I think a lot of it comes down to bullet choice. I have used Sierra 1365 55gr heads in my 22-250.
One Sika hind last year took a through and through and still ran 100 yds before keeling over so not DRT[Sika do that kind of thing]. Still when I gralloched it the top 2 chambers of the heart were pulverised.
Having said this there is no way I would use it on a stag in the rut.
Sierra 1360 55gr are a different kettle of fish and violently expand.So I think would/could produce some ineffectual surface wounds on deer.

I just bought a tikka in 243 for the grandsons to hunt with. They can shoot the 22 and the 223. First

I agree that in the hands of an expert hunter that the 22 cals as well as the 24's can be effective tools.
A new hunter should use a cartridge that shoots at least a 115 gr bullet at 2800 fps as a minimum.
If you can't or won't handle the recoil then don't hunt untill you can.
Leo

quote:

Originally posted by 44magLeo:
I agree that in the hands of an expert hunter that the 22 cals as well as the 24's can be effective tools.
A new hunter should use a cartridge that shoots at least a 115 gr bullet at 2800 fps as a minimum.
If you can't or won't handle the recoil then don't hunt untill you can.
Leo

Ummmmm....where did you pull those numbers from?

My son just killed a 3 point during the youth hunt.

He used my AR (.223) with a handloaded 65gr SGK. The deer went thirty yards before expiring.

Numbers don't kill deer. Destruction of vital organs kills deer.

Phil how old is your son. I can't wait to hunt with my grandsons

quote:

Originally posted by 44magLeo:
I agree that in the hands of an expert hunter that the 22 cals as well as the 24's can be effective tools.
A new hunter should use a cartridge that shoots at least a 115 gr bullet at 2800 fps as a minimum.
If you can't or won't handle the recoil then don't hunt untill you can.
Leo

It takes the same level of shooting proficiency to kill a deer with a .223 as it does with a .257 Roberts, or even a .300 magnum. I guess you could argue that you can't take raking shots with a smaller caliber, but teaching a kid to be patient and wait for a good shot isn't exactly a bad idea in my book.

quote:

Originally posted by grandpa:
Phil how old is your son. I can't wait to hunt with my grandsons

He is 14. This is his first year.

I have used the 22-250 on four sitka blacktails with 70 grain speers semi-spitzers. They werent loaded to max. The load manuel showed 3100 for the load I was using.

One deer was about 100 yards, another 200 yards broadside and the exit was dime sized on both. Double lung hit.

Another was facing head on hit through the chest The bullet wasnt found but passed through the diaphram to the innards.

The last one was 20-30 feet away hit through the shoulder broadside. This bullet fragmented and put a fist sized hole through the near lung but left the opposite side lung nearly untouched except for some bone fragments. The deer was found about 40 yards away with no bloodtrail (it was raining at the time).

The rifle was a Remington 700 BDL made in 1971.

My son shot his first deer at 14. Will be hunting with the grandsons before that. I was not hunting when my son was young then we moved to Oklahoma and I started again. A lot of young kids here use the 223 or 22/250. Most deer here are shot at close range here .

I've shot mulie bucks with a 22-250 and find it quite adequate. It's a caliber that lends itself to being shot many many times during the off-season and when you are running 300-500 rounds through it a year your proficiency improves dramatically. Particularly when compared to the lad that buys a box of 30-30 rounds and shoots 2 or 3 times a year. All that experience is helpful in bullet placement.

I've loaded my Rem 700VSSF fairly warm and shot these deer with some older Barnes Triple Shock X bullet in 53g and 55g Nosler Ballistic Tips and 40g Nosler Ballistic Tips out of a .223. The 53 and 55g out of the 22-250 are right at 3800fps and the 40g out of the .223 are 3925fps.

My best luck has been with the NBT as the Barnes have penciled through without much expansion I guess as they were not recovered. The NBT will sometimes not exit the chest and it does limit the potential for a blood trail. However the damage done to the lungs is spectacular and usually results in a quick death. I've seen deer go down immediately or take 5-15 yards to go down.

I have no reservation about the 22-250 and the .223 for use on deer. My EXPERIENCE leads me to that conclusion.

I have taken 4 bucks with my 223 . The year I used it I had shoulder problems. While I don't think it is the best choice I will say its adequate for the size white tails here.I will probably let the grandsons start with the 223 or 22/250. But I will move them up to a larger rifle when they can shoot it without the recoil being a problem for them

I do agree totally with hunting with a rifle that you shoot a lot .that's why I quit using the 7mag my shoulder couldn't take practice with it any more. That's why I switch to the smaller. Cal rifles I shoot my 243 and 25/06 quite a bit

I have been playing around with various calibers for deer for over 50 years. If I had just stuck with the .30/06 and spent more time shooting and less time tinkering with various calibers I would have been much better off.

I can't think of any situation where a .30/06 would not have been a satisfactory caliber.

Even though I already have a .204R, I still plan on purchasing a .22-250 as well.

Something about that caliber that makes it worthy to have in the safe.

Vol717---Certainly I agree that the 30-06 is great. The situation of a young hunter would be one where it's not a good choice---no knock on the 30-06.

Doubless--I do not agree with you that the exit hole is the size the bullet expands to. I wish I knew what causes the size of the exit hole. Heard a few theories and would welcome more. I've seen 6 inch holes from a 30-06 and I see no way you could flatten a 150 grain 30 cal bullet to that size, and if you did it would be too flimsy to exit. I have recovered two bases from a 55 grain .224 (The rest passed through) and they were much larger than the .448 you mentioned. I weighed them (40 grains) but didn't measure but 3/4-1" would be more accurate than under 1/2 inch.

What really amazes and confuses me is people who use ballistic tips in small fast calibers with great results then you hear the horror stories about BT's shot out of medium bores not being able to penetrate deep enough. As a faithful follower of the BT I personally love the bullet on deer sized game out of medium bores and have never had a problem. Using them on deer from a small bore like a .223 or 22-250 makes me a bit nervous though. But I do believe if it makes it to the boiler room it should perform great!

I've stacked up more than a few mule deer and antelope with Nosler's 55 grain solid base. A few went 50 yards or so, most dropped as if hit by lightening.

Savage has an inexpensive Package Deal that is quite a shooter. It is 1-12 twist. I would think 55 gr heads would fly right.
here is the first handload I tried in mine.

Have been using the Thompson Icon 1-12 in 22-250. Excellent rifle out of box. Does sub MOA with the 60gr Hornady and 70gr Speer.