deer hunting: .223 vs 12 gauge slug

R

rantingrelentlessly

New member
I recently traded my trusty Browning BAR .300 WM for an AR15. Now im preparing for fall deer season and I have 3 choices. The AR15, a Mini14 and a remington 1100. I would feel like a tool walking around the woods with an AR. That leaves the mini14 and the 12 guage. Keep in mind the model 1100 only shoots 2 and 3 quarter inch shells. I live in a heavily forrested area so any shot I take will most likely be less than 70 yards or so. I have no scope on either one. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I've taken more than a few deer with a .223.

Last year my daughter took a 4 pointer at 45 yards with an AR-15 in .223.

Don't let people tell you that a .223 isn't capable of taking deer. Within 70 yards (heck within 150 yards) its quite capable of taking deer. You just have make sure you put the bullet where it needs to be for a quick kill.

Now personally within 70 yards I'd go with a .223 because of the fact that I've never had great accuracy with slugs out of a shotgun at those distances. A shotgun for me is a 50yd or less deer gun.

If you want a a good deer round get yourself an upper in 6.8spc or better yet for within 100 yards an upper in .30RAR.

Otherwise the .223 is fine.
 
white tail .223 vs. 12 guage slug

Long story short, I'm in between dedicated deer rifles at the moment. My 3 choices for this fall are AR15, Mini14 and Remington 1100. Thats .223 or 12 guage slug. I'm leaning toward the Mini right now. Keep in mind that the Remington only shoots 2 and 3/4 inch shells. Any advice is appreciated.
 
I'ds use a 223. I hate shooting deer slugs. Accuracy matters, power does not. A deer with a .223 hole in it's lungs will be just as dead, just as fast as a deer with a 3/4 inch hole in it's lungs.
 
I'd go with the AR.

My experience with Mini-14s is that accuracy is hit or miss with those rifles.

I'm not a fan of taking deer with slugs unless they're REALLY close (nothing to do with power - of which the 12ga. slug has LOADS of - and all to do with accuracy).
 
I'm leaning toward the Mini right now.
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Sounds fair. Assuming it's accurate and you are comfortable and intimately familiar with whatever idiosyncrasies it has... go for it.
Keep in mind that the Remington only shoots 2 and 3/4 inch shells
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I'm no more a fan of shooting whitetail with slugs than Brian is... but I'm afraid I don't understand the "only" part of this sentence.

C
 
Creeper said:
I'm no more a fan of shooting whitetail with slugs than Brian is... but I'm afraid I don't understand the "only" part of this sentence.
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I agree.

My distaste for 12ga slugs isn't lack of power, it's excess. They are ridiculous overkill for whitetail deer and serve only to bruise shoulders and teach young hunters to flinch.

The guns are bulky and heavy, good shells are more expensive than good rifle rounds, accuracy is marginal beyond rock throwing distance... Need I go on?

Use the 12ga for what it was made for, it's a SHOTgun. Shoot SHOT out of it. Kill deer with a deer gun.
 
The slug gun's capability depend entirely on whether you have a rifled barrel and appropriate sights/scope. With both, it's a 100+ yard gun. With a smoothbore and bead, <50 yds.

A .22 would kill a deer. Poachers like them, nice and quiet. Personally I would not hunt deer with one, given other options. YMMV.
 
What your state laws will allow and what you know you can drop him in 1.
Around here its the 12 gage slug.
 
I've no experience with slugs, and am not well versed in their capabilities, so I can't really speak to that.

My state regs require 900 ft/lbs of energy @100 yards for a rifle to be legal..... so an AR would be iffy , from a legal standpoint, depending upon the load/bullet used, barrel length, etc...... I would advise a controlled expansion bullet (I understand Nosler makes a 60gr Partition) if you go with the AR.... not condoning using an AR on deer, mind you ....... just sayin' .......
 
