Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Hunting Deer With Smaller Calibers

Blah blah blah blah blah

All the endorsements for small caliber cartridges being equal to large caliber cartridges.

Take your fast twist 223 to Africa and see how far you will get with that.

Yes there is a difference in what a bigger similarly built bullet will do compared to any small caliber bullet.

I've killed a truck load of axis using my AR in .223 with the 64 gr. PowerPoint and I shoot them in the same place if I was using my 257 Roberts or any other caliber. My latest fun thing to do is kill hogs with my CZ 527 in .223 with 50 grain Nosler BT's at about 3200 FPS. Head shots are just cool!

They certainly arnt equal on Africa game but if you are shooting some small Texas deer then it wont be that big of a difference. Obviously the animal you are going after clearly matters and shot placement is always king

I met several South Africans who killed plains game for a living that used 22 cal rifles. Two of them used 223s and the other a 22-250. Between them they had killed thousands of antelope with them on culling operations.

The guy who heavily promoted the .243 and .244 in the 1950's, and used them extensively, years later concludes that for African plains game you should restrict their use to no more than 200 lb animals. His 7mm Mashburn was better for the 200lb plus African plains game.

There's been a whole lot of info imparted in this thread!
Given that deer are overwhelmingly likely to be at, or under, 250 pounds,
the great majority here feel that many, many, sub .25 caliber rounds
are perfectly capable to be used in 99.9% of the shots that will be
presented to riflemen. I live, and I learn. Also true that a small few here
don't buy into that at all.

Don't forget that with a thread titled "Hunting deer with small calibers" you are probably going to get more respondents who are in favor of the use of small calibers than those who prefer bigger calibers. The thread title will give you a biased response.

I don’t know why someone who hasn’t hunted deer with smaller calibers would even respond in such a thread….unless it was to ask a question.

Very true, but those who haven't hunted with the smaller calibers views are largely irrelevant and so their exclusion doesn't distort the sample with bias.

But those who have never done it disperse advice freely about what you should use....

That’s right.

What all are you wanting to shoot up the butt with a big gun that weighs over 200 pounds?

All were taken with a .243 over a 2 day period 1 round per customer, Rio7

A magnificent 250 lb blacktail buck, that I may not ever see one like that again, and that I wouldn't want left crippled or wandering around wounded.

And they were head shooting I'll bet. The shot placement of the professional not the sport hunter.

A .243 Will kill critters over 200# no problem. Rio7

Yes definitely, when there is a perfect broadside shot presented.

.243 well placed shot DRT Rio7

The question is, will they consistently kill above 200lb animals as well as perhaps a .270. .280 or .30-06?

Yeah, it's been what, 2 or 3 months?