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.