Hi,

Greetings from Scotland,

Not quite big game but here goes.

The only deer species in my area of the U.K. are Roe Deer.

I'm not sure if they are present in the U.S.A. but they weigh around 50-70Lbs.

At present the only rifle I own is a .22/250 Heavy barrel Winchester, mustard on the varmints but destroys the Roe carcasse usually leaving a gaping exit wound.

I reload my own ammo and am presently using 50 gr Ballistic Tips at around 3775fps.

I understand that these bullets are not designed for Deer but when I first started stalking I wanted to make sure of one shot kills.

I am now confident that the .22/250 is up to the task but am increasingly concerned about the massive tissue damage making a large amount of the carcasse unfit to eat.

Can anyone recommend a bullet in .224 that would kill swiftly, with minimal tissue damage and prove accurate enough to take shots of up to 200 yards?

Should I try to increase or lower velocity to minimise tissue damage?

Any help on this topic would be gratefully recieved as my knowledge is rather limited.

Thanks for any replies in advance.

V-MAX

I don�t have a lot of experience with .22 caliber and roedeers. I have heard some good reports about Normas 62 gr SP on roedeer though.

If you would lower the V/0 the tissue damage will not be as dramatic.

I use a 6mm BR for roedeers with a 70 gr Hornady SP with good results. Good killingpower and not a lot of meat ruined.

It doesn�t matter what caliber you use if you hit the roedeer in the shoulder, you loose most of the meat in the shoulder The thing I like to avoid is to get fragments going in every directions and penetrate in to the guts.

Stefan.

V-MAX,

Check out Winchester's 64gr. PowerPoint. I think this is what you are looking for.

http://www.winchester.com/ammunition/store/components/rifle_bullets.eye

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

Doesn't Nosler make a Partition in the .22 cal? I'm almost certain that they make a 60gr bullet in the partition style. Or what about a BarnesX? Also, any other Pointed Soft Point offering should be suitable in 55gr or more, so long as you lower the muzzle velocity.

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God Bless and Shoot Straight

444,

Nosler does make a Partition, but the Winchester PowerPoint is only $10 per 100, and far more economical.

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

Nosler makes a 60gr Partition and Federal loads a 55 gr Trophy Bonded in their Premium line of factory ammo.

When I was stationed in Germany, I saw many, many roe deer. Tiny little things. A lot of German hunters used 5.6x52 (22 Savage-High Power)or 5.6x57 RWS for these little fellows. North American pronghorn antelope are big compared to them.

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BH1

"Did you use excessive force?---I HIT IT WITH EVERYTHING I HAD!

V-Max

As I understand it you are using a bullet constructed for varmints at a velocity suitable for "explosive" wounding. Perfect for vermin but it wrecks meat. I went through the same thing using a 270 with 130 grain ballistic tips at high velocity.

I think you need to do two things - use the heaviest hunting bullet (as opposed to varmint bullet), and then use this bullet at modest velocities.

I have no experience with the 22 centrefires on roe, but I think that the philosophy of heavy-for-calibre bullets is a meat saver. Assuming you are not shooting at extreme ranges (300 metes plus) then you will not miss the flatness of ultra velocity.

Hope this helps.

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Regards

Richard

V-Max,
I would recommend against controlled expansion bullets in .224 caliber for roe deer. I have used the 60gr partition, and even though a shot through the chest will eventually kill the deer, tissue distruction is very low, and unless you shoot in wide open terrain or have a legend of a tracking dog with you, you will probably loose more than one.
My bullet of choice is the Hornady 60gr Spire point which I load at 3,360 fps. The way they perform at such speed makes me think 100 extra feet per second should still be acceptable but I would not shoot them at your 22-250's full potential.
I also had a very good experience with RWS's 63gr Teil Mantle (Soft Point), which will stand higher speeds than the Hornady, but they are not easy to find, utterly expensive and have a very low balistic coefficient, which in a .224 caliber I consider an issue (remanent energy wind deflection wise).
Regards from Spain
Montero

Sierra manafacture a 55gr gameking SP bullet that was found by a continental hunting magazine to be one of the best bullets for roe. I would have thought this coupled with a start load would do the trick admirably. I do know people who use 222rem on roe and find it excellent with 50-55gr bullets. This is in effect what you would duplicate with a start load of 3,100fps.

I�ve used the above mentioned Sierra Game King in a 222 Rem for 11 roebucks. If my calculations are correct they left the muzzle with about 3100-3150 fps. They have performed really well at ranges from ca 10 to 225 meters with the bullet exiting most of the time. I�ve shot it both behind and in the shoulder and feel that it ruins less meat than Norma�s 50 grain factory load. A head shot at ca 20 meters didn�t exit and that goes for a neck shot at about the same distance too. How it would behave at 22-250 velocities I have no idea but intend to find out sometime in the future I do believe it to be better than most .224 bullets for roe! Eighth or nine of those animals just went down and stayed there and the others went maybe 20 meter. As for the barnes X etc I�m not sure they are really necessary as a roedeer are a pretty small animal! I did how ever try them once in my Sako (50 grains XLC) and was rewarded with a 50 cm group at 80 meters�.. The rifle shoots the Sierras into groups of 11mm which is a great bonus�.
I have to confess that I don�t use the 222 Rem much any longer as I have other rifles that just beg to get out of the locker��. Shot most of my roedeer last year (and this year too) with my 9,3;D

Cheers

K9

1894,
I would love to read that artcle on .224 bullets. Did you happen to keep the magazine, by any chance?
Regards,
Montero

I have used a .223 Rem with great effect on Roe. It was loaded with a fairly standard 55grn Hornady SP and they have performed flawlessly. I think the secret is to stay away from high velocities and hollow points...

You haven't said what bullet you're using, though I might guess it to be a V-Max.

If you were confident about placing a neck or spinal shot at ranges of less than 100 metres, your impact damage would be less of a problem to you. Failing that, try soft points - even Federal factory ammo will do a good job.

Beware going for too heavy a bullet - my 14 inch twist h/b Tikka Supersport .22/250 won't stabilise 60gn fmjs and they keyhole. 55gn is optimum for me.

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tikka 3 barrels

Montero,

See the post I've brought back to the top.

[This message has been edited by 1894 (edited 01-22-2002).]

I spend 3 months in Scotland last year stalking roedeer every day. I used my .250 sav AI, but the Scottish pro's all used 22-250 with the 55gr Sako Gamehead factory load. They take about 450-500 deer a year and like the Sako factory load very much. Most shots are taken through the shoulder and the bullet exits on more than 90%. Meat damage wasn't bad.
Martin