Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 223 vs 22-250 for "big game hunting"

jaguartx,

Sounds like a good solution to me. The biggest problem I've seen when hunting brushy country, whether for deer or anything else, is missing the brush--and sometimes even when you think there's a clear lane, stuff happens. Quick repeat shots can often help.

That sounds elitist..



But you're right....

I'm not an elitist.

I'm an a-hole.




Clark

I think that if the .223 was more universally accepted among deer hunters there would be fewer wounded/lost animals. Lots of trigger time is key to good marksmanship in the game fields, and a .223 lends itself to that way better than larger stuff, from a recoil and from a cost viewpoint. If I had a dollar for every nimrod I watched on "sight in days" flinching with their .300 Magnums/'06's/.270's/.358's, ad nauseum, I could take the whole bunch of you out for burgers and beers. A couple of hits on a five gallon bucket at 50 yards? Don't you wish, with a lot of those guys.

Is the .22 the ultimate game cartridge? A generation I ago I would have been a little skeptical. Now I'm accepting, and have even added a .223 to my deer rifle battery. Anyone who doubts its effectiveness in this day and age is either unenlightened or a hide-bound old fart who still thinks the sun rises and sets in Elmer Kieth's arsehole.

Some truths are self-evident.

The buck I shot last month with the 223AI was angling hard towards me. The bullet destroyed that 'knuckle'. There was bone pieces everywhere. It still went through all the goodies, and was a RCH from popping out the hide on the opposite side.

The 75gr bullet now weighs 65grs. He ran about 20 yards but I got to watch everything unfold through the scope. Another joy of using the 223.

I've put together a few 1-9" ROT 22-250s for under $400 by rebarreling Marlin XS7s with rechambered Stevens 200 223 barrels. Everybody who has one of them seems to like it.

H.S. Precision will spin one up in any twist you desire, they happen to shoot also!!!!!!

Just how big of a gun makes it not a problem to gut shoot a deer? And how much does one need to increase recoil to "improve" placement?









Wound size means nothing? Just how do you figure bullets kill? And how could something "marginal" be gruesome?

Thanks MD. Now i can do it without feeling like a stunt shooter.

I have a friend who has taken the big 5 and most stuff from the Permian Basin to the top of Mongolia. He had advised against it, but i would be in good tracking country and would prefer more firepower than a bolt gun at running deer through thick mesquite. I actually think a shotgun with buckshot could be effective except for the fact there are open areas that would need a rifle.

I've found that 'collectors' are generally clueless. Like getting pickup lines from someone that uses an escort service every night.

Over the years i have hit a few running deer in the guts with a 270 WBY mag. None went over a hundred yds before laying up and there was enough trash to follow them up for a finish shot.

(slow hand golf clap)





Dave

You like the 1" or 1.25" Montana sling? Been meaning to get one for a while just not got around to it.

Oh yea 75 amax 22/250AI one shoulder and lungs

You talkin' to me Willis???


I have a couple of each. Prefer the 1".



Dave

Yea was thank you!

Hold it in the wind
Varmintguy

Yeh, you are not vogue on the fire without one.

Even when I take a piss???





Clark

Well, besides taking several guys to Africa every year and culling he has a big place in Texas where TP&W surveys recommended about 200 W.Tails be taken a yr. He used to do a lot of shooting at game.