Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 22-250 to light for Deer ??

No issue with that caliber on deer sized game if you are a competent shooter and use good/premium bullets. I plan on building a .22-250 with fast twist (1 in 7") barrel to run the 77gr Barnes LRX bullets.

I always get a smile out of it too. If a guy can shoot stuff generally dies easy, regardless of caliber. If I wasn’t stuck posting from my work phone I would be tempted to hang some pics of deer and pigs that fell to such mighty cartridges as the 17Rem, 222 Mag, 223, 38Sp, and 9mm.

Have used mine for some meat shoots (doe hunts around feed lots), but I'd not use it to go after potentially trophy sized bucks in big sky country

They just don’t know the fine points of trick shooting.

Look what they missing.

DF

I havent killed any pigs with the .38 or 9mm (yet...)but have used the .222 and .223 on a bunch of them....and thanks to you...I'm gonna hafta shoot one with the .17 Rem....

I have never used a small caliber like the 22-250 but years ago when I only had two center fire rifles I had my 22-250 with me as a back up, I just never needed it. I have seen deer killed with a 223 so I see no problem. My personal feeling is that I would want to make sure that I was using a bullet made for hunting and not an explosive varmint bullet. Although years ago I saw a whitetail shot with an explosive varmint bullet out of a 223 and it went between the ribs and exploded in one lung. The deer spun in circles until it went down. Maybe others can share experience on using an explosive varmint bullet.

That statement tells me all I need to know. You have never used one, but heard blah, blah, blah.

A poor shot, is a poor shot no matter if it is a 22-250 or 300 magnum.

Shot placement trumps! Plain and simple.

We have used the 22-250 on over 3 dozen deer/antelope, and GASP! even a 222 on about 1/2 dozen.
53gr TSX out of the 250 and 63gr Sierra out of the 222. Never had an issue, but the bullets landed where they were supposed to.

Reckon that had something to do with it?

DF

Might have something to do with it.

In 40 years of hunting I have lost two deer while hunting with rifles. One with a 243, and another with a 270. Both were piss poor shot placement and both deer were killed by other hunters.

Of course the 22-250 is more than adequate for any North American game, just ask the Campfire. Whatever you do, don’t put a Leupold scope on it or it wouldn’t be worth taking on a mouse safari.

Thats all truth, even if it was said tongue in cheek..

My daughter shot her first deer with a 22-250, a Ruger Flat Bolt that has been in the family since '70 or so. The shot was a quartering shot with the deer facing slightly toward her. It broke the large joint in the front shoulder, took out a few inches of scapula, went through the deer length-wise, broke a rear leg bone on the opposite side and "over-penetrated' leaving a 3/4" or so exit. I would say it works just fine, but we were using a good bullet--in this case a Nosler Bonded Solid Base. I've also shot a few large hogs with the same load with excellent results.I would have no problem shooting a cow elk with this Nosler load in a 22-250 if legal, broadside and the range wasn't too far. It's got the expansion and penetration to do the job.

The 22-250 would not be my first choice. But people use a 222, 223 and 22-250 all the time for deer. I assume you are talking about white-tail deer? If I were hunting in the mountains for mule deer I would not use a 22-250. Having a game animal run down a ravine isn't much fun.

If white tail or smaller and on the plains and using a good bullet, yes the 22-250 is adequate. I have killed exactly one white tail with a 22-250, the only one I've shot at with that caliber, so I am no expert.

One more thing, if I were to be using a 22-250 on deer I'd likely be aiming for the chest cavity (or a brain shot) and not a shoulder.

If one hasn’t used a .223 or .22-250 and thinks they are not enough, or are unwilling to recognize the experience of others who have, then they have nothing but what they think to go on.

Others who have experience or an inquisitive mind are not so handicapped.

I’ve seen a Barnes out of a .223 and .22-250 brake both shoulders on Whitetails 3 or 4 times....seen another go in the chest and come out the ham...seen them kill quickly out to around 220....

I have stated this before, I will take any shot with a 22-250 and 53gr TSX that I would take with a 270, 7mm-08 or bigger. Have broken more than a few shoulders.

I have never recovered that particular bullet. I did find a petal once in the tissue surrounding the vertebrae though.

Ghast! We even used a Leupold scope. It now wears a Nightforce as I have been playing with dial twisting. Not a Leupold strength.

The 64 gr ww pp sure works on antelope don't know why it would not work on deer as well with proper shot placement same as anything else. MB

Give me those 60 grain Partitions and shoulders are easily broken.

What personal experiences have led you to believe a 22-250 is a light caliber for deer? I use a 223 and have zero complaints.

Youngsters kill WT’s and hogs with .223’s all the time. Lots of reports, pictures with dead critters.

But, for some mysterious reason, puberty and adulthood somehow changes the equation and the ballistics.

.224 is no longer a lethal or viable game killing caliber.

It is a curiosity, but seems to be a prevalent urban myth.

I’m all for bigger stuff. Folks at my deer camp would probably sniff if I took my .22-250 to the deer stand. But they let kids shoot .223’s. So, I humor them, use my Creed and up from there. .243 would be marginal in their thinking. No problem. I don’t have one, do have a .240. It’s not marginal.

I mostly shoot 6.5 CM, 6.5-284, 7-08, .308, ‘06, .338-06, etc. Need to try my .375 H&H one of these days. I’m sure they’d comment about the “elephant” gun, etc. Too much gun. Spell check just wrote “too much fun”, maybe I shouldn’t have corrected it. This computer may be onto something.

DF