I know it is not legal to use .224 for deer in most or all states. But are there any storys out there about deer taken with a 223 or 22-250.

For the sake of BS if you got to work out a load for deer size game in say 22-250 what bullet would you use and how fast would you try to push it? Would a varmit, match, round nose or FMJ bullet work best? At what range do you think your round would be most efficient?

This is just for the sake of fun BS. Please no lectures on proper hunting bullets or ethical hunting. Thank You!

[This message has been edited by bearlake (edited 03-12-2002).]

It is legal to use 22 centerfires in Texas, and with the proper bullet carefully placed works quite well on the small deer down there. An old hunting buddy of mine used to get a couple of eating deer every year with his 22-250 Thompson Center Contender. He normally shot them at pretty close range, less than 50 yards, with either a head shot or a spine shot. The one I helped him dress had a chunk shot out of the spine just behind the shoulders. It looked like the bullet just exploded a couple of vertebra leaving a scoop shaped chunk missing. No meat damage either. He showed me a picture of one that he did a head shot on and the antlers sagged way over so from the picture I presume that it must have shattered the skull. Again, no usable meat loss.

Nosler makes a 55 grain partition that I've tried with some success. There's also the bearclaw bullet that's loaded by Federal but I haven't found a gun that likes it yet! I've dropped deer with head and spine shots using a .222 and .223. Using the 22-250 (or Swift), one can take lung/heart shots with 55 grain bullets IF NOT SHOOTING THROUGH Shoulders. SInce most 22-250 barrels are 1:14 twist the heavier (60-70)bullets sometimes won't stabilize. Hornady's 60 grain HP does very well in the 223. Yes, I do live and hunt in Texas and know that I'm usually management/cull hunting with these cartridges and will pass on a shot if not right. When serious horns are at stake, its time to break out the 25-06.

I have taken, as well as a lady-friend of mine, whitetail and mule deer as well as antelope with the .22-250. Bullet choices were Sierra's 52 HPBT and Sierras 55 SBT.

All were one-shot, drop-on-the-spot kills, at ranges from 35 yards to 225 yards.

One of my old hunting buddies uses nothing but the .22-250 for deer and antelope, and an old friend in California used to use nothing but the .222 Remington (not Magnum) to hunt with out there.

If you place your shot and know the limitations, it is a very good deer caliber.

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The missus dropped a few deer with a Rem 788 in 22-250 with the 70 Grain Speer semi-spitzer. Worked well. 2 shots, 2 deer.

R-WEST

Rick, I only took a few shots with it and that was about 10 years ago, so my memory might be a bit cloudy. It was definitely something in a .224 caliber because it was illegal at the time in Oklahoma but legal in Texas. He lived right on the border and his family has land right on both sides of the red river so we hunted both banks. The rifle I was shooting at the time was definitely in 22-250 caliber.
I do remember really hating the pistol because the grip was way too big for my hand but I drilled a couple of coyotes with it. It might have been a 223, like I said, my memory gets a bit cloudy when the years all roll together.

Owning a 222 Rem., I have always wondered, do you have to make head or spine shots, or will heart/lung shots work?

I wounder about bullet choice. Would the soft point type bullets come apart on deer size stuff? Would a FMJ do better or would they not expand much at all? For head shots i would think anything would work fine. But for heart and lung hits what bullet would do best? Because it is such a small .dia bullet i would think it would be important to have an exit wound rather then breaking up and staying inside the deer???

there must be more guys out there who have taken deer with some of the .22 center fire rounds. (heart-lung shots)

[This message has been edited by bearlake (edited 03-13-2002).]

I have a buddy who's uncle loaded 22-250 with win 55 grain power points. He loaded them down to 3300 fps to reduce explosiveness. He went 10 for 10 on some nice bucks from his wisconsin tree stand. Only one required tracking and he new he pulled that shot out of the vitals. Most every deer dropped on the spot with complete chest cavity pass through. It probably didn't hurt that he was "stand hunting" on private land and the deer had not been excited by drives from public land. I think each and every one of us would fall to an unsuspecting shot from a 22.250 if we had no idea it was coming too. Sure hope space aliens don't read this--or have 22.250
s.

I built a 223 on a 600 action for my daughter when she was 12 for her first deer gun.(22 centerfire is legal in Oregon)...I used 60 grain Hornadies and she went 5 years,5 blacktails, 5 shots...She has since discovered boys and is not that interested in deer hunting anymore but I watched carefuly what those lil bullets did...They held together and turned lungs into mush with 4 exits out of 5..The only bullet I recovered was a shot about 150 yds angled steep up hill...
The bullet broke the on shoulder angled up thru the backbone,breaking it and was just under the skin at the top of the far shoulder in a perfect little mushroom..The fork dropped at the shot...I haven't used the gun since because I have guns that are more suited for deer hunting but should the need arise it will get the job done...

Living in Texas, the 22-250 is great for taking does with head/neck shots and also for taking management bucks. My Rem Mod 700 VSS likes the 55 gr Sierra's with 36.5 grs of Varget. Just as 2cansam said though, when I am after a trophy, out comes the 25-06 or 7mmRemMag. GREG

With my 22-250 I used the speer 70 grain semi spitzer. I did not load to maximum. The book said they would go 3600 and I figured if they were going 3400 or 3500 that it was fast enough.
One deer was 80 yards broadside lungshot and exit with a nice little dimesized exit.
One deer at 100 yards same as deer at 80 yards.
One large buck at 200 yards facing me. two shots. One bullet went between the shoulder and ribs broke three ribs then entered chest. Next shot high in back and into chest the deer ran ran downhill towards me after thefirst shot. Both bullets were lost in stomach after going through chest.
Next deer was a different story about 15 yards broadside through scapula. The first lung was pretty much missing but the second lung only had very small puncures in it and the only part of the bullet I found was a piece of lead about the size of a powder kernal.
With the 223 we would use fmj bullets. Not the pointed boattails but a flat tipped spitzer. They were american eagle or something. 55 grain soft points seemed to do fine but would not exit and the pointed fmj would make the smallest hole. The flat point solid would make a pencil sized hole and always exit.
If I were to use either one again I would use a barnes x 53grain or nosler partition 60 grain bullet preferably in the 22-250.
I would go for 3400+ and would be comfortable for shots to maybe 300 yards .

[This message has been edited by RMiller (edited 03-13-2002).]

I also live in Texas and for many years had a 22-250 as a loaner to young hunters and ladies. I used a top load of 4350 behind either of Hornady 60 grain bullets and this rifle chocked up an enviable score on the deer here. Bullets almost always exited and 1 shot drops were common. In fact I would use it exactly the same way I would a 243, avoiding solid shoulder hits to avoid meat loss.