.22-250 For Deer

[Einsamer Krieger]

I own a Model 700 BDL, 22-250. with Leupold range finder scope, owned for 50 years, great caliber for hunting woodchucks, foxes, coyotes and other small game.

For Deer hunting??  ONLY if you know your rifle and bullet placement.  Yes, I have killed Deer with my rifle with 50 grain bullets.  Placement shots, shoulder scapula, takedown shot,  heart shot, be prepared to track them for a ways.

Practice and know the animal very well.  

[PraiseDiana]

Thanks all for the great discussion!

The ammo I have now is Federal "Power-Shok" 55gr soft points. I guess this is the push I need to get into reloading and try some of the other, more suitable, bullets mentioned in this thread.

[Daveboone]

You have a .308. Use it. The 22-250 is designed from the ground up as a varminter. Yes, with the proper bullet ,placed you can certainly kill a deer...as you could with a .22 long rifle rimfire.  But with all the variables out there, twigs, angles, last microsecond goofs with the trigger, it will be very unforgiving. You have a proper rifle. It would be irresponsible not to use it. 

FYI I have owned several 22-250s, in different configurations, handloaded for all of them I love the cartridge for its given purpose. I also have, reload and use .308s....several over the years. It is a fine capable round. Any reasonable shot it is capable of taking cleanly.

[SpacemanSpiff]

On 9/20/2021 at 8:48 AM, PraiseDiana said:

Thanks all for the great discussion!

The ammo I have now is Federal "Power-Shok" 55gr soft points. I guess this is the push I need to get into reloading and try some of the other, more suitable, bullets mentioned in this thread.

I wouldn’t hesitate to use that load on deer. 

[hunterdan44]

I have never shot a deer with a .22-250, but I have taken a nice 8 pt in Texas with my .223 about 7 years ago. Heart shot it went 25 yards. It was not the gun I intended to use on that trip but the airline’s made the decision for me by breaking my scope on my 270. As others stated I would use a more suitable deer caliber. I did shoot a nice coyote with my brothers .22-250 last year.


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[wolc123]

Can anyone come up with a worse choice for deer, in a center fire rifle, than a .22/250 ?

[ncountry]

32 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

Can anyone come up with a worse choice for deer, in a center fire rifle, than a .22/250 ?

 .223

[wolc123]

I would take the .223 over a .22/250 for deer because it is slower, so wrecks less meat, and has much better ammo availability.  Still a horrible choice though.

12 minutes ago, ncountry said:

 .223

 

[ncountry]

25 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

I would take the .223 over a .22/250 for deer because it is slower, so wrecks less meat, and has much better ammo availability.  Still a horrible choice though.

 

Bah! Shoot them in the lungs and their is no meat damage. ;).

Not my personal choice either(heck I hunt with a 300 win mag.lol), but way more than capable in the right bands..

[wolc123]

13 minutes ago, ncountry said:

Bah! Shoot them in the lungs and their is no meat damage. ;).

Not my personal choice either(heck I hunt with a 300 win mag.lol), but way more than capable in the right bands..

You might loose one less chop with a center lung shot from a .223 compared to a .22/250 firing the same bullet.

Edited September 22, 2021 by wolc123

[hunterdan44]

.223 over a .22-250 for sure.


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[wolc123]

52 minutes ago, hunterdan44 said:

.223 over a .22-250 for sure.


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Not sure about the “for sure part”, more like by a very slim margin.  We may have identified the two worst center fire cartridges to use for deer.   
 

Any other nominees out there for ones that might be worse than these two ?

Edited September 22, 2021 by wolc123

[Pygmy]

2 hours ago, wolc123 said:

Can anyone come up with a worse choice for deer, in a center fire rifle, than a .22/250 ?

.17 Rem,  22 Hornet, 25-20, 32-20, .222 Rem  223 Rem....Just to name a few...  Never heard of anyone shooting a deer with the .17,  but  all of the others I listed are capable of clean kills with proper shot placement...In fact, I believe the  record typical whitetail for many years was shot with a 25-20.....

[wolc123]

3 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

.17 Rem,  22 Hornet, 25-20, 32-20, .222 Rem  223 Rem....Just to name a few...  Never heard of anyone shooting a deer with the .17,  but  all of the others I listed are capable of clean kills with proper shot placement...In fact, I believe the  record typical whitetail for many years was shot with a 25-20.....

Ok, the .17 rem is the new leader for worst deer center fire cartridge, others on your list might be argued compared to .22/250 and .223. 

[Waterfowler]

41 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

.17 Rem,  22 Hornet, 25-20, 32-20, .222 Rem  223 Rem....Just to name a few...  Never heard of anyone shooting a deer with the .17,  but  all of the others I listed are capable of clean kills with proper shot placement...In fact, I believe the  record typical whitetail for many years was shot with a 25-20.....

Yup, those are a bunch of bad choices. I don’t understand why someone would handicap themselves using a sub par caliber. Hunting is hard enough. Will they work with the right bullet and perfect placement, sure. Unfortunately the animals suffer with the dumb choices of the hunter.

[G-Man]

7 hours ago, Waterfowler said:

Yup, those are a bunch of bad choices. I don’t understand why someone would handicap themselves using a sub par caliber. Hunting is hard enough. Will they work with the right bullet and perfect placement, sure. Unfortunately the animals suffer with the dumb choices of the hunter.

