223 for deer

Any of you guys use a 223 for deer, if so, what ammo do you use, and what performance on deer and blood trails do you get?

Many years ago, I went hunting with an good friend of mine. He was a gun dealer and had a small sports shop. I was kind of shocked. We got out to where we were going to hunt and he pulled out a Ruger Mini 14 in .223 caliber. I was hunting with a 7mm Mag at the time because we had a lot of open shooting on his farm. And I questioned his selection of caliber because he had so many to choose from. He said that he was very comfortable with the caliber and the rifle. I really never asked him about the ammunition he was using.

Well later that afternoon I heard him shoot. Then a brief moment later, he shot again. He then yelled for me, so I walked over to his stand. He had a nice buck down in the field. He had shot it in the neck twice. He said the first one put it down, but it raised its head, so he let it have another one. The wound channel was strange as it looked like it never even entered on the entry wound. But the exit would was about the size of a dime. Both of them. He hunted many years with that rifle and that caliber and took a number of deer with it. I personally always considered that caliber a little light. But to each their own.

I too think it is too light for Deer.

Having said that....

IF I had to use that caliber for deer, I would first check the twist of the rifle. If it is a 14 twist then it is for bullets up to 50 or 55 grain max and those are normally too fragile for deer and meant for varmint. IF it has an 8 or 9 twist, you can then try bullets like the Nosler 60 grain Partition (not sure it is made anymore), Barnes has a TSX in 62 and 70 grain or TTSX 62grain too. Those are the first that comes to mind anyway.

The Colt AR15 has a 1-7 RH twist. My friend owns a Colt. I have been considering getting one, and have asked him a lot of questions about his AR-15. Plus the local gun shop has one in stock for $1200.00 and it appears nice. I never shot my friends rifle but he claims with his Leupold scope off a bench rest he can hold a 1 inch group at 100 yards. Also the Colt was the model and make recommended by the gun shop owner where I do a lot of business. Any way, my friend said because of the fast twist he can shoot a much heavier bullet more accurate. Federal Fusion bullets are a 62 grain pointed soft point, Hornady makes a 75 grain HPBT that out of that fast twist Colt might make an more then acceptable hunting bullet.

I was in MI a handful of days ago deer hunting. Though I didn't pull the trigger I did see deer around an active logging job I was hunting, private land, relative doing the logging. I had some deer within 25 feet of me. The wind was right, but I actually didn't want them that close. At that range one could place any bullet with extreme precision, should be able to.

As a hand loader I'd look to the 60 grain partition, or similar bullet, and choose shots very carefully, no 150 yard 'hail Mary's'. I had a gunsmith that used a 243 for about everything, including routine trips to CO for elk. He swore by it, he was also very disciplined and could place a suitable bullet exactly where he wanted it. I still think that' a bit on the light side, but doable in the right hands.

Just talked to an experienced bow hunter who lost a nice 10 point just days ago. The best of plans can go awry. With the right bullet, and careful shots, the 223 would work fine. The trouble may come when that wall hanger steps out at 150 yards and he's only 30 yards from a property you are unable to retrieve from. We've all known guys that have lost deer shot at with a 30-06 too.

This is always going to start a debate. The fact is the .223 Rem. works great with proper shot placement ( along with every other round ). I have personally shot 5 deer with the .223 and all went down right away. There may be better choices to hunt deer with, but that doesn't mean the .223 is a bad choice.

I live and hunt in Az, long shots for the desert mule deer we have here, the last three deer I have harvested where of the same food source and at 250 yards using a Remington 700 chambered in .223, with hand loads 27.4 gr of BL-2 (c), topped with a 55GRAIN HORNADY VMAX, all three dead on there tracks, this youth season two mule deer does one at 80 yards, one at 110 yards same weapon and same load same no tracking involved, this is just from my experience and true facts that I have personally been a witness of, I normally hunt with a .270 but during that time I took my .223 out I was nursing a shoulder surgery to a rotator cuff, a another tendon called a labrum, so I took out the .223 and a buddy of mine has taken the last two mule deer with the same weapon my two cents on this subject, thanks

casper said:

This is always going to start a debate.

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No truer words have ever been spoken. I'm not anti .22 cal for deer, because you certainly can kill deer with a .223 and many do, but I personally wouldn't use one. Heck, I know a guy who killed a deer with a .17 hmr. And how many deer have been illegally killed with a .22 lr? We probably couldn't count that high. I just see no advantage at all to using one, over other calibers.

Shot placement is just much more critical with the small caliber. Imo its not the ideal cal of choice to hunt deer sized game with. For those wanting to use smaller cal rounds I prefer a .243 w/100gr pill, your odds go way up if you misplace your shot. I think the perfect sized round for deer sized game is more like .260 or .7mm-08. Tons of upside, very little downside.

I personally use a .243, .260, .280, .7x57 in CF rifles. Between those I can kill anything I'll ever hunt. Its kinda like shooting a bow at 35lbs. You can certainly kill them if you hit them right, but your odds go way up if you shoot 60lbs.

I took a buck last year with a reload. I used Nosler 60gr Partitions. They're great bullets.

Flhtr said:

I took a buck last year with a reload. I used Nosler 60gr Partitions. They're great bullets.

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How far was the deer from you? Where did you shoot it? What was the deer's reaction? How far did it run off if any? And what was the wound channel like?

I ask this because I am trying to talk myself into getting an AR15 of some sorts. I did look at AR10's but I know a .308 will floor a deer. And for just fun shooting (why I got a SKS) the AR 15 would be better. I noticed you reload your own also. Do you make them hotter?

The deer was about 125 yards. Shot placement was right behind the left shoulder (quartering away). He ran uphill about 30 yards and then looped back around towards me and laid in a palmetto bed roughly 60 yards from me.The wound channel was small on both ends but I did get a pass through. I'm using VV powder, LC brass, CCI #41 primers. I'm loading 1 grain short of a maximum load so I would say that I'm loading my rounds hotter. A friend of a friend bought an AR15 and has taken several bucks and that's all he hunts with now. He was a die hard muzzle loader but now has gone by the way of the AR15. Can we bow our heads in a moment of silence for a lost soul?! :lol: He uses the Winchester 64gr Power Point ammo and swears by them. I plan on trying some reloads with that bullet soon.