Thread: .222 .223 .222mag .5.56.. THE CALIBRE OF CHOICE FOR MANY HUNTERS

Originally Posted by doinit

Bloody good to hear someone who knows what he's on about in regards to the treble Scribe.The subject seems to surface a lot among today's up and coming hunters,can be bloody impossible to get through to many just how effective the treble is.
Keep up the good reports from back in the day eh.

Yes I hear what you say 'doinit' It seems we are doomed to have to listen to that droll, repetitive, mantra every time someone asks for advice on what calibre rifle to buy to hunt deer.

1/ You have to hit them in a certain place.. (Yeah!!!!)
2/ It is a varmint calibre.. (You can buy a Varmint Rifle in 7.62..308)
3/ I wouldn't pick it for a first rifle... (Why not, a thousand Deer Cullers have)
4/ It wont kill big deer.. 'Aye'

When the Deercullers were formed and began their huge task around 1938 the deer killing field were dominated by the venerable old 303. In 1950 the .222 Remington appeared on the scene and slowly but surely became the most popular deer killing calibre by the 60's and 70's. During this period a large number of Pigs goats and wapiti/wapiti cross animals bit the dust when they collected this deadly 50 gr bullet through the engine room.

Since the end of the 70s the 222/223 has continued to dominate the field for people who make their living by the 'gun'.
Whether they now make their living from aerial shooting now or on the ground hunting for DOC this is a calibre of choice. If you had ambition to be a professional hunter, first you would buy this relatively expensive tool that you would have to rely on entirely to provide you with sufficient tails to satisfy your Field Officer and put money in the bank. This was never an easy thing as I am sure most of the Field Officers looked upon their own shooter's a something akin to a well bred racehorse's that should always be leading the field.

First thing a young builder or young mechanic will do before he buys his tools, if he has any brains that is, is to find out what the best in the trade are using before he makes his own decision, cullers were no different

The popularity of these calibres show no sign of disappearing real soon and I will go so far as to say that there is no other calibre except the venerable old 303, that has killed as many deer, pigs and goats in NZ as the deadly .222/223. In fact I would go so far as to say none are even close. Nor will any other calibre take that crown from the trebbly's in the future as deer and pig control is increasing being devolved to those firms that specialize in the aerial spreading of toxins such as 1080 and brodifacoum.

In the desire of a few to return NZ to a time called pre Maori

Cheers Scribe,could not have put it better myself. Long live those wee pills and the great memories from that other planet eh