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From: smosjc!joseph@uunet.UU.NET
Newsgroups: rec.hunting
Subject: .223 to little for deer, but big enough for people?
Message-ID: <573@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>
Date: 19 Apr 91 12:05:18 GMT
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tas@sat.datapoint.com (Tom Stewart) writes:

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

# 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.

From one of the NRA's books on hunting come the following suggestion
for energy (in foot pounds) needed for hunting North Am game:

				Minimun		Adequate	Preferred

Deer, Antelope, Sheep, Goat	 900		1200		1500

Elk, Bear (up to 600 lbs)	1500		2000		2500

Large Bear, Moose		2100		2800		3500

A .223 with a 55gr bullet has 921-939 foot lbs at 100 yards
(as per Remington). I didn't see data for a 65 gr bullet.

But, on the other hand, my brother-in-law took a huge moose this year
in Montana using his .270 and 150gr handloads. Aprox energy of 2165 ft
lb at 100 yrds and 1649 ft lb at 200 yrds. His was a one-shot,
drop-where-it-stood hit. A friend of his the following weekend used a
.270, and chased his moose about 2 miles, putting 5 rounds into it
before it dropped. It was ok that the aminal was moving because the
whole time it was headed in the direction of their truck. :-)
Personally, I prefer the one-shot, drop-where-they-stand shoots.

-Joseph Crunk