Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Rem .223 Deer Killer

I seem to have made a complete circle in my choice of hunting rifles. Started off with a 94 in 1973 and then shot .270's for the next 40 years. Started with the 30-30 again three years ago. Made a decision to try small stuff last year. Shooting 55 and 62 gr soft points out of a 16" barrel bolt gun with a Innovative Arms silencer and a Swarovski 3-12x56. The little gun is SUCH A PLEASURE to hunt with. It is strictly a medium to short range tool. I don't shoot anything further than 200 yards with it. Had PERFECT mushrooms in every deer shot.

I always THOUGHT this caliber is to small for deer - it's not. . Anyone else use .223 for deer?

You're new here.......

I'll make the popcorn.

RWE, Just butter and salt on mine please.

How many pages you think this one will go?

Don't deer hunt, but shoot lots of pigs. Kills them, no problem.

I've hunted deer with a fairly heavy (16# with scope) bolt gun from a tower stand for years. Dropping it on them works a treat.

As the founder and first poster of the Deer Hunting section, let me welcome you.

223 Rem? Look, I've gone more than full circle on this subject since joining. Let me share the history of my thoughts. If you had asked me when I first joined this august forum, I would have been firmly in the anti-223 REM camp. I seem to remember saying it was at best a "finesse round" and it was for "stunt shooters"-- whatever the hell that meant. I was just parroting what I'd heard in the past. Someone on here, I don't know who it was, convinced me this was not the case. I had a new 223 Rem, a Savage bolt gun, and I was just starting to reload and I started working up a load based on what folks had suggested. One thing led to another and I did not have a chance to get out with that rifle during season. In fact, I had a fairly crappy season that year, only got one small doe, and I did not think about the project again for quite some time. That was 2002.

In the interim, I can tell you that we average better than 2 threads a year in this section on just this topic. The bulk of them include reliable reports from good solid deer hunters, extolling the .223 REM as a deer round. I am convinced based on these reports that you can reliably kill whitetails of any size with a properly loaded .223 REM. I will leave it to others to offer their suggestions on what is the best bullet and powder and such.

So shaman, how's been your luck?

I still have not taken a deer with 223 Rem. I have not taken it hunting, not yet. The reason why is why I'm posting this. First off, I want to recant and repent all the bad things I ever said about .223 Rem as a deer round. They were said out of ignorance. You will find most folks that disparage this round have little or no experience with it. Second, I want to apologize to Ingwe and the other proponents of .223 Rem for all the advise you've given me over the years that has gone unheaded. I want to publicly admit my timidity. I keep coming up to that moment when I'm packing rifles for deer camp and my .223 Rem rifles (I've got 4 of them now) and failing to take the leap. I'm not usually this way on things, so I have to ask myself why.

Look, it comes down to a basic .30 cal bias. I've had overwhelmingly good luck with 30-06 and 308 WIN. I have 16 years of plugging deer with .30 cal slugs and being able to stand in the deer's tracks and see the carcass. Most have gone down where they stood. I've had a lost deer or two. I've had deer that ran more than they should, but it was always with something other than a .308 bore. It's hard to muck with that.

So after 35+ years of deer hunting and 15 years of trying, you can still call me 223-curious and that's about it.

if you are finding the bullet in every deer you shoot, I"d suggest trying a bit better bullet personally.

But since I"ve killed out to almost 600 with the 223.. I"ve no issues with the round...

I've killed dozens with a 50 gr SP at 3000 fps from a 222 rem, and only had to track 1.

I've moved to 64 gr at 3000 from a 223 and as long as I shoot accurately I don't foresee any issues.

Is this even legal? Or Ethical?

I haven't shot anything live with my 223. But I did get it specifically for cheap plinking and for my kids deer rifle.

Oh, Ingwe! We really are being the pot-stirrer today aren't we?

Nice thong. Is it new?

Probably lightly used from the Badwill store.

I started my son deer hunting with an AR and 55 grain TTSX when he was 10 years old. He's big as a man now and it's still his favorite deer rifle/bullet. He's killed every deer that he's shot with it and typical short tracking jobs.

I guess the rise of the AR and what seems to be more people who seem to have this need to get a 5 or 6 yr old kid their first deer and needing a low recoil has opened this topic up much more in the past few years.
We have a lot better bullets than we had 20+ yrs ago for 223. With proper shot placement it will work for deer. But it wouldnt be my first choice.

