Thread: .223 go-to guns?

I have seen a nice 12pt drop on the spot with a 223
As they say above it is all about shot placement

Shot placement is always the answer eley.22 subsonic,

Originally Posted by Taff

Shot placement is always the answer eley.22 subsonic, Attachment 106912

@Taff, nice one. Looks like your aimpoint was about 30mm behind the eye?

This leads me to another question re headshots from the front.

Is the head of a deer similar in structure to a cow, so that you can use the same rule of thumb for a headshot?

( ie draw an imaginary line on the forehead from opposite eye to opposite ear to form an x.)

I shot one deer with the .223 and my AR and I was very comfy. Just stuck my neck up over a ridge and neck shot it at something like 100m. If you can shoot well enough to head and neck shoot then it is great. A .223 will make a proper mess of a neck where a larger caliber could sail straight through. Problems only arise when noobs get the idea that the best hunters use .223, try using one as a beginner and try aiming for the big bit.

I used to 4x4 with a guy that dropped a couple of deer shoulder shooting with a .223 and they just dropped. He was not really a hunter. Eventually he shot one three times and it just ran away and he could not understand it.

My go to is a t3 in 223, shortened and suppressed. Gets used more than the 308 due to shortness in the bush and quieter over the dog also less recoil... (not that the 308 is bad)

not sure for front on but behind the ear from the side works well. Have eased this successfully with 17hmr at 150ish m. Used my 10/22 at 70m and it dropped the deer and wasn't getting up (well it didn't in the couple of minutes it took to fall out of the tree and walk over) but it wasn't actually dead so don't use the 22 outside of 50m on larger critters

Have used the old Nosler 55gr Solid Base in 222-223 for 30-40 years, they do the job with good shot placement. Have also over later years used 53gr Barnes with out a problem. Do at times go .243-270 if not using a dog and in the few open areas I hunt.

Speaking for myself I think using a light caliber has a little to do with good shooting and more so with being more deliberate and waiting for the perfect shot. Even then shit still happens.

It slows the whole process down for me apposed to using a larger caliber.
I have become patient and not worried if I miss out as I know there will always be another animal around the corner.

If it was just down to just good shooting I doubt I would have missed as many as I have










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Originally Posted by Beavis

If I went out tomorrow and bought a .223 with the intention of using it mainly on pigs and deer, I think the 65gr Sierra Game King would be my bullet of choice.

Realistically I currently own so many .223's, I can't even be bothered handloading anymore. Luckily, the Belmont 55gr SP bulk ammo works well as a do all load, and it is cheap.

65gr GK and 24gr BM2. I supppose those stags my son shot yesterday would have preferred been shot by a large calibre including the stag shot on the run thru the neck @ 140m.The debate will last until God gets an E class licence.LOL.

A zastava that rides as the bike gun, done several thousand rounds, I feed it 55 gr gamekings and 26 grains of 2206h, deer, pigs, goats hares, rabbits, and wallabies.
Ive used it so much its like an extension of my hand, and takes no thinking about what to do.
Im pretty sure the pest control guys on here get to know their rifles and what they do under different conditions inside out, and that knowledge and the confidence to use it goes a long way towards making you a better shot.
I still have a long way to go by the way.

I use the .223 for meat hunting missions in spring and summer and use the .308 in the roar or going in for a stag. I use the 55gr gmx, drops them hard and exits too, I've drilled sika in the shoulder and dropped them on the spot easily. i'd be confident to shoulder shoot smaller reds with the gmx. I'd probably limit it to head or neck shots with soft points though. 200m max for shooting deer imo.

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

Can you talk about why you prefer the bigger stuff these days? Extra range? More emphatic results? Thanks.

More into the long range shooting so the extra power is a requirement for ethical kills. The 222,223 were good out to about 200 odd yards but there wasn't a lot of room for error. Bigger calibers work better. The 223 with the slower twist barrels that shoot heavier bullets would obviously improve on longer range performance but still a long way behind a 7 mm or 30 cal. The 222etc are great if you don't want to disturb the country side especially now that they can be suppressed .

The 55 gr Hornady SP is a good ,cheap bullet for the 223 . If you want more penetration the Barnes 50 or 53 gr would be the answer. Using lighter calibers does help you become a better more careful shot as you need to be more accurate so as not to misplace your shot. I certainly wouldn't stop hunting if I could only use a 223 as it would do the job ok.

I'll agree with comments above from personal experience that the 55 gr Hornady projectiles are cheap projectiles but have worked well on Goats and Fallow but the majority of my deer have been shot with 55 gr Sierras.

The majority of deer I've shot have been sika where I haven't waited for head or neck shots but gone for chest shots with all apart from two were bang flops. The two were runners that ran 30-40 metres before collapsing where I couldn't figure out why until I realized I underloaded the cases and instead of my usual 26 gr AR2206H I had loaded those with 24 gr AR2206H so it was a lesson learnt that they needed to be driven hard and fast in my rifle at least and all of those deer were shot while bush hunting.

For the bang flops, my reason behind this is all of the kinetic energy from the projectile is being dumped into/inside the animal, I've shot a few animals with other calibres where projectiles would pass through leaving amazing blood trails even a blind man could follow yet those animals were still standing... dead on their feet but they were still standing.

Last year we shot a bunch of Fallow for meat, I was running my .284 with 150 gr Sierras and the round would punch right through, the animal would stand there unfazed with a hole through it and eventually fall over and I felt quite sad doing this so I switched to my .223 where they were just bang flops and felt it was just far more humane.

I loaded up some 140 gr BT's for the .284 so if I returned I could use a lighter projectile which would open up faster but as yet haven't had the chance to test that theory.

Most the 55 gr Sierra projectiles I chest shot Sika with I would find buried under the skin on the other side.

I have even used some 55 gr V-max on sika where the chest cavity was pulp but I kept using the Sierras as I like a good lead tip. I tried some Barnes but found them too expensive in the long run and I just couldn't get them to group well.

I've also started using heavier 63 gr Sierras and found them to be awesome aswell, there slightly tougher which will make them great for bigger critters.

As for head shots, a mate shot a Fallow stag head on with his .222 loaded with a 55 gr Targex projectile. It bounced off the skull giving it no doubt a terrible headache where he spent two days trying to find the animal to no avail. My son shot it a couple months later at 225 metres in the heart.

Once we boiled the head you could see the wound had calcified and it makes an interesting head.

We just prefer neck and chest shots with the .223 like we do when using any other caliber.

i enjoy my zastava, nice to carry. the 55gr PPU worked well on a deer just on 150 metres and a couple of pigs close up. i have a deer load using the 55gr barnes and that goes well too.

know your rifle, know your shot placement.

When I used the 222 most the time I tended to chest shoot most animals, shot some big stags too. So long as you shot is true and with a reasonable bullet that will get into the vitals you had a dead deer. The animals would usually run up to 50 yards then pile up. That's one reason I like a bullet to exit nowadays if possible, if it runs there is blood everywhere and easy to follow.