.223, 6mm, and 6.5 failures on big game

[bmart2622]

Ummmmmmm because the rifle recoils into the shooter just like at the range and a 308 has more recoil than a 223....was that a serious question?!?!?

 

[Pharmseller]

If you develop a flinch on the bench during practice, you’ll flinch in the field during hunting.

Ask me how I know.




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[eoperator]

How does recoil effect your shooting while hunting?

Do some honest actual positional shooting as if you were hunting at different ranges with both 223 and 308. You will most likely be surprised as i was.
Oh and watching your bullet impact is kind of a big deal.

 

[deerhunter628]

Geez don't make this personal. You'll note that I appended that to a couple of questions about relative performance.

If he expected a dead deer from that shot with that bullet, and he didn't miss, he should be forgiven for seeing it as a failure. That's what this thread is for, isn't it? For examples of where a 223 shot into an animal didn't kill it?

You posted a pic of a dead deer shot in the neck with a 300 WM. That's a success. I've killed/seen dozens of deer killed with neck shots. Success. Which begs the question why his shot "failed." A reasonable answer is "hit a nonvital area", but clearly that isn't /always/ the case, so "terminal ballistics" are a little more complicated than you make it out to be.

This is really a pointless debate. One side can say a bigger cartridge will “likely” not kill the deer any better. The other side can say the larger cartridge would “likely” kill it. In reality nobody will ever know. The same deer would need to be shot with both cartridges in the same spot to know that. One side says yhey have seen dozens shot in the same spot and the deer died and the other side says they have seen dozens shot in the same spot and they all died. Both sides think the other side is lying or at least exaggerating. Neither side has any proof. Im not sure if there is any way to prove either side. The simple point is that everyone should hunt with what they want to hunt with and not care what anyone else hunts with.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

What are the actual disadvantages? Say of using a 308 instead of a 223.

It’s much easier to educate with actual shooting. Everyone on the internet is the best shooter in the world.

With hundreds of folks as examples, of all skill ranges, in real life, in real western hunting shooting scenarios, there isn’t a single person yet who shoots a .308 better than they shoot a .223.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

In saying the above, .308 is a fine hunting cartridge.

 

[bmart2622]

I knew a guy who would shoot for the femoral, one time he did fully expecting and anticipating a kill but it didn't happen. Clealry the bullet failed to create a large enough wound channel to hit the femoral despite the shot selection or actual bullet placement. The only explanation is an obvious bullet failure.

 

[Pharmseller]

Copied from the .223 success thread. Anyone remember me from ifish?

Years ago I took a bunch of heat from the big-case believers when I extolled the virtues of the 7mm-08 as an elk hunting cartridge. Their mistake, as they gasped and clutched their pearls, was their belief that I said the 7mm-08 was a better choice than their 300 Whizbag Ultra Mags and why I never, how dare you? The problem was, that’s not what I said.

I see a lot of that with the .223 failure thread, as well as this one.

If I may be so bold as to speak for others (and please, correct me if I’m wrong), I’m not saying the .223 is a better choice. What I am saying is, the .223 with proper bullets is just as good.

Not better. But just as effective.

Now, if we inject shooting skills into the equation, then yes, for some the .223 will be better, because some shooters cannot handle recoil. As a result, accuracy suffers. A poor shot is a poor shot, regardless of cartridge, but the odds of a poor shot might, just might, be reduced by a cartridge with less recoil.

And to the hairy-chested he-men who opine that if you can’t handle a 30-06 level of recoil you shouldn’t be hunting, well, if the .223 is just as effective (not better), why not? It’s supposed to be fun, right?

No one is looking to take your 300 Whizbang away. I don’t give half a hoot what you shoot, it’s your money and your shoulder, after all. I’ll keep shooting elk with my 7mm-08 (.223 isn’t legal in Oregon) and deer with my .223. We’ll share a beer and stories around the campfire.

And who knows, you might just try a .223 on a prairie dog or two, then maybe, just maybe, a deer.

It could happen.



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