603Country
New member
Well, gunrunner has a point, in that the deer can be killed with the 223. But I have found, over the decades, that (given equally good shot placement) they typically die a bit faster when shot with larger Calibers. That means they can't make it to their sanctuary area, like huge briar patches. And that is a good thing.
And that is why, when hunting pigs, I went from 100 gr bullets in my 260 to 120 gr bullets. The 120's definitely drop them faster. So...it's gonna take a lot of convincing to make me believe that a 55 gr 223 bullet will work as well. Over the years I have shot a number of deer with my 220 Swift and the 55 gr bullet, but I lost an unacceptable percentage of deer, so I quit using it on deer.
Being a reloader, if I just had to shoot deer with my 223, I'd use either the 60 gr Partition, the 65 gr Sierra GK, or the Nosler 64 gr BSB. I wouldn't go hungry but I'd probably be back in the briar patch tracking deer from time to time.
And that is why, when hunting pigs, I went from 100 gr bullets in my 260 to 120 gr bullets. The 120's definitely drop them faster. So...it's gonna take a lot of convincing to make me believe that a 55 gr 223 bullet will work as well. Over the years I have shot a number of deer with my 220 Swift and the 55 gr bullet, but I lost an unacceptable percentage of deer, so I quit using it on deer.
Being a reloader, if I just had to shoot deer with my 223, I'd use either the 60 gr Partition, the 65 gr Sierra GK, or the Nosler 64 gr BSB. I wouldn't go hungry but I'd probably be back in the briar patch tracking deer from time to time.