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

For another perspective on this, here are the calibre/projectile weight/impact energy requirements for hunting in Norway

"For moose, red deer, follow deer, wild reindeer, wild boar, wild sheep, musk ox, wolf and bear, ammunition with expanding bullets weighing a minimum 9 grams is required.
a) ammunition whose bullets weigh between 9 and 10 grams (139 and 154 grains) must have an impact energy of at least 2700 joules (275 kg/m) at a range of 100 metres.
b) ammunition whose bullets weigh more than 10 grams (154 grains or more) must have an impact energy of at least 2200 joules (225 kg/m) at a range of 100 metres.
When hunting roe deer, beaver, wolverine and lynx with a rifle, expanding bullets with an impact energy of at least 980 joules (100 kg/m) at a range of 100 metres must be used."

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Thanks Scribe, brilliant information. I'm a new shooter (I call it my mid life crisis) and am working my way up slowly. Interested in your views on the 22x range as from what little experience I've had with my little 223 is that it is devastating and devastatingly accurate within it's, and my, range. This was brought to my attention when I shot a wallaby that was facing me in the neck. The little 55gn projectile went the length of its body and pulverised everything inside. I didn't harvest any meat off that one.

This spring/summer I will be having my first crack at deer. I'm very confident with my shot placement but will likely take a 243 along for the deer as I find I'm just as accurate with the slightly bigger calibre and they will probably give me a slight improvement with odds on my ability to pick the right spot to place the shot. Yes, I go by the thinking of "shoot big, aim small." Will have to drag young @TimeRider along with me with her 243 as well, she needs to blood it still. Even she can happily shoot sub 15mm groups at 100m at the range and will place a shot on a rabbit exactly as I describe to her in the field.

Good luck to you both....you deserve a deer...or two!

Originally Posted by Scouser

Good luck to you both....you deserve a deer...or two!

I know I can pass up a shot, ... I had five within 250m quietly grazing but since @TimeRider decided to sleep instead of coming I just lifted the bolt and watched for an hour. Would have been the first deer for both of us. Another time.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Thanks Scribe, brilliant information. I'm a new shooter (I call it my mid life crisis) and am working my way up slowly. Interested in your views on the 22x range as from what little experience I've had with my little 223 is that it is devastating and devastatingly accurate within it's, and my, range. This was brought to my attention when I shot a wallaby that was facing me in the neck. The little 55gn projectile went the length of its body and pulverised everything inside. I didn't harvest any meat off that one.

This spring/summer I will be having my first crack at deer. I'm very confident with my shot placement but will likely take a 243 along for the deer as I find I'm just as accurate with the slightly bigger calibre and they will probably give me a slight improvement with odds on my ability to pick the right spot to place the shot. Yes, I go by the thinking of "shoot big, aim small." Will have to drag young @TimeRider along with me with her 243 as well, she needs to blood it still. Even she can happily shoot sub 15mm groups at 100m at the range and will place a shot on a rabbit exactly as I describe to her in the field.

Hi Gadget, With the skill to position yourself 250 metres from deer and the patience to walk away and leave them for another day tells me you wont have any trouble filling the freezer with the .223

My other favourite calibre, my big game, long range one I mean, was the 243. For those long tussock shots reaching way down into the basins that run deep into the bush that is.

We reloaded 85 Sierra boat tail, hollow points. Using 48 gr of Norma 205 behind them they were really moving along, but accurate too. Norma 205 has been discontinued for so long now I cant look up the speed they were supposed to be doing. I think 3400+. Norma 205 was a very slow burning powder.

There was always a very satisfactory thud when this bullet arrived at its target. And with shooting every day you became confident and tried the really hard shots and expected a hit. Because of such confidence you mostly did get a hit. Confidence makes up a good part of good shooting. I don't think I have seen a man who is losing confidence in himself or his rifle hit anything much after that.

Originally Posted by Scribe

Hi Gadget, With the skill to position yourself 250 metres from deer and the patience to walk away and leave them for another day tells me you wont have any trouble filling the freezer with the .223

My other favourite calibre, my big game, long range one I mean, was the 243. For those long tussock shots reaching way down into the basins that run deep into the bush that is.

We reloaded 85 Sierra boat tail, hollow points. Using 48 gr of Norma 205 behind them they were really moving along, but accurate too. Norma 205 has been discontinued for so long now I cant look up the speed they were supposed to be doing. I think 3400+. Norma 205 was a very slow burning powder.

There was always a very satisfactory thud when this bullet arrived at its target. And with shooting every day you became confident and tried the really hard shots and expected a hit. Because of such confidence you mostly did get a hit. Confidence makes up a good part of good shooting. I don't think I have seen a man who is losing confidence in himself or his rifle hit anything much after that.

Thanks for the post all!

Experience isn't the best teacher, it is the only teacher.
I have seen my old man shoot, pigs (wild and tame), deer, dogs and goats easily with a .22.
I myself have found out the hard way that even a .243 used by a novice like myself can end in failure. We've all seen failures or heard of some by even magnums.
A great old family friend used the 250 savage and he swore by it, he was also one of the pioneers with the 270 win and both my father and my grandfather said old Tom was a crack shot.
One thing of note I value in these posts is the value one places in the recovery of eating meat. The last deer I took with a 7mm08 Gmx 140 was appallingly bad. The hit side was not even fit for dog tucker. It was a lung shot so i had plenty to recover.
This put me right off the 7mm08. The 303, or 44 mag would have dropped this fine stag equally without the damage.
I love reading this crap, I take the fish and leave the bones. Plenty of fish.
Thanks all.

