22-250 Cal. for Whitetail

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Not much room for error using small caliber bullets.
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I'm with you. I prefer a bit of over kill in my hunting rifles. Not every shot is going to have perfect placement and I believe a larger, heavier round is going to give you a little extra insurance. Guess I don't subscribe to the "energy" theory of fast, light weight bullets.
 
22-250 vs. 223

They're both small hot rod rounds.They both will work great.I've seen first hand INSANE damage from a 22-250,to a whitetail.For such a small bullet the 4000 FPS round makes a wound channel mess!!
 
Yes, taylor is correct. It does a number. I am picky about the shots I take. If I feel off, or hesitant, I follow my gut. Search my posts, I have some really graphic pix of a small 8 pt I shot w/ my 22-250. Make sure to choose your bullets wisely. stay away from SXT, varminters, etc. I reload using 55 gr game kings. They don't blow up. I shot 3 deer and two hogs this year with it as well, the hogs going approx 175. Nailed em in the neck, right where the head meets the neck. The neat thing about this little gun is that you know it does not kick. Therefore, there is 0 flinch when you pull the trigger. In my opinion, the 22-250 is a better choice due to extra velocity for deer. You get a bit more energy out of the round. BTW, this years results were used with 50 gr. speer spitzers. They are zipping out around 3897 fps. This gun is a joy to reload, because you can make some really awesome rounds for 1/4 of the price of factory premium rounds. Also, Barnes makes a solid core tripple shock in 53 grains that does not blow up and produces really nice pass throughs. I'm going to load those next year if I don't rebarrel the gun to a 250 savage. This caliber was orignally the 250-3000 savage, (25 cal) that was necked down to 22 caliber. Think of it as a 223 magnum.
 
But in my belief, anything less than a .30 caliber is to small for deer.
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It would be nice if people slowed down before posting. I'm sure Bill didn't mean to discount the 7mm mag, .280, .270,
.264 mag, 6.5 and others that have taken hundreds of thousands of deer over the last century. How else to explain his opinion? ;)
 
ya you could shoot a deer with a 22-250 it depends on wether or not you want to chase it lol. I've shot one in the lung and it killed it at 100 yards with a 22-250 but if you shoot else were u probably are going to serverly wound it and piss it off as long as it is centerfire it is legall. but all a 22-250 is is just a .22 on some serious steroids (more powder) go for the .223, but what ever you think you need to shot a deer and kill it let that be your own choice.
 
It would be nice if people slowed down before posting. I'm sure Bill didn't mean to discount the 7mm mag, .280, .270,
.264 mag, 6.5 and others that have taken hundreds of thousands of deer over the last century. How else to explain his opinion?
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I'm sure that's true and it applies to my post also. State laws vary but, in Colorado, the caliber for deer hunting must be greater than .224.

:D
 
use what youre comfortable with, if you think a certain caliber may be marginal dont use it go bigger. If you are confident in your abilities go for it, youre the one who has to live with the results. Where I live is mainly shotgun usage I see more deer running around with slug and buckshot scars on them.and find more deer dead becuase they couldnt be found. All because some idiot thinks hes shootin a big enough gun that he cant go wrong.. yet i know a couple old timers that say they have shot more deer with a 22lr than anything else. Now lets talk about politics or religion:D
 
Sarge and Art Eastman made interesting comments. The .224 round on a deer is to be used surgically, Art remarked on the experience of people generally writing on these forums.

For these two reasons and these two reasons only the .224 is a capeable performer on deer. If the shooter cannot make a surgical shot on a deer with a .224 he must pass up the shot completely because he has no room for error.
 
Cartridge Choice

IMO cartridge choice has more to do with the shooter, than the ability of the cartridge to kill a deer.

A hunter should shoot as large of a cartridge as he or she can confidently kill a deer with.. While using their own self imposed restrictions.

My girl friend shoots a 30 carbine Encore. IMO this cartridge is a bit light. But she is strictly a meat hunter. And she will not take a bad shot. If the deer is not broadside and standing still-she will not shoot. And she has the ability to hit a pie plate 8 out of 10 times off handed at 100 yards. And she will not shoot over 75 yards at a deer.

If a 22-250 is the largest cartridge that you feel you can effectively shoot, because of any reason, then go ahead and hunt with it. I am sure you realize it is not the nominal cartridge.

