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Last fall a friend of mine had a 13 year old son who took a mature whitetail buck (157#) in Kentucky with a handloaded 60 grain Nosler Partition at 2850fps. I was impressed that the bullet entered at about the last rib on one side and exited on the other just slightly behind the shoulder on the other side. Has anyone else had any experience with this bullet. I don't believe in using any .22 centerfire for deer but I was surprised at that the damage. The deer went down at the shot taken from about 65 yards. Was just curious about other peoples experience with it. Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight......RiverRat | ||
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Once again stirring the pot, I believe that this is the classic example of bullet placement over bullet construction. If the bullet exited it is hard to say that the same shot taken with a 55 FMJ would have had any different outcome. So tell your friends son that I complimented him on his good shooting! Like you I'm not a fan of 22's and deer. They can kill good, but if it is not a clean kill it can get pretty frustrating as many times it won't put them down right away, and often it doesn't even seem to slow them down, so if they get wounded but not dead they can get awful far away before they go down, and you will probably not find them at that point... | |||
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I have taken deer with .223's , but mostly .22-250's and the results are generally spectacular one shot kills.....95% of the time......but the other 5% yu have equally spectacular failures. The 60 grain Nosler may be a great bullet, but I still don't reccomend .22 centerfires for large game. But with the 60 grain partitions and smaller deer, at no more than modest ranges with a very cool shot behind the gun........maybe. | |||
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A lot of people around here use the .22-250 to kill deer and they do very well. Using a larger caliber is no guarantee of 100% success. I have seen deer that have been hit hard by a .30-'06, get up and run off. I read of an Englishman named Bell who used a 7x57 Mauser to make regular one shot kills on elephants. | |||
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quote: Yes, so did Karamojo Bell. But that man is said too have been an quite extraordinary rifleman: he used to shoot flying ducks with his .318 Westley-Richards at fairly 80 yards. And he killed hundreds of elephants with .257 Mannlicher or 7x57 Mauser with perfect aimed brain-shots. But we average hunters would do better using enough gun - and try to get proper placement of the bullet. You will kill a deer with a .22 Rimfire if you place the bullet absolutely right - and hurt it severly but perhaps not visibly if you don�t. With enough gun you will kill it with a proper hit - and hurt it deadly and visible if you hit bad. Use enough gun! Fritz K. | |||
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I believe there is no such thing as over kill on deer size game and up but not making a humane kill and tracking a wounded animal are something we should try to avoid to the "n-th" degree. Once you pull the trigger nothing else matters except the bullet and there is a big difference between a.05 bullet and a .50 bullet | |||
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To RNS theres no such thing as under kill just as there is no over kill. If you kill it it is dead. When you decide to use the smaller cals one just have to be very careful of bullet placement. One does not take running shots ect. I don't use a smaller cal my self. But I have killed deer with them and have seen many killed to know that they well work in the hands of a proper hunter they are not for the person you can't wait for the shot nor are they for some one worryed about the deer running onto the ajoining property. If I were hungry and had a small cal I would be eating venison with one shot because I have done it before and could do it again. | |||
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I agree, that the .22 centerfire is not a deer rifle. Surely didn't intend to stir any pot. The young man did do a good job of shooting with near perfect bullet placement. I will NEVER use a .22 centerfire for deer, but was just curious if anyone else had used this bullet. One rib was broken as the bullet exited, other than that no other bone was touched. That helps penetration for sure. I was raised on a farm and have personally killed 40 or 50 1000# + steers with a 22 rimfire with one shot each. Nearly anything will work, given the proper placement. And that is tough under hunting situations. Brain shoot one and they are down with about any claiber...gut shoot one and I don't care if it is with a .460 Weatherby, or a 12 ga. slug they are gut shot. One shot one kill if everything is done right....Enjoyed reading the posts.....Sure would have loved to meet W.D.M. Bell. He was an amazing individual....not to mention on terrific shot. He once stated shortly after the introduction of the 308 Winchester that it may be the perfect elephant cartridge.....Remember W.D.M. Bell said that in The American Rifleman..not me. Maybe for someone of his skills it would have been. Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight......RiverRat | |||
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To p dog shooter If you are one of those lucky shooter who gets to blast those dogs I wish I had the same opportunity as you. I think that maybe a clarification should be made. #1 someone who spends lots of time with his guns lots of time at the range and cool in the field. #2 the guy who shoots less a box of ammo a year goes into the field and looses his nerve. Next I would say that there is a lot of the shooter in group #2. I know and have talked and hunted with them. Sometimes they poke a joke at me or two because I kid them that I only load one shot in my gun, and they shoot half a box at the game and slow it down with several pounds of lead. I always invite them to go to the range and sight in there guns but they always say there dead on. I forgot where I was going with that thought. Any ways you are right shooters who are "pros" could use anything, but they rest of them should stick with average deer size guns. So in that case I would call a #2 hunter with 223 under kill. hope I made some sense of that. Anyway blast a few dogs for me it will be a year or two before I get to any serious p d towns although I have a hunt planned for later this year when my 257 ack imp gets done. Good luck and safe shooting as always. RNS | |||
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I've never used that bullet before but have killed a few deer with .223 and .22-250. Used mostly 55gr Hornady soft points. Worked extremely well. Most shots were inside 50 yards and placed in the lungs broadside. Chris | |||
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WoW... whats to say? There is obviously two parts to this: The shooter and cartridge. No small surprise that a person can take a deer with a 22lr if he is cool about it(big whoop). The second half of this is that the 22 centerfires are NOT circumstantialy efficacious cartridges for deer, that is, they cannot handle a wide variety of circumstances and be effective. Oddly, when I lived in alaska, one of the most popular cartridges in my small town was the 223. In the meat department at our store... tons of deer were processed and had been rittled by 223s 6,7,8 rounds in some. I have one friend who swears by his mini 14 for deer, but I trust him, and he is an experianced bow hunter and knows dissapointment. In comparison I hunted with this guy in alaska... we were hunting deer and he took a shot at a doe right around 80 yards. He clearly hit her... and when I asked him why we were not taking up the trail of this wounded doe he responded "ohh I didnt hit her... she would have dropped if I did". | |||
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Being in the hunting business, I been listening to this conversation for about 50 years and thats only as far back as I can recall... I think Frank N. answered the question. ------------------ | |||
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| <DEATHMERCHANT308> |
I agree with Frank N. also. Why take the chance! Death Merchant | ||
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