[QUOTE=Scribe;276070]Attachment 27484

If you look at the top left hand corner of the Token Destruction Form there is an example of the worst type of bureaucracy.

I was paid 7 dollars for every deer I shot up to a maximum of $80 dollars per week. The $80 dollar a week target was set so that the Base Stallions were not embarrassed by the fact we could earn a hell of a lot more than them.

So once you had shot your 45 for the month you had achieved maximum but you could credit extra tails to your next months tally.
So thanks to the system, once I had a few tails up I would have from the 1st of the month until tail destruction day (28th) to explore far distant country. I once found myself 80 miles as the crow flies from base and 2 days to get home.

And so a poacher was born, an honourable occupation it is too, ridding the country of noxious animals. How can there be any crime in that. The grass is always greener over the other side of the hill as we know and the best hunters always seemed to me to be the most adventurous. To lie near my little fire up on the main range near the 'Sawtooth' gazing down on the cities of Napier and Hastings and wondering what everybody was up to was a regular occurrence.

Unfortunately the dear old deer in this day and age are shown far less respect than in our day. It is now fashionable in the name of Conservation to drop 1080 poison into our mountains and forests to target our deer. Have no doubt about this, it estimated
that between 20,000 and 50,000 deer are killed annually in this most inhumane fashion. This so called conservation has in the process pretty well destroyed the Wild Venison Recovery Industry with its dangerous aerial distribution of a residual poison that at many levels has penetrated the human food chain. This Wild Venison Recovery Industry was well able to keep the deer numbers in check as well as providing a secondary income for many hunters and it was worth around 200 mil a year the country.

After 60 year of 1080 use in NZ, if it was any good we would all know how good it was and we wouldn't have to create beech mast crisis and rat plagues to try to justify its use.

After

This was what destroyed the Wild Venison Recovery Industry. After all the work, the treasure we poured into this industry and the lives we lost.

Off these two shipments, one was returned from Germany and tested back in NZ for 1080 residue on a rumour that a helicopter was seen shooting deer in a 1080 area.

The second shipment had arrived in America and it was either disposed of there or dumped at sea because it never returned to NZ nor was it tested for 1080 residue. By these method we can keep up the pretence that 1080 has never been found in our food products.

It is obvious that there is a different mindset here, between protecting our reputation overseas and protecting the New Zealand hunter or his family from the effects of 1080.

The return or destruction of these two shipments cost Individuals dearly, not just monetary but in loss of trust and loss of contracts and the industry has never recovered.

A while ago I got a .222 for all the fallow shooting I do. I have always been a "one gun" type of guy but there was just no need to use the .284 on Fallow. A few people said "Why get a .222? Get a .223" but I liked the traditional old .222. Anyway I have taken a few deer with it so far, always with neck shots as I realised it was such a light calibre. Anyway yesterday a fallow spiker was standing in front of me and he would not show his head or neck, so I thought what the hell, and I shot him behind the shoulder. The photo below shows the result! This is the entrance side! So from now on I will still be using neck shots, not because the calibre is to light, but I just don't want to waste so much meat!!

First deer i ever shot (ive only shot 2!!!!) was a Fallow buck on a deer farm on a guided hunt, (i needed the experience of actually shooting an animal) the guide handed me his .222 rifle (sighted in to 100 mtrs)

He told me to shoot the deer 'Just behind the front leg on the stripe'....with nerves ect, i shot him nearer the guts than the engine room, he dropped like a sack of spuds on the spot, no problem at all from approx 80 mtrs

He told me Fallow, in particular don't need a large calibre round to put down, but not to use a .222 on Reds or Sika unless i was a 'crack shot', especially in the Roar.....i carry a 7-08 for all my hunting, which is always bush and always Reds & Sika!!!!!

Originally Posted by Kudu

A while ago I got a .222 for all the fallow shooting I do. I have always been a "one gun" type of guy but there was just no need to use the .284 on Fallow. A few people said "Why get a .222? Get a .223" but I liked the traditional old .222. Anyway I have taken a few deer with it so far, always with neck shots as I realised it was such a light calibre. Anyway yesterday a fallow spiker was standing in front of me and he would not show his head or neck, so I thought what the hell, and I shot him behind the shoulder. The photo below shows the result! This is the entrance side! So from now on I will still be using neck shots, not because the calibre is to light, but I just don't want to waste so much meat!!

Way ta go 'Kudu'

.222... too much gun now???

Can you imagine trying to patch up that sort of wound in a human if it wasn't immediately fatal.

Projectile selection is key.

Sent from my GT-S5360T using Tapatalk 2

'Kudu' Just a question or two, The entry hole damage seems a little excessive.
1/Did the projectile exit the animal.

2/ Did the projectile hit the ribs on the far side of the animal

3/ Was the deer standing square on to the shooter or what angle.

4/ Is there a chance the projectile hit a Twig, bit of grass, etc on the way to the animal.

5/ Confirm what we see is the entry hole

6/What load and projectiles are you using.

Its just what they look like from the old mans 223 with Winchester varmint 55gr.
He always says his 223 stuffs more meat than his 30.06 but wont change from the varmint factory load as he might have to sight in again and waste some bullets

Thanks for that

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Its just what they look like from the old mans 223 with Winchester varmint 55gr.
He always says his 223 stuffs more meat than his 30.06 but wont change from the varmint factory load as he might have to sight in again and waste some bullets

The Old Buggar. Sounds like me. I just got around to ditching my old redfield 4x Power after 44 years as my main battle scope.

I thought me eyes were getting fucked. Wiping the lenses with toilet paper all that time, bits of grit slowly damaging them and wearing the surface. It was like looking through snot.