Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Wanted: real experience stories with 22 caliber rifles for deer

Not hunting, but over the years I killed mule deer when I was on-duty, with my 223 AR-15 & soft-point 55 gr Federal ammo.

I was a cop, and pretty much every winter we'd get reports of injured or sick deer in town. Hit by cars, trucks, even the train. Chased and injured by domestic dogs. Hung up in fences, etc... They'd come into town during the winter, and it isn't a good place for deer. That danged train hit a group of four mule deer that were on the tracks on the outskirts of town, apparently trying to stay out of the deep snow. Killed three of 'em, broke the legs of all, including one that was injured and couldn't flee at my approach.

Most of the shots were pretty close, a couple were as far as 50 yards or so. Only one young buck required a second shot, everything else just fell, dead.

I found it interesting, but sad duty.

Guy

I used 70 grain speer bullets in a 22-250, 53 TSXand 55 TTSX in my 223 WSSM on deer. We used the 55TTSX in the WSSM on Antelope too.

I shot a couple deer with 223 rem and FMJ's. There was a brand that had a flat nose FMJ, dont remember what brand, it was the late 80's.

Recently my stepdaughter shot her first rifle deer with a 223 and 64 grain Nosler bonded bullet. She hit it in the spine and the bullet put a fist sized hole through the spine. DRT.

This year I am loading 62 TSX in my 223 WSSM. Most likely just for antelope as I have more guns that I want to shoot deer with this year than I will have tags.

Need a 7.7 to spin a 77 TMK in low fps 223?

A 223 will kill 200 lb pigs, should kill deer just fine.

1-8”.

Major cool points awarded for using a .225 Win. Always wanted one but never ran into one. I am using my 1-14" 22-250 this year though.

My hunting buddy's daughters use them. I have helped track several of their deer. Sometimes they drop them and sometimes they leave a barely dripping blood trail that is difficult to follow. When a 22 cf bullet hits the vitals it kills the deer. Then you have to find them.

Impossible to beat Pats pics and experience....but I'd like to think I'm a distant second! Some of it thanks to his tutelage...!

121 to 169 lbs..










Like Pat Ive got a bunch more...just different ( and mostly smaller!) critters

Camo pants Pat? Where's the blue jeans? haha

Pat, that deer looks even better in Idaho's Greatest Mule Deer II....Lol

I notice you use the TMKs over the 75 grain hornady, is that because they work better in the tikka magazine,or are they a better choice for hunting?
TIA

Killed only three with the 223 and one with 22-250 all worked. No exit wounds yet, have not used Barnes or like bullets.

I knew some guys back in the 1980's that started deer hunting here in GA with 22-250's. I never asked about loads, bullets etc., but these guys were claiming quicker kills with the fast 22's than larger more conventional rounds. I never really bought into the idea at least at the time. But recently I've just seen too much to discount the idea so last year I hunted with one of my AR's a couple of days. It was getting toward the end of the season, I knew where a buck was located, but he wasn't coming out of some thick brush except at night. I decided to go in after him and the 16" barrel on the AR along with fast repeat shots seemed like a better idea than my bolt guns.

I arrived at the spot several minutes before legal shooting time and decided to wait on good light before heading into the brush. I caught him coming back just 2-3 minutes into legal shooting time and put a 60 gr Hornady V-Max into him and broke the shoulder before he could get into the thick stuff. He went down and I put a 2nd shot into the lungs. He didn't die as quickly as I'd have liked, but I've also hit deer with 165 gr 30-06 loads that ran farther.

At least for me it isn't something I'd do on a regular basis. I'm convinced the 22's with good bullets will kill deer within certain range limitations and with careful shot placement. But I'm not always wanting to stay within those limitations. Plus most of the places where I hunt here in GA is open for black bear during virtually all of our deer season. And some places have more bear than deer. I don't think the 22's are an acceptable choice on black bear.

I’ve used both 75gr Hornady’s- the ELD-M and HPBT. The ELD-M is great but won’t fit the mag in both the Tikka and AR’s. The HPBT kills fine, but does not do what the 77gr TMK does in tissue.


The 77gr TMK is about ideal for 200-250 pound mammals.

So basically the 22 cal rifles don't work well at all

Nice thread, much more enjoyable than some here recently.

You should probably look up Dober's experience with 22s on bruins before discounting the option.

Dober was good to have around.

Used to do some freezer filling missions (aka doe hunts) with my XP-100 Fireball. 52 grain Hornady BTHPM's. Longest shot I ever took was a whisker over 80 yards. But placed a few ribs back of the shoulder, the tracking job was never hard or far.

I’ve only used it on one white tail myself, but my buddies kids have used my cz 527 in 221 fireball for the last 3 years, killing 4 deer between them. They’ve all been shot with my handloads using 45gr tsx. All shot in the lungs, and 3 of the 5 dropped on the spot. The other two ran about 30 yards. Recovered 1 bullet, and the other 4 passed through. All shots were under 100yds. It’s amazing how much damage that little bullet can do.