.223 WSSM on whitetail

[sharpshooter94]

I found a nice rifle at the gun shop today chambered in .223 WSSM. I am wondering if that caliber would be sufficient to effectively down deer with one shot to the H/L area. Thanks

[southtexas]

With the right bullet, it would work fine. With the wrong bullet (read varmint bullet) you could have a mess on your hands.

[sharpshooter94]

I was thinking about starting reloading. I would put a barnes 62 grain triple shock X on top for that gun

[Twanger]

Will it kill deer? Yes.
Are there much better choices? Yes.

Would I use it for deer? No.

Chuck Hawks has some thoughts on this round.
See: http://www.chuckhawks.com/223wssm.htm

[Just a Hunter]

A 60gr softpoint could easily loose 20% of its bullet weight directly after bullet impact at the velocities you might find with the .223WSSM

This would give you apx 48grs of bullet to punch through a shoulder, ribs and pass through the chest cavity even from a off angled shot and exit.

IMO this is much like taking a 90 mile trip in a car that get exactly 30 mpg and you only have 3 gallons in your tank. If everything works out perfectly you should arrive at your destination just fine, but if even one thing happens to deviate you from your path you will soon be stranded.

There are far better cartridges to be purchased for deer sized game than something of .22 cal

[sharpshooter94]

I found a .257 weatherby I liked also. I think that I'll go with that one. I will be reloading by Christmas so the $100 factory ammo won't be a problem.

[Twanger]

A fine choice!
Please let me know how she shoots, because this is one of the few 'magnum' cartridges that I'd consider shooting.

[dave-t.]

Although they are not popular I've seen two hunters take multiple deer over a few seasons, and never had any more issues than if they were using any other common 'deer' caliber. One of then had problems finding a blood trail once, but all deer were recovered.

The third guy I knew used the wrong bullet, and wounded more deer than it should have taken to figure out somehting was way off with his set up. 40grn ballistic tips are not a deer bullet, but the fool kept after it, until we told him to stop and go get different ammo and re-sight for it if that was the gun he had to use. :mad:

I would use a .22 centerfire and not worry if I had the opportunityto use one. The right bullet and the right shot angle makes or breaks the .22 cals on deer, imo.

I've seen them work too well to say they are unethical to use for deer, but you have to know the weapons limitations are tighter than most other deer hunting firearms.

[LE]

If you get lucky & put the right bullet between the ribs it should work. The key words are IF and RIGHT. Better choices are out there, and the deer deserve this.

[drvsarchryhnt]

Just try to know first on how to use this effectively, putting the right bullet into its perfect places might make it work. Try to search more, if there are better choices than this, just try to use them.

[GF.]

Do they have it in the .243? :rolleyes:

If you haven't plunked your money down yet....

Just how far away do you plan on being when you shoot a deer? :confused:

A garden-variety .243 with a good bullet (and especially with a superbullet like the copper solids) will kill deer very neatly out as far as it makes any sense to bother shooting them, and it will use a small fraction of the powder that the Wby or even a WSSM would require. You will get kicked less, your ears will suffer far less damage, you will shoot better, and you won't cuss yourself for putting up with all that a big manglum entails.

Trust me. I took a big loss trading away a 7 Rem Mag and replacing it with a 7-08. Besides - I shot one deer from pretty far away. 175 or so. Bored me silly, because there's next to nothing to it.

Learn to hunt to within bow range, and a slug gun becomes a Death Ray by comparison. And it's more fun. Waaaaaaaay more fun. :D

[Herne]

Sharpshooter - everyone knows I'm not very pro a magnum round.

So I'll ask the question - of both the 257Wby which I've fired, and the 223WSM.(Which I wouldn't waste my time with even for varmints)

Why bother?

A 6.5x55 will kill any deer including elk out to 300-400yards. Less hassle less grief. Less kick less pain less stress on the bullet.

A 270 will any deer up to 1000lbs out to 400 yards. Less hassle less grief less kick less pain less stress on the bullet.

Why struggle to get a quart out of pint pot or struggle with oddball brass and dies.

If you want a good killing effective round, one shot for many consecutive deer, you cannot beat a relatively slow, heavy for calibre bullet, in and out in front of the 10th rib. Whatever Roy Weatherby said about speed - it don't - it just breaks bullets!

Many of these things were just re-inventions of the wheel- with disadvantages. Take Wby for instance. You get a darn heavy gun for the calibre in the normal range of things, and you get a stock suited to big heavy calibre- to take recoil out in rotaion. So for a tiddler, its going to flip like mad - and the control of muzzle flip is one of the primary factors in a quick recovery of a shot animal. And so it goes on.

[Smokey]

I've shot quiet a few deer with 22 calibers with out problems. But, I only took the good shots, passed on most angled shots, and let a lot of deer walk away. The areas I was hunting at the time had a very good deer population which presented a lot of shooting opportunities. There was no problem letting deer that did not offer good easy shots to walk.

