Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .223 for whitetail - yes or no?

A red head with a mini gun.......what could go wrong !

Looks like a fun package though

Looked more like a brunette to me... nice looking package allright...mb

Sure it will.

There are a lot of deer hunters in our area using Earschplittenloudenboomer elephant guns attempting to murder a <150lb animal. Watch them zero that thing, flinching and jerking out a large pie plate sized group.

I'd say a .223 with a decent bullet that the average shooter can get much better hits with might be a better choice.

Killed two doe's with 69gr SMK's. Both shot high in the neck and both fell in their tracks. Hey it was all I had at the time. I was spending all my money on match shooting!

You gonna murder more deer after retirement? I said I was when I stopped working but it seems I put off all manor of tasks til I had "time", I've actually hunted less after retiring....

I'm going to murder deer, trap coyotes, and catch fish.

I hope you have a long and active retirement!

Is it true that your .223 indentifies as a .270??

I 'would' say yes, but I'm in Virginia where it's a no-go.

You will smoke a turd in hell for that remark.

JFC you hornballs need to get out more. It looked like she was having a seizure.

Well, I was gonna say "Creedmoor", but I thought you'd take offense..................lol

I guess if you shoot 50 to 80 lb deer it would be ok.

Lmao.

We’ve shot deer from 120 pounds to 180 pounds. Only 1 has even moved after the shot. 55gr bullet.

Yeah, because a 250# deer is so tough.

Alot of it is what type of conditions one hunts in, where I hunt I have to make sure of the shortest run as possible, preferably a quick drop. If it runs 100yds it's already in a swamp and lost. Plus the condition a person is in, if you are old and can't walk good enough to track, and your shot is gonna be under 50yds, DRT is needed. So I use a .30 or larger. I would use my 22-250 or 233 in open country.

That is in oustanding deer bullet. When my grandkids haven't had my handloads, they have used that bullet. They usually get pass-throughs.

The 223 will certainly kill a deer. My only problem with it, is that the hole is pretty small, and the blood trail is small. In actual practice, this has not been a problem, though. My wife has shot 2 small deer, and they were dead within 5 yards, and 25 yards, respectively. Tracking was not necessary. Both center lung shot, one at 81 yards, the other at 35 yards. The first was with a 55gr Fiocchi soft point, the other with a 62 gr. TSX. The 55gr did not exit.

A 223 might not "blow their lungs out" but It'll tear a hole in their lungs.

55gr Hornady, 60gr Partition, 64gr Nosler Bonded, 62 TTSX have all worked for me. They work on Antelope too.

My current favorite is a 62gr Federal Open Tip Match ,MK 318, It's their barrier blind bullet that looks like a Trophy Bonded when sectioned.
These are not bonded of course but it doesn't seem to matter. I bought a bunch on clearance and they work fine too.

Looking around the predator hunting sights and threads and there are a steady stream of post looking for bigger and better bullets for killing coyote with the 223 because shooters are getting too many runners and spinners, surprisingly it doesn't not seem to be an issue with shooters of 222 Rem, 204's, 221 FB's, even the 17's. So if a 223 Rem or 223 shooter find the 223 problematic on coyotes why does it become an effective round on game weighing 4-8 time more.

I'm old enough to use a 243 on deer when it was considered marginal and found it so. But it was at the beginning of it's use and American arms companies had little experience making 6mm bullets for big game and it was bullet performance that made it marginal.

I think most people who post on predator sites talking about needing better bullets to kill coyotes with a 223 are rookies who probably can’t shoot. Guys who shoot Fireballs and 17s are usually loonies who load and shoot and are probably more serious hunters. I’ve never had issues killing a coyote with even rimfires, but I shoot a lot and know how, when, and where to shoot an animal.

If a bullet will consistently give 12-14” of straight line penetration while producing a 2” diameter wound it’s plenty adequate for shooting deer, regardless of what it’s shot out of. And a plain old 55gr Hornady spire point out of a 223 will give exactly that type of performance.

Something tells me many of those complaining about bullet performance out of a .223 are those who don’t own anything but an AR and are shooting cheap, bull pack FMJs. The Kid is also probably right that they’re also those who can’t shoot.

I have had zero issues killing ‘yotes with a .223, nor deer for that matter unless I make a poor hit, which has happened.