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From: klotz@ihlpf.att.com (David A Klotzbach)
Newsgroups: rec.hunting
Subject: Re: .223 to little for deer, but big enough for people?
Message-ID: <552@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>
Date: 18 Apr 91 11:33:12 GMT
References: <544@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>
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>From article <544@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>, by tas@sat.datapoint.com (Tom Stewart):
> I've had a .223 Remington for several years.  It shoots great, with
> All the 
> statements about "a .223 is too little to kill a deer" have had
> something to do with not using it.  However, I haven't really ever
> understood why a .223 is big enough for the military to shoot at
> 200+ pound warriors in a battle but not big enough for a 50-130 pound
> deer at rest. 
> Thanks,
> 
> Tom Stewart
> Canyon Lake, Texas

The best I can do is explain what was told to me durring basic
training. We were scoring at the rifle range and the DI told us to 
count any strike on the target as a hit. When ask why we didn't count
only the ``Kill Zone'' or ``Bullseye'' hits, he explained that the 
"modern view of warfare was to disable the opponent not to kill him."
The reason is that a wounded opponent takes 3 men out of combat, the
wounded man and two to carry him out. Because of this philosophy, the
US had gone to a smaller higher speed round that would cause
massive trauma with even the slightest hit, but would not be as deadly
as the earlier .30 cal weapons.

On the contrary, when hunting deer, you would want the hit to kill
the animal as quickly as possible. Although a well placed .223 will do
this, it require more skill than I would expect to have. I like to
think that one shot is good enough, and with the traditional deer
hunting calibers, the kill zone is much larger.

Now for the disclaimer, its been 20 years since I went through basic
training and I have seen far to many war films that have tried to
justify the smaller cal. and high munition to kill ratio's to be
absolutely certain of my facts anymore. But I think I will stick to
my .270 and .303 British and leave the .223's to much more
experienced sportspersons.