.223 For Whitetail?

My secondary job while serving in USAF was wildlife control near the airfields. The rifle I used for shooting deer was an older Winchester bolt action in .243 shooting plain Power Point ammo. This was a very good outfit because the bullets did not exit the animals. But for a time in 1998, I was issued a semi-auto M-16 shooting 64 grain soft tip Winchester ammo. The bullets always exited which was an undesirable factor we considered when switching back to the .243 rifle. I found the .223 cartridge to be adequate but not impressive since the animals always bounded away after the impact. In contrast, most deer typically drop in their tracks when struck by the .243 bullet.

Jack
 
Kinetic energy is totally dependent on speed.
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As John said, Kinetic Energy is not TOTALLY dependent on speed. It is a factor of mass and the exponent of velocity (specifically 1/2 that value). Velocity effects the equation exponentially, so the K/E is skewed toward velocity. I have long argued that K/E does not tell the whole story, and momentum does have an effect. Alas, my argument mostly falls on deaf ears, even when I use sources provided by those who would argue against me to support my position. At any rate, I digress. Both mass and velocity are used in the kinetic energy equation, and really there is no other one single measurement that is as effective at comparing the potential lethality of one caliber to another as K/E. There are some factors that may make comparing a 357 mag to .223 on K/E alone an apples/oranges argument. .223 projectile construction is often a choice between a varmint round or an FMJ round, with little selection of true medium game hunting bullets. There are some though. Plain ole Remington core-lokt comes to mind.

I stand by my original point. No one argues that a .357 mag is underpowered for handgun hunting, and it's tough to argue that .357 is any better than .223. So why are we saying that .223 isn't adequate to hunt dear?
 
I am not saying that the 223 isn't able to harvest deer. The triple deuce (.222) used to be a very popular deer rifle cartridge. The two cartridges are close enough ballistically that they could be interchanged for any practical purpose.
I would only use the 223 with head and neck shots using varmint bullets but I have several guns that do a better job of insuring a quick and less painful death for deer. I doubt that most hunters would be capable of cleanly killing a deer with a 223 but then most of them couldn't cleanly kill a deer with a 400 nitro express. It is for that reason that I would not recommend it as a deer cartridge, more because of the hunter and not the cartridge.
 
Can't argue with that. Back in the day when heavy bullets ruled the deer woods, you saw a LOT of wounded deer running. It was not unusual to find a lot laying when late season grouse hunting either. A bad hit is a bad hit no matter what you are using.
 
I would only use the 223 with head and neck shots using varmint bullets but I have several guns that do a better job of insuring a quick and less painful death for deer.
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It's certainly wise to keep the limitations of a particular cartridge/rifle/sighting system/loading/shooter combination in mind while hunting.
 
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