Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .222 & .223 For Whitetail, Which Bullit Nosler PARTITION or Something else

use H335 with the 53xlc....

Got news for you.....any .22 caliber bullet / rifle is "iffy" for deer. It can be made to work, but realize that the shot placement is critical and must be near perfect. Almost any soft point from 50-70 grains will work if heavy bone is avoided and a broadside lung shot or neck shot ("iffy" shot too) is taken. Just stay away from true "varmit" bullets that are designed to explode on impact.

Florida allows center fire .22 as well now for Whitetails. I see and hear about a lot of wounded, and lost deer though. The rounds are marginal, and work well at optimum ranges, and with great shot placement. Many folks think that a .223 has the same ability to harvest deer as a 30/06 though, and wind up losing animals when the capabilities are stretched too far.

Either of ya'll fellars used a .22 centerfire on deer? Think we've had this discussion before TexasRick re: .22 centerfires for deer...

While I agree it is not a tool for the average hunting Joe (not a lot of tools should be used by the average Joe) the same rules apply for the .22 centerfire as they do for the larger calibers. If you follow the general rules, shot placement, correct bullet for task at hand, and patience for the correct shot, the end result will be the same 100% of the time...

I don't know why you guys would want to go into this so over gunned. A 22 LR would be much more sporting.

Hmmm...

WWBS (What would Bart say)...

Nahhh...grin...

I settled on the 50gr BARNES XLC with 24gr of H-335. Dime size groups @ 100 yards. Couldn't find 53gr TSX in my area.
I plan to stay away from shoulder shots and limit myself to double lung and possibly neck shots if one comes along, hell mabe even a ear hole shot will do.
Ill post later with the results.
I didn't use a chrony but the HODGDON manual listed this load at 3,1660fps and I have heard that you might pick up 150 to 200 fps by useing this coated bullet. Not sure! I only shoot for accuracy not FPS.

Gmoney.....yes i have taken deer with a .22 caliber rifle before. Shot them with the .22-250, .223, .222, .22 Hornet and .22 LR (once in a while with .22 shorts). It CAN be done, but as a famous personality once said "a man's got to know his limitations".

Use of a .22 caliber (and to a lesser extent the .24 and .25 calibers) must be done with special attention to bullet design and placement. Things must be "perfect" to work and the shooter must accept that sometimes he will have to pass up shots he could easily make with a heavier caliber. For that reason I think the use of .22 and .24 calibers by young / inexperienced shooters is the wrong way to go. These are more of a tool to be used by an experienced shooter with the judgement to know when to shoot and when to pass. Unfortunately, it is the younger shooters most often given these rifles when something like the 7x57mm or a light loaded .308 would be much safer in inexperienced hands.

A deer just isn't that hard to kill if conditions are right (a cousin once killed a young doe with a .177 caliber pellet rifle) but conditions are often not perfect. Use of very marginal calibers carries with it the responsibility to only shoot when things are "perfect" and pass when they are not.....tough to do when a yound shooter is in the grip of "buck fever".

You're right ribs don't matter. ANY varmint bullet shot into a deer is going to fragment whether it hits bone or not...BTDT

Well, hell, I tried. But then I don't eat lungs.

BCR

Lots of experience with Barnes X and TSX here. Great bullet. If I could use 223 caliber for deer that would be my choice. You still have to hit them where they live and avoid raking shots with such a light bullet. As for seating length, start between .030 and .050 off lands. Unlike most other bullets, that are not made of all copper,they like a bit of a running start into the barrel to get best accuracy. The reason is that they are harder than lead bullets so setting them close can cause pressure spikes due to the minor differences in the shape of the tip from bullet to bullet. (This is not exclusive to TSX) The pressure spikes are not dangerous, just not conducive to best accuracy. Check out the Barnes web site for more info on same.

We always have this discussion about .223 bullets and penetration, killing power, terminal performance, etc.

http://www.gunsandhunting.com/Bullethitsbone.html

[bleep] is guns and hunting with no spaces

In this article, Richard Mann tests various bullets and shows that a 60g NP from a .223 Remington actually outpenetrated a 200g North Fork from a .358 Winchester and a 150g Sierra Pro Hunter from a .308 Winchester.

I would argue that a monolithic copper bullet such as a X/TSX/XLC or GS Custom would penetrate deeper that a NP so this argument is even more moot.