Thread: howa 223 at ranges

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!

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