What cartridge do you use for deer?

[fabsroman]

I have used the 22-250 with 62gr gold dots and it hammers deer for such a little pill. Does the 204 have suitable bullets for deer? Impact velocities above 3k fps warrant a bonded or mono in my opinion.

Think I am just going to let them use my .220 Swift loaded with 50gr Barnes XLC bullets. It has been over a decade since I have rifle hunted, but I know I always loaded these things up for some velocity back then. Cannot wait to get my reloading room set up and get back into all of this. With the gun being somewhat on the heavy side, the recoil was almost non-existent.

I started looking through the boxes for this stuff and realized I have so many .224 varmint bullets. Might be a lifetime supply for the .220 Swift, but I'll probably use them in .223 Rem too. Luckily for me though, most have red tips on them. Trying to sort through the Barnes XLC and the Barnes VLC ain't easy.

Only pause I have is with 50gr bullets in .224. I run 150gr Barnes XLC bullets in my .300 Win Mag and was always under the impression that I could use less weight with an all copper bullet. The .300 Win Mag has performed flawlessly when I have done my part, but that is also with 150gr of bullet, not 50gr. Guess I am going to find out what the 50gr bullet does.

.220 Swift on the left and .270 Win on the right.

 

[rossiski]

I have used the 22-250 with 62gr gold dots and it hammers deer for such a little pill. Does the 204 have suitable bullets for deer? Impact velocities above 3k fps warrant a bonded or mono in my opinion.

.22-250 is a great deer round. I have killed a lot out to 350 yards with that round.

 

[Zaicran]

308 and 50 Beowulf

I should have said 308 on eastern Shore, and 50 Beowulf here in St. Mary's county. Also, I prefer my 224 Valkyrie for varment..it aklso has enough energy for a deer but is not straight walled.

Pic is of my 50 Beowulf

 

[Zaicran]

And also another choice I have for straight walled is my 500 mag, I have taken deer with it.

 

[ras61]

For 150 yards or more anything between .25-06 and .30-06. If .308 is too boring how about 7mm-08, I don't own one but it always intrigued me? .257 Roberts would be interesting too.

I'm a big fan of the .270 Win, less recoil than the .30-06, ammo readily available, and definitely up to the job - it was Jack O'Conner's favorite!

 

[ras61]

My Winchester Model 94 in 30/30 is my go-to deer dropper. I've dropped deer out to 167 yards with it. Anything more and I switch to my







Patriot in .270.

Under 150 yards the 30/30 is hard to beat, but as you point out, over that you might want to think about something more. I'd rather be prepared for the 200-225 yrd shot even if rare, a little too much is always better than not enough

 

[steves1911]

Think I am just going to let them use my .220 Swift loaded with 50gr Barnes XLC bullets. It has been over a decade since I have rifle hunted, but I know I always loaded these things up for some velocity back then. Cannot wait to get my reloading room set up and get back into all of this. With the gun being somewhat on the heavy side, the recoil was almost non-existent.

I started looking through the boxes for this stuff and realized I have so many .224 varmint bullets. Might be a lifetime supply for the .220 Swift, but I'll probably use them in .223 Rem too. Luckily for me though, most have red tips on them. Trying to sort through the Barnes XLC and the Barnes VLC ain't easy.

Only pause I have is with 50gr bullets in .224. I run 150gr Barnes XLC bullets in my .300 Win Mag and was always under the impression that I could use less weight with an all copper bullet. The .300 Win Mag has performed flawlessly when I have done my part, but that is also with 150gr of bullet, not 50gr. Guess I am going to find out what the 50gr bullet does.

.220 Swift on the left and .270 Win on

Think I am just going to let them use my .220 Swift loaded with 50gr Barnes XLC bullets. It has been over a decade since I have rifle hunted, but I know I always loaded these things up for some velocity back then. Cannot wait to get my reloading room set up and get back into all of this. With the gun being somewhat on the heavy side, the recoil was almost non-existent.

