Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Why do you think a 223 works better than larger bores on deer

I will probably try a .223 or a .22-250 this year on deer, for the first time.

I always paid attention to the experts who HAD tried them, and found them wanting. John Nosler tried it, and discouraged their use; see Nosler manual #4, in the .225 Winchester section. A friend swore by his .22-250 on Texas deer, then swore at it after losing some, and bought a .25-06.

Finn Agaard is the first gunwriter of note I remember, who tried the .223 on deer, with the then-new Trophy bonded bullets. He had good results. With modern bullets - in the past 10-15 years, they clearly do well, and these deer frankly aren't very big.

As far as doing better than other calibers - the .270 and .308 have both been 100% bang flops for me, so I don't see any odds of the .22 beating them. Slower calibers, like the .300 Savage, .30-30, .30-40? Yes deer seem to run a little farther when shot with those calibers, even when well hit.

I'm on a kick to find a cartridge that kills deer quickly, yet burns a minimal amount of powder, and a .22 centerfire seems a good one to try.

The 223 doesn't work better than larger bores. The rifle that you can shoot the most accurate is the one that kills the best because it is the one that gets the hits regardless of caliber. I don't care if its a puny 17hmr or a 338. Shot placement is king followed in lock step by the bullets ability to reach the intended target - be it hear, lung, brain, or spine.

Load a good bullet and shoot straight, I think you will like it...

I slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and I overheard someone say that "boolits matter more than headstamp"...

I killed a nice fat Michigan doe last fall with my 22 hi power Savage 1899. 70 grain hornady .227" at 2800 feet per second. Hit her high behind the right front shoulder and the bullet exited at the base of the neck opposite shoulder. The impact knocked her down, she kicked violently with the hind legs for a couple of seconds and somehow got up and pogo sticked once or twice and fell over dead. I have shot a lot of deer but have never seen that before, I have had several instant kills on deer that I have spined in the neck or high shoulder, but this deer was not spined, bullet took out the longs and went under the spine. It was a pretty amazing kill, that is my only experience with small caliber bullets. By the way they used to call the 22 Hi Power the "Imp", their is all sorts of historical reading on some amazing kills including Tigers in India with this cartridge. Not sure I would tackle something with claws and teeth like a Tiger, but a Michigan whitetail does not have a chance inside 100 yards with this round.

Sorry for taking soo long to look at this post again.

Thanks, I should have spelled out Hawaii instead of using HI.

Just wanted to post the rules of the last state not previously posted.

And yes they are very confusing.

Have carried a AR15 and Mini-14 loaded with Remington 55 grain SP's while deer hunting but never saw anything I wanted to shoot while carrying a .223.

Mike.