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From: keith@clodii.columbiasc.NCR.COM
Newsgroups: rec.hunting
Subject: Re: .223 to little for deer, but big enough for people?
Message-ID: <567@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>
Date: 19 Apr 91 12:01:24 GMT
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>From: tas@sat.datapoint.com (Tom Stewart)
>I've had a .223 Remington for several years.  It shoots great, with
>Although I've thought about taking it deer hunting here in the Texas
>Hill Country and along the Gulf Coast I've never done so.  All the 
>statements about "a .223 is too little to kill a deer" have had
 
First, you should check the hunting regs. for the places you hunt in
concerning the types of calibers permitted. Some states have
restrictions for big game animals. For instance, Tennessee requires
.25 caliber weapons or larger for deer. This eliminates all .24X or
smaller calibers, I believe.


>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.  Obviously, an M16 is gonna push several rounds at
>a single man, but I don't believe all of them are expected to hit.

Correct. But it only takes one round to injure the "warrior". Then it
takes one or two of his buddies to carry him to the rear. Then you
have two or three guys out of the battle who are not fighting. Get the
idea?  If the "warrior" had been killed, he would have been left and
buried later.  I got this from rec.guns and believe it true to an
extent.

>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.

I suggest looking in some reload manuals and compare the foot pounds
of energy on impact at 200 yds. for .223 55 grn. bullets versus a more
typical caliber such .270 130 grn. bullets which is what I hunt with.
This is what mostly determines the amount of bone/tissue damage on
impact. Don't get me wrong. A .223 will bring down a big game animal
but only with a very lethal spine shot. Anywhere else and I think even
a smallish deer could manage to run quite some distance. Maybe enough
for you to lose track of it. Not good.  Also, I recently saw on Sixty
Minutes, I think, some people comparing the .223 Evil Assault Caliber
gun with a Browning 7mm Magnun BAR rifle on a watermelon. The .223
made a tiny entrance hole and blew out a 4 or 5 inch circle at the
exit hole. The BAR 7mm mag. literally blew up the entire watermelon
leaving nothing but "juice" on the cinder block. I hope this helps you
to make a wise decision.
 
>Thanks,

Sure thing!

---
| Keith M. Boyd  (NCR E+M Cola.) |  Nothing could be fina' than huntin' and  |
| 3325 Platt Springs Rd.         |  fishin' in South Carolina!  -Me-         |
| West Cola., S.C. 29170   |  Fax: 791-6998 |  keith@clodII.Columbia.NCR.COM |
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