Deer hunting round for AR

[Charliefrank]

I agree completely on using proper bullets. I have had great results with 55 gr soft points and with 62 gr Fusion hunting ammo. Do not use FMJ or varmint bullets. I have taken a 250 lb 14 point buck with one shot to the lungs. They work fine.

What would you estimate is a reasonable range limit for those rounds, for say deer and hogs 200 lbs or less?

 

[Browning]

I've taken 3 deer and about 30 hogs with a .223 and it's fine. Totally works despite how some freak out. They keep telling me what a bad idea it is and I keep laying them out. :Shrug

I'd skip the neck shot though. Try a double lung or heart shot and use heavier grain bullets and keep the range under 100 yards.

 

[redbullitt]

223 will do a great job. I would heart/double lung them personally. That speedy little bullet makes a mess in there. The neck will put them down IF you hit properly (it is a very erratic target), but I like a little margin for error. The lungs and heart offer a very large target that is ALWAYS fatal when you hit properly.

I have killed plenty of deer with 223/5.56. Close range it is effective, and I see no way to argue against that. They have all be just as dead as with any other rifle. Keep the shots under 125 yards and into the boiler room and I am sure you will have no trouble at all.

Any quality bullet will do well. Avoid varmint bullets and FMJ at all costs; they are never proper to use for hunting deer sized game. A good bonded bullet or standard cup and core soft point (especially the heavier ones) will get them in the freezer right quick.

 

[Charliefrank]

I'm going to get some of these hunting bullets in the heaver weights and try them out. Thanks guy's for the valuable information.
Coming from old school thought, I was always told the 223 was not enough cartridge for white tails. You guy' have the proof in the freezer that says otherwise.

 

[FL-NC]

Personally, I would max out at 300 based on energy loss with 75 grain 223 or 100 grain 243- NOT based on how much further I could score a good hit.

 

[DKSDonnie]

Another vote for a 62 grain or higher weight bullet, and a lung shot with that .223. I'd avoid the neck shot simply because of the mobility of that part of the animal, and it's not necessary to whack the spine with the .223 for it to be effective. My Mossberg Predator bolt action in .223 takes deer just fine, broadside.

LD

I would also vote for 62 grain or higher, and a lung shot. I would also avoid neck shots if possible. When I was younger, my father and I shot many, many deer in W.Va. and Maryland with a .222 Remington with 52 grain BTHP Gamekings. If you shot them in the lungs, it would drop them in their tracks everytime. No lie! If shot in the neck you would have to follow up the shot to disperse of them quickly because it would drop them but would take a long time to expire. 1 Fallback, and the reason I won't hunt with smaller calibers like the .222,.223, 243, or even a .257 Roberts and will never use any rifle on deer smaller than a .270 is because when you get that not so perfect broadside shot and have to put it on the shoulder or a high shoulder/spine shot, or a quartering to or away shot, those smaller calibers are very iffy. I'v had those instances with smaller calibers and seen others with those smaller calibers shoot deer that didn't give you that broadside pose and those deer are still wandering the mountains of W.Va. and Maryland. If you have the time and the deer you hunt will stand and pose for you like they do on tv, then put the right bullet in it, shoot it until you know you can hit what you point at , and kill them all. If not, get a bigger caliber gun and the bullet for what you want to do with it and when that deer of a lifetime or a doe for the freezer jumps up and is half blocked by a tree and quartering away and is about to bolt, put the crosshairs on it and pulled trigger. You will still have to make the shot but if you do, you won't track far if at all. Just my opinion based on 35 years of seeing whitetail shot with everything from .22 LR to 300 Winchester Magnum.

 

[marksman13]

Before the AR's, a .22 centerfire bullet was never considered adequate for deer. Not by hunters, not by writers. There were soft tipped bullets back then, too. So what changed, just the popularity of the platform it's shot from suddenly makes it OK?

Shooting a large game animal like a deer with a round that's acknowledged to be barely adequate, and only under certain circumstances, is not OK to me. I'm sure some poacher in Africa has killed an elephant with an AR, that doesn't make it an elephant gun.

