Thread: howa 223 at ranges

hey guys, am sort of new to hunting and was wondering if anyone has a Howa 1500 223 I've just brought one and was wondering how it goes at ranges and how it affects shooting particularly deer, I've shot at a target from 100m but am yet to get out on a animal. and am also wondering if anyone has cut a barrel down its a 20'' barrel but was keen to cut it down to 18 possibly and was curious to know if anyone has done this and how it affected the gun and performance.

thanks

I have one of those rifles, I've shot fallow deer out to 230 meters. Just aimed in the crease where I normally would. I've found the hornady v max rounds are excellent at that range but not good at close range as they disintegrate if they hit bone.

leave barrel at 20" for now..... supress if you can afford it,to reshorten late will cost less than $150 and you can t add length back on.

when you can shoot CONSISTANTLY into a 3" area you could shoot a deer at same range but the 223 is at its best (some might say ethically only good for) under 150 yards....I will stretch that to 200 in perfect conditions for deer of pigs...wallabies hares etc as far as can make a hit.

I've got one on the mini action it's an awesome rifle I've shot fallow out to 300 yards in the right conditions.
I have used a lot of the Hornady 55 SP they are an awesome pill and cheap.
I just aim at the shoulder as they are a well constructed bullet.

Sent from my CPH2145 using Tapatalk

I've got a Howa 1500 in 223 with 1:12" twist. VERY accurate on range with factory Fiocchi SP 55gr ammo - well under 1" groups are the norm. Have shot this round in at 1" high at 100m which means point blank out to 170m - and needs 1-2" holdover at 200m. Used it on couple of varmint shoots so far and its accuracy very apparent in field - demolishes hares easily at 100-150 so far.

Trigger fully adjustable too.. Very effective rifle.

You’ll probably get some differing opinions on this. The .222 / .223 is the minimum legal deer cartridge on public land in NZ, and a lot of guys will say its not powerful enough for red deer in particular.

However many hunters use .223 without difficulty (me included), but you’ll find they are very fussy about shot placement and bullet construction, and rightly so.

What you need to do as a new hunter is study deer anatomy and understand exactly what you’re aiming at, and why. A lot of new hunters aim too far back behind the shoulder and that’s a guaranteed disaster with the .223. Lots written about this, it’s essential knowledge.

Bullet construction is really important. You need to look at the barrel twist which will be stamped on the barrel. If it is a new Howa it is 90% sure to be a 1:8”. This means you can select one of the 60+ grain soft points in standard ammunition, e.g. Federal Power-Shok 64gr (blue box) or Remington Core-Lokt 62gr.

Don’t select a varmint bullet like a V-Max.

It’s great that you’ve asked the questions, keep up with that. Lots to learn!

I'm in roughly the same boat, new to .223 as a hunting round. In addition to the wisdom above, there's some great info here:
https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....23-deer-64884/ and also found some great info here: https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Kno...Remington.html

From what I've read so far:
1. shot placement is critical (i.e. knowing where to hit and ability to hit it);
2. know the limitations of calibre/projectile (range and lethality), and;
3. be willing to let something walk on if it's not within (ethical) range, or doesn't present a clean shot.

My very non-scientific analysis has noticed that people on this forum who successfully use .223 on deer, all appear to have high levels of knowledge and experience... which sort of says it all.

Looking forward to hearing how you get on!

All good advice above.
The 223 is a capable round on deer with appropriate bullets and placement.
It does run out of energy pretty quickly tho and it doesnt have a hell of a lot to start with so while anyhing is possible a long range deer caliber it isnt.
Its a good 200m cartridge on deer and while I and others on here do shoot deer further than that I dont think any of us would recommend it for any further especially to someone starting out.

Mickys 3 inch circle is a good one.....when you can get every shot inside that circle everytime thats how far you can shoot.

Shortening the barrel will lose a bit of velocity and hence energy.....do you need to shorten it? Are you bush stalking?

Originally Posted by Bradp

I have one of those rifles, I've shot fallow deer out to 230 meters. Just aimed in the crease where I normally would. I've found the hornady v max rounds are excellent at that range but not good at close range as they disintegrate if they hit bone.

awesome thank you that's good to know, I'm currently using pmc ammo but also have some of the hunting and fishing brand ammo too have used only on targets at this stage but might have to look into that stuff at a later date thank you!

