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

I live, & hunt whitetail deer, in Texas. Our whitetails are smaller than their northern kin. Once I got past age 70, I started to use several .223s for deer (legal in TX). No recoil. If my shots are careful & broadside..... no problems. One shot kills from 50 to 175 yards. I have used 55 grain to 70 grain bullets by various manufacturers, and have developed a liking for GMX and TTX. Of course, you must match you bullet to your rifles rate of twist. A well placed shot has done the job every time so far.

Are you guys willing to trade velocity for weight?





I get 3200+ fps with 50 grain TTSX, but I see many hunters using 60 grain at minimum. I might get 2800 fps with the 75 ELDM, but is the weight worth the decline in velocity?





P

Ive had great luck with the 50TTSX even killing my last antelope with it at 308 yards...couldnt tell the difference in performance between the 50TTSX, the 53TSX, and the 55TTSX and as many have said before speed is your friend with monos...

Pharmseller:

At some point those lighter bullets (assuming they've got a lower B/C) will be going slower than the heavier ones, though with normal bullets that often happens past "normal" ranges, despite the higher muzzle velocity. The more I venture into stretching shots out, the more I am going to say "no" to your question.

That, and some states like WY have a minimum weight of a bullet for hunting. 60 grain minimum for .22 CFs, I presume to prevent the use of easy and cheap FMJs. It would be much easier for game wardens to check for FMJs than to check the bullet weights though...just another SNAFU in the political world.

LOL.

Anyone who would start on an unwounded 300lb buck at 600yds with a 75gr Gold Dot from a .223 Rem has plenty of "issues".

Why don't you show the class your work and give us the remaining velocity at 600yds where you are shooting "northern bucks" with 75gr Gold Dots.

Thanks.

Bonus points for the fact you kept all the picture inside 300yds.

I did not know that. I was going to take a model 70 22-250 to WY for pronghorn this year. It's 1-14" so I don't know if it will shoot 60's. Guess I'll try.

My 1:14 22-250 was good with 50 grain TTSX, 55 grain bullets not so much.

I bet you a grand you would not take a 75gr Gold Dot to the chest (no armor of course) at a 1000 yards and you are only about 200lbs.

I think the main spat there was that Burns does not think that the Speer Gold Dot will retain enough velocity at that range to show consistent terminal expansion due to its low ballistic coefficient relative to a streamlined bullet like the TMK.

So at 600 yards, the GD would likely pencil through the lungs. The TMK/ELD would open and function fine, which I take to mean what Formi was getting at in the first place.

The Gold Dot is a fun and consistent bullet, just not a truly long-range hunting bullet.

I can't think of any round I would willing to be shot with at any range.

It would be hard to come with a dumber way of deciding ammo selection.

I’ll bet I could do it, easy.





P

Best one I heard: "I wouldn't want to be shot with a squirt gun full of piss either."

I have not shot any thing bigger then a coyote with a .223 and doubt I will as I have a 30-06 and a .338 Winny. If I lived in the "lower 48" maybe I would, maybe not as I believe there are better choices for me.

As to being big enough for deer and antelope, I think it has been proven to work, but not my first choice.

Now please don't call me a liar gents, but I know one guy in my town that took a .338 Mag. bullet through the chest, don't know the bullet type. The guy was drunk and pissed off a home owner who shot him in his drive way. Never knocked him off his feet, but he did lay down and wait for the ambulance, eventually the shooter did a small amount of time. Both of them were in a prison I worked at. The exit hole was about the size of a golf ball and all healed up by the time I got to look at it. A .223 at the same distance may of killed the guy, go figure.

I have been using a .338 Winny since 1975 and have never had to shoot any thing more then once!

I wouldn’t use a 223 on deer, because I have a lot better rifles for deer. I have shot truck loads of damn pigs with a 223 loaded with 62 grain Barnes bullets. That bullet kills them well, so I wouldn’t be afraid to use it.

22 caliber centerfires have been legal in New Mexico, for big game, for a number of years. I'd have to check about elk - never thought about it.

.22 Long rifle on deer, .220 Swift on coyotes/mule deer/Black Buck antelope, Axis deer. .224 TTH on a huge hog, .221 fireball on a 70# hog, .22 Long rifle and .22 Magnum on hogs. My FIL "lost" a nice buck ( Tx) using a 55gr fmj .223. My BIL used a .22 Magnum on deer a lot. I myself lost a big hog by trying to shoot him between the eyes at 60yds off with a 22-250AI and a 55gr TB, I should have know better, it just skidded off that sloping forehead. I was on the ground, if I had been higher, up in a tower or tree I'd have had him. Oh well. Bullets and angles and distance are the key, and I could do 75% of what I did with the Swift with a .223. Most folks don't realize how small deer are in South and how close you can be to them. shooting them with a bigger centerfire is "almost" an embarrassment of riches, ha. I've used 300 mags on them, but the sierra 150 Pro Hunter acted like Partitions, which surprised me. I wanted a bomb that would "puff them up" like my 22-250 did coyotes, ha.

I could never join this club.
I despise cleaning rifles and the smaller the bore the more taxing it is for me. There will never been anything under 7mm in my safe after the current inhabitants leave. Now .22LR, that is different because cleaning never comes to mind with them, with very long intervals.

Only ever seemed to tolerate a bore where you ripped up a T-Shirt and stove it down the chute.

I have taken several with different 223. Mostly with a 55gr but a few with 65gr sp. Anywhere from 20-200 yards.