is the .223 caliber a good caliber for white tail?

It depends. Under 1 yards on small Whitetail, which is typical in Texas for example, it CAN work well if you use the proper bullet. Use the heaviest bullet that your rifle can stabilize based on its rifling twist rate. Even if this is only 55 grains, make sure you use a GAME bullet, not a varmint bullet, not a target bullet, and not a military bullet, a GAME bullet.

If you use the properly constructed bullet, its 13 ft-lbs of energy will do the job if you do yours. Its bad reputation (and therefore being outlawed in some states) came from people not using the proper game bullet and suffering terminal performance.

EDIT: Please do NOT take George’s advice to therefore go for head shots. A small miss on a head shot can leave a deer with a broken jaw, and a certain agonizingly long death while it runs so far away you never catch it to finish the bad job. PLEASE do not go for head shots. The necessary target is small and moves around extremely quickly and without warning even when they are standing still.

I would use it but only if i could trust myself with only needing no more than 2 shots. If I’m at a nasty angle i wouldn’t use the .223. I would more likely use a .308 or .30-06. The more common and preferred cartridges for whitetail .243, .270, .308, .30-30, .30-06. I myself wouldn’t use anything smaller than a .270. But mainly i use either the .308 or .30-06. Used my dad’s 740 .30-06 2 years ago to get my first deer. I think he knows now his gun is fine its just he needs to aim better. I would more look towards a .270, .308 or .30-06 for hunting.

My next gun will probably be a Remington pump-action 760/76 .30-06. And i will probably use either 180 or 220 grain bullets because i hunt in heavy wooded and brushed areas so i need a heavier bullet to cut through all of it.

@USA are you on crack? The reason why the M16s were jamming was because it was so futuristic everyone and their brother thought it was self cleaning and they were never issued the cleaning tools. And they were also using the wrong powder it was either ball powder they should have used or sticky powder. Either way they switched the powder and the M16 was working properly. Then troops were issued cleaning kits with calender girl cartoons telling them how to clean it. Fact of the matter is the M16 was and still is an good rifle. Though i still think they could have improved the M14 much more than they did back then but now we have the M14 EBR (Enhanced Battle Rifle).

But for the .223 if you do end up using it go with the heaviest grain bullet out there a either a 60 or 75 grain bullet.

The .223 is not a recommended cartridge for whitetail hunting because it simply does not have the ballistics and downrange kinetic energy to make a clean, humane kill. If you are too close, the high velocity round will punch though without expanding and at longer ranges, (1 yards and beyond) it bleeds off energy too quickly. It is a great round for varmits, coyotes, etc., but to use it on whitetail is to run the risk of watching a wounded deer run away and not bleed enough to die quickly.

If you have an AR platform and are wanting to use it, there is a new caliber recently developed by Hornady called the .3 Whisperer. The only modification you need to make to the rifle is a new barrel. Your current magazines will work on the new bullets, and it is much better on whitetail than a .223.

The “Best” caliber is the one you can shoot with accuracy and confidence under less then ideal conditions in the field. While the “Ideal” caliber for deer has been debated before, I like a minimum of a .243 caliber, the .270 and .30/06 have got to be the most widely used for deer with a history of fine results. But really, it comes down to you the shooter as to what caliber you feel comfortable with.

That depends on how accurately you can place a bullet, how big of a deer and whether it’s legal in your state. If you’re not sure of your shooting, want to take longer shots or shoot a big buck I would definitely choose a larger caliber.

I like .223. I use a scoped T/C Encore pistol with a 15″ bbl to kill pigs with very precise upper neck shots with a 60gr Federal NP bullet. I also have a 7mm-08 and a 30-06 but if I think I can use the .223 I will.

No.

HISTORY LESSON.

The original round was the .222 which was used for varmint hunting. It was a great round, accurate and took them down nicely.

In the meantime, Stoner designed a gun firing the 308 round to complete for the new Army rifle, going against an updated M1 …called the M14. The Stoner design was not very good and lost the competition and the Army went with the M14.

Later, the Army decided it wanted a smaller companion gun to go with the M14 for non-combat troops. The same idea as the M1 Carbine being the smaller companion gun of the M1 Garand.

So they had another competition, using a smaller round, the .223 which was a bit more powerful than the .222. Stoner reworked his gun and made all kinds of wild promises about it, such as it will not need cleaning. The gun won the competition. THEN a bean counting business guy with no military experience named MacNamara decided that that one gun would become THE gun for the Army. He had them throw out the M14 and everyone got the M16 because it was cheaper to make and the ammo was a lot cheaper too. Then the guns jammed and troops died. But the bean counter did not care, he was saving money.

He tried the same thing with the F-111 and that turned into a disaster too. The Plane got so heavy trying to meet the demands of the Air Force, Navy and Marines that it got too heavy for the carriers and the Navy and Marines dumped it. Then the USAF found out it was not a good fighter anyway so they turned it into a bomber. Anyway, back to the gun.

For the next FIFTY years they have worked on that gun to make it work reliably. And in the meantime, we forced the sucky .223 on all the other NATO nations too. In an attempt to overcome the problems of the round, they redesigned it, making it a bit more powerful and renamed it the 5.56 NATO. And it still is a crappy round.

A round that is not good at taking people down certainly is not good for taking deer down. You need to get at least a 270 or 308. if you have a .223, use it for small game and coyotes.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call .223 Rem. “good” for whitetail.

But if you use a heavy for caliber bullet that is designed for medium game, keep your shots relatively short, and don’t take steep quartering shots, it is adequate. This round will shred a deer’s lungs just the same as the bigger rounds if you do your part. .223 just limits your shot opportunities.

Not good. If you have no larger choice and it is legal it will work. Shot placement and bullet selection are key. You do not want fast expansion as is the case with many 223 bullets. I have shot deer with .22-250 and it penetrated to the heart and that was as far as it got.

The .223 will kill a deer with a well placed shot, just like a .22lr will.

Is it a good caliber for White tail deer? No.

Just because it CAN be used, doesn’t mean it SHOULD be used.

The 223 is not a good hunting round unless you are shooting small varmit type animals. I prefer the 30.06 round for hunting deer, elk or other large game. The .270 or 7MM are also good choices. Each has multiple bullet weights and styles and these three are well documented ballistics if you are going to be adding as scope to your rifle.

The .308 is an expensive round to shoot but is gaining in popularity but for an all around hunting rifle I’d chose the 30.06.

Source(s): 1941 Winchester Model 70 Govt. chambered to 30.06
Remington 7 30.06
Winchester 2