.223 for deer in Tn?

[killingtime 41]

I'm usually in thick and steep, I consider tracking overrated, lol


I like short, quick handling rifles that are accurate so I can plop one through a hole in the brush, if there is one.

I hunt the mountains and would stay home if 223 was all I had to hunt with. It's not about will it kill the animal. I could be wrong about it all. So depending what terrain you hunt would be whether or not I would consider using a 223. Big fields or flat or rolling hills or shooting house maybe. But in the mountains not a chance. But that's why I own a 30/30 and a 270. So the 223 can be for home defense.

 

[Jcalder]

I hunt the mountains and would stay home if 223 was all I had to hunt with. It's not about will it kill the animal. I could be wrong about it all. So depending what terrain you hunt would be whether or not I would consider using a 223. Big fields or flat or rolling hills or shooting house maybe. But in the mountains not a chance. But that's why I own a 30/30 and a 270. So the 223 can be for home defense.

What about the guys killing elk in the Rocky Mountains with a 223. Or bears. Moose.

 

[Remi]

I hunt the mountains and would stay home if 223 was all I had to hunt with. It's not about will it kill the animal. I could be wrong about it all. So depending what terrain you hunt would be whether or not I would consider using a 223. Big fields or flat or rolling hills or shooting house maybe. But in the mountains not a chance. But that's why I own a 30/30 and a 270. So the 223 can be for home defense.

223 with the right bullets wouldn't hamper me at all. The right bullets is the key.


21" from a 308




19-20" from a 75gr





I hunt with a lot of different stuff. Once I started killing wild hogs, some bigger than deer with the 223 it reinforced where you hit them matters more than what you hit them with.


When a 55gr Hornady sp breaks both shoulders and the spine on a 250lb boar and folds him like a cheap towel no deer hit in the front half can handle that.


Do I use a 223 all the time, absolutely not, I have too many nice rifles that I enjoy packing around. Would I pass a shot with my 223 that I would take with anything bigger, no. If I didn't have confidence in it I wouldn't use it.


It comes down to confidence, if you're not confident in what you're using then dont pack it.

 

[Remi]

I think people get confidence differently with cartridges.


I shoot quite a bit, I'm a bullet nerd and I've got to shoot quite a few critters with quite a few different cartridges. The more I shot and the more I got to autopsy the more I realized from a damage standpoint when they're hit in a similar spot I couldn't tell any difference between any non mag cartridge. I've only ever killed 1 coyote with a magnum, I've shot them up through a .458 win but rare was the day one went to the woods.

Other guys get confidence from horsepower, a whole bunch of them hope that it will make up for poor shooting.


A real good friend of mine shoots 2-3 shots a year, zero practice. He listens to guys that say a bunch but they just don't know a lot about guns. He got a 243 last year and bought a box of 95gr fusions. He asked and I said shoot them like you would anything else, hug the shoulder.


The guys told him absolutely not, a 243 can not break a deers shoulder.


So, the day comes and an 8pt steps out, he shoots, it runs. We track and find it about 200yds away. He knew he hit it right behind the shoulder and the bullet just didn't penetrate. He declared the 243 had no "knockdown power"


His shot was deep on the ribs, so liver and guts. He could have swore he hit it in the shoulder but he obviously didn't. He refuses to use that rifle again because he has no confidence. I also can't convince him that poor shooting is poor shooting.