Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting At Ingwe's urging, a ".22 centerfires are no good for deer thread"

Did you boys know Blackhart made a Deer hunting video? He's still a little slow on getting the safety off, but I'm sure will eventually get it....

The Legend on the hunt in NY:

I guess 22 CF isn't enough for lion.

Na, he had a soft heart for the little guy. Touching moment.

Ta bring this all back on toppic folxs, let me get this rite.

You are mostlee agreein' a .223 centerfire bullet (or .227/.228 in some cases) will kill deers dead?

Therefor, shoold I choes to use my 9.3 (.366) for deer this year they should be 1.641255605381166 times deader.

Assumin' the .22 centerfire is .223 of course.
366/.223 = 1.641255605381166

Should it be one a dem ol' bullet style of .224 my maths will need correctin'. (the deers should still be dead though, right?)

If mathman is around he can check my figurin' to more decimal points I'm sure. I bet he has a way mo betta calcumalator then eye does. (Mebbe a better spel shecker two!)

Geno

PS, an' tell that feller wit the arra's he mite wants ta yous blunts, them sharp wons is way overpentratin'.

I'm going to make a confession here.

Back on the old AllOutdoors.com, I can remember being one of those who opined that shooting deer .223 REM was a stunt. If you look back far enough, you all might find me writing somethin similar here. I repented all of that. I remember specifically in 2002 trying to work up a deer load for my Mini-14. That was about the same time I started thinking 44 Mag with a pistol would be fun. Both of those projects got put on the back burner. The latter I gave up, because even with plugs and muffs, I could not see any load with that much shock and awe at the muzzle being a good idea.

In the intervening years, I have been acquiring a lot of deer rifles and shooting my share of deer. The rack also has 4 .223 REM rifles, the most recent I acquired over the winter. It's a Ruger American Predator.

My confession to you is that in 15 deer seasons, I just cannot seem to bring myself to pick a .223 REM rifle when it is time to go deer hunting. The best I've managed is to bring an older Savage along as a back-up gun once about 10 years ago.

I've used 25-06 to 35 Whelen. I've acquired over a half dozen 30-06's. I have deer rifles for treestands and ground blinds, deer rifles for stalking in dry leaves and banging about in the rain. I just can't bring myself to cross the line.

There are 50 rounds of Winchester 64 grain Powerpoints sitting on top of a goodly amount of H4895 mocking me on the shelf right now. What should I do?

Its OK....you are gradually coming over to the dark side...

As they say in so many therapies....baby steps.....

You have .223 rifles out the ying yang, 64 grain bullets...you're getting there.....

You might consider "crossing the line" in an area or at a time when all you have in hand is a doe tag, and gradually work your way up to the big boys...


When I 'made the transition' there were no premium bullets, so I loaded up my .223 with 60 grain Hornady soft points and jumped in with both feet,filling three tags on day one..a whitetail doe, a mule deer doe, and a nice four point mule deer buck.
They all died as quick as usual with any rifle, so I was off and running!


( however, I must confess I have a preference for premium bullets in the little guns...no real reason or bad experiences..I just feel better....)

Three in one day? Man, you must have been tired of gutting and dragging deer after that.

1st deer I ever shot was with a .25-06. 10 yards & down. 2nd deer was a doe, shot with the same rifle & load. Perfect hit, broadside, behind shoulder. Doe jumps fence, runs like hell, zig-zagging through brush, winds up 100 yards away, and I have trouble finding her - one little spot of blood, and hard ground. The bullet had actually deflected off a rib and went out her belly. I wasn't happy and started using bigger cartridges, and had better results.

Had a buddy who had a .22-250 and swore it was the best thing on deer he'd ever seen. Get a few beers in him, he admitted to wounding and losing some animals, including the biggest deer he'd ever seen.

A few years later I got a chrono, shot some of my .25-06 loads over it, and realized I'd been under-loading it. Also realized the 100gr Nosler Ballistic tips were actually a varmint bullet, which probably explained the funky results on the doe.

