Thread: 222 vs Fallow

A spooked animal can do remarkable things, even if its been hit several times. But a spooked animal with all the adrenalin in the world that has been properly shot in the brain or spinal column isn’t going to do anything remarkable, it will simply collapse. Adrenalin in an animal shot several times is often matched by the adrenalin in the shooter.

If a red stag is shot once or more in the neck and still hasn’t collapsed, its for the old and/or reason... wrong bullet and/or wrong placement. Calibre has got nothing to do with it. How many cattle beasts are dropped every day in NZ with a .223? Sure its close range, but it doesn’t take much to put them down. No difference in head shooting a cattle beast from 10m or 100m or more with a .222 or .223, we obsess with our 1 MOA rifles after all.

If you are likely to be snap shooting spooked animals in the woods, use a heavy, wide expanding bullet that will hit the animal hard and create a wide wound channel and nasty, fast bleed out. That is not the job for a .22.

If your are shooting open country with a good field of view and the ability to get onto animals within 200m or so undetected, the .22 can be an awesome weapon. Low recoiling, deadly accurate. Use the right bullet - the most important part of the .22 equation - and take out the CNS. Job done.