I personally like the 30 caliber cartridges. I agree that 30 caliber is the mimimum also, but that is for my style of hunting. I will take a marginal shot that some others will not take. But I make sure my cartridge has enough steam to pull it off. Most 30 caliber's have that steam. Most 22 caliber's do not. Tom.
 
Hogghead is absolutely right...If you are using a 22 cal, you must be disciplined not to shoot marginal shots, and bullet selection is ULTRA CRITICAL for the 22-250, because it is a rocket, and most bullets are designed for varnmints - lightweight, thin jacket...you need to choose one that has a thicker jacket, and is not a hollow point. Barnes X tripple shock is the best choice for this caliber. They don't blow up, and expand really nice. They just came out w/ a 45 gr, that should do increadible damage, and create lots of hydrostatic shock being it is going to be flying around 4000 fps. They also make a 53 gr that will zip out around 3750 or so. both those bullets will create exit wounds on a deer when shot in the ribs, and possibly shoulder. I personally have used 55 gr. Game King sierras, and shot deer smack in the shoulder. 2 were bang flops, one ran about 30 yds. They had tremendous internal damage...But no exit. Which is the downfall of these bullets...I recovered the remains of the jacket between the skin and tissue on the (almost) exit shoulder, and the remaining weight was approx. 13 grains out of 55. Keep in mind, this bullet wen through both shoulders and associated bone. however the solid copper construction of the barnes X is supposed to be approx 95% retension, thus should produce the exit. I generally go for neck/head shots w/ this gun, because my fear is I will get a poor blood trail due to no exit wound. I'm not at all concerned about internal damage and a quick kill based off the damage I have seen from this round. I've seen the damage from the Barnes X on an animal shot w/ a 222, which produced a nice exit...I can only imagine what it would do w/ the extra 1200 fps...
 
One well placed shot with A 22-250 is all it takes. If you can do the job than take it, if you can't than don't. Its as simple as that. Any experinced hunter knows what he or she can or can not do. As far as the "drop them in their tracks" goes it takes the same shot with the 22-250 as with the 30-06 cal.(PERFECT). Now if you are talking Blood Trail, The larger calibers do leave A much larger blood trail than the 22-250,but after trailing for A few hundred yards one should realize he or she hasn't made A very good shot whatever the Cal.
 
Sorry about getting around to posting so late, but my statement about smaller calibers, did not mean to say that any caliber less than .30 is bad, it is just MY preferred caliber.

Any one reading the post should have enough common sence to know that a cartridge like the 7mm and others mentioned would have enough power to take a whitetail. If it will kill a moose then it would kill a deer.

As someone else posted, you should use what you are most comfortable with, and what you can place the best shot with. I shoot almost every day, and shoot several thousand rounds year, so I feel very comfortable with all my rifles. But most hunters around here, shoot maybe 10 or 20 rounds a year, and are probably not the best choices to be hunting with smaller caliber rifles, especially since most of the shooting here is under 100 yards.

Sorry if I stepped on anyones feelings about the smaller calibers:D
 
I never did it myself with a 22-250. But I have seen a fellow farmer that only owns one gun and it is a Ruger 77 in 22-250. Everything he kills dies by the Ruger. He takes neck shots and I remember watching one stumble a step forward before giving up. He would use hornady 55 grain V-max bullets he loads himself.

I neither recomend for or against the 22-250 for deer, but I have seen alot of deer fall when shot by one.
 
When my oldest son went deer hunting for the first time at twelve years old, I thought my 270 might be a little much for a first time shooter, (he had shot my 17hmr). So I borrowed a buddies 22-250 with whatever factory ammo he had on hand and went out to youth weekend in the Texas hill country. The first morning two doe appeared at about 100 yards and he took them both with two shots in the vitals. Dropped in their tracks.

The next day he shot two more smallish bucks except he hurried one shot and gut shot him. I had him chamber another round which also dropped him. Now keep in mind our deer are a little small compared to the rest of the country, but I would not hesitate to take a 22-250 in the woods, especially for someone who may be recoil sensitive.
 
The V Max is one of the absolute worst bullet choices for shooting bambi, neck shot or not. :mad: Those bullets have ultra-thin jackets and is a case in point why that deer shot in the neck stumbled...They are designed to blow up on impact, and this could stun the deer, and not finish the job. That is a case in point of poor bullet selection for the intended job. Stay away from those type of bullets, and you'll be doing bambi and yourself a huge favor. DO not...I repeat DO NOT use that type of bullet for anything other than small vermin...Yes, I realize the poster did not use that bullet...
 