Took one spike with a .223 AR, previously pictured. Also took a doe with Dad's old .25-06, this time loading 110gr Accubonds. Both kills were quick & satisfactory.

I guess this year I could use my .218 Bee...or Dad's old 180 Series Mini-14.

just getting back from a couple of weeks traveling, attending a campfire get2gether in New Mexico and taking the long way home, allowing the wife to see a couple of National Parks she's never seen.....so bare with me here....

didn't read the entire thread...

but a thread about 22 calibers and deer hunting, on the 24 Hour Campfire...

based on past experience, what could possibly go wrong...

What year, and how did you come to realize this?

they would have been bought around 1990-92. I got my first chrono probably 6-7 years later. So over 20 years ago. I know they have since been toughened up.

That's before I got into them, didn't have a quarter bore at the time.

You guys are gonna keep this up and I'm gonna have to build a fast twist 22-250, then set back and drill to A.I when the throats torched.

I'm going to the Cape next May.
Part of the adventure is a cull hunt.
20+ PG per shooter.
Asked the PH what rifle I should pack on those days.......he said,

"A .223 would be fun."

Ingwe has "urges?" I could've gone all year without hearing about those.

Many thanks for your advice.

Okay, Let's say I sate my bloodlust on The Opener and send a goodly buck to his demise. I now have a fortnight left in which to fill my freezer. This is Zone 1 of Kentucky, so I can take any number of doe I choose. I vow that this is the year the slope-heads will feel the wrath of my less-than-mighty Double-Deuce.

What is going to be the effective range of this round on a 140-170#-ish whitetail? I'm thinking it would be better than a 357 Magnum out of a carbine, but somewhat less than a 30-30 Win. Using the 1000fpe rule of thumb, I'm thinking 80 yards at most.

The reason I'm trying to pin this down, is that I have over a dozen proven hunting venues on the farm. Most of the treestands are in deep woods. Most of the ground blinds overlook open fields. The late season freezer fillers are usually taken at 150-175 yards. That may be a bit too far for the .223 REM.

Occasionally, I get a doe or button coming close. In fact, I had a button buck last year that used to bed next to my luxury box. You could hear Lil Buttons breathing on the other side of the plywood. At one point he his snuck his mother along, and we all met up as I was backing out the hatch going in for lunch.

The first option I see is, rather than try again for a lawn-dart-through-the-skull shot out of the stand, I should leave the Jarts at home this year and attempt taking one with .223 Rem instead. The other possibility is that I eschew the ball-peen hammer and oatmeal cookies and concentrate on the odd doe that decides to munch rye grass 50 yards from my Barcalounger.

Best post so far. Proves bigger is better.

OK, first, I don't know what a double deuce is..unless you are referring to a .22lr.

Max range determination is completely arbitrary, but based on your own confidence level. I will admit the little guns need to have their bullets placed almost surgically , but the ease of shooting them allows this.
Personally I like to keep shots with the .223 to 200 yards and under. Give it a little more steam like an AI or a .22-250 then Im happy out to 300 yards.

In all my hunting with all cartridges and on all game 95% of my shots have been 200 yards or under...so the little gun isn't really a handicap.

Sorry, no I was thinking 223 REM. I'll leave 22LR to the neighbor kids.

So you endorse using a .223 REM out to 200 yards? OK. I was under the mistaken impression that this was a shorter range proposition. 200 yards makes this seem much more practical. I'm doing some quick calculations as I write: POINTBLANK says a 64 Grain WIN PP travelling at 3000fps at the muzzle has about 800ft/lbs left at 200 yards. This is sufficient?

My main reason for asking is that I moved to 25-06 for coyote at that range.

Don't think about foot-pounds too much. Instead examine the remaining velocity to see if it's sufficient to cause proper expansion of the bullet upon impact.