The .223 is legal in WV. IMO that doesn't say much for the state. We find a lot of dead deer in the woods after the season. To be honest, I can't begin to tell you that they were shot with a .223 but I wouldn't be surprised. Had one old drooler, at the general store, report that his grandson had shot at 15 deer "before he got one down". The kid was using a .223.
In the hands of a cool and careful hunter, I'm sure the .223 is adequate for white tails. Unfortunately, for every cool and careful hunter, there are 50 that think "if he can, so can I" that take to the woods and tries to arkansaw everything they see walking.

The 222 and 223 have been popular in Central Texas for decades but our deer are smaller bodied than the eastern deer you have. Most folks here who shoot those rounds respect their limitations. On the other hand, horsepower seems to be the name of the game in South Texas and 223s for deer are much rarer.

Well said, Carpetman. I've taken a big mulie and two Texas whitetails with 223. All one shot kills and none of them went more than ten paces. And I've seen 222's on up produce same results. This is one reason I scoff at much of the stuff the big bore guys write.

These little hotrod .224 caliber rifles kill TOTALLY out of proportion to their size. Of course you can have some spectacular failures if you hit an animal poorly...but you can do that with a big bore as well.

And a hunter should stay within their power range. I wouldn't shoot a mule deer beyond 200 yd with one, although it would probably work fine out to 250 - 275. JMHO

The good news is these rifles are EASY to shoot well and a well placed bullet is worth a LOT of ft/lbs of energy anyday on anything.

AAdams---Until you pull the trigger you never know. My grandson shot a deer with a .223 that travelled a much shorter distance than one I shot with a 30-06 that was about the same size and hit about the same spot. Am I saying the .223 is a better deer round than a .223? Ofcourse not. A deer with a well placed shot from a .223 is much better than a poor shot from anything. A whole lot of folks are more apt to shoot a .223 well than some of the heavy kickers.

Thanks for your reply.I have been playing with small calibers 22-250 and 223 but the smallest i have hunted with is a 308 the 308 and 30-06 are my favorites.I personaly feel the 223 is to small to much s--t can happen in the woods and you have to leave room for human error.Thanks again for your replys.

I was disgusted when VA decided to allow .223 for deer although I love the round for groundhogs and more recently coyote. Visions of more hunters spraying the eastern woods with ill-aimed shots from semi-automatic rifles. Well I remember the late 1960's fad of guys using a semi-auto Ruger .44 Mag carbines in the Southwestern VA woods. Sounded like a war the first 15 min.s of the season. Scary. At least in that case the big lumbering bullet was effective inside 100 yards if less that perfectly placed .

I'm sure somebody has taken a deer with a slingshot but I would never use one on a whitetail if I had a choice. In real hunting too many things go wrong to count on perfect placement. I consider a .243 shooting a 80gr. soft point the absolute minimum, and I've never shot one myself with less than a .243 Win. using 100 NBT. My opinion is free and worth at least that much.

You will never here from the guys that have shot deer with a .223 or .222 in the shoulder or in the meaty part of the deer only to have the round blow a shallow crater in the animal, follow a blood trail till it runs out, and never find the animal. However, this happens more than can be imagined, but in Central Texas where there is a deer to every five acres, they are smaller than Labrador retreivers, and you're limit is five per season most people don't worry about wounding one every so often. I don't think that is very sporting, but a lot of deer get harvested every year with a .22 LR or squirrel shot (three deer that I have harvested in the last two year have had squirrel shot or slighly heavier waterfowl shot under their hides). Your crippling loss rate with high powered rifles is 10% (I've helped run a big hunting lease and this is just how it is, period), with buckshot is >25%, bowhunting is about the same as buckshot, and I would think the .22s are right in that 25% range also.

If you are really careful, and an expert marksman, these rounds are deadly especially with premium bullets. I had a friend that last year killed a 250 hog with a shot to the head using a .220 Swift and a Barnes X bullet. The skull was completely shattered. He shoots a lot, had a steady rest, takes only clear shots, and we've got too many hogs anyway even if he wounded it. However, too many people take a .222 Rem BDL with varmint loads (whatever the idiot at Wal-Mart or Academy will sell them) and head to the woods - just a crippling waiting to happen IMHO.

For me and others who hope at least to have the opportunity to take a good buck or a hog, probably nothing than a .260 Rem is adequete. I wish all states would mandate .25 caliber or larger and outlaw completely using buckshot on anything other than bad guys.