That is, with good shooting placement, amazing things can be done. The founder of this magazine, Bob Petersen, loved the .22 Hornet. He shot many deer with various hornets and usually included one in his African battery for smaller antelopes. I used the Hornet there and got good results – actually better than with .17s, simply because even with small antelopes, I found penetration with .17s to be incomplete. In this case, I am convinced that your .223 is no longer an ideal tool. However, if you have secured your bet with a heavy deer bullet, you will get the penetration power, and if you have placed the shot well, you will kill the male. But the results are unlikely to be spectacular, and it may take some time to find it in dark forests. Times have certainly changed since then. Heading into my 2016 season, I topped my left AR Rock River with a Leupold VX6 2-12X and spotted it with Hornady`s new ELD Match 73 grain ball.
It wasn`t specifically designed as a deer ball, but it`s an expansive polymer-tipped ball, and with that much weight, it`s almost certain that some people will use it for deer. It`s also a long sphere, the longest ball that Hornady can load into a .223 case and still works in an AR. My experience is that each rifle has its own personality, and you have to try different charges to determine which one shoots that weapon best. But if you match the right charge to the right rifle or handgun, you have a medium-range small game/varmint gun that has low recoil and low ratio. On the other hand, it depends on your goals and situation. When you hunt from stalls, you control the range, and assuming good game is the main target, you can choose your shots. Okay, it worked, but it doesn`t make it an ideal situation. I firmly believe that even with heavy bullets, the .223 and other .22 center shots are not ideal for shooting deer. Heavy bullets designed for deer are much better than varmint bullets on body shots. They`re going to invade and they`re going to kill deer, but you still have the problem of a small entry wound, a limited chance of getting out, and a sparse trail of blood. Hornady`s 30-grain V-Max features a polymer tip that allows guns to be safely loaded with tubular magazines.
Until recently, Kansas was a .24-caliber state for deer hunting, often referred to as the “.23-caliber minimum.” Since .23 caliber cartridges did not exist, the intention was to eliminate the use of .22 caliber cartridges (and smaller) and to make 6 mm the de facto legal minimum. There was considerable debate in the Kansas legislature before the amendment was made to remove this provision. One of the main political motivations was to support the AR community, and of course the .223 Rem. by far the most popular chamber of the extremely popular AR platform. “You can`t take it with this little .22,” said one of the group members. Another added: “This coon will still be alive when it hits the ground.” I shot a number of deer with the .22-250, but more with the .223. The AR-15 surge hadn`t happened yet, and I used a Kimber (the old “mini-Mauser”) and an XP-100 carrying Rod Herrett, both in .223. I usually fired 55-grain bullets because they were the heaviest readily available at the time. Most of the time I focused on head and neck shots, usually not my forte, but pretty easy with an accurate .22 center shot and good range.
Both criteria seem to follow Townsend Whelen`s theory of 1,000 ft-lb. minimal for deer on impact. The .223 and .204 Ruger are the mark, but the .22 Hornet and .17 are excluded. However, many of those 34 states, including Kansas, simply say “Centerfire,” and Maine only allows “.22 Magnum edge fire and above.” Aside from my little experience in Kansas, most of my use of .22 center lights on deer was meat hunting or slaughter — situations where I could choose my shots but wasn`t looking for the best money I could find. My alternative was a lung, preferably far away, so I could push the ball behind my shoulder and into the boiler room. With its higher speed, the .22-250 was devastating; Every deer shot in the lung was on site. Deer struck in the same way with the .223 can take a few steps, but usually not much. However, there was that dollar I shot with the XP-100 and a wide lung shot that required a few marks, even though the bullet went where I was intended. The first cartridges were loaded with 40-grain hollow tips with thin casings and all-metal balls. Fired from a rifle, they reached a muzzle velocity of 2,000 fps and 1,550 fps with a pistol barrel. To some extent, the results of a deer shot with a .22 center shot depend on your luck.
A friend and I went mule deer hunting in Mexico about 15 years ago. Our guns didn`t arrive, so we started hunting with “camp rifles.” I received a worn .222 Rem. CZ, barely my concept of a mule deer rifle. Well, Kansas is a dollar state, but we have wood-free labels. So I readjusted the rifle with a .223 calibre deer bullet: a 62-grain Barnes TSX loaded by Black Hills. As they are “my” deer, I pay attention to deer shooting. I`m looking for mature tutzen without fawns. For this project, I wanted a good body photo. We all know that shots to the head and neck are deadly, and it doesn`t matter what bullet or cartridge you use, as long as you place the shot correctly. Currently, there are two self-loading guns that I am familiar with: the Automag II High Standard and the Excel Accelerator. But hunting and pest control is about energy, the power to kill with a charge. Here, the .17 HMR is insufficient.
It has 250 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle and 140 foot-pounds at 100 meters. The .22 WMR has 324 pounds of energy at the mouth and 156 pounds at 100 meters, 16 pounds more than the .17 HMR. When I first received this assignment, I asked for more time because I wanted to gain new deer hunting experiences in Kansas. That said, using a .22 Centerfire for deer is nothing new to me. In the 1980s, I spent a lot of time hunting deer in Texas. While most males came via conventional deer cartridges, I fired a lot of shots and a series of “club males” with .22 center shots. This happened before .22-caliber heavy bullets designed for deer-sized game were readily available, and before standard rifle rotations stabilized them. On the first day of the deer season in Kansas, I climbed into a ladder stand and waited. Dawn came and went, and another hour passed before I heard it crashing on the thick carpet of oak leaves. A deer approached from the left, but so much noise meant more than a deer.
It was followed by one hand with eight hands, then another and another. The Magnum in a small peloton got off to a good start. Remington has a similar polymer tip filler, the Premier .22 Win Mag with a 33-grain AccuTip V ball. When the hunt is over, the .22 WMR is a fun weapon for target practice or flashing. The next time I had to use the .22 WMR in my work was in the mid-1970s. I worked with a quality experimental program for deer management in Alabama. We had to take several photos for research purposes and, after some planning, we decided to photograph the animals with a Winchester model 9422 in .22 WMR. In the hands of a skilled shooter, it has become the preferred weapon of this project. She immediately put the cartridge down. (From left to right): .17 Hornet, .22 Hornet, .223 Rem., .22-250 Rem. Some states allow any center light for deer, meaning light .17 and .22 center lights are involved, but Boddington doesn`t recommend them. The .223 and .22-250 are fine when used correctly.
The .17 HMR is slightly more flattering than the .22 WMR and has a wider accuracy range than the .22 WMR. Do the math, and you`ll find that the .17 HMR is a 150-yard rifle and the .22 WMR is a 125-yard rifle. He had been spoiled with his light meals. I relieved the savage, found the fox`s head in the telescope and sent a solid 40-grain ball right behind his eye. It was over in an instant. The .22 WMR did a great job. I had just received a new Savage Model 24 with a .22 WMR barrel sitting above a .410 shotgun barrel. I had a Weaver 4x riflescope mounted on the gun, and it was a saddle driver at 100 meters. Since the most problematic predators at the time were foxes, bobcats, raccoons, opossums and occasional weasels, not hawks, I thought the Savage Model 24 would be the perfect weapon for predator control. A friend had two Walker dogs that I knew would help find a raccoon quickly and easily. Several members of the religious group that organized the dinner wanted to join the hunt.