I had a friend who was loosing deer he had shot with his 7mm Mag, so he said he was going to switch to Fail Safe bullets so he wouldn't loose so many. A 7mm Mag has more than ample energy to kill a deer but he was having trouble harvesting deer he had shot.

You could loose deer with just about anything if you were such a terrible shot that you only grazed them or gut shot them. (I think he had terrible cases of "buck fever" and became so nervous he couldn't hit the broad side of a . . . deer.) :eek:

The 22-250 would not be my choice for deer hunting, but I have harvested many deer with my .243 (never lost one--all were quick, humane kills). A well placed shot with the 22-250 and the proper bullet will most certainly kill deer.

Poorly placed shots will require something larger, and terribly placed shots will require something MUCH larger. :(
 
As BARman said-22/250 will kill deer. It just depends when/where.

Many 'hunters' dont even look for blood. If it aint blowed over-go look for another.
 
Its been said, but its important. The 22-250 will kill a deer. Now, there are assumptions: good shot placement, the right bullet. If you cannot ensure #1 like hogheads gal (who I admire for her shot discipline!) then you have absolutely no business taking this caliber after deer. Period.

For the second, bullet selection is very important. The archer mentioned above that with 70 pounds of pull on his bow, he can take deer. BUT, his broadhead is opening up 1.25" of wound channel for that soft tissue damage. The bullet has 2 ways of making damage: direct tissue damage and shock damage. To understand this, lets mention some of the other inputs above.

If the bullet completely travels through the deer, it is NOT transferring ALL of its energy. Why? Because it is still using kinetic energy to continue travelling beyond the animal and transferred its remain energy into whatever it hit on the other side. (I think its Newton's law of energy) When the bullet leaves the barrel, it has a specific energy based on mass and velocity. As it travels, air friction reduces the velocity of the bullet, reducing energy. You have to account for all energy in the equation. When it hits the animal, it takes energy to go through the skin, break bone, mushroom the bullet, etc. The perfect transfer of total remaining energy in the bullet at impact would be a perfect mushroom that rests under the skin on the opposite side.

This is the reason why people shooting high velocity bullets without expansion characteristics matching their game find themselves tracking animals all over tarnation. I had a gent in FL hunting deer with a .338. He shot 3 deer over a weekend, never found one. Another shooting 7mm Rem mag in WA. Same results. Why? The shots seemed descent enough. Because the bullets they were using were intended for bigger game. They didn't get the expansion and resulting energy transfer into the animal and really did nothing more than shoot an FMJ through the animal (even though it was a "SP). This is what happened to the 7mm Mag scenario above. With todays bullet selection if you handload (which I don't but read about), using a large, high velocity caliber is doable for smaller game if you use something like a ballistic tip or rapidly expanding bullet.

Now, back to the 22-250. If the shot is marginal, will you get the collatoral tissue damage as you would with a .308, 7mm-08, etc with similarly matched bullets that can do enough damage to bring the animal down? No. That's why bigger can be better to a point.
 
When A larger Cal. bullet passes through the deer, the deer will not absorb all of the energy from the shot. A smaller cal. bullet that dosn't exit the animal will cause the animal to absorb all of the energy from the shot thus causing the deer to drop in its tracks so to speak many times.
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That whole energy dump thing is a fallacy. Deer are killed because a bullet has put a hole through vital organs and/or major arteries/veins, not because of the amount of energy "dumped" into its body by a bullet.

Jason
 
Just chiming in for the lowly .25-06. One of the finest cartridges for long range deer hunting ever developed. Another one under .30 that should be mentioned. Makes a great varmint rifle too. I wouldn't go with less than a 243 for deer or antelope. My uncle has taken several elk with the .25-06 I now own, but that DOES require a precise shot and I'm not too keen at this point on the idea. That said, he didn't have to track any of them. For elk I'll borrow my dads 300 WSM (until I can afford a big boy gun myself)thank you very much.
Uncle Bob took a four point mulie buck at 450 yds with a shoulder to spine shot about 20 years ago with the ol' .25 and factory ammo. Dad still cusses that shot. It was against an opposing ridge and was several very rough miles out of camp.
 
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