.223 for deer how far would you shoot a deer with one ?

[Hunter007]

Just a question for you .223 users 

What the effective range of that caliber on deer  in your experiece? For a ethical kill .

 

 

 

[G-Man]

It's all about bullet type, bullet placement,and your skills as a tracker.. you can ,place a kill shot at 800 yards.  But can you find where deer was and track it from a small wound that may leave little for a blood trail? The gun can always out shoot the hunter.. ( cue the every one I shoot drops in its tracks guys)  

[Hunter007]

3 minutes ago, G-Man said:

It's all about bullet type, bullet placement,and your skills as a tracker.. you can ,place a kill shot at 800 yards.  But can you find where deer was and track it from a small wound that may leave little for a blood trail? The gun can always out shoot the hunter.. ( cue the every one I shoot drops in its tracks guys)  

Wow I was expecting someone  to say maybe 150 200 yards max 

Not that I am a expert in ballistics or hunt with .223 

But from reading the books they recommend 1000 foot pounds of energy to ethically kill a deer. 

Which is probably 10 times more then what is potentially lethal.

Have you actully shot and recovered a deer at that range ? Or are we speaking hypothetically.

[Uncle Nicky]

For an ethical kill, spend the money and get a deer rifle. A 223 is for shooting at woodchucks.

[G-Man]

8 minutes ago, Storm914 said:

Wow I was expecting someone  to say maybe 150 200 yards max 

Not that I am a expert in ballistics or hunt with .223 

But from reading the books they recommend 1000 foot pounds of energy to ethically kill a deer. 

Which is probably 10 times more then what is potentially lethal.

Have you actully shot and recovered a deer at that range ? Or are we speaking hypothetically.

The round is used to kill by the military at ranges out to 1000meters well over 800 yards.  And deer are about equal hard to kill as a person. Like I said the gun can always out shoot the shooter.. 30.06 held the record for longest kill shot at 1600 yards in ww2  untill 50 cal was used. 

 Personally I like a margins for error and a bigger wound channel. And I enjoy getting very close to game.  My average kill shot is under 25 yards.

[ncountry]

I'm not a fan of 223 for deer. Personaly I would put the limit at under 80yds. Or a meadow gun if you wanted.  If the deer was 150 yds out in the field you would probably watch it fall.

The issue in not if it will kill the deer or not, but can one track and find it . With a well placed shot the deer isnt going too far.. If you screw up and everybody does..kiss the deer goodbye 

[steve863]

Any caliber will kill a deer in the perfect situation, but in hunting the situation is rarely perfect.  Of the scores of good deer caliber out there, the .223 would be close to the bottom of my list.  Ever since the increased popularity of these AR type rifles, all of a sudden the .223 is being thrown in the mix of deer calibers which is baloney in my opinion.  There are reasons why many states don't allow calibers less than .24.  NYS may allow the .223, but there are many things that NYS don't know JACK about, and this is probably just another example of that.

[Doewhacker]

I prefer the 22lr. 

[Hunter007]

7 minutes ago, steve863 said:

Any caliber will kill a deer in the perfect situation, but in hunting the situation is rarely perfect.  Of the scores of good deer caliber out there, the .223 would be close to the bottom of my list.  Ever since the increased popularity of these AR type rifles, all of a sudden the .223 is being thrown in the mix of deer calibers which is baloney in my opinion.  There are reasons why many states don't allow calibers less than .24.  NYS may allow the .223, but there are many things that NYS don't know JACK about, and this is probably just another example of that.

What is your opinion on 

7.62x39  just out of curiosity .

not that I have tied hunting with that caliber either nor will .

[steve863]

2 minutes ago, Storm914 said:

What is your opinion on 

7.62x39  just out of curiosity .

not that I have tied hunting with that caliber either nor will .

I would sooner choose the 7.62 before the .223 if I had to choose between them.  It doesn't have great range, but at least the deer would be absorbing a .30 caliber slug.

[NFA-ADK]

I have to agree with most of the post above that state 223 is a bit light.  For anyone who wants a good ethical clean shot 223 would be at the bottom of the list as stated before.  Effective range would probably be 150 yards or less for most shooters.  I use a 44 mag and even that is a bit light in a rifle.  Most of the hunters posting above have many years of experience this is why we recommend a better caliber for deer.  They know what works!  223 is an awesome varmint round but big game is another level up from that and 30 caliber is a much better match!

[stubborn1VT]

I would prefer to be overgunned instead of undergunned.  With that said, I know a bunch of people with .223s as their barn/porch guns, and they have killed a bunch of deer out to 150-200 yards.  These are bolt guns or single shots, shooting "heavy" soft point bullets.  They argue that they shoot more because the ammo is cheap, and that makes them confident and accurate.  To each his own.  I shoot a 7 Rem Mag.

[Hunter007]

1 minute ago, steve863 said:

I would sooner choose the 7.62 before the .223 if I had to choose between them.  It doesn't have great range, but at least the deer would be absorbing a .30 caliber slug.

Ok let me ask you this one if I wanted to get the shortest light carbine 6 pounds or less  that I can find that  could smack deer ethically .

What Calibers would you recommend. 

Nothing in the 30-06 range gets that light really .

