Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Have you used the .223 for deer/antelope?

Like WW2 colorized fims?

223 is legal in my home state. My grandkids have killed 5 or 6 whitetails with one. All one shot kills except one which was shot in the neck. They use Winchester 62 or 64 gr powerpoints. No problems.

GFY

You know how many of those pigs were killed with your green light?


It has been put to good use.


And daguerrotypes can't be photoshopped...GFY.


And thanks for the kill light. Again!

Theres times I just cant help myself....

I haven't taken a big game animal with a .223 simply because I haven't crossed paths with any while carrying one. But plenty of friends and neighbors over the years have.






Most people don't realize that the average Alaska village folk tend to use smaller caliber rifles. The most common general purpose woods rifle along the Yukon and Koyukuk Rivers after the .30-30, is the .223 made up mostly by Ruger Mini-14s. The younger crowd these days gravitate toward the AR-15, but the concept is the same. One rifle with lots of ammo.

I have better rifles for deer hunting, but after killing dozens of pigs, I believe you could with a 62 Barnes.

65 grain SGK. And yes, it will bust shoulders.

Nice animals Ingwe, but if you ever have one quartering toward you walking backwards, you'll wish you had brought enough gun.

Do you really expect us to believe you killed a deer while wearing blue jeans and using a .223 that isn't AI'd? I read on this forum that it isn't possible.

First deer I killed with a 223 was the dominant herd buck with 13 other deer. 80 yds, standing just like that. Bang-flop. I watched the whole thing through my scope while shooting off the side of a tree. I was immediately sold. It was even a downhill drag.

First off, I want to humbly admit to myself, to Ingwe, and to all of you that another deer season has gone by without my shooting a deer with a 223 REM. I've got three rifles all sighted in. I have 50 rounds each loaded for the task, but I just didn't.

I think I first started becoming 223 REM-curious in 2000, back when I was on shooters.com. At the time, I was trying to figure out how to come up with a good round for my Mini-14. The idea was that most of my stands were still for bowhunting, and a 223 REM inside 80 yards would be a slam dunk.

Two 223 Rem rifles later, I'm still at the edge of the precipice refusing to step off.

There are a couple of things left standing in my way. The first of these is my habit of acquiring deer rifles. I keep finding new projects for myself, and I never let myself settle down and finish everything off. This year, I got one of my long-hanging projects completed, having taken a buck with The Mauser From Hell. There was no doubt 8X57 would take a deer. The problem was the particular rifle. There's this whole stack of deer rifles on the rack right now begging for my attention. You could almost say I've filled my rack with deer rifles to keep from using 223 REM.

The second problem goes back to the very beginning of my shooting and hunting experience. Back then, I was under the tutelage of some very fine hunters and shooters and they turned me on to 30-06. Once you have a 30-06 on the rack, it's always hard to keep from using it. At one time, I used a 30-06 for everything. 223 REM was the first centerfire rifle chambering I acquired that wasn't a 30-06. I've shot groundhogs with 30-06. I've shot coyote with it. It does such a good job on anything, you'd wonder why I didn't just stop there.

The timing of our deer season here in Kentucky is such that we usually have good weather for the first week or so, but it nearly always turns cold towards the last weekend. By then, I'm usually hunting for the freezer. My buck tag is already filled. I'm pretty much done with the sport of it all. This should always be a good time to bring out the new stuff. This should be the moment when I work a new chambering into the mix. For a decade, I used a 35 Whelen on that last weekend. I finally went back to 30-06 just a few years ago. I can only blame a lack of character and strength. The most 223 REM has gotten is a couple trips to deer camp as the backup.

Never killed.a deer with a .223

Killed a big whitetail doe with my XP-100 .221 Fahrball one time. Did it on a cull property .....just to see. A single 52 gr Hornady BTHPM through the slats at about 80 yards and she expired without a fight. So, I reckon the .223 would do all of that and mo' better, yet...... especially with a more suitable projectile.

That being said, I likely will never prove the theory as there is one or two better suited rifles laying around if deer need shooting.

This one was easy...he was so frightened of the blue jeans that he started to panic, noticed the sky was blue, then REALLY freaked out and stuck his head in a hole, trying to hide like an ostrich. I was able to walk right up on him and blast him.

What does .223 AI mean?

.223 Awesome Ingwe

I thought everybody knew that.

Just checked an article I wrote for GUNS magazine last year on using .22 centerfires for big game. I researched the rules in all 50 states, and they're legal in over 2/3, and legal for some kinds of big game in several of others.

As I noted in the article, quite a few hunters (usually older) have an immediate gut reaction against hunting deer with "twenty-twos," probably due to .22 rimfires. The same hunters are usually fine with using 6mm's, though sometimes (because they're old enough to remember the day before 6mm's) desire a minimum of .25 caliber. Guess what? The difference in diameter between a .224 bullet and 6mm or .25 is about the thickness of human fingernails, though of course depending on individual nails.

I'm "older" and my gut reaction is "why do you need something as big as a 6mm?"