Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Furthest Reasonable Range for .223 Rem

What is a reasonable max to expect for shooting deer with a .223 Rem? Currently my Kimber Mt is sighted in with 55 grTTSX at 200 yards. We've shot deer with it from 40-120 yds.

199 yards

Pretty much what I figured.

You really want to have some speed with the smaller caliber monos. Of course, head shots will work as far as you can hit him! Have a ball though, just pick your shots, follow the 80% rule. Use a good rest when "finessing" a shot! That's what I call "sniping" or "aim small/miss small".

195 yards

I shoot 200 yards and in with this caliber... will it kill at longer distance? Of course... but, the risk factor goes way up.

With the barnes I wouldn't go over 200 yards personally.
With a softer bullet I would have no issues shooting farther

Like what

Sounds old fashioned but 150 yards for me.

I took a decent buck a couple of years ago at 255yds with a 50gr TTSX. Tucked it in right behind the shoulder. He ran about 50yds and collapsed, just as would have happened with any other cartridge.

Doesn’t to sound old fashioned...what’s your decision on that distance as your limiting factor?

I’m not stuck on that bullet either. It just shoots bug homes and is the first one I loaded up.

It certainly wrecks the boiler room on whitetails.

Our experience has been the same. Either dropped on the spot or a 50yd death run. 2 have run, 2 dropped.

The mile deer doe bleed like crazy, the WT had a bit of blood. Dint matter though, we saw it fall.

I did notice on mine that there wasn't much blood. Didn't matter since it was a large field and I saw him drop. I might hunt with something else in the woods to allow for a better blood trail if needed.

I killed one a bit over 300 yards with a 55 gr. Nosler solid base. It ran about 100 yards before it fell and left no blood trail. Expansion and internal damage were obviously much reduced by the low remaining velocity at that range. A sleeker bullet that expands easily like the 77 gr. Sierra TMK would likely do much better at longer range. These days I stick with the 55 gr. Hornady sp as it has proven deadly on a bunch of deer for me over the years and limit the range to 200 yards.

Just to keep energy up at impact (that and 150 yards is farther than I can see a deer most of the time where I hunt). Where I currently hunt a blood trail is important though few have traveled very far as I go for CNS hits generally. I used the 60 grain Hornady SP's and HP's but the last deer I killed with a 223 I used a Hornady 75 gr. BTHP and the other two bullets did more damage and gave good penetration.

At whatever range that bullet dips to around 2000fps. What's that, 250-300?

FWIW, I had no issues killing a small whitetail sized buck antelope at 558 yards with my .223 and 62 TSX. He took 5 or so steps, got wobbly and fell over.

Small sample but it worked just fine. All my .233 killed deer have been within 300 or so yards and I again had no issues assuming I hit where I was aiming.

Is it now trendy to see who can kill deer with the lightest, smallest caliber bullet?

I've had good luck with 75gr hornady Hpbt and amax and the Sierra 77 TMK at longer ranges.

Nephew has killed several deer with the 55gn sp. longest I can remember was 226. Ran about 20yards pouring blood before she expired