Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Its possible that a .223 works on deer better than 30-06?

I have helped maybe a dozen kids get their first deer hunting with me with one of my rifles.

If they are really little they use my 223 Handy Rifle,so far it has two kills(a one shot and a two shot).

Most of them have used my 260 Remington with 120 grain balistic tips. All one shot kills.

One of the kids used my 270 Weatherby because I wasn't confident he could make the 430 yard shot with my 7mm-08 which was sighted in for 200 yards. I wouldn't have let him try but his dad was dieing from cancer and wanted to see his son get his first deer. The kid made a perfect shoulder shot and he was 12 years old at the time,we had practiced a lot.

I say this to make a couple of points,lots of things work depending upon the circunstances,the 223 kills were inside of 100 yards on small bodied deer.The 260 and 7mm-08 kills were at lots of reasonable distances at deer of various sizes.

My other point is life is too short and there are lots of more important issues to waste time arguein about about this kind of BS.

Hell,take a kid hunting or shooting,or a handicapped person. There really is no point in going on like a bunch of Jr. High boys about who is the coolest or who has the best stuff.

Just my thoughts,carry on ladies,if you must.

This pissing match happens here every year at this time,you have those that have(referred to a stunsters) vs. those that haven't(referred to as an expert by osmosis )

"Like sands thru an hour glass these are the days of our life""

the 22-250AI with a 70 grain TSX bullet seems to be bordering on a .243Win with the 85 grain TSX! That is sure an interesting idea! Too bad most all manufactururers seem to want to put 1-14's in their 22-250's leading one to a custom rifle. The place I have seen problems with the 30-06 is shooting a small whitetail with a somewhat harder 180 grain bullet. It looks like from the discussions that a .223 with a 62 grain TSX will probably outperform a 30-06 with a 180 on a small deer under 100 yards, but probably not a 30-06 shooting a 150. For a low recoil type rifle the 22-250 with a 62 grain TSX with the right twist seems to be very interesting!
Just spoke briefly with my friend at the gun store I frequent, they lost two bucks in Alabama this year shooting them with that new Rem 6.8SPC, don't know the details, he usually shoots a .260 and as far as I know has never lost one with that rifle.

Jeff I wouldn't take that shot with a .223. One of the reasons I usually go with .30s or above as it gives me more options. I also would not necessarily expect the .30-06 to penetrate the whole deer. Again the intent is to break him down then finish it quickly. Shots that break hips usually involve the spine or destroy the ability to move and are usually decisive. Shooting them there involves more than a random shot to the rear.

But if I am willing to place additional restrictions on myself the .223 will work. I think your opponents willingly accept those limitations and feel me, you and the rest of us should recognize that as obvious and therefore the .223 works on deer at least as well as the .30-06.

i've enjoyed a lot of your posts... usually when i see your name it is worth a click....
this kind of pissin in the fire needs to go away.....

There was a guy near here who hunted for years with a Win 9422 in 22 Mag. He did it at night with a flashlight. Shot almost all of them in the eye. It took the fish and game boys a long time to get him but he killed a lot of deer.
I don't know many people around here that use a 223. The deer are small and the terrain is very dense. Most use a 243 or 270. My cousin lives in Alabama were deer are vermin and he kills 2 or 3 a week. He shoots a 22-250. The first deer I ever saw killed was with a 22 Hornet in 1952. One went through but one blew up one his shoulder.
The Savage 22HiPower was touted as a great round for everything including tigers. It's gone now.
Ray put this is the best perspective.

I live about 70 miles southeast of you, doubt there is a large difference in body size of the deer we are hunting. The 3 largest bucks I've ever seen were all taken by a 243 by 3 different hunters. The smallest one went 166+ B&C score, and all were huge bodied. One was taken at a range of a couple feet(Brother in law got that one as it jumped over him and the fenceline he was backed into), one at 150 yards and one at 280. Placement and bullet construction count way more than dia.! Every time.

Uh, yes it does, with the right bullet.

yeah....like eleven year old kids?



And that was a Hornet, not a .223, which is a magnum by comparison. Whitetail deer are small, fragile animals and aren't at all difficult to kill. Most don't outweight the enemy soldiers that 5.56 rounds have been killing for almost fifty years, and deer don't wear body armor or have an ideology that compels them to fight on when injured. So its kind of silly to say a .223 with good bullets is some kind of expert's gun on deer.

But it is equally silly to suggest that there is no qualitative difference between the performance of a 55 grain TSX or the like at 3300 fps and, say, a 150 grain BT at 3000 from an '06. There is a significant difference. Once they're dead, they're dead but the '06 is definitely more.....well, authoritative.

Based on page count for these recurring threads, apparently not to some folks, doc.

Thats way outta line. Grow up......

Can't believe the moderators haven't deleted this one for ya.

It's not possible to think it will perform better than the 30-06. Personally, I draw the line at .243 and only under the right conditions. I know it can be done, but why risk it.

Chris

No

I'll see your NO and raise you a HELL NO.

Watch it guys... what you are saying is strictly verboten... grin...

killing deer is made up of many factors.
the lowest of importance is caliber.

I would ask, would you make a remark like about someones mother face to face? If anyone ever did that face to face about my mom, he would be dead in seconds and to hell with the results, and you can take that to the bank.

That kind of stuff is uncalled for and you should not be allowed to post another post on this forum IMO....It amazes me how brave some of these cowards can be at 1500 miles away using an anomous name.

This thread is ridiculas to start with. The answer is obvious in that the more powerful caliber is the better choice, end of story

Banning would be his easy way out. No second chance. Way to go Ray.

Given my choice, I'd take the .30-06 every time - unless I was shooting the dog-sized deer I've seen in some areas of the country.

Yup