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

I’ve killed a few with a .223 and my son shot his first deer ever several years ago. All 4 were bang…flops. 50grain GMX and a couple were black hills 69 grn HP

That smile says it all. Got several pics of my son with that same shiit-eating grin. I treasure those moments more than any kill I ever made.

The 30-06 was designed as an anti-personnel combat round. Just like the 223. Hmmm. I see you chose a different bullet than that for which the cartridge was designed, to capitalize on its potential as a hunting cartridge. Exactly what I do with 223. Interesting. Varmint round? You pulled that out of your ass.

How does shooting a pig with a 30-06 relate to the question at hand in this thread?

6mm CM on the left and .223 on the right.



Both worked just fine with similar shot placement.

I wonder how some of YOUS GUYS with up to 26,000 posts have time to SH*T much less hunt!

Hip

Seems like you're just looking to criticize others. Which is a quick way to get your post count into the thousands. Kudos.

Yes

PennDog

My niece got her first deer with a 223. I sighted in my neighbors 223 so his nephew could shoot a deer on his farm and he got one. It works, and obviously very well from all of these posts. It's always been a varmint/fur cartridge in my hands. My dad's favorite cartridge for deer is the 22-250 Rem. It's ok as long as the proper bullets are used. I wouldn't use fragmenting bullets as intended for varmints on anything that would be eaten. Only once have I bit down on a chunk of lead in a perfectly good venison roast. After that I've been very particular about what bullets get used for deer. The newer/better bullets have changed the game and the 223 of the 80s and 90s isn't the same as what's available today.

I have no doubt that if the bullet is placed in the boiler room behind the shoulder that a .223 Rem will kill any deer alive out to 250 yards. They aren't bullet proof. If I were to do it it would be a fast twisted gun with a heavier that "standard" bullet. Or at least twisted fast enough to reliably stabilize a 60 gr. Nosler Partition. It wouldn't be what I choose for anything other than broadside or quartering away shots. Which is why I don't hunt with one. They will kill deer, no doubt. Will they kill a deer under less that good conditions? That's I'm not so sure about. But then again, I've never tried.

It wouldn’t be my first choice but with a proper bullet I wouldn’t feel under gunned. Shot placement beats raw power I feel. I wouldn’t try any Texas heart shots or a hard angling away shot either. An undisturbed broadside shot would be meat on the ground.

I used to hunt in a deer camp where the owner told me that I needed a 30-06 with 220 gr RN bullets for the brush shooting. Years later he made the same comment while my father and I were hanging up my buck that I had taken with a 264 120 grain X bullet. I just told him that I didn't come up there to shoot brush, I came there to shoot deer.
When my son was 9, I started him with a 223. We didn't have any success, but that was the guide's fault. Once he got older, I bought him a 243. Not because I didn't have confidence in 223, I just wanted it back.
One of these years, I'm going to see first hand what the 223 will do. A long shot where I hunt is 150 yds.

Hahaha!

They’re the same guys that use 180gr so the bust the brush.

It’s amazing how much we all fret over this or that for killing a deer….

Amazing how people are still smoking bucks with patched round balls. You’d think they would’ve fell outta favor if they just flat sucked.

I’d bet your social security check most here hit the woods more than you.

Killed a Bull Elk Last year at 80 yrds with a 52 gr. sp .223, 2 in the ribs you could cover with a tea cup DRT. Rio7

180s are too light. You need a 220 gr round nose to bust brush. That's what I've been told

Sure thing digkPoop

Patched roundballs actually hammer deer

Would you be able to tell the difference between a deer heart that was hit with a 54 caliber round ball and one that was hit with a 64 grain Nosler Bonded 223 bullet? If so, how?