Thread: 223 on deer

Originally Posted by Seventenths

Go the "Mighty Mouse" as i love the .223!

I won't shoot deer over 250 with the .223 but most of my deer have all been bush hunting but my son who was 12 yrs at the time dropped a nice Fallow stag at 230 mtrs one day to a clean heart shot with 55 gr Sierras

I ran 55 gr V-max for a while with great results on Sika just shooting them in the chest where the chest cavity was mush and then switched to 55 gr Sierras but at least with them they mushroomed and most of the time i'd find them on the other side under the skin (chest shots)

Both types of projectiles killed well and it was a toss up of whether i stick with the vmax or Sierras and i think from memory i just went with the Sierras because i like a good lead tip.

Alot of people like to mention with .222/.223 to head/neck shoot deer where as with the sika and fallow i just shot them in the chest and down they'd go every single time but with reds and lets face it their a bigger bodied animal so with them you need to place the shot in the neck though I have heard of guys using barnes who just shoot the boiler room.

For what your wanting to do which is shooting goats/fallow and the ocassional red then get 55 / 63 / 65 gr Sierras or 55 gr Hornady's which are cheap but have also been very effective on Goats / Fallow for me.

Hot barrels

Here we have they key issue with .223.
Ive seen seventenths shoot on paper and he is a phenomenal shot.
“Competent” and “good” dont even start to describe it.
It sounds as if he can also shoot enough animals that he can let them walk any time.
The later posts here are mostly from older forum members and past masters.
This is not a calibre for the beginner or youth.