Thread: 222 vs Fallow

I have access to a farm with a lot of Fallow Deer on it, I have always used bigger cal's on deer but have nothing bigger at the moment in the cabinet than a 222.
Just wondering if anyone has used them on Deer and how you found they performed.

I know thousands of deer have been shot with the 222 over the years but thought I would ask about range and shot placement ( neck shooting etc )

I am will be using 50 gr Winchester soft point ammo.

Cheers.

If you keep range to a max of 200-250 yards and are selective with what shots you take, and accurate with shot placement i think you will be just fine with Fallow.

My father in law has shot heaps of fallow and reds with his 222 with 50's. The one time he struggled was a big red stag at around 200 yards, he put him down but it took a few shots.

Ive whitnessed the damage done to a adult red hind at 230 yards, shoulder shot with 60gr NBT from a 223. Smashed shoulder bones bigtime, and full penatration and bullet found under skin on offside shoulder.

I use .223 which almost the same thing on fallow and find it awesome.
I use the 55grn hornday but the last trip I used the H&F preloaded 55grn which is the Hornady and they are really accurate.
They do make a mess if shoulder shooting them so I only head or neck shoot them and stick to under 250 yards.

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A friend that has shot hundreds if not thousands of deer with a treble two told me to go with at least 55gr or heavier
it gives you a great deal more margin for error

but yes if there is a lot of fallow on the farm theres no excuse to not shoot them in the neck

You’ve probably seen this, good example of the use of .222 / .223. Red stag, fallow, goat, doesn’t really matter, if you shoot for CNS with the same accuracy as you shoot your rabbits, you’ll find it very reliable. But it takes a lot of practice in the wind, which you know all about already. Projectile choice is very important if chest shooting, if the bullet is too hard and you don’t break the shoulder(s) you might struggle.

https://youtube/Ho389oTMDgE

Before I went to a 223, I had a few 222's and shot a good number of deer for the freezer. I kept it all under 150m and shot for front of shoulder (hilar zone) or if I could, shoot between the peepers. One red spiker I can remember, he didn't offer me either of those at about 70m, he was just drifting through the manuka so I shot the bugger high in the kidneys and he was dead by the time I covered that distance. Most of the meat was bloodshot in that region, so less meat from him.

An old mate only has one rifle in his gun safe for the last 30+ years a Sako vixen 222 and using 55gr soft points.

Only fallow I shot with my 222 ate shit. Dead before it hit the floor from a neck shot

I don't take my 223 bushstalking for fallow, even though it's short range shooting there is a high chance of less-than-ideal shots being presented.
In open country and with a choice of animals/shots I'd quite happily use it (with an appropriate projectile, I refuse to use ones designed for targets or rabbits on larger game).

used mine on fallow no problems using 55gr sp

I've been using 50gr Norma out of mine with good results, shoulder and neck shots. Great caliber for the kids also

I ran federal blue box 50grs. Good speed and never seen damage like that on an animal

It's good to see blokes advocating sensible use of the .22s on fallow. If you even hint at thinking about using .22s in the UK on a tiddly little muntjac or a roe you'll be publicly hung drawn and quartered. A 6mm is questionable, a 6.5mm might be good enough but really you need a 7mm or .30 cal. BOOM!

You will be fine. Crease shot or neck

When I was culling and meat hunting I used the 222 Rem a lot and shot plenty of animals, I used the 50 gr Winchester a lot and found it worked well on body shots even on big redskins. It was good for Fallow and sika. The only animal I had a bit of trouble with was a Big Boar up Coromandel when I started culling, hit him in the ear hole at about 40 yards side on, he went down and stood straight back up, plugged him again in the same place and down he went but was struggling to get up so I shot him in the heart and that settled him down, estimated weight of boar was around 180 pounds. Shoulder shooting deer was never a problem especially the smaller varieties. Used many different brands of ammo, Sako, Norma, Federal, Winchester etc all seemed to work fine along with hand loads.