gatorjames85
Member
My first hand experience with .22 caliber centerfires is as follows: I have shot one buck with a .22-250 at 250 yds, spine shot, dropped it. Same trip, my brother shot two bucks with the same gun and easily recovered both, including one he shot in the ham. This year, my brother shot and easily recovered a buck with a .223. We never lost any deer we shot with .22 centerfire rifles.
OTOH my dad lost a deer he shot multiple times with a .270. There were several good sized puddles of blood, but the trail ran out and we never found it. He also had to use a dog to track a buck he shot with his .300 wsm, and that ended being a boiler room shot.
If you put a .22-250 with an appropriate bullet into a deer's vitals, it will drop it as quick as anything else. Deer have very thin skin and fast bullets create nasty wound channels.
This hasn't been my experience and FWIW, my current deer rifle is a .243.
OTOH my dad lost a deer he shot multiple times with a .270. There were several good sized puddles of blood, but the trail ran out and we never found it. He also had to use a dog to track a buck he shot with his .300 wsm, and that ended being a boiler room shot.
If you put a .22-250 with an appropriate bullet into a deer's vitals, it will drop it as quick as anything else. Deer have very thin skin and fast bullets create nasty wound channels.
they do MUCH more soft tissue damage then ANY 50-60gr .22 cal could ever hope to do
This hasn't been my experience and FWIW, my current deer rifle is a .243.