However these 22 calibers are not good for use on deer. Many areas hunters might only have one opportunity for a shot during the season. In those cases many of those shots are not easy ones. In cases like this you should be using a larger caliber.

[southtexas]

Well said, Smokey. And I would add that if one insists on using a 22CF for deer, it is prudent to chose a bullet designed for deer, not for varmints.

[GF.]

Hell, brother - I'd say strictly mandatory!

I grew up with a guy who ended up doing some work on an operation somewhere in Africa. He said they culled their zebras with a .22-250, and it worked perfectly. Just shine 'em, put a hollowpoint right between the eyes, and the neck would be bloodshot for the better part of a foot below the skull :rolleyes:

Screw the .22s, screw all the Wbys.... For that matter, screw all the magnums of any stripe, and I wouldn't even mess with a .243/6mm.

How about a .257 Roberts, a 7-08 or a .270? You like metrics? How about a 6.5 Swede or a 7X57 Mauser? Wanna split the difference? How about a.260 Rem?

There are too many good choices to tolerate the use of a marginal option.

[Hi Ball]

Name that tune! OR Pick a caliber!---???

I say NO to the .223 calibers period! However, the .243 or 25/06 works great for the most part and has for decades. The .257 Weatherby is just a HOT-ROD 25/06 and is very versatile in being able to go both ways on varmints like coyotes and antelope or mulies out across a bean field.

Herne made a very good point on bringing up the 6.5 x 55 and the .270 Winchester, which since 1922 has been knocking off big bucks up to elk size animals. The 6.5 x 55 may not be the fastest in comparison to he 1/4 bore Weatherby but it gets the job done in spades. On the other hand, the .270 Winchester has never been slow using a 130 grain bullet. It has a very long outstanding track record for taking deer in the fields or the mountains.

I would advice to get your hands on a reloading manual or book and do some serious comparing before you lay your hard earned cash down on a rifle, especially that .257-Weatherby. It takes a huge amount of powder to fill that large case (20%) with only about 8% grain over the other calibers like the 25/06. Ammo for the Weatherby is also 25% to 35% higher in price.

I myself have used the 25/06 for the last dozen years and have found it great to have when hunting whitetail or shooting coyotes in my area. Brass is simple to come by......FREE at the shooting range during sighting of folks nocking off the dust on their deer rifles prior to the season. In short the .25/06 or the .270 Winchester makes one heck of a deer gun to say the least.

[Herne]

'Specially with 150g bullets. :D

I'm not convinced by speed at all I'm afraid. You can make up for a lot of lost speed by good choice of zero, and as always, the faster you go the more risk of a bullet tumbling or blowing up. Less so with the new solids of course, but you are still mashing meat and scattering bone splinters, without doing any more to kill the animal deader or quicker.

Still it all comes down to a gun that's easy to place the round with.
And a gun that assists a quick recovery.

Medium weight, medium calibre, medium speed. Dull - but very very effective.

[Hi Ball]

Herne yes indeed, we are on the same page! I really didn't fall in love with the .270 Winchester caliber until I tried using those Nosler 160 grain partition bullets several years back. Hey, they work like a charm when shooting big bucks far down range or even a elk within decent range and I do mean under 300 yards in case some may be wondering.;) :)

[Herne]

Well under 300 I'd guess Hi Ball!;)

[Wapitibill]

Everybody knows that the .270 is totally inadequate for elk.

[Hi Ball]

Wapitibill..........Yeah, everybody that has NEVER taken to put a 160 grain Nosler Partition bullet in the chamber!!! It will kill elk out to 300 yards just as well as any 30-06 with a 180 grain bullet, now that is a fact because this hunter has done so more than once mind you.:rolleyes:

Granted it will limit those TEXAS heart shots some hunters take in the dark timber but it will surely penetrate an elk's shoulder under 200 yards and maybe further don't know for positive. I have killed elk with a 25-06 but I won't call that caliber or advise anyone to use it on elk understand. The .270 Winchester caliber loaded up with those 150 grain TSX bullets or Nosler's Partition in the 160 grain will do the job and that is absolute fact.

[Herne]

I have no doubt an Interlock would do it too, but I agree, a monolithic solid is the way to go. Why not have the penetration if it is available. Seems unwise to turn it down!

And then stick it in the right place. Funny how that multiplies calibre potency by a minimum of 500% . :D

[howdydoit]

I try to stay away from 22 cal for deer.

Around here alot of fathers like to go to the field with their sons and a 243. While I like the 243 I dont think it is a deer cartridge in a young boy or girls hands. An experianced shooter sure.

[Hi Ball]

Now then, there is just something about a good ole 30-30 that bring to my mind what a deer caliber should be, starting at the bottom of the ladder. It has less than 12 pounds of recoil, shoots a 170 grain bullet faster than most of those handguns hunters call big pistols and has a track record in doing so for long past a century. The ammo is still the cheapest deer round on the shelf!;):)