Which 'heavy' .223 for deer?

B

brmfan

New member
First off, I'm a die hard .308 fan, but I'm planning on trying out .223 this deer season (southern white tail) on a small hardwood patch on my property that is overrun right now.

My setup is a 16" 1:7 PSA dissipator (mid length) with a 4.5x14 Leupold. Max distance will be 75 yards so there will be plenty of velocity on hand. My concern is penetration and expansion.

So... I have the following on hand:
Black Hills 62 gr TSX (my top pick)
Black Hills Mk262 Mod 1 (not really my first choice but I have a ton of it)
TAP 75's in .223 (wish I had some 5.56 with the T2 bullet!)
Federal Fusion 62 gr spitzer

Of these which would be the go-to round? If none of the above, what would you recommend? I'm debating getting a set of dies and loading some Barnes TSX... all terminal ballistic reports I've read say it's a wicked little bullet.

Please, no flame war about .223 being to weak for deer. I simply want advice on load/ bullet choice.
 
The Winchester 64gr "power-point" has great ballistics although not a super accurate bullet, but a great choice for deer. Also relatively cheap and always available. The hornaday 60gr SP is a popular choice as well. I don't like any of the 70-77 gr OTMs, but I hear the 80gr a-max does great but not suitable for magazine length loading.
 
Btw, I am sure your TSX is a fine bullet and probably even better than what I listed. I just don't have firsthand experience. YouTube could show you some deer or yotes being taken out with it if you look hard enough. Other than the fmjs they will probably all do the trick as long as the are loaded fast enough
 
16" 1:7 PSA dissipator (mid length) with a 4.5x14 Leupold

Well, you should have plenty of scope for the job. Considering the capability of a 16" .223 carbine, I regard 4.5x magnification as the upper end needed for hunting.
If you feel you must use this for deer hunting here's some proven bullets to try. Hornady 60 grain soft point(oddly enough this bullet works pretty well on deer). Nosler 60 grain Partition(#1 choice). Nosler sells ammo loaded with a 6? grain "bonded" bullet which is reported to be good enough.
Back when I was in the gun shop business, I laid in several cases of Hornady "Barrier Buster" 60 grain ammo and have been doling it out to those who feel they must use a .223 for deer. This bonded, tough jacketed specialty bullet punches a decent size/length hole and kills deer as well as can be expected from the little .223.
You should understand that you're not getting much over 2700-2750 fps with those heavier bullets from a 16" barrel so your thoughts of staying within 75-100 yards are on track.
 
My daughter has been using 55 grain TSX on Oklahoma whitetail the last two years with great success. If using anything other than a mono metal bullets I wouldn't go lighter than 60 grains.
 
My .223 rifle is currently sighted for Nosler brand factory ammo with the Nosler 64 gr "BSB" - bonded solid base - which is a flat pointed bullet - there was a thread recently on these bullets where a member here used them to great effect on WY speed goats.
 
I used 60 grain Nosler Partitions in my AR to take a buck a couple years ago, they are vicious little bullets. Currently loading 55 grain TSX's wanted to move them fast to keep up the speed. I would think that eht 62 grain TSX's would work just fine. Put a good bullet in the proper place and keep a sharp knife handy.
 
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