Thread: 223 on deer

80 grn Targex went right through this big doe at about 250 yds. Low shoulder shot.
What is it about .223 hunters seeming to be always floundering around in the dark?

Originally Posted by Roarless20

150m headshot in the torch light just after dark. My daughter was disappointed that her shot hit 20mm left of dead center between the eyes
We'd targeted a buck that was croaking earlier, called him in to 30m but her glasses had fogged after slogging up the hill. This yearling was a consolation.

75gr eld-m @2920fps mv, shattered the skull but no exit. Squishy soft head.

Attachment 272105

@nzspearo she loves that pikau.

Thats very cool.

Originally Posted by Roarless20

150m headshot in the torch light just after dark. My daughter was disappointed that her shot hit 20mm left of dead center between the eyes
We'd targeted a buck that was croaking earlier, called him in to 30m but her glasses had fogged after slogging up the hill. This yearling was a consolation.

75gr eld-m @2920fps mv, shattered the skull but no exit. Squishy soft head.

Attachment 272105

@nzspearo she loves that pikau.

Epic! Glad that she likes it and its getting used to good effect!

Couple of bush deer. 80 ELDM. Good effective kills on shoulder shots, hind ran 20m, spiker stumbled over on the spot. Exited hind with a good blood trail, bullet under the skin on the off side of spiker.

Has anyone had experience with the Browning Xbolt superlight loaded with the heavy 223 projectiles? And also how it performs with factory ammo with the 16” barrel?

Originally Posted by gimp

Couple of bush deer. 80 ELDM. Good effective kills on shoulder shots, hind ran 20m, spiker stumbled over on the spot. Exited hind with a good blood trail, bullet under the skin on the off side of spiker.

Attachment 272327

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Thats cool. Those deer are light, eh. High population area?
It's interesting how because of the effectiveness of the heavy for caliber .223's Ive drifted away from head and neck shots. Used to be my go to shots but hardly think of doing it now.

The other night. 230 yd 80 grn Targex exit from an angled lung shot. Ran about 15 yards. Effective.
9th April. He had that musty rutty smell about him. Meat for charity. They casserole or mince it so it will be ok. Butcher puts the rutty carcasses in a seperate chiller away from domestic stuff this time of the year.

I thought I’d give the 73g ELDM a try in the 223.

All shoulder shots 100-220m and they didn’t make it far.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Thats cool. Those deer are light, eh. High population area?
It's interesting how because of the effectiveness of the heavy for caliber .223's Ive drifted away from head and neck shots. Used to be my go to shots but hardly think of doing it now.

They're not big for reds yeah. Lots of deer around if a crap bush hunter like me can stumble onto a few. I don’t think twice about just whacking it in the shoulder.

I actually lost a stag with the .223 on Thursday. He came in to a roar in the bush, and I took a headshot because i wanted to save the caul fat, hit a bit far forward and low, got a 2nd shot in that must have hit an antler or something - got target focused on the head rather than putting a good shoulder shot in. Blood tracked for a couple of hours but didn't find him in the end and the blood ran out. Didn't feel too happy about that one. Hard to imagine it going differently with any other cartridge.

Originally Posted by GlenM

Has anyone had experience with the Browning Xbolt superlight loaded with the heavy 223 projectiles? And also how it performs with factory ammo with the 16” barrel?

Used to load 55gr TSX for my mates XBolt but he has switched to 65gr GMK. Gave those to him to try. Best so far is 365m one shot dead. 1 foot above spine.

Red yearling - quartering slightly to. Entry through point of shoulder, exit behind opposite shoulder. .223 80ELDM 2750fps MV and probably 2700fps impact.

Entry into rib cage behind onside shoulder


Exit out of rib cage


Lungs - permanent cavity is a bit hard to see with the angle



Red spiker. Roughly broadside. Entered through one shoulder and most of the bullet penetrated as fragments through to under the skin on the opposite side. Died on the spot. .223 80gr ELDM mv 2750 impact 2675 maybe.
Entry to rib cage under onside shoulder


Exit from rib cage under offside shoulder - dragged a bit of lung out


Lungs - impact side lung more or less vaporized. Nerve cluster ("hilar") shredded.

Knife has a 4.5 inch (114mm) blade (cold steel master hunter 3v) for scale. All the wounds look about 50-60mm diameter which is consistent with what I've seen in gel and animals with this combo between 1900 - 2750 fps impact V

Also it's a good knife if anyone is wondering

Shot 3 fallow in the weekend with the 223 and 77 TMKs. All shots offhand at ranges from 30 to 80/90M with animals having already spotted me and shot in that first pause when they look back with that WTF are you doing here thing. All 3 decked but no bang flops due to shot placement or lack of, shooting steep up or down even at short range is challenging for this old fart.

Had two easier offhand shots at 80 and 110ish when the 308 was in hand for two emphatic bang flops, better shot placement on both but does I think point to the fact that there's no substitute for "horsepower ".

Originally Posted by Tentman

Shot 3 fallow in the weekend with the 223 and 77 TMKs. All shots offhand at ranges from 30 to 80/90M with animals having already spotted me and shot in that first pause when they look back with that WTF are you doing here thing. All 3 decked but no bang flops due to shot placement or lack of, shooting steep up or down even at short range is challenging for this old fart.

Had two easier offhand shots at 80 and 110ish when the 308 was in hand for two emphatic bang flops, better shot placement on both but does I think point to the fact that there's no substitute for "horsepower ".

I dunno. Anecdotes like this are nice but then you get posts like this -

Originally Posted by Oldbloke

Have shot fallow, but mainly hunt sambar. A few weeks ago took an off hand shot at a small sambar, about 30 yards. Not big, about goat size. Side on 30.06 180gr interlok. Entry slightly behind R shoulder. Exit, L shoulder, smashed. Big exit hole. I mean, about 50mm dia. (I remove the tips of those bullets)

She ran about 50 yards up a gentle slope, jumped an old fence, did a big U turn and fell over. All up about 70 yards. When I found her 5 minutes later still alive so, shot again in the head.

Shot fallow buck last year, 30.06 130gr bullet, 2900fps, 100 yards.

Same placement. Exit L shoulder. Ran about 60 yards. DOA.

A bit bigger is always better IMHO.

Reading that - maybe .30-06 isn't big enough for fallow. Doesn't sound like it works very well. There's posts here recently complaining about the performance of 162gr ELDX from 7mm magnums on deer.


without a decent sample size, looking at the actual real performance including actual realised placement and using an objective measure of effectiveness - it's futile trying to make conclusions.