An inexperienced deer hunter is probably more accurate with a .223 AR than a 12 ga. 1100. But, IMHO, a .223 is a bottom-end marginal for whitetail deer (at least those deer the size of Iowa whitetails). A 12 ga. slug from a smooth bore shotgun does not have to be as accurately placed as a .223 to take the deer. If a center fire rifle is an option, I would recommend a .243 Win. as the minimum. With a 12 ga. shotgun, it is hard (if not impossible) to beat a fully rifled barrel with a cantilever scope and a sabot slug ( such as those made be Remington. I've taken Iowa whitetails at well over 100 yards (standing, walking & running) with a 12 ga. 870 SP with a rifled barrel, Leupold 1 X 4 scope and 2 3/4" Remington Sabot Slugs.

Edit: Center-fire rifles are extremely limited for deer hunting in Iowa and a heart/lung/liver shot with a slug from a 2 3/4" 12 ga. is not over-kill on a mature Iowa whitetail (at least in the opinion of Iowa legislators and the DNR). In my experience (over 40 years of hunting in Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana for pronghorn, whitetail, mule deer, elk, black bear and varmints) a wound from a 12 ga. slug is similar to a wound from a .243, .270, 7mm Rem Mag., 30-06, or .300 Win Mag. (depending, of course, on the range; e.g., 25 yards or 300 yards.)
 
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I live in a heavily forrested area so any shot I take will most likely be less than 70 yards or so....
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Sounds to me you have the ideal shotgun hunting terrain.

A smoothbore 12ga. shooting 2 3/4 slugs is more then capable of killing deer at distances of 75yds. A few have been taken pushing 100yds.

A rifled bbl has 100yd+- potential if the operator does his/her job.

You didn't say whether your bbl was smooth or rifled but at any rate, see what slug your shotgun prefers and get proficient with it to know the drop of your slug and your capabilities.
 
Either would be fine. At that range through I would go with the slugs. They will have more knock down power. The 223 will do the job but the 12ga will do it with more room for error.
 
Use the 223 rifle that is the most accurate. Probably the AR. Load it with good quality softpoint bullets and hunt with confidence. If you were hunting game larger than deer I'd recommend slugs. But a 223 will easily kill any deer on the planet within reasonable ranges. On typical size deer that means no more than 200 yards. I'd cut that range in half on some of the 300-400 lb monsters that live in some parts of the country and Canada.

As with any chambering, it is the bullet that kills. The 223 is debteable among some because they have only seen it used with varmit bullets and seen it fail on deer. Buy a bullet designed for big game and it will work fine.
 
Sounds to me you have the ideal shotgun hunting terrain.

A smoothbore 12ga. shooting 2 3/4 slugs is more then capable of killing deer at distances of 75yds. A few have been taken pushing 100yds.

A rifled bbl has 100yd+- potential if the operator does his/her job.

You didn't say whether your bbl was smooth or rifled but at any rate, see what slug your shotgun prefers and get proficient with it to know the drop of your slug and your capabilities.

Absolutely-people who don't believe in the accuracy of smooth bores
pushing a Brenneke ought to try it
 
Personally, I can't take the vicious recoil of a 12 gauge slug gun. So I hunt "shotgun only" zones with a modern in-line muzzle loader which is legal within Pennsylvania.

223 can get the job done under ideal circumstances. But how often does that occur?

Photo is from a private fenced hunting preserve. I was invited to their open house couple years back. I didn't book a hunt but had a great time looking at their amazing deer.

Jack

wtbuckheavyforest.jpg
 
Jack O'Connor said:
223 can get the job done under ideal circumstances. But how often does that occur?
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I can safely say that every deer I've ever killed would have been killed as easily with a 223 as it was with a 12ga. In fact, if I'd had a 223, I'd have probably taken quite a few shots that I passed with the 12ga, including 2 last year alone.

Oh, and I'd take that shot in your picture at that distance with a properly loaded 223, in a heart beat.
 
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