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From: ee5391aa%triton.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax)
Newsgroups: rec.hunting
Subject: Re: .223 to little for deer, but big enough for people?
Message-ID: <551@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>
Date: 18 Apr 91 11:33:02 GMT
References: <544@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>
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In article <544@erb1.engr.wisc.edu> tas@sat.datapoint.com (Tom Stewart) writes:

>If anyone would care to express an educated (or not so educated)
>opinion on why 55-65 gr. bullets work on people but not whitetails
>I'd appreciate it.

Several reasons, running in different directions.

First, a .223 _will_ kill deer...you just have to be closer, and you
need to get a better shot.

In general, heavier slugs, with more power behind them, will kill at
greater ranges and with greater reliability than less massive, smaller
cross-section, lowered-powered bullets.

Hell, you can take deer with a .22 pistol..._if_ you're a good enough
stalker to get in position for the shot...and the phase of the moon is
right.  ;^)

I seem to recall that New Mexico doesn't permit anything smaller than
.30 cal.  for deer hunting, but don't quote me.

Now, let's address the deer vs. human question:

You want to _kill_ your deer as quickly and reliably as possible.

You want to _wound_ an enemy soldier...badly enough to neutralize him
as an individual fighter, but not so badly that his comrades write him
off.  It then takes up time and other resources of the enemy to apply
life support, patch him up and evacuate him from the field...or
continue support if he can't be evac'd.

Also, having enemy fire to worry about, a soldier needs to be able to
move quickly, and shouldn't have too much recoil to worry about, so he
can make his next shot ASAP.  Hence, the .223...but heavier (and
lighter) calibers are used in combat, too, so really, it's not so
different.

The whole anti-.223 idiology is based on a mix of fact and fancy, as
usual.  It's just YA case of the many Religious Arguments regarding
such things as autopistol vs. revolver, wadcutter vs. ball, caliber x
vs. caliber y, and others without enumeration.

						Bang,
						  d