Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 223 or 22-250 for deer

I used to have a friend (he shot himself) that would only deer hunt with a .222 and factory 50 grain Remingtons. And he had a 25-06 and 30-06 but he liked the 222 better. I believe he got every deer he ever shot at with that gun and he killed some big bucks.

IME, 22 centerfires ARE a good deer caliber, given a few limitations. No recoil, you can watch the bullet impact in the scope, no deafening boom, no heavy gun, and deer are just as dead just as fast. Mike has his own reasons, which I an guessing have to do with health, but those are my reasons why I PREFER 22 cal for some deer hunting.

Good point. I should probably go .375 H&H because they are DEER after all. Is the 270 grain soft point adequate or would you go straight to the 300?

If not for fast twist 22 calibers and the 6.5 Creed, this site wouldn't have anything to talk about.

Boy Howdy! Those centerfire .22s are crappy for shooting deer sized game!

Horse pucky. Lots of good hunting bullets will shoot fine out of a 9 twist or even a 12 twist. Bullets like the 60 grain Nosler Partition, 64 grain Nosler bonded solid base, 64 grain Power Point, 50 grain TTSX and 53 grain TSX.. All of those will do just fine out of a 9 twist and most Will be fine in a 12 twist.

Bought a 22/250 Predator 1/10 twist. Looked all over for brass but found HDY 50 gr Vmax for 31.95 a box of 50. Put a 6X A/O 1/2 moa dot Leupold scope on it, a Surefire brake and went to the range. Presto boresite and a three shot 100 yard group of .42" looked at the cartridge box flap, it read .8 high is on at 200. Cranked two clicks R to center from the boresite group and three clicks elevation. Problem was I did not have a target at 200. There was however a 1.5" swinger next to a six inch next to a twelve inch.
'Rang the 1.5" gong 5 straight and darn near ruined the thing!
In the mail was the Lee Collet die and Forster BR seater die I had ordered. BiMart was selling Superformance for 21.95 a lb...Same place I bought the Predator. Tried a conservative load under some 65 grain Sierras. Seated them two freckles off the lands and shot some nice round .388 group average. That powder will push 60 grain bullets over 3700 fps. loaded some 60 Sierra HPs...maybe I can get a little smaller group!

Shot plenty with a 220-swift 70 gr and with a 52 tsx in 223. Both work fine...esp the swift.....I would still choose something bigger...

Where did you get a 52 TSX?

No elk is safe.

55 gr soft points out of my 1:14 M77 kills deer deader 'en heck

You get the 53, then use a small drill bit to widen the hollow in the nose, removing one grain of copper.

Mmmmm, no.

Try again.

Or don't.





Clark

Flave's pulling your leg...

Hard to believe, but....

8 twist will stabilize 80 gr, long, high ogive bullets. Those have pretty good B.C.s, perform well at longer range.

The 75 gr SSII is a good bullet for game. My 8 twist shoots those and 75/80 VLD's very well. I've never killed a deer with them but would not hesitate to do so.

DF

I don't know if you typed that in jest or not, but I'm not pulling anybody's leg.

Weight has nothing to do with twist.




Clark

Ask the ladies it's all about length


John Holmes

I have taken a deer at 252 yards shooting 45 gr. Hornady Spire Points out of a 204 Ruger.

I've taken one deer at about 80 yards with a 70 gr. Speer Semi Spitzer out of a 222 Remington with a 1:12 twist barrel.

I've used a 22-250 Remington on two deer. One with a Remington factory load with 55 grain bullets and another at 360 yards with a handload with Speer 70 gr. Semi Spitzers. My 1:12 twist barrels stabilizes the Speers just fine.

All that said, considering ballistics, cost of ammunition, etc., if I had to go with just one, it would be the 223 Remington.

Yep, it's bullet length, not weight.

You always pulling someone's leg...

DF

Theres something to be said for 'short and fat'...


Depending on how your rifle, or your lady, is twisted....

That's quotable, there.