Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 22.250?

There ya go. Thats the answer all them non-believers was hopin ta hear.

So if the 22's work in every conceivable situation, I wonder why all those stupid deer hunters carry around the heavy, hard kicking, 270's 280's, 30/06's, etc...

I used a 22-250 years ago for 15-20 (guessing) mule deer and antelope. I never had a problem putting them down. Never lost one. Never had one go far at all, as a matter of fact.Never had the non-penetrating flesh wound that I hear tales about. I did have some bloodshot meat. This was pre-TSX. I wouldn't worry too much about using one again, especially with today's bullet options.

Far More To Do With The Magician, Than The Wand...

For the same reason the guys carry a .22-250.....they want to.

I too think a 243 or possibly the parent 250 would be better but since you already have the rifle load it up with a good bullet intended for larger game and you should be good to go. It's not a bad choice I am just a little more comfortable with a bit more bullet, but that is probably more imagined than real. From my experience using varmint bullets on groundhogs thru a 22-250 I would not advise using those but a barnes or partition should work.

I quoted wrong meant to quote why a lot of hunters still carry the big guns that southtexas asked. Sorry about that! Don't know how to fix it.

280 if you are seriously asking the answer is ignorance. At least it was in my case. Now note please that ignorance IS NOT stupidity. Everyone is ignorant on some subject or other.

We all grew up with the ingraned idea that a "deer gun" was a 30 cal of some kind- 30-30, the Savage the old 06 or the 270 (yeah I know it isn't a 30 but samey same)

We heard whispers and stories about the bitty needle guns killing deer but we didn't believe it or called it a stunt or trick shooting. Did that because it went against everything we had always been told and thought. Some never get beyond that point and so your question is answered. Granted way long range shooting requires a bigger bullet to be reasonably effective but at the range 99.5% of white tail are killed the needle guns do fine. Especially with game bullets that are available today where they were not years ago.

My first was a 223. I bought it for shooting varments. I can't tell you how the doubts went through my head the first time I carried it deer hunting using heavier bullets. 55 grainers I believe. Despite all my doubts and fears and visions of deer running off wounded with half a gallon of meat blown out of their shoulder that little needle gun killed deer grave yard dead with narry a problem. Took several to convince me that it wasn't a fluke. I was hard headed and ignorant but I learned.
I learned that a good shot, which is easier to make if you are not worried about recoil and all the associated whoop-te-do of touching off a scoup full of powder, will put them on the ground every time.
It is just a learning process and some figure they alread know all there is to know about deer guns.

Even if it was legal in Colorado. I still wouldn't use one. I like to use the same gun foe mule deer and elk. Sometimes i'll have a combined tag, and hunt them at the same time.

Plus, i'm not fan of small fast bullets. They work, but I don't like how they work. Good for coyote that i'm not going to eat.

Do as you want, however you also obviously choose to ignore the combined experience of people like BCR and others who have actually done it over and over.

Years ago I had doubts. Then I visited here and realized without ever using one on Deer, that If it didn't work for me, the fault would not lie in the fact that it was a .223cal.

The one thing I find perplexing about this place is the often "have you ever done it" reply. I've never shot an Elephant, but if I was going to do so the choice of an appropriate cartridge and caliber would be down on my list. Others have already answered the question for me.

I don't believe in "guessing" as it's called, but some do take the "only if you did it yourself is it true" thing a bit far.

I hardly ignored anything. Since I agreed that it got the job done way back in the thread.

I simple stated why I wouldn't use it. You guys sure get uptight if someone doesn't agree with your bullet choice.

I do have one question though. Why use it? What advantage does it have over a bigger caliber? Is no recoil that important? What does it do that a .243, 6.5x55, .270 won't do too? Just curious.

Boggy: The question was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but you answered it very well. I think the monometal bullets have, in fact, changed the game to some extent. This year I stepped a little outside my comfort zone and tried some 80gr TTSX's out of my 257R. They worked great. I have no doubt that th TSX-type bullets work well on 99% of the deer hunting we do. But for take-'em-as-they-come trophy hunting, or expensive out of state hunts, I think I'll stick with something a little bigger. Thanks for your thoughtful response to my somewhat silly question.

Given your peramaters I might not use it either. I've never shot an elk and never will.
What will it do that the ones you named do? To some recoil is imortant and so is weight. What will the .243 6.5X55 etc do that a 12 pounder Napoleon won't do.

They will all kill deer and do it well and easy. But if you have no confidence in it then you certainly should not use it.

Like I told Mauser there st. Confidence is the name of the game. As you say your not confident enough to use it "But for take-'em-as-they-come trophy hunting, or expensive out of state hunts, I think I'll stick with something a little bigger."

