Is this round acceptable for deer hunting?

My son got 11 deer last year with a Savage Axis firing Hornady 55 gr. V-Max ammo at ranges between 10 and 225 yards.

If the shooter is up to it (and he certainly is), the round will perform.

He made a believer out of me; I was against his using a .223 before last fall.

First I will say, I do all of my hunting in the 30 caliber family since deer is the smallest animal I hunt. So, I might be a bit biased, but not for good reason I feel.

Though it might be "legal" I would not consider it an adequate or ethical round for deer. Will it kill a deer? Yes. Was this fast, super small bullet designed with hunting medium sized game as a goal. No.

Yes, if your shot placement is 100% on (and probably CNS only) you can have a clean, fast kill. If you are trying for lung/heart shots, you will probably be tracking. I highly doubt you will have a deer drop where it stands and give a nice clean, fast death.

I would highly recommend a larger caliber; one more suited and designed for deer sized animals.

My son got 11 deer last year with a Savage Axis firing Hornady 55 gr. V-Max ammo at ranges between 10 and 225 yards.

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Don't want to take this off topic, but 11?? in one season? Was not aware of legal limits this high in any state?

I'm a fan of the .223, but I agree with NINEX19.

While killing deer with a .223 is entirely possible and many have done it, it requires two things. First, know the limitations of that particular round. Velocity, trajectory, expansion envelope, etc. Second is to be self-controlled enough to ONLY take shots within those parameters. It is unethical to take "maybe" shots and leave a wounded animal.

If using it meant the difference between going or staying home, I'd consider using it, but only if confident of my ability to hunt within the performance of the round.

Don't want to take this off topic, but 11?? in one season? Was not aware of legal limits this high in any state?

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Not sure what state he is in, but here you can hunt with any caliber and you can keep buying doe tags until you get tired of shooting them or run out of money.

I am an experienced deer hunter and very patient.
I also hunt with a bow so I know all about waiting for the right shot.
I have several 30 cal rifles so I am not asking if I should go 223/30 cal as I have both already. Just looking for real world experience, not "I have never done it but I assume or I think..."

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I understand you want first hand knowledge, that is why I gave you a disclaimer. I never said go with a 30 caliber vs a 22 caliber. Just a little step up to a .243, and you have a cartridge that has proven effective for deer.
Would you need someone with real world experience to answer the question if a 45-70 or 50 BMG is an effective round for a 140 pound deer or too much gun?

Certain accurate assumptions can be made based on basic knowledge of hunting and bullet/firearm design or uses.

There are very good reasons why many (if not a majority) have minimum caliber restrictions. I feel sorry for the animals that live in states that don't.

I also successfully bow hunt deer. That is a whole different game than firearms. No matter what you hunt with, you need to know your capabilities as well as those of your weapon. Choose the correct one.

Depends on the 62 gr SP. Not all of 'em are suitable for deer sized game. And the rifling twist matters. Sierra makes a 65 grain GameKing that's likely better.
Wouldn't use a .223 myself either though. Our deer run upwards of 300 pounds live weight. Some close to that dead.

Don't want to take this off topic, but 11?? in one season? Was not aware of legal limits this high in any state?

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Limit in GA has been as high as 12 on private property. Deer taken on state WMA's don't count against your limit so theoretically if you hit a different WMA every week during the season and took your 12 on private property you could legally kill 25-30 deer.

Alabama's limit used to be 1-day with a 4 month season. May still be, but I've not looked lately.

Using a 223 is a very hot topic on most gun related forums. I've seen it work too often to say it won't work. Use a good bullet designed for big game hunting and I see it as a 150-200 yard deer gun. Most of the failures are when people try to use varmint bullets. Shoot varmint bullets in a 30-06 and they will fail on deer.

I'd use one on deer size game only, with only a 200 yard range limitation. But I don't hunt with one. Partly because I don't want to deal with the limited range, and bear season runs during most of deer season here. No matter how you load a 223 it ain't a bear round.

In certain areas of Wyoming, you can get as many whitetail doe/fawn tags as you want. They are listed as doe/fawn un-limited areas. And the whitetails here are usually on the small side, so I don't think that a .22 centerfire is too light. I honestly thought about getting a CZ rifle in 7.62X39 because using my 6.5X55 is wasting supplies on them given their size.

How many deer would you have to shoot to pay for the cost of the new CZ while saving the cost of the wasted supplies?

My apologies to to ldlfh7 and the original question since it appears I might have steered it a bit off course. Please direct all additional responses to his topic alone.

