Thread: 223 on deer

Originally Posted by TLB

There are alot of different opinions on that one and could be a whole thread on it's own, probably is already at least one haha.

A .223 is not a long range deer rifle no matter the barrel length. My idea of a .223 is for it to be lightweight, accurate and versatile otherwise I might as well take something with a bit more grunt. So mine sits at 15" and I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a deer in the right conditions at 300 yards. Projectile choice does come into it though, that would be with 75gr eldm or 77gr tmks.
For varmint shooting you can still load up lighter weight projectiles going quickly.
Plenty of the professional deer and goat cullers run theirs at 12" to 14" and they shoot more animals than most.

Granted but they shoot practically ALL their deer under 200m.

Originally Posted by TeRei

Granted but they shoot practically ALL their deer under 200m.

Hence why I stated that a .223 is not a long range deer gun.
The question that was asked was what was a good compromise for barrel length, and I stated my opinion. Long barrel on a rifle that isn't suited for long distant deer shooting hinders it's ability to be a nifty light recoiling handy rifle, that's what I think anyway.

And as for the culling, that is true in some regards. However you might find that the outfit in NZ that employs potentially the most cullers, the ones doing the culling in the new forestry blocks, shoot most of their animals over 200 yards, and a large percentage of them at night. They are issued with stock standard 55gr sps.
Personally I'd rather use something heavier for deer and a different caliber all together for that kind of shooting. But hey that's just my opinion.

Decide on barrel length by what you do, not by what others do.

For shots sometimes over 200 yds using heavy bullets 20-22 inches is good for me.
If lead in the air with bulk 55 grn shooting pests bailed by dogs or using night vision is your thing cut it right back and fill your boots. But don’t do it just cos cullers do it cos you will be losing some versatility.

Originally Posted by TLB

There are alot of different opinions on that one and could be a whole thread on it's own, probably is already at least one haha.

A .223 is not a long range deer rifle no matter the barrel length. My idea of a .223 is for it to be lightweight, accurate and versatile otherwise I might as well take something with a bit more grunt. So mine sits at 15" and I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a deer in the right conditions at 300 yards. Projectile choice does come into it though, that would be with 75gr eldm or 77gr tmks.
For varmint shooting you can still load up lighter weight projectiles going quickly.
Plenty of the professional deer and goat cullers run theirs at 12" to 14" and they shoot more animals than most.

Do you know what velocity you are getting with the 77TMKs from the 15" barrel?

Originally Posted by Shearer

Do you know what velocity you are getting with the 77TMKs from the 15" barrel?

I haven't chronographed the 77gr but the 75gr eldm are doing about 2500fps. So pretty slow! I haven't tried any form of load development however.
The 75gr has about 650+ f/lbs energy at 300 yards doing that velocity.
A 55gr sp doing 3200 fps out of a full length barrel has about 550 f/lbs of energy and doesn't cause as much damage.
So at 300 yards drop aside, the 75gr eld out of a 15" barrel beats a 55gr out of a 22". That's why I personally believe that projectile selection is often as important if not more so than barrel length.

For sure. It seems to be pretty well proven by the experiences users on here that the heavier projectiles out of the 223 kill much better at all ranges but especially once it starts getting out there a bit.
For comparison my 22" barrel is shooting the 73gn ELD-M at 2900 with a bit in reserve. I haven't been using them that long and have only shot a couple of reds and a pig (all under 100 yards) but I can't complain about the performance so far.

Originally Posted by Shearer

For sure. It seems to be pretty well proven by the experiences users on here that the heavier projectiles out of the 223 kill much better at all ranges but especially once it starts getting out there a bit.
For comparison my 22" barrel is shooting the 73gn ELD-M at 2900 with a bit in reserve. I haven't been using them that long and have only shot a couple of reds and a pig (all under 100 yards) but I can't complain about the performance so far.

Yeah nice, certainly will pack a lot more of a punch! And way less effected by wind too which is a biggy for low bc projectiles.
Plenty of people try head/neck shooting with the .223 which is fine. However the least experienced see the experienced doing it but you chuck in a 10km/h breeze pushing them out nearly 3" at 200 yards, with some factory sp rounds that group an inch at 100 yards, even with minimal shooter error that's a jaw blown off a deer.

thus why I limit my self to 150yards and chest shoot

100% agree with Micky....150yd, broadside, through the crease, 55grn sp.....keep it simple.

Whats the go to heavier projectile for deer, around the 80gn mark? Not for a 223 but will be using the same projectiles, I have a 5.6x57 reamer/dies/brass on the way so thought I'd ask here.

77gr TMK, 80gr ELD-M or even 88gr if you have a 1-7” twist, or 80gr Targex. Load one of those and don’t look back!

Originally Posted by Hunter_Nick

77gr TMK, 80gr ELD-M or even 88gr if you have a 1-7” twist, or 80gr Targex. Load one of those and don’t look back!

I was thinking the 80gn targex, how do they go on animals?
The build all hinges on what happens first, I find a 1:8 223 barrel at the right price or the 243ai reamer I have been waiting on turns up, then I'll run the 95gn targex in it

Originally Posted by makka

I was thinking the 80gn targex, how do they go on animals?
The build all hinges on what happens first, I find a 1:8 223 barrel at the right price or the 243ai reamer I have been waiting on turns up, then I'll run the 95gn targex in it

Read through this thread.

Originally Posted by makka

I was thinking the 80gn targex, how do they go on animals?
The build all hinges on what happens first, I find a 1:8 223 barrel at the right price or the 243ai reamer I have been waiting on turns up, then I'll run the 95gn targex in it

Plain vanilla 243 with 95gr Targex is more than adequate.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Read through this thread.

I got through the first 10 or so pages, looks like I should have skipped to the the last 10 instead!