Recommendation's for a 223 Deer round

[300_whisper]

Winchester 64 grain power max
Winchester 64 grain XP
Hornady 55 grain GMX (I had bad accuracy with this ammo. Superformance stuff never shoots well)
Federal Premium 55 grain Barnes TSX
Federal 62 grain fusion (highly recommend)
Federal 62 grain trophy
Federal 64 grain power shock (highly recommend)
Federal 60 grain partitions
Remington hyper sonic 62 grain bonded
Remington 62 grain corelokts (highly recommend)
Sig Saur 60 grain Elite hunter
Barnes 55 grain vortex

All factory loaded, all available at either academy, Walmart, or bass pro.

I’ve killed 3 deer, a bobcat, fox, and hog using a .223. It’ll get the job done. 2 of the 3 deer DRT.

 

[jdh4376]

I have killed 1000s of hogs and deer (deer on permit) and tried all kinds of projectiles/loads, and every time I return to a Hornady 75gr bthp running 2750 FPS. Doesn’t matter how you get it there but I promise you that bullet running that speed is the killingest bullet in the south ga killing fields. I don’t have scientific data to back it up but I have years and years of 5 nights a week going out killing as many animals as I could over hundreds of thousands of acres. Some will do ok if it hits this organ and some will do ok if you hit that organ but overall that bullet at that speed is better at killing with good, bad or ugly shots cause after the first shot at night every one after that just gets put wherever it can get out and they still out performed every single night.

 

[Burdy]

I have a 1/9 16 inch Barrel on an AR what bullets are good for deer hunting? What grain? Store bought

I recommend you use one of the 6.5CM's Ive sold you.

 

[Fatal_Bert]

Any 223/556 bullet in the center of the neck will drop them dead right where they are at.

 

[GeauxLSU]

Had a very surprising (to me) thing happen yesterday. Went to a friend's ranch to coyote / hog hunt. I wanted to use my .223 Howa Mini Action as I've never killed anything with it before. I thought I had some PSP loads for .223 but only had FMJ and various hollow point loads. I have some Australian Outback ammo that is crazy accurate. But it's loaded with Sierra BlitzKing in 55 and 69 grains. I loaded up with the 55 figuring I'd only get a chance at yotes. Varmint call quit working a few minutes in so there I sat. Hogs came in and I was hesitant but he wants them gone so I figured, wth, I'll put one in one's ear. Picked the biggest one at about 70 yards, in ear, dropped in it's tracks. Hogs ran everywhere. One made the mistake of pausing and I sent one it's ear. Same effect. I was honestly surprised. These we're about 120# and 140#s. So, no, not hogzilla but certainly white tail comparable. I realize not much will survive a side head shot but the obvious energy transfer on such a light bullet was much more devastating than I expected.
I love that ammo. Wouldn't be my first choice for deer but with the 69 grain bullet I wouldn't necessarily feel incapable.

I'll still be searching for a good PSP load...

 

[Burdy]

Had a very surprising (to me) thing happen yesterday. Went to a friend's ranch to coyote / hog hunt. I wanted to use my .223 Howa Mini Action as I've never killed anything with it before. I thought I had some PSP loads for .223 but only had FMJ and various hollow point loads. I have some Australian Outback ammo that is crazy accurate. But it's loaded with Sierra BlitzKing in 55 and 69 grains. I loaded up with the 55 figuring I'd only get a chance at yotes. Varmint call quit working a few minutes in so there I sat. Hogs came in and I was hesitant but he wants them gone so I figured, wth, I'll put one in one's ear. Picked the biggest one at about 70 yards, in ear, dropped in it's tracks. Hogs ran everywhere. One made the mistake of pausing and I sent one it's ear. Same effect. I was honestly surprised. These we're about 120# and 140#s. So, no, not hogzilla but certainly white tail comparable. I realize not much will survive a side head shot but the obvious energy transfer on such a light bullet was much more devastating than I expected.
I love that ammo. Wouldn't be my first choice for deer but with the 69 grain bullet I wouldn't necessarily feel incapable.

I'll still be searching for a good PSP load...

Can confirm, type of bullet is irrelevant when shooting hogs in the head with .223.

 

[300_whisper]

Can confirm, type of bullet is irrelevant when shooting hogs in the head with .223.

There’s a YouTube video of a guy head shooting hogs with a .17HMR. DRT

 

[Fatal_Bert]

Me and my dad both neck neck shot two does roughly the same size and in roughly the same spot on the neck one evening.

My deer was shot with my 35rem, his was shot with 62gr 223. The damage to his doe's neck was disgusting, damn neck was about cut in half. My 35 Remington simply left a 35mm hole on one side and a clean 1.5" hole on the other. Not much tissue damage outside of the bullets flight path.

Point of the story is velocity is absolutely deadly to soft tissue, and people who blame the 223 for deer getting away are idiots who shoot deer in the shoulder bone.

Pretty much any 223 bullet designed for hunting will explode a deers heart/lungs, or hit the off switch in the neck. It just won't reliably destroy a deers large shoulder bone like a lot hunters like to aim for. Those guys should stick to their 300winmags.

 

[RiverBend]

I've had good luck with basic 55 grain soft point ammo, on pigs and deer.

 

[Bennyboy]

Got an 8 pointer with a 64g Winchester Deer Season Xp from a 14.5” barrel last week. Shoulder shot, just like I would with a bigger caliber, went 10 yards or so.

Groups well in my rifle too.