This about all I could find 

44 mag or 

Marlin Model 336Y Lever Action Rifle .30-30 Win 16.25" Barrel 5 Rounds Laminate Stock Blued Finish 70524

Got a bunch of standard deer rifles not one light carbine would like to own one  capable of killing deer ethically at 100 yards .

 

[turkeyfeathers]

Someone post the popcorn eating emoji 

[turkeyfeathers]

27 minutes ago, Doewhacker said:

I prefer the 22lr. 

Headshots too 

[Steve D]

While most will argue it isn't a good caliber for deer I have shot 5 using the Hornady 60 grain V-max with the longest shot being 250 yds.

[Hunter007]

3 minutes ago, Steve D said:

While most will argue it isn't a good caliber for deer I have shot 5 using the Hornady 60 grain V-max with the longest shot being 250 yds.

How far did it go before it dropped dead,  the one at 250 yards 

[Uncle Nicky]

27 minutes ago, Storm914 said:

What is your opinion on 

7.62x39  just out of curiosity .

not that I have tied hunting with that caliber either nor will .

Everything I have read says that 7.62 X39 154 grain soft point has similar ballistics to a 30-30 round. A little light IMO, but enough to get the job done ethically. I'm heading down to Georgia in 2 weeks, I'll hog hunt a couple days, and plan to bring an AK style rifle, so I will do my own field test.

I do recall a hog hunt about 10 years ago, I brought 3 other guys with me, all deer hunters who had never shot an AR type rifle before. The outfitter had a night vision scope on an AR that shot .223/5.56 rounds, we all thought we were undergunned (even though the outfitter said it was plenty of firepower), and it turns out we were right; out of 5 hogs shot, only 1 was recovered, and that was because it was spined, and needed another 2 rounds to be finished off (BIG old tough boar). Granted, it was night hunting, blood trails were hard to pick up, and the guide didn't want to go in the woods after wounded hogs...but, still an experience I don't plan to repeat again. 

[Steve D]

None I have shot have gone over 25 yds. and most drop within a couple of steps. The v-max hit and blow up inside doing tremendous damage. The draw back to them is there is little or no blood trail and if they should hit something along the way ie golden rod, tree branch, etc. they disintegrate.

The one at 250 was in a cut cornfield with no obstructions.

[Uncle Nicky]

21 minutes ago, Storm914 said:

Ok let me ask you this one if I wanted to get the shortest light carbine 6 pounds or less  that I can find that  could smack deer ethically .

What Calibers would you recommend. 

Nothing in the 30-06 range gets that light really .

This about all I could find 

44 mag or 

Marlin Model 336Y Lever Action Rifle .30-30 Win 16.25" Barrel 5 Rounds Laminate Stock Blued Finish 70524

Got a bunch of standard deer rifles not one light carbine would like to own one  capable of killing deer ethically at 100 yards .

 

Maybe an AR chambered in .308? Or a Ruger Mini 30?

[airedale]

21 minutes ago, Storm914 said:

Ok let me ask you this one if I wanted to get the shortest light carbine 6 pounds or less  that I can find that  could smack deer ethically .

What Calibers would you recommend. 

Kimber probably makes the lightest line of hunting rifles on the market, they have several models which differ in style, barrel length and stocks to suit individual tastes but they are all very light and have good accuracy. One of their rifles in the 6.5 Creedmoor would be right up your alley.

Al

[steve863]

27 minutes ago, Storm914 said:

Ok let me ask you this one if I wanted to get the shortest light carbine 6 pounds or less  that I can find that  could smack deer ethically .

What Calibers would you recommend. 

Nothing in the 30-06 range gets that light really .

This about all I could find 

44 mag or 

Marlin Model 336Y Lever Action Rifle .30-30 Win 16.25" Barrel 5 Rounds Laminate Stock Blued Finish 70524

Got a bunch of standard deer rifles not one light carbine would like to own one  capable of killing deer ethically at 100 yards .

 

You are not going to find very many moderately priced guns under 6 lbs.  You want a scope on it?  Then even less chances of finding one.

[Robhuntandfish]

33 minutes ago, Storm914 said:

Ok let me ask you this one if I wanted to get the shortest light carbine 6 pounds or less  that I can find that  could smack deer ethically .

What Calibers would you recommend. 

Nothing in the 30-06 range gets that light really .

This about all I could find 

44 mag or 

Marlin Model 336Y Lever Action Rifle .30-30 Win 16.25" Barrel 5 Rounds Laminate Stock Blued Finish 70524

Got a bunch of standard deer rifles not one light carbine would like to own one  capable of killing deer ethically at 100 yards .

 

Just bought it.  .450 Ruger Bushmaster ranch rifle.  5.5 lbs. 

[Hunter007]

3 minutes ago, steve863 said:

You are not going to find very many moderately priced guns under 6 lbs.  You want a scope on it?  Then even less chances of finding one.

Probably not or a very light low powerd  one defeats the purpose of that particular set up I have plenty of long range proper bolt guns for that already 

 

[Hunter007]

2 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

Just bought it.  .450 Ruger Bushmaster ranch rifle.  5.5 lbs. 

That is the one I was looking at just the other day 2 issues I have tho saw video and they said bolt was a little stiff and finding that ammo locally.

Is, your action smooth ?