I started looking through the boxes for this stuff and realized I have so many .224 varmint bullets. Might be a lifetime supply for the .220 Swift, but I'll probably use them in .223 Rem too. Luckily for me though, most have red tips on them. Trying to sort through the Barnes XLC and the Barnes VLC ain't easy.

Only pause I have is with 50gr bullets in .224. I run 150gr Barnes XLC bullets in my .300 Win Mag and was always under the impression that I could use less weight with an all copper bullet. The .300 Win Mag has performed flawlessly when I have done my part, but that is also with 150gr of bullet, not 50gr. Guess I am going to find out what the 50gr bullet does.

.220 Swift on the left and .270 Win on the right.

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Those must be the original Barnes bullets I have never seen ones like that. What twist rate is the 220 swift?

 

[Fox123]

98 Buick

 

[Zaicran]

98 Buick

lol

 

[Squaregrouper]

My two cents is something medium sized and slower would be better than ultrafast and small in this instance. The 220 would be better than 223 and 223 can get the job done. But shot placement is still going to be that much more critical. Right in the vitals doesn't matter a lot, so long as it's enough. A 22WMR could be enough if its right in the lungs/heart. More is better still, but it isn't surviving that point, just a question of a bang flop, 20yd run, 50yd run, 100yd run, or 300yd run.

But a .308 through one lung and the liver is going to drop them large fractions of a mile sooner than a .223 or 220 swift through one lung and the liver.

At least for mine, I wouldn't be confident enough of pulling off the perfect shot. Granted, My oldest probably could handle a .308 and can certainly handle my 6.5G. He's shot my Garand from a bench okay. Though it would be way too heavy for him to carry around. He is almost 15, so not a good comparison. I am going to try to get him out hunting in the fall. He is finally showing some real interest, so I need to work on him over the spring and summer and figure out what works best for him. I've got a couple of 6.5G options Howa and AR (what I think will likely work best), that .308 Sako and an AR-10 in .308. Pretty sure the Garand and sporterized 1903A3 are not good choices...

I guess for me I think over some of the bad shots I've had, and even some of the goods ones, where the post-mortem is things like I didn't realize the deer was quartering towards or away from me as much as it was (often because it was standing twisted a little, not just at an angle). And just thinking on what happened and what the hit did and though they weren't, I've had one or two that would have ended worse with a smaller higher velocity bullet. Something bonded and smaller caliber still would have penetrated just fine, but the damage probably still would have been less and rather than finding the deer 300yds away, it might have been 500 or 800 and been gone.

Then again, if they have the discipline (better than me? Lol), or that bit of extra wisdom of Dad there, to make sure of things like only taking a shot if the deer is perfectly broadside. I guess I have so much invested with young hunters I never want their first harvest to be one that gets away, or ends after hours and hour or the next day. It'll always happen someday (or almost certain to). Same reason I won't let any of my kids first deer hunting be archery/crossbow in the backyard. Even with practice, IMHO the level of skill required to ensure a crossbow, and especially a compound bow, shot are good I want that first one to be something much more doable and likely to end well.

Not that we are knocking on neighbor's doors asking if we can search their property.

Howas are pretty fun and very cheap and there are a lot of customizable options...a 16.5" 6.5 Grendel Howa mini 1500 with a typical 3-9x40 scope and heavy barrel is only about 7lbs. Under 8 with a .30 caliber suppressor on it...

I do think, even my oldest is going to be doing more in-place hunting than still hunting. Or if doing the later, it'll be with the rifle shouldered. He is pushing 6 feet (jeez!) but athletic is not his middle name. But yeah, I need something on the lighter weight end of the spectrum for him, that won't beat him up too much. I have thought about my Sako and load some reduced recoil 120/125gr loads for him to practice with and then full power 150s for hunting. He won't have a problem with a full power .308 in a hunting situation, but I think the amount of practice he should really do there is going to be a flinch with loading some reduced velocity 120/125s.

I stated this in the Bambi Whacking Thread, but it should be repeated. If you handload, the 120gr Hornady Interlocks hit really hard out of a Grendel. Mind you I'm shooting steel, but the "clang" and plate movement at 200yds are like I'm shooting a bigger caliber vs. all the other Grendel projectiