Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Speer .224 70grain soft point on deer

I would say thats a pretty good rule of thumb, 200 yds. Least wise its what I personally feel comfortable with. You can sure hit them easily at ranges longer than that, but I want the boolit to do its intended thing, which it should at the closer ranges... I stretch that to 300 when using the .22-250.
Ingwe

Oops, sorry, forgot... Im not a big fan of quartering shots even with the Barnes TSX. If the game has been wounded by any means, you bet. Unwounded and healthy, Id just prefer not to quarter the shots. Just my opinion.
Ingwe

we have had excellent results with the federal premium .223 load with the 55 grain TBBC....never recovered one on a broadside shot.

of the five I've seen shot with it two were bang-flops and none of the others made it out of sight. It does the tomato soup thing on the lungs.

I've taken quartering shots with it on deer up to 180 pounds. I always aim for bone and have only recovered one bullet.

I'd not fret angle, especially love a quartering on so I can zing one in at the point of the shoulder.

As a rule I usually stay out of the shoulder with the .22's. However, I did shoot one last winter through both shoulders to see if the 70 gr would go through. Far as I know it's still going.

Also, I keep my shots within 200 just for fun. Seems more responsible and I'm not that good of a shot at times.

Joseph

Thank You Gentlemen for your feedback! It was very helpful.

Leo

Well, Leomort, did you ever get anything with those 22 cal. bullets??

I've been checking this thread every few days wondering the same .?.?

Almost 15 yrs. later and doesnt even bother to tell us...

Reading through all of this makes me wish Dober still contributed.

Well, as the OP maybe I should be the one to post feedback

I did use the 70gn Speer very successfully, but have now changed to the 64 grain Nosler bonded and that's my go to .223 deer projectile now.

Thanks Mike, I knew you would remember us.

How’s accuracy with those? I’ve heard mixed reviews

Shot some 60 Gr Nosler Partition in a 1-14 twist 22-250 had to walk towards 4ft by 2.5 ft from 100 yards to about 15 yards before I could hit the target all bullets were keyholing! You could hear the sound difference.

In the 'for what it' worth department', my old Sako L46 has a twist somewhere between 13 and 14 as nearly as I can determine using the old tight patch on a cleaning rod method. I guess it is metric or I'm mismeasuring slightly, anyway a really slow twist. It was rechambered from 222R to 223R before I got it.

In determining the heaviest bullet it would stabilize, I found that everything with a lead core up to and including 55 grain was good to go. The 60 gr Partition stabilized (no keyholing) but the groups opened up to almost 2MOA. Anything heavier was useless. The old 45 gr mono bullets were great but any weight above that keyholed. It's funny how some barrels with a certain twist work well with a bullet (or don't work well) and another barrel with the same twist does the opposite.

Anyway, the 55 gr Hornady SP shot well on paper and performed well on deer, so I didn't worry about it.

FWIW, Raven Rock had a good deal on the Nosler 64 grain Bonded bullets last week, as I ordered some they had in the classifieds section.

Best,
Chris in AL

Aren't those discontinued?

Best stock up if so and you're a fan.

They were 250 count for $88.

I do believe discontinued, but I think Norma is still able to get them for there Military/LE ammo line. Someone else may know more about this than me, but they seem to almost be same as the Federal Fusion 62 grain.