22 cal. Shoulder Shots

[timeout]

I have shot several whitetails with a .223 and 55 gr. Remington soft point handloads, mainly neck shots. DRT. I remember shooting one in the rib cage area from about 100 yards. It did not go but about 25 yards. Has anyone used any of the available 70 to 80 grain bullets in a fast twist .223 (or even a 22-250) and taken whitetails with a shoulder shot? If so, what bullet were you using? Yardage? Penetration? Weight retention? My wife is recoil sensitive and uses a .223 for deer hunting. I'm seeking real world experience, not conjecture. Thanks for viewing.

 

[Greyfox]

I am an advocate for .224 bullets and deer hunting. I've killed near 40 with either a .223 or a 5.6x50AI (similar ballistics to a 22-250). While I have shot a couple in the shoulder area, I much prefer neck shots. There are folks who argue vehemently against this practice for one reason or another, but most have no real experience. I've never lost a deer with a neck shot, but I've lost several using larger bullets with shoulder/heart/lung shots as I hunt it very heavy cover and it's easy to lose one if you don't see it go down. When you think about it, it doesn't take a large heavy bullet to let the air out of a whitetail. It's bullet placement that's important. I use both a Speer Bonded Bearclaw 55gr (discontinued) and a Nosler 60gr Partition. Both are more than adequate. I have shot deer with a 260 Remington, blown out hearts and lungs and still had them run 1-200 yards. When you take a neck shot, you don't have that problem.

Rick

 

[fredo]

Kilt a handfull of whitetails with 70gr TSX from a 22-243Win @ ~3475fps. Ranges from 40-280yds. In intentionally took a shoulder shot on one large doe, and that 70gr blew thru both shoulder blades just like a TSX is posta do. Never recovered a 70gr TSX to weigh...

From a .223, the 62gr or even the 53grTSX should perform admirably on a shoulder shot. But I'd still opt for taking a broadside 'double lunger', since I prefer my deer partially bled out before field dressing...
Have fun!

 

[rogn]

My experience with 22 cal is limited to one deer, a doe double lunged that ran about 80-100 yds and got lost due to lack of blood trail. Say what you will regards caliber , shot placement(excluding CNS), no 2 deer react the same. If I ever shoot deer again with a 22 it will be with a Partition or a TSX bullet. 2 holes are always better than one, especially if Im "letting the air out."

 

[1lnbrdg]

All shots taken with my 20" service rifle:

2 deer with 69gr SMK's, both DRT, shoulder or front chest shots. Trying to keep them out of the pea patch.

2 hogs with 77gr Noslers, DRT again, shoulder shot and front chest shots, worked really there.

Not my 1st choice normally but they seem to work.

 

[kmon]

Have killed quit a few with 22 cal bullets and cartridges from 22 Hornet to 22-243. The 2 most reliable bullets I have used are the 60 gr Partition and 75gr Sirocco. Though I have used neck and head shots many times I prefer to let the air out of them and those 2 bullets work.

 

[snert]

Dislaimer: All deer were late summer culls, at night, with a light on a permit.

That said, I have 20 full sized NY does down and all from either 22-250 or 220 Swift, 55 grain Vmax. Some were headshot. The 10 or 12 others were chest shot. One deer ran 40 yards full out and flipped like a cottontail hit with a 12 ga. The rest either flopped right there and died or hopped about ten feet and piled up. Small hole in close side, quarter size hole in ribs, total mush, then fist sized hole in opposite ribs with shrapnel (ribs) blasted thru opposite side. Never shot one in the shoulder as I found no need. I wouldn't with that bullet. Shots from 50 to 200 yards

But in a hunting situation I would chose something with more weight and mushrooming...maybe a BR and some sort of TSX.

 

[drags]

I have shot one doe with a 8 twist 22x47 lapua using a 80 gr. hornady a-max 3174 fps, shot in the shoulder the deer went straight down and the bullet went clean through the deer. I am very impressed with this bullet and I have several kills on groundhogs between 504 and 510 yards.
Drags

 

[stacy]

DON'T DO THE SHOULDER THING BUT MY LITTLE 223 W/55GR BARNES TTSX IS A DEADLY COMBO LIKE SAID SHOT PLACEMENT IS EVERYTHING THEY DON'T LIKE THEM ANY WHERE AROUND THE NECK AREA NO MATTER THE SIZE.

 

[AckleymanII]

Timeout, if your wife is recoil sensitive, would you be sensitive to upgrading to a 22/250? The Nosler 60g Partition just massacres deer, no kidding, good as any 30/06! A Savage Apex with it's faster twist would sure be very accurate with this bullet and light enough for her to handle the rifle.

Contact me if you need further info. A friend with a very old Sako 14 twist 22/250 killed several hundred deer in his apple orchard with std 55g Rem soft points, But the Nosler partition will kill them from any angle. My friend of course had a depredation permit.

P.O. Ackley made famous the 220 Swift killing deer with the 45g Spt, head and neck shots of course.

No one would ever imagine the damage of a 22/250 with a 60g Nosler loaded with a close to max load of IMR or H 4350, no kidding.

 

[savagedasher]

Bone is your friend with any caliber. Yes a 223 will kill if the shot is placed right. But too many times you only wound. That isn't ethical hunting. In 60 years of hunting I never have lost a Deer. an I have killed them with 22 rim to 375 HH, shot guns and archery. All because I knew the limit of the equipment I was using. Yes a 224 CAL will kill Larry

 

[Juma]

Try 65gr Sierra with 24gr BM2. Match made in heaven.Super pill. We kill lotsa deer with it under the moonbeam.

 

[Terry_M]

Have used as light as 50gr Sierra Blitz and as heavy as 70gr Speer SP to kill deer with a 223 Rem. None went more than 100 feet from where they stood when shot. All shot behind front shoulder.

 

[areaone]

75 grain a max. Deadly.

 

[wboggs]

Have used a .22-6mm with a 70gr TSX on a couple of does. Side shoulder shot with complete penetration. Neither moved after the 200yd shot, golfball size exit on off shoulder. Agree that shot placement is the key.
Bill

 

[hogdogger]

We've had great results with the 60 gr partition and 53 gr TSX in 22-250 and 22 PPC on Axis deer, Feral goats and wild boar. Longest shot taken was probably around 200 yds or so. I dont remember recovering any bullets although its been literally hundreds of head taken so I could be forgetting some.

As others have obviously stated that shot placement is KEY!

 

[timeout]

75 grain a max. Deadly.

Does anyone have a single 75 gr. A-Max that I could beg or buy in order to ck. mag length and seating depth to throat with for my Rifle? Thanks for your help in advance! (Just don't want to buy a hundred and then have to resell them.)

 

[M14AMU]

I killed a 200# 8 pt this past year at 247 yards using 22/250 and a 90 gr. Sierra bullet and he hit the ground so hard I needed a pick axe to dig his whacker out of the gumbo!! I've taken lots of whitetails the last 60 years and I've seen none that hit the ground quicker! Rifle is 1-7" twist. Shot was slightly aft of the right shoulder.