The problem is someone uses one of these calibers and writes it up as the low recoil gun of choice and proved it works..   when you go on a guided hunt they recomend calibers for the game your hunting ,I  doubt any of those will come up as a recommended caliber.. I know for bear they recommend 30 cal and up where I have hunted but you will hear people scream a .243 will kill a bear and they've done it ( they never seem to tell that they custom load their own rounds with special bullets) 

Responsibility I feel is giving advice using common available factory rounds. 

[G-Man]

8 hours ago, Pygmy said:

.17 Rem,  22 Hornet, 25-20, 32-20, .222 Rem  223 Rem....Just to name a few...  Never heard of anyone shooting a deer with the .17,  but  all of the others I listed are capable of clean kills with proper shot placement...In fact, I believe the  record typical whitetail for many years was shot with a 25-20.....

Ooh don't forget the .204 ruger

[LET EM GROW]

13 hours ago, wolc123 said:

Can anyone come up with a worse choice for deer, in a center fire rifle, than a .22/250 ?

.222 but my buddy kills piles of NY deer with his.. People forget the military uses a 556 to kill humans.. the difference is minimal. Select the right bullet and place your shot. Anything can happen. Are there better choices, yes. But that's not what was asked.. 

I purchased my 22.250 specifically because it had a 10 twist barrel on it. to better suit windy days and heavier bullets.. I also plan down the road to build a fast twist 22.250 

[wolc123]

10 hours ago, Waterfowler said:

Yup, those are a bunch of bad choices. I don’t understand why someone would handicap themselves using a sub par caliber. Hunting is hard enough. Will they work with the right bullet and perfect placement, sure. Unfortunately the animals suffer with the dumb choices of the hunter.

The same argument could be made about recurve and longbows, or even compounds when crossbows are legal.  For some folks, deer hunting is “a sport” where it is mostly about “the challenge”.

For others, such as myself, it is mostly about gathering “free” meat.   I always look to use the most lethal, legal means available to help make that happen. The quicker the animal is dispatched, the less it suffers and the better the meat tastes.

I had a couple of .22/250’s, one for over 10 years.  I liked it so much, that I bought the second one.  Their primary jobs were killing woodchucks, but they also worked very well on foxes and coyotes.  What I liked best about them, was that they always put the bullet almost exactly where I wanted it to go.  I considered using one for deer, but backed off after a little research.   
 

I do miss my first .22/250 a bit (I traded it for my new “foul weather deer rifle” , a Remlin 336BL 30/30).   I will miss it a little less after I break that one in on a deer.  I no longer shoot at woodchucks from long range, and have been doing ok on them in close, with my Ruger 10/22.   

[SpacemanSpiff]

These 223 Remington rounds were designed with deer in mind. I killed a 130 pound doe last year. 80 yard neck shot and it was all over. Send one into that white throat patch and it’s quite effective. No broken ribs to poke you while gutting! 

[hunterdan44]

I go with shot placement over caliber within reason. Archery the same as I hunt with compound, recurve and crossbow. Clear accurate shot whether a .300 win mag or my recurve arrow. But I personally would not hunt with a .22-250 for deer as I have many other better choices.


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[Splitear]

13 hours ago, Pygmy said:

.17 Rem,  22 Hornet, 25-20, 32-20, .222 Rem  223 Rem....Just to name a few...  Never heard of anyone shooting a deer with the .17,  but  all of the others I listed are capable of clean kills with proper shot placement...In fact, I believe the  record typical whitetail for many years was shot with a 25-20.....

Here's an interesting article I came across while looking at this stuff. "The Mighty Midgets".

https://web.archive.org/web/20080210044526/http://www.gunhuntermag.com/features/051018Midgets.htm#

[airedale]

Below are a couple of what I call dual purpose hand loads for a couple of my light sporter "walking" varmint rifles that I use, a CZ 527 223 and a Ruger 77 220 Swift. These rounds are loaded with the Speer 70 gr semi pointed soft point that have been around for as long as I have been reloading and were always touted to be efficient Deer killers when placed properly.

Now I will not be going Deer hunting with these rifles per se  but I will be using them at times during the Deer season while varmint hunting. An interesting fact when using a varmint call is many times I have had Deer show up out of curiosity. If I have not filled my tag I want to be able to be able to take that advantage if an opportunity for a good shot presents itself at a decent Deer occurs. 

Al

Edited September 23, 2021 by airedale

[Grouse]

I can see the need to use a .22 center fire if the hunter has severe shoulder issues and cannot take any recoil.  But the hunter still has to be aware of the limitations of a .22 center fire for deer hunting.

[LET EM GROW]

On 9/23/2021 at 9:47 AM, airedale said:

Below are a couple of what I call dual purpose hand loads for a couple of my light sporter "walking" varmint rifles that I use, a CZ 527 223 and a Ruger 77 220 Swift. These rounds are loaded with the Speer 70 gr semi pointed soft point that have been around for as long as I have been reloading and were always touted to be efficient Deer killers when placed properly.

Now I will not be going Deer hunting with these rifles per se  but I will be using them at times during the Deer season while varmint hunting. An interesting fact when using a varmint call is many times I have had Deer show up out of curiosity. If I have not filled my tag I want to be able to be able to take that advantage if an opportunity for a good shot presents itself at a decent Deer occurs. 

Al

On point with all of this! Great stuff.