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

The purpose for a cartridge in war is to wound, not kill. When you wound a soldier, you take 2 or 3 out of the battle as they attend to the wounded soldier. Kill one and you only lose one. It may not sound like good logic, but that is the theory of fighting a war. We are not fighting a war with deer.

I see Shrapnel is still as full of crap as ever.

In fairness,her "understanding" of Ballistics is fhuqking HILARIOUS and her Imagination and Pretend routinely take her to places that don't exist. Hint.



Bless heart for trying though.

Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!...............

We're also not talking just FMJ fighting ammo here.

Having owned a couple of AR10 rifles in .308, I can tell you that I'd rather fight with a 5.56 with expanding ammo than a 7.62, unless you are maybe talking about some very long distances or armor. Self/home defense against criminals? An expanding 5.56 in a torso that's only 5-10 inches deep is going to be bad news, like shooting a broadside yearling deer. or an 80lb pig. Not sure a .30cal is making any difference there, except being harder to shoot and toting less ammo.

A 40 grain Ballistic Tip isn't doing an unarmored torso any good.

From first hand experience I know a 40 grain Ballistic Tip launched at 223 speeds will penetrate to a doe whitetail's tenderloin when shot head-on in the chest, killing her most assuredly.

My dad used to keep a couple of old pawn-shop .22 centerfires on a portable bench on his front porch, ready to go. It would be coyotes, pigs, or whatever that came out in his field and a 45-55gr V-max or HP in the lungs would shut stuff down pretty quickly, with nothing going more than 30-40yds. They might not bleed much, but they died dang fast, often right on the spot. FMJs and green tips from an AR in the same role? More stuff ran off to never be found. Dirt would fly off a pig's lungs but you'd often not locate a body. Bullet construction and impact velocity matter.

Thus far bullet recommendations have covered the gamut from copper solids, to pointed soft points, to ballistic tips (varmint bullets?). Who knows....
I've got some 60gr Nosler Partitions I'm going to try. If they group well I will try them on some deer this season.

I agree with Shrap. This .223 bullshit is like the 6.5 creed. I have shot game and a lot of it with /22 caliber rifles. But I have done it carefully, and realize for general hunting I want a larger caliber. A deer shot at sundown, doesn't give you much time to follow its trail.. I want something large with more bullet wt. and diameter. I don't shoot my deer over food plots or from box blinds. For those that do, I know it will work. But I still prefer a tradition deer rifle for my hunting.

Why not? I have shot a quite a few with just the Hornady 55 sp. Then the 65gr Serria GK. My latest is a 75gr Hornady BTHP.
If you think rib shots get yer knife out. If you pray n spray at running deer that are out of range stay at home.

And most soldiers shot in war with a 5.56 are shot with an FMJ not a good soft point game bullet.

They will work/kill just fine.

Not much "try" to it. Killed a slug of deer in a half assed urban area over a 3 or 4 season span with em.

I can tell you once we switched to the 77 SMK in the early 2000’s that it was a game changer on putting folks on their ass. We weren’t concerned with wounding folks as much as killing them dead so they couldn’t make us dead.

👍

Since I live in VA and we can’t use 22 cal centerfires for deer, I will have to take out my much more powerful 300 blk bolt action ruger American ranch. It does very well with the 110 gr Barnes at 2350 fps.

But yes. I wish I could use a 223.

The only time I would deer hunt with a 223/556 is if I had nothing else to use.

Will it work? I’m sure it would. However, I believe there are far better options.

It will with a good bullet, but much better tools out there. I’d like a 243 at minimum.

Yeah, what Hanco said, with good designed bullets, it is decent. And of course the faster .22 centerfires are better than .223 is.

I just finished up sighting in 3 rifles today for an upcoming pronghorn hunt .223, .223 AI, and 22-250. 88 eldm’s in the 223 AI, 75 gr Gold Dots in the .223 and 22-250. I’d shoot any deer or antelope that’s ever lived with any of the three.

Faster can be a double edged sword, IMO. Proper bullet is key, but judging by this thread, there are many good ones out there. Still, you need the right twist for many and the standard 1-7/9 in a 223 vs a 1:14 in a 22-250 could be critical.

I like the 70 Speer semi-spitzer in my 223. Performance is the same from muzzle to 200 yards. Complete pass through and good expansion.