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

leave barrel at 20" for now..... supress if you can afford it,to reshorten late will cost less than $150 and you can t add length back on.

when you can shoot CONSISTANTLY into a 3" area you could shoot a deer at same range but the 223 is at its best (some might say ethically only good for) under 150 yards....I will stretch that to 200 in perfect conditions for deer of pigs...wallabies hares etc as far as can make a hit.

perfect thank you have a dpt suppressor on it at the moment and it goes better with that on it, awesome thank you for that

Originally Posted by 25/08IMP

I've got one on the mini action it's an awesome rifle I've shot fallow out to 300 yards in the right conditions.
I have used a lot of the Hornady 55 SP they are an awesome pill and cheap.
I just aim at the shoulder as they are a well constructed bullet.

Sent from my CPH2145 using Tapatalk

awesome thank you might have to try that ammo at some point but probably need to practice shooting at shorter ranges for now anyway, good to know shoulder shot is ok to do though

Originally Posted by mudgripz

I've got a Howa 1500 in 223 with 1:12" twist. VERY accurate on range with factory Fiocchi SP 55gr ammo - well under 1" groups are the norm. Have shot this round in at 1" high at 100m which means point blank out to 170m - and needs 1-2" holdover at 200m. Used it on couple of varmint shoots so far and its accuracy very apparent in field - demolishes hares easily at 100-150 so far.

Trigger fully adjustable too.. Very effective rifle.

awesome good to know thank you might need to do a bit of practice on targets to work my grouping out a bit more too as well thanks heaps.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

You’ll probably get some differing opinions on this. The .222 / .223 is the minimum legal deer cartridge on public land in NZ, and a lot of guys will say its not powerful enough for red deer in particular.

However many hunters use .223 without difficulty (me included), but you’ll find they are very fussy about shot placement and bullet construction, and rightly so.

What you need to do as a new hunter is study deer anatomy and understand exactly what you’re aiming at, and why. A lot of new hunters aim too far back behind the shoulder and that’s a guaranteed disaster with the .223. Lots written about this, it’s essential knowledge.

Bullet construction is really important. You need to look at the barrel twist which will be stamped on the barrel. If it is a new Howa it is 90% sure to be a 1:8”. This means you can select one of the 60+ grain soft points in standard ammunition, e.g. Federal Power-Shok 64gr (blue box) or Remington Core-Lokt 62gr.

Don’t select a varmint bullet like a V-Max.

It’s great that you’ve asked the questions, keep up with that. Lots to learn!

oh that's awesome thank you, yeah lots to learn about and think about, have been reading some articles trying to better my knowledge a bit too so will be needing to do more of that to get my shot placement good thanks for the tip. that's good to know about the twist thank you ill have a look and think about the ammo side once I run out of my current stuff thank you

Originally Posted by yeah_na_missed

I'm in roughly the same boat, new to .223 as a hunting round. In addition to the wisdom above, there's some great info here:
https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....23-deer-64884/ and also found some great info here: https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Kno...Remington.html

From what I've read so far:
1. shot placement is critical (i.e. knowing where to hit and ability to hit it);
2. know the limitations of calibre/projectile (range and lethality), and;
3. be willing to let something walk on if it's not within (ethical) range, or doesn't present a clean shot.

My very non-scientific analysis has noticed that people on this forum who successfully use .223 on deer, all appear to have high levels of knowledge and experience... which sort of says it all.

Looking forward to hearing how you get on!

awesome thanks for that ill have to check those out today! thanks for the tips they are very helpful and ill let you know how I get on

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

All good advice above.
The 223 is a capable round on deer with appropriate bullets and placement.
It does run out of energy pretty quickly tho and it doesnt have a hell of a lot to start with so while anyhing is possible a long range deer caliber it isnt.
Its a good 200m cartridge on deer and while I and others on here do shoot deer further than that I dont think any of us would recommend it for any further especially to someone starting out.

Mickys 3 inch circle is a good one.....when you can get every shot inside that circle everytime thats how far you can shoot.

Shortening the barrel will lose a bit of velocity and hence energy.....do you need to shorten it? Are you bush stalking?

oh perfect thanks for that that's sort of what I'm gathering from it but by the sounds I should be able to get the distance I need out of it still after a bit of practice and mucking around. perfect thank you for that will be needing to do a bit more target shooting for practice thank you heaps, that's good to know I don't really need to shorten it as such not doing any bush stalking was just curious.