In all my years of hunting, I have never hunted outside of Washington, so I have never bothered to learn other stated hunting laws. I am very surprised to read that limits are so large. I am use to only able to get ONE deer per year with lots of restrictions on dates (short span),sex, antler size, and game management unit. We also have to pick our weapon we will use up front and can only hunt during the time frame allotted to that specific weapon (modern firearm, bow, or muzzle-loader).
According to this site http://www.i-maps.com/Qdma/frame/de...=0&NID=0&cmd=map&TL=100000&GL=010100&MF=11000 I can see why your limits are larger in the East rather than in the West.

Never been to keen on any .223 round for big game hunting. But now I have a couple of small stature grandkids that want to hunt. So far we have had excellent results with 60 gr. Nosler partions. Mind you, all shots have been 25 to under 100 yards. We've taken several deer that either dropped on the shot or ran a short distance and expired.

Obviously it will work - if it kills a man, it will kill a deer. But it is not my choice, nor would I recommend it to anyone. At close ranges (out to about 100 yds) I prefer to use a handgun or a medium sized lever gun. Yes, many might point out that they think a .223 rifle is better than a handgun, but this is about MY preference, not theirs. I'm good with a handgun and like the challenge. If I really feel the need for a rifle it is going to be more like a .270 or .30-06 class.

It depends on the size of the deer. I wouldn't use any 22 centerfire for deer out in this area. 243 is about as small as I'd go. I plan on using a 257 Roberts this year and I have people telling me that I'm going out "undergunned" even with a 115 Gr Partition shooting at 2950 fps. (I wasn't aware that the mule deer out here evolved to have armor plating, but apparently a 300 Win Mag is the minimum for deer these days. :banghead: )

That said, most .223 rifles have a much faster twist than, say, a 22-250 or 220 Swift so they can handle much more appropriate bullets. If I did, I'd use Partition, as others have suggested, or a Sierra Game King of 60 gr or larger.

Matt

We use the Fedearl Fusion 62gr. load to kill several deer every year. It works fine, but we seriously restrict ourselves on what shot we will take with it. As in, head shots only and at less than 100 yards. The customers never get to use something that small.

If I was going to buy a rifle to deer hunt with it would not be a .22 caliber although there are a ton of people out there who make them work. So, if that is all you have, use it.

The question becomes if you stumble across a once in a lifetime buck who decides not to give you anything other than a quartering shot, perhaps through some branches, and no time to get a rest, do you think your odds are as good as with something bigger? Will you pass or try to make a perfect shot ? Perfect shots happen mostly on forums BTW. And, whatever you do will you regret not getting the deer if the caliber decision played a part in it ?

At this point I would likely enjoy seeing the buck and shoot a fat doe instead. Probably not so much forty years ago.

Well, I do not have first hand experience with .223 Remington for deer hunting, so I will restrain from giving an opinion, but may I ask, out of curiosity, why you seem to want to use it since you mentioned owning .30 caliber rifles?

I have killed many deer myself and do not understand why you would prefer to use, when having the choice, what appears to be a less adequate caliber for hunting.

I like my deer to die quickly and I assume the same about other hunters, so maybe I am just missing something here.

I used Winchester 62 or 64 gr Power points last year and will never do it again!!

While it DID kill the deer ( small doe ) it did NOT exit and didn't exactly tear up the innards either!!

I hunt deer in both MN and WI each year.

Myself and my sons and nephew use .30-06's. I would not consider anything less than a .243 or 6mm. I also would not consider using a 7mm mag on deer.

I agree with the poster above regarding seeing that "buck of a lifetime", why would you take the chance of wounding or not being able to get that acceptable perfect shot to make it possible.

Swanee

Never been to keen on any .223 round for big game hunting.

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Most in the south do not consider deer "big game hunting" - they're too small compared to the Midwest or West

Don't want to take this off topic, but 11?? in one season? Was not aware of legal limits this high in any state?

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I hunt in Alabama where I can legally kill 210 deer. From the start of archery season on October 15th until the end of the season on January 31st I can LEGALLY kill 2 deer per day every day. At least I could until last year when they started some goofy "tag" laws that absolutely nobody adheres to. We have millions of deer and not too many hunters. Plenty of woodlands all over the state. The most I have personally ever killed was 14 but that was back in the 90s when we ate it as our primary meat. Now I rarely kill more than one per year.
The .223 is perfectly good for killing deer in Alabama. I have seen hundreds of deer killed with bolts and AR-15's over the years. I have an AR that is set up to hunt deer. Scoped and sighted in with some "deer hunting " ammo. I have never taken it to the stand. You are not under-gunned with modern ammo in a 223 but there are many calibers that are "more better".

R&D by the bullet manufacturers, these recent fifteen years or so, have turned the varmint-only .223 into a reasonable deer cartridge. Sure, it' a bit light, but that merely means more precision, more care, in aiming and firing.