Thread: .223 bullet deflection from twigs and branches

I'm trying to clear the pests out of what was once my bush paddock but is rapidly becoming an empty paddock with some tall trees. Stapling up feratox bags for the possums this afternoon, I saw 5 reds walking slowly past me on the ridgeline above about 30m away. I had the .223 scope on them very quickly but they did not drop below the skyline so no shot possibility. They didn't appear to have seen me, so once they had moved past I followed. There they were sitting in a sunny spot about 100m away. Once again I lined them up in the scope but there were heaps of dead twigs and small branches between us. It didn't look too bad by eye but through the scope the twigs were so dense the target was harder to see. Needless to say I did not attempt a shot. There was no way to get much closer without the wind giving me away, so decided to leave them to it for now.

This is the first .223 I've ever owned and I have limited experience with the round. I'm assuming any impact with any obstacle on the way to the target will deflect the projectile to some degree. Has anyone quantified this? Obviously a clear shot is the ideal, but what are the real world implications of a near-clear shot, or a partly obscured shot? I do recall reading an article about Aussie soldiers in VietNam much preferring the SLR due to the .308 having much greater ability to push through vegetation that knocked the 5.56 totally off, and even saw the same thing happening with the SKS and AK rounds coming at them. Reading that was one of the main reasons I got a 7.62x39 E cat rifle rather than 5.56 back in the "good old days".

How many of you .223 shooters take totally clear shots only, and how many are prepared to risk hitting some vegetation on the way to the target?

Always go for a clear shot, even with heavier calibers, doesn't take much to create a deflection.

Same rules for each calibre - if it aint clear or you aint confident, then dont squeeze that trigger! They will all deflect, some worse than others.And it depends on whether the sticks and twigs etc are only a few metres in front of the animal or closer to mid range. The 223 is perfectly adequate for what you want, so long as you do your job.

A little grass doesn't worry me or a few leaves but twigs etc I avoid. Cleaning out the last of the goats hopefully, I've shifted to the 7,62x39 as I'm having to shoot through bush margins more and more.
Even during the day a thermal is useful for finding them tucked away. I could of course let them eat out all the understood which would simplify things but would be a bit counter-productive.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

A little grass doesn't worry me or a few leaves but twigs etc I avoid. Cleaning out the last of the goats hopefully, I've shifted to the 7,62x39 as I'm having to shoot through bush margins more and more.
Even during the day a thermal is useful for finding them tucked away. I could of course let them eat out all the understood which would simplify things but would be a bit counter-productive.

Sounds like we're talking the same language, I've tended to avoid any sticks etc but looking at these 5 this afternoon made me question my habits. As you say, protecting the bush is the goal.

This guys experiment was interesting, the .223 was closer than I expected it to be;
https://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box...e-box-o-truth/

@Arthur McBride I would have thought .303 at 20 yards would have taken a decent sized stick to deflect it that much! I wonder if that was a fluke? I suspect it depends on where it is hit, a smaller sized stick hit square on with .303 should just dinintegrate, but if you hit it on the edge the projectile could be deflected significantly. Either way, the last thing any of us want is injured animals in pain.

It's a pain in the neck in my situation, with a lot of senescent branches still hanging low under the area I had intended to let the bush spread in to. IN a few more years these senescent branches should have fallen off, and as the regenerating bush is largely browsed low the visibility will increase a lot., unless I get the feral deer all converted to venison in the freezer.

There's an old doco on YT called deadly weapons, firearms and firepower. Towards the end of part 3 here he does some brush testing and everything fairs pretty similarly.

Originally Posted by Arthur McBride

IT doesn't matter whether its a .223 or a something else, same story. In the last couple of years I have lost two red deer to sticks in between me and the deer ............. a .222 and the other was a .303..........!

Interesting. I have read a few statements that a heavier, slower moving projectile such as a 303 would be deflected less at say, 2450 fps than a faster lighter 223 at 34000+ fps by twigs / leaves / grass. Branches, well they ain't a "twig"and I would expect problems.
Presumably it was the 303 with open sights?

Sticks very close to deer ok.
Sticks very close to shooter not ok.

Two years ago I took a shot at a red stag (he was with a bunch of hinds) in a small bush covered basin. I was on a ridge one side, he was below a slightly higher ridge on the other but at the same elevation I was. Range was about 80m and I was using a 7mm08 handloads with 120gr Sierra Sp's ( 3 shots touching at 100). Shot was taken using a solid log rest and my hold was on the neck. At the shot, the Stag bolted.........I managed to knock down one of the hinds as it followed the stag. I couldnt believe that I had missed what was essentially a 'chip' shot. My hunting mate who was about 20m to my left when I fired, saw the projectile clip a rotten twig poking out of the bush about 15m in front of me ( it wasnt visible in the scope on 8 power)
Fast forward 12 mths and I shot a stag in the same place. When we dressed it out it had bullet damage to its rear leg joint which had healed. We are both confident it was the same stag.......

The twig hit was about the diameter of a pencil in size....but it deflected the projectile about a metre.

There's also a slow mo guys video where a D20 artillery gun gets significantly deflected by a watermelon.

Using 180 grain CAC ammo (it was a long time ago!) I dropped a red spikey one rainy day.

The bullet travelled about 15 yards, hit a young beech tree of about 4” diameter right in the middle and sailed on through, it took out a rib on one side of the spikey and two ribs on the far side before stopping under the skin.

The spikey was about 5 yards on the far side of the beech tree (which I failed to notice due to my 2.75 scope being very waterlogged.)

there has been heaps of experiments on this...will see if can find and link one of them.

Shot a big Sika stag many moons ago. He and some girls were 100m away on the other side of some manuka. I saw him rubbing up against the manuka, so knew the projo was only going to have to fight through 1-2m of manuka sticks, so launched a 150gn Sierra gameking. Stag ran a few meters and dropped. Got over there and saw Manuka was only 1m thick, and no big branches. Upon dressing him out I found that the projo was already completely sideways as it went through the near side skin, just behind the front leg.

Air is the only thing that doesn't deflect projectiles, and even then that can be a stretch sometimes!!

I have had a 30-30 deflected by a punga frond stem.
I have also had a 30-30 punch through a tree trunk and kill a deer.