.223 Does anyone hunt with this cal?

I have heard of people taking deer with their Mini 14. If I was going to, I would do so at close range and only if I knew I had a clean shot.
 
My son harvested his first whitetail deer (98 lb doe) with a .223 55 gr softpoint out of a Rem 700 when he was 7 years old. He got his second deer last year when he was 8 with an AR-15. I expect he'll get his third this year with the same rifle. I've taken 5 doe myself with the .223. We've limited our shots to under 100 yards, broadside. It's not the best by any means, but all have been one-shot kills. I have several friends whose kids have used .223's for their first deer hunts. No horror stories. For beginners or youngsters where a .243 is too much, a .223 is a good choice if you pick your shots carefully.
 
American Rifleman had an article by Finn Aagaard on hunting with .223 a couple of years ago. One of the biggest things is to get ammo loaded with bullets that are designed for heavier game, instead of varmints.

Finn was, however, shooting southern whitetails, which are generally smaller than the northern whitetails. I personally wouldn't do it on Northern whitetails, I just don't think it gives enough "safety" margin to make a clean kill.

As trjake notes, you have to be VERY careful in choosing your shots.

I'd rather use .25 or .30 caliber, and have the option of taking those less than optimal shots, such as a quartering shot.

If you go for head shots, and can make them, then .223 is just fine.
 
Ewok,

I have seen a deer that was shot in the head at about 75 yards with a .222 and varmint bullets.

Small entrance wound, no exit wound. Both antlers (spike buck) were free floating, both eyes had 3/4 popped out of the sockets and were completely glazed with blood, and the skull was pretty much mush.
 
i used to live in a county in NC that only permitted hunting with calibers not to exceed 22--therefore the guns of choice were 220 swift-223 and 22-250...i used to load bullets for my buddies that had a speer 70 gr soft points--I never heard of any deer shot with the 70 gr (That were good hits) going too far...Dick
 
Buddy of mine shot a 130lb whitetail in oklahoma this year with a .223 at 350yds. His gun makes about a 3 inch group at that range, good enough to ensure a heart shot. the Deer didnt run 35yds before dropping. I see nothing wrong with it, and i also dont see anything wrong with the head shots. 223 is fine if that is all that is available to you and it is legal in your area. Good luck!
 
The usual caveat: Shot placement is ALL. There's such a small margin for error--and better to not shoot than to chance wounding a deer and never find it.

Skill and self-control do mean a lot, don't they?

Art
 
I have taken deer with 55 grain FMJ from an AR carbine. It was quite impressive in its stopping capabilities, but as has been said, shot placement is key, and let me stress this was whitetail deer, weighing about 140 lbs, not big mule deer. That said, if you put the bullet in the heart or lungs, and don't take a shot at over 200 yards, you should put it down nicely.
 
RikWriter:

FMJ is illegal for hunting is most areas I know of in this country. Were you hunting overseas?
 
taco, FMJ is not illegal in all areas for hunting, but at the time I was taking pest deer out of a friend's orange groves under a state depredation permit, which allowed the use of any caliber, day or night.
 
RikWriter:

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize FMJ are legal in some areas. My understanding was that FMJ was legal only for hunting large games in Africa.

Were you shooting those deers in orange groves of Florida? My father used to have some orange groves in central Florida that we hunted hogs on. We did take several deers on that land too but those deers were no bigger than my dogs and some of those deers were taken with Ruger Ranch Rifle loaded with 55gr SP ammo and it work fine but like I said those deers were small and were shot real close (less than 40 yards). My father also took few meat hogs using the Mini but I don't remember what kind of ammo was used.

Next time we go for meat hogs I got to keep FMJ in mind (along with my AR).
 
They were in central Florida...Wauchula to be exact. They were a BIT bigger than dogs ;) I think the biggest one was about 140-150lbs. Not the size you're likely to find further north, but still not Key Deer or anything. :D
 
RikWriter:

We were a little south of you at Lake Placid. Not too many deers in that area and they average less than 100 pounds but good hog population. Ever tried 223 on hogs??
 
taco, it depends on the size of the hog...for the little ones, 50-100 lbs, 223 works okay, but I wouldn't use it on the 200lbs+ ones. When we are going after hogs, I usually take a 308. They are hard to kill.
 
RikWriter:

I was thing about meat hogs (less than 100 pounds). Do you think FMJ would work better than SP? I just talked to my father and he said he shot 2 meat hogs with 223 SP but both were head shots at close range. He said the first one went down with one shot but second hog had to be shot 4 times in the head with this ammo and he stopped using 223 on hogs after that. I think maybe FMJ will work better since it should penetrate more. Also, since wild hogs are considered livestock is FMJ legal to hunt with?

For bigger hogs we used 30-30, 12G slugs and 44 Mag revolver and they all worked well. I have even used my 6" Python in 357 Mag to take some deers and few hogs (largest was almost 200 pounds). Despite what others my think, when loaded with good stiff handload 357 mag works well.
 
taco, we had one sow that was 250 lbs that we hunted down in my friend's orange groves that took two shots from a 12 gauge and one from a 10 gauge before she went down, and even then she wasn't dead. After that, I carried a 308 with FMJs...I found my best bet was to go for a shoulder shot which would go clean through and break both front legs.
 
RikWriter:

My father and I always try to take head shots since most are shot very close (less than 50 yards and most are within 25 yards). We did shoot one hog (first one) on the shoulder with Remington 180gr SP 30-30 but it didn't work very well. We ended up shooting it 2 more time with 30-30 and one with 12G slug and finally one from the 44mag to finish it. After that it was head shot only. Takes more patience and have to pass on some hogs but one shot is all it takes... except the one above that took 4 shots with 223.

Also, from your last post I take it that FMJ is legal on private land?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top