The Nosler 60 solid base has been around a long time. They are wonderful deer killers and exit when fired from a .223 clear out to over 200 yards.

Where might I get some of these 60 Grain Sold Base bullets Wrongman?

Nosler 60gr partition is still available. As is Norma's 55gr Oryx Bonded.
Personally, I don't go below 257 and that's my comfort level.

I heard the .223 bounces harmlessly off anything larger than field mice.

The first year I got a 223, I killed two bucks and a bear with it. One buck through the lungs at 75 yards - flopped. The other at 180 with a neck shot. The bear kept taking dog food out of the shed and I shot him at about 70 yards through both lungs, mostly out of habit. He ran about forty yards and expired. Since then I've shot coyotes, squirrels, bobcats and numerous deer. All in all I find the 223 really easy for anyone to shoot well, making it a great truck or kick around rifle. It isn't a rifle to take a bad shot with at long range but with that being said - I'd take a clean double lung or neck shot on a buck at 300 with a good rest. Just a couple weeks ago some a hole shot a guys zebra out in his field. It appeared to be at least a hundred yard shot. Shot with ....... you guessed it, a 223. 223 for safari................aaahhhh, maybe a different thread.

I personal have killed ......LOT'S of deer with a .223 and have had very few leave from where they are standing. With that being said I also do a lot of shooting and fell very comfortable with this caliber.

Also I do not want my bullet to leave the animal, bullets are designed to kill with shock and internal organ and bone damage. If your bullet exits the animal then you have lost energy that intern would have produced more shock into the body cavity.

Anyone use a .223AI?






P

Too much gun.

Thats what I was thinking....

This. The 60 partition or ttx will work. Good bullets that are available today make it a feasible deer gun. I went with a 6.8 spc 2, same nice light gun with the feel I am used to but a lot more killing power, I am good out to 250 on deer with the 6.8, using 110 grain bullets in mine.

Oh the 223 works, but when it's 20 below and 20mph winds, meh. I want something a little bigger, like a 308.....

Isn't 6.8 basically a 270 shooting light reduced load ?

Yes, but it was designed by Thor. Its majik.

The .223 is too small for man, but just right for deer. Of course those deer aren't hyped up on religious ideology and/or drugs.

I'd prefer not to be shot with a 223...

Probably do fine if a woman or child is using them. miles

The Campfire is good for learning things you can't find anywhere else. The 6.5 Creedmoor is the best cartridge developed in the past 50 years and a 223 with fast twist can kill any animal on the planet.

As good as a 223 is all you need is a 243 for the big 5. Hasbeen

The deer most likely aren't being shot with fmj projectiles either.

Yep, I've used my L'il Blue Thang on mule deer.

It's superb.

Blessings,

Steve

tumbling 55 fmjs... dont knock em so badly... they do a lot more damage than one would think. They are not my choice but I've seen a LOT of things killed really quickly with them...

Sarcasm Mathman, sarcasm.

I hate it when I miss that. We need a sarcasm font.

I'm ready for deer season to start!!!!

Remington hypervelocity bonded ammo out of my son's 223 broke both shoulders and exited on my 10 y/o's first buck last year. Made a believer out of me, I don't know how it could have done any better with a bigger gun.

75 grain swift S2 kills but does not exit on deer pigs into the sholders, 62 grain TSX goes through both shoulders on a deer, not shot a pig with it yet. 6.8 spc, 85 grain TSX kills goes through shoulders, only killed one with this bullet.

This year I am shooting 95 grain TTSX from 6.8 and 62 grain TTSX from 223, but cannot shoot any more big deer on my lease cause my pardners said I kill too many of them.

The quote below is from long range hunting magazine .com. I used their 101 grain .308" bullet to take two deer last year with a .308 Win. Worked like a champ.

