What is YOUR Small Caliber on Big Game Experience?

[coyotekilla]

So some generic cup-core lightweight soft point, and a thickly jacketed, narrow opening match bullet that needs very high velocities to fragment?

If the shot is good either of those are going to work, but they're not great bullets without some serious shot placement and impact velocity considerations. So then from that, what were the shot conditions?

Standing deer in a field. 75 to 200 yards. 1 was a buck that had been shot several days before, I wasn't deer hunting just had a rifle along in the jeep during deer season. It took several hits to finish the wounded buck. But yes, it wasn't a known sierra or anything. Think the rifle was a cz527 carbine.

 

[FredH]

I have used the 223 on Antelope and Whitetails a number of times. Maybe 15 deer total. I used various bullets, 55 gr, SP's some factory and some reloads, the 60 gr. Hornady HP and SP, the 70 gr. Speer and the last was using the 75gr. Hornady BTHP. Of the bunch the best were the 60 grain Hornady's and the 70 gr. Speer bullet. All shots under 150 yards. My conclusion is While the animals did die a bit more gun wouldn't be a bad thing. Used the 243 and 6MM on I would say a lot of deer. Better than the 22's but still lacking in some ways. Since we are allowing 25's I consider the 257 Roberts and 25-06 loaded with 120 grain Partitions and 115 gr. Ballistic Tips to be excellent deer rifles giving up nothing to bigger cartridges. That said I hunt with what I have a whim to hunt with and all are still in play.

 

[KenLee]

Does 22lr CCI "Stangers" on whitetail count?

 

[eric1115]

55 sp, 75 hornady bthp

Thank you for responding. Those would definitely not be considered the type of bullet that the "small caliber fan club" has reported best effectiveness with.

If a guy reported "unfavorable results" with a .308, because the M80 ball ammo he shot some deer with didn't produce impressive terminal performance, we wouldn't conclude that .308 is not enough gun. Same here, ammo choice makes all the difference.

 

[coyotekilla]

Thank you for responding. Those would definitely not be considered the type of bullet that the "small caliber fan club" has reported best effectiveness with.

If a guy reported "unfavorable results" with a .308, because the M80 ball ammo he shot some deer with didn't produce impressive terminal performance, we wouldn't conclude that .308 is not enough gun. Same here, ammo choice makes all the difference.

So my 69gr sierra tgk's? 55 varmegeddon, or go by 73 eldm etc?

 

[KenLee]

"with a BB gun. You heard it. F-ck .223!… a BB gun".

Can you say it in the voice of mobster from John Wick? "Killed 3 men in a bar with a pencil...a f'n pencil !!!"

 

[MHWASH]

Does 22lr CCI "Stangers" on whitetail count?

Do whitetails in SC count as big game?

 

[KenLee]

Do whitetails in SC count as big game?

Gotta run whaccha brung. Big as we have except the occasional large black bear or swamp hogs.

 

[eric1115]

So my 69gr sierra tgk's? 55 varmegeddon, or go by 73 eldm etc?

55 varmageddon is going to produce violent but shallow wounds.

TGK's are pretty hard, nearly equal to the hard bonded bullets we always talk about producing narrow wound channels.

The best .224 bullets suitable for AR mag length .223 rounds are the 77TMK and the 73ELDM.

80-88 ELDM/X are great, but tend to play better with 22CM, ARC, or long magazine .223/.223AI

 

[wyosam]

I’ve killed a handful of elk, and quite a few deer with a boring old slow twist 243 with coreloks, and later a variety of monos. Even without magic high BC match type bullets, stuff that got hit well seemed to die without much drama. My small one now (same model seven) is now a 257 Ackley. It’s not my first choice out of the safe, as I’d rather shoot Tikkas these days.


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[HandgunHTR]

So my 69gr sierra tgk's? 55 varmegeddon, or go by 73 eldm etc?

The 73 grain ELDMs are more than adequate when pushed out of a gas gun. There are a couple of companies that are loading 77 TMKs (ACC and Black Hills), but they are not as readily available and if you have a general mil-spec barrel, they may not shoot as well.

Gotta run whaccha brung. Big as we have except the occasional large black bear or swamp hogs.

I have seen some really nice bucks killed here in SC. They are definitely not as prevalent as they are in the Midwest in terms of body-size, but a 200+lb buck isn't that uncommon.

 

[SC HUNTER]

I have personally killed hundreds and watched hundreds more deer die on depredation permits over the past 10 or 12 years. We used, almost exclusively, 223 bolt guns and a 220 swift with the occasional 22-250 sprinkled in there. This was around 2008 to 2021ish time frame and I used 55 or 64 grain pointed soft points in my 223's. I will shoot any deer in the Southeast with a 223 or 220 swift and have complete confidence in it. I hunt with a 6.5 creedmoor because I like the gun, I shoot a few every year with a 223 still just to carry the rifle. A 220 swift shooting a 55 grain moly coated vmax hornady factory load is like hitting one with a lightning bolt. we had a shooting table built for the back of a single cab Z71 that we would tuck into the bushes and shoot them across ag fields. It was almost like work at times.

Let me also say I've killed them with a 7 STW and 375 H&H but that's a completely different topic.

 

[Dust Rider]

Voted #3 as I have seen the results.
I will also keep hunting with magnums and big bore as I am a collector and shooter.