel I'm thinking an AR15 and all the uppers you can switch through it operating even faster than any straight pull. I have no quarrel with Blaser enthusiasts and know they are accurate and innovative and have advantages for traveling, etc., but I can get the same job done from a far less proprietary and expensive platform.

The 223 WAS pretty dismal for anything larger than 'yotes back in the "old" days, meaning back when I started hunting. There was a simple reason for it-bullets really weren't made in 22 caliber for the purpose in the US. These days, it's hard not to find a good 22cf bullet for deer/black bear hunting. I'm partial to the 60gr partition myself, as sps ran a special on 2nds a bit back & a bunch have been loaded up. I'm not sure if they stabilize in a 1:12 as i run them in a typical AR. In my cousins little Savage with a 1:9 they've done well on GA whitetail. The only kick I have against the 223 is that its never given me a very good blood trail

They say a wounded enemy does greater damage to that army!

It's legal in the MAJORITY of places you frigging retard. You've be belching that out like last night's meatloaf for YEARS.

You are retarded beyond words. Tell me about your 223 use? What bullets?

Dazzle us all with your 1 year of experience 51 times.

A 300 yard "woods rifle" huh ? Geezus, those are some mighty sparse woods ! For more normal woods, an aperture sighted lever action .30-30 is plenty effective and can't be beat by any bolt action for handiness/ease of carry.

Yep 300 yards. And if you ever hunt in Georgia you'll know what its like to hunt the nastiest thickest crap imaginable as well as a clearcut open to a mile on the same land trac.

Most everything I've killed was with a bow at less than 30 yards and with a rifle less than 150.

The 300 yard (or less) mark is a guess on my part as to where some of these cartridges of interest top out for downrange potency that I'm personally comfortable with.

I would go with one of your last two choices and would add that you don't need the AI. Although it adds to the performance for what you are looking to do a quality well placed slug from the original will get it done. I have a Ruger M77 carbine that I run Federal 62 Gr bonded LE ammo out of and it has sufficed with all my deer hunting needs and swings like a well balanced bird gun with a 2X7 variable. I know many look at the .223 like the plague when you mention it in the same sentence with big game hunting but it shouldn't sway you. If you can put it where it counts they go down and damn fast. The mild report and recoil only adds to how well one can shoot it.

Yep.... I think the OP narrowed it down to a bolt as well. I'd go one of those two in either a Montana (only choice for .223) or a Forbes (preferred choice for .243...but wouldn't shun a Montana).

[quote=Savage_99][quote=Mule Deer]I simply have to add another comment on the .223. I recently spent some time, over several days, with a couple of brothers from Alaska. Both are young (the older, as I recall, is 29) but they have both been hunting a LOT since they were kids, since they grew up in the wilderness. They've killed basically every kind of big game in the state with the .223 Remington, including moose and grizzlies, and never had a problem--which is why both still use Savage 99's totally inadequate cartridge today. Of course, it isn't legal for huge, ferocious game like deer in some states. [/quote] The little 223 is not a good choice for big game hunting. Just because someone in AK uses one does not make it good. It's not even legal in many places for that reason.[/quote] I worked as a Wildlife Professional (Bureaucrat) for 27 years and can honestly say that caliber/cartridge/power decisions were never based on scientific data but by political/personal opinions of politicians. " that Ca

Here's mine (gnoahhh you might like this one ) it is an Austrian made single shot in .25-35 with a weaver 3X post & crosshair. Weighs under 6 lbs all up.



PennDog

It seems to me much about choice of chambering hinges on first shot discipline. If I will limit my first shot to good shots and angles, I can carry something many would consider "marginal." If eating meat or not is the reason I am hunting, then I want something that does the job when the shot offered is "difficult." It seems to me the OP needs to define the problem a bit more.

The entire southeast is exactly as you describe. You hunt the woods all day and look out to find a deer standing 250 yards on the other side of a field. If you hunt the edge of a field, all the deer are walking behind you in the thick woods. I understand the desire for a "carry rifle" that you can comfortably take a long poke with. For this scenario, I went with a 260. I have no confidence in a 223 for such a scenario. I think folks justify their love of the AR platform by calling it a big game capable rifle. the 308 "tactical" rifles that I have seen weigh more than most hunting rifles. I have never seen a deer shot with a 223 so am simply stating my bias.

Best be careful with the sarcasm Mule Deer or you will end up on the kinda, maybe, sometimes, oh, I will just read this one post Savage99 ignore list.

JB should BE so lucky, the little varmint, S-99, sent me two PMs, DEMANDING I remove posts I made last week.....belongs on a forum discussing LEGOS and "Captain Kangaroo", IMHO!

Don't you feel "lucky."

Now that is plain sexy.