Here we go! Two new Hammer Hunters designed to easily mag feed in the Creed. 99g and 110g based on the same form factor design of our new .338cal 213g bullet. Estimated bc on these new 6.5's using the form factor of 1.0 that the 213g .338cal produced out to 1100y comes in at .202 g7 for the 99g and .225 g7 for the 110g. Should be able to easily run the 99g at 3300fps and the 110g at 3200fps in the Creed. Looking at drops calculated at 1000' elev and standard atmosphere the 99g would produce a point blank range of 400y with a zero at 340y and carry 1800fps to 700y. The 110g would have a point blank range of 390y and carry 1800fps to 750y with 3200fps muzzle vel. These bullets are designed for hunting and will retain ~70% on impact. The 99g requires a min twist of 9.5" and the 110g wants a min twist of 8.75", so these guys will run easily in the old 264wm that were built with 9" twist and be super stable in the more common 8" twist that is current. As I have stated before I have come to the conclusion that 1.5sg that is considered fully stable is a min sg for terminal performance. Stability factors over 1.5 have better terminal performance.

My son's 6.5-06 has a 8.5" twist and we will be changing him from the 124g Hammer Hunter to this new 110g Hammer Hunter. We should be able to easily run them over 3400fps. At 3400fps he will have a point blank range of 410y with a 350y zero. He will hold 1800fps to 850y.

Steve
https://hammerbullets.com/

Ingwe: You might try commenting or posting on things YOU have personal experience with and KNOW about!
The 223 Remington is an amazingly lethal round on Deer and Antelope!
And I know of one dandy Billy Mt. Goat killed with one shot using the 223 Remington.
Proper bullet placement with this round IS critical but easy to do with this mild recoiling and accurate cartridge!
I also know of one 31" trophy Mule Deer Buck that was killed with one shot from a 223 Remington Rifle.
And yes these many examples I know of were done legally and obviously ethically.
Sheesh.
IF... YOU or anyone else has had trouble killing Deer and Antelope with a 223 Remington and good quality Hunting bullets then I suggest YOU/they spend MORE time at your local range.
Hold into the wind
Varmint

VG,

You are way off the mark. Ingwe's comment was in jest. He uses the 223 on medium game quite a bit.

Now that right there is some classic stuff! Really put old Ingwe in his place. I bet after that he studies up on the .223 for killing deer and whatnot. Heck, maybe he'll even try it out some day.

Thats why I have old Varmintgay on "ignore"...cause syllable-wise, its two thirds of the way to 'ignorant'....

Yeah Poobah when are you going to give the little .223 a try?

I don't know if I should....can you REALLY kill stuff with them? Are there any decent bullets available?


I think I'd better stick to the .223AI for larger game......

I don't know if the regular old .223 can handle critters as big as deer or not. I mean, I loaned my .221 fireball loaded with 45gr tsx to my buddy for his 10yr old daughter this past fall. She killed one of the biggest doe I've ever seen. But, that happened simply because the cartridge has a badass name like "fireball". Plain old .223 would never cut the mustard.

I bought my Vanguard .223 specifically to try it out on deer, but two thing happened:

1) I found out that my early S2 was in fact a 1-12 twist, not 1-9 and while the 64gr Nosler bonded bullets I loaded were stabilized, they weren't very accurate, and the 55gr TTSXs weren't even on the table, so were unloaded and put back in the box.

2) I started hunting in Virginia, where the minimum legal caliber is .23.

No matter, because the Vanguard is nicely accurate with 40gr Fiocchi factory stuff (and hopefully the 50gr BTs I've got loaded). I might still give it a try on deer on this side of the line for "educational" purposes, but I feel that something a bit larger is better under some situations I might encounter. I'm beginning to think I need a nice, light 6.5 Grendel.

There's a easy solution to a 1-12" twist Pappy, it's called a 63 gr Sierra SMP. No help for the.23 caliber minimum however.

Everyone is wrong! P. O. Ackley extolled the virtues of the .17" as the ultimate big game killer. Hence, 223 is overkill and unnecessary waste of powder, copper, and lead.

Years ago, I performed deer culling for the USAF with a .223 rifle. Winchester 64 grain soft tip ammo was used but 100% penetration was common so we made the switch to .243 shooting 85 grain Sierra bullets. No more over penetration concerns as this shooting was performed near the active flight lines. Both cartridges are effective for deer killing when double lung shots are taken within reasonable distances. The meat was donated to our own airmen and their families.

Sherwood

I have killed several with 70 grain Tsx, always exit and always dead, all out of 8 twist ARs. I consider the 6.8 a good bit better big game round and there are several good bullets out there for the platform. seems most are using ARs for their .223 stick these days, just saying out of that platform there are better options.