Thread: .223 projectile for deer

What's a good .223 projectile for shooting deer? are the 55gr AMAX any good?

I do ideally want to get a bush basher .308 for deer but until then I'm just going to use my .223.

I need to get a SCUBA tank, pack and rangefinder too but have a baby due in a week so I'm strapped.

60g Nosler Partition.

Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

60g Nosler Partition.

Do you have to know the twist rate or is that ok for most ?

got a 1/9 twist, 18 inch barrel

Barnes 55gr TSX. No live deer after getting smacked by this projectile. Using BM2 25gr.

60gr NBT

65gn Sierra Gameking
60gn Nosler Partition
55gn Barnes TSX

all do the business

Sell your rifle and buy a 308, 303, 6.5. They're all good calibre's and cheap enough, better than that little rifle for Deer. Don't buy the Scuba tank, hire them instead. Heaps cheaper. I owned 4 tanks, 7 regs and 5 Backpacks. Sold 2 Tanks and now it's way cheaper for my diving. Half the Visual's, half the hydro's. Instead of a $10 fill it's now $20 with the hire. These were for my fun diving and not my commercial jobbies.

55grn Barnes TTSX turn the .223 into a very capable deer calibre. They have been a revelation to me.
You gotta try them to know them.

Just work within reasonable limitations and don't push the envelope. The are still tiny bullets.

Having seen my reloads work on big stags this year I cannot agree that the description as tiny is apt. They perform out of all proportion to their size. Boy can those Barnes penetrate and cause some damage.

My friend has found the Nosler 60gr Ballistic tips to perform well on goats and deer. He shot a Red hind quatering away from him at about 100yds, it damn near penetrated the full length of her body, causing wounding out of proportion to the calibre.

Heard good reports / seen convincing pictures of results from the 69gr Targex too.

I havd also witnessed him shoot many goats with the same load. Have yet to do an autopsy but it is always DRT with chest shots. At close range he gets clean pass throughs so it indicates that they aren't too fragile.