You sure as heck don't need my blessing to use what ever round you're comfortable with. Man just shoots better if he has confidence in what he is shooting.

Well, I haven't tried it yet myself, other than finding out 53gr TSX's will shoot okay in my .22-250. I was too busy with other projects this past year.

In fairness to the naysayers, lots of experienced writers have previously recommended against them. I think as late as the Nosler 4th manual, John Nosler, Sr. wrote of using a .22 centerfire on deer, didn't like the results, and spoke against the practice. I think it was after he retired that Nosler finally brought out a .22 cal Partition. Some years later Finn Aagard wrote of using TBBC's on deer, and things snowballed after that with the new Partition and the TSX. Enough people have reported good results that clearly, .22 centerfires do work well on deer.

For what it is worth I used a 22-250 for several years on deer. WHY?Because it was the only rifle I owned. Did it work? YUP. I shot that rifle quite well as it was used to shoot around 500 woodchucks every summer. I knew it well. When an oppurtunity came to hunt a rifle zone that is what I took and did so with the utmost confidence. Call it necessity or youthful exuberance or what ever. At that time the only bullet I thought would work for deer was the old 70 gr round nose. As I recall the load manuel had that load running around 3200 fps. All the deer I shot with it, including 5 fairly sizable Pa bucks, dropped in their tracks and I was convinced I had thor's hammer. Call it youthful exuberance again. Since those days I have hunted with a bunch of "BETTER" deer calibers and I don't find the deer to be any deader with them. I have never experenced the loss of meat with the small caliber lite bullets that some folks elude to. Quite the contrary my current favorite deer slammer is very destructive on meat and it is slinging a 350 grain hunk of 41 caliber lead at about 2000 fps via a 405 win case. It sure kills em dead quick though just bout like that ole 22-250 usta do.
I like the thought of those who suggest that one should use what ever he is comfortable with and is legal in their hunting area. That statement is not however said with the confidence that those making those rules know anything about anything because for the most part they don't. That is about like askin Nancy Pelosi how to skin a deer, or any other question about guns and expecting to get a knowledgable response.
If YOU don't want to use a 22 centerfire to hunt deer then don't. If someone else chooses to do so it is not your concern and should not offend you in the least.
It seems to me the big gun users are the ones that more often get their shorts in a knot over these things.
The question was asked WHY use a 22-250? If it works for those that use it my question would be WHY NOT?
For the record I have not shot a deer with the 22-250 in over 35 years cause I like to use other things. And that notion is constantly changing as I progress in my 50 plus years of deer hunting. I quess if I were to hunt deer now at this stage with a 22 centerfire it would likely be a 223AI or perhaps a 226JDJ
Just me. I would not fault a mans choice of guns or calibers. Life is to short for silly arguments like this.
Now where is that Big Stick?

I never said the DOW here was right or wrong. It's obvious to me now that the 22-250 works fine for deer.

I mentioned it to show why I haven't tried it. I used it a lot on coyote, and it's impressive. I just never thought of it as a deer round, because nobody can use it here.

Mauser I am not faulting your thinking at all. If one has no experience with something it is hard to make an argument pro or con on the subject. I report only what I have experienced. I have just had a conversation with someone on another board that says a 7-08 cannot be a good deer caliber. He has never fired one and yet is certain it can't be adequite for the task. Eventually he said he had never even heard of the cartridge before and thought the only 7mm was the Remington Mag.
Of course in the conversation he said the 270WSM was the better round and would in fact lift a deer off its feet and slam it to the ground every time. It is the only gun and caliber he has ever shot and of course this makes him an expert on ALL others. Such is the innernet I reckon.
Anyway best of luck to you and all others with what ever one chooses to hunt and with whatever caliber. Pick one and be happy.
Life should be so easy.

7-08 not a good deer caliber?????

These internet deer must be some tough SOB's.........

This sums it all up. This year I was forced to hunt in a shotgun area due to time limitations. I had hunted with a shotgun before, but never connected with anything. Hearing other hunters talk that live/hunt shotgun areas for years, I was really leery about using a smooth bore to hunt with. They (Other hunters) made it sound as if it was hard to kill a deer with a RIFLED SHOTGUN, let alone a smooth bore. I shot two deer this year with my old, made in the 30's, H&R, single shot, 12 gauge shot gun. I mean, this gun is UGLY and looks like it came over on the Mayflower. One shot a piece, right where I aimed. It sounded like a free fire zone around my house the first day of deer. The smallest string of shots I heard from one guy was 5. The moral of this story is: If you don't think that small caliber bullets are capable of killing deer, then by all means don't use them. Leave them to hunters that can use them. On the side, in my state a .17 center fire is legal for deer. Any body want to start a thread on that?