I'd say what has changed is the education of our hunters. People understand that deer are easy to kill and many veterans have seen what a 5.56 bullet will do to a deer-sized animal within common hunting ranges. I have killed a bunch of deer with a 69 grain Federal GMM from a 16" carbine and only one has taken a step. He piled up 29 steps later just inside the wood line. Deer aren't particularly large or thick skinned, especially in the south. A 223/5.56 is plenty adequate with 60+ grain bullets.

Also, bullets construction has changed DRASTICALLY in just the past 15 years. I had a client come down to kill pigs last week. Running the Barnes solid copper projectiles from a 14.5" barrel he routinely pushed those pills from one shoulder through the off-side shoulder at ranges up to a hundred yards. The 223 is perfectly adequate for killing deer and pigs. Period.

 

[drmajor]

Like the AR for hunting deer & hog.
I usually like my 30-06 w/ Winchester soft point.
For 556/223- we've found the Hornady 223 55gr SF works great. Recovered bullet from head on neck shot and it mushroomed close to double, no fragments. Large wound channel.
Have not had to tack hogs or deer.

Shot placement- head or neck.

I find the AR well balanced and easy to shoot well.

 

[WestKentucky]

I wholeheartedly am against using 223 for medium sized game. Coyote is as big as I will ever intentionally go with the round. There are plenty others which are suitable in an AR platform though, especially if your open to ar10. I have a 6.8spc and can’t wait to try it on deer or wild pork. It is certainly adequate in power and accuracy if you are sensible about max range.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Well, I convinced my son-in-law Christmas am that the .223 is "enuf gun" for white tails. Shot this 8pt at a later lased 205yds.
60gr Hornady Spt over 25.5gr RL15 from 18.5" 1/12"twist Remington M7.

Shot hit him in neck facing me, exited right side of chest (blood trickle) He ran ~70yds and stopped. I shot him again broadside through lungs, lacerating dorsal aorta, but blood pressure was already zero. He bolted and went another 25yds to edge of tree line. I've taken over a dozen deer with that lot# of bullets. This is the first to get two. Both exited.

The second shot was "insurance" to keep him from running too far.
BTW, wound tracks are indistinguishable from those a companion M7 in .260Rem M7 with 120gr Speer HotCors.

BTW, also, shot was from my kitchen window. Went to get a coffee refil while "opening" presents. Saw him skinning a tree at far tree line in backyard. Daughter and sil watched me shoot him.

 

[Charliefrank]

Well, I convinced my son-in-law Christmas am that the .223 is "enuf gun" for white tails. Shot this 8pt at a later lased 205yds.
60gr Hornady Spt over 25.5gr RL15 from 18.5" 1/12"twist Remington M7.

Shot hit him in neck facing me, exited right side of chest (blood trickle) He ran ~70yds and stopped. I shot him again broadside through lungs, lacerating dorsal aorta, but blood pressure was already zero. He bolted and went another 25yds to edge of tree line. I've taken over a dozen deer with that lot# of bullets. This is the first to get two. Both exited.

The second shot was "insurance" to keep him from running too far.
BTW, wound tracks are indistinguishable from those a companion M7 in .260Rem makes with 120gr Speer HotCors.

Nice deer. I like many others of my age bracket were told this cartridge was inadequate for whitetail. Having read and seen all the proof to the contrary, I'll be using one this year myself.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Just use a 55gr or heavier soft point bullet.
Shot placement matters; .22 or 12ga.

Just don't use a SX, Blitz, TNT, or such, 50gr or lighter.
Though, I got 3-does opening day last year with 40gr JHP from my Marlin 1894CL in .218Bee. But shortest shot was 17yds, longest was a 31yd heart shot that ran 70yds. Other two were bang-flop head shots.
Shot placement ALWAYS matters.

I watched my younger brother lung shoot a ~90lb doe with a 300gr FNGC from a .45/70 @2,000fps at approximately 40yds. Found carcass next fall while bush-hogging a bi-color lespedeza patch, 250yds away.
Hint:it ain't the bow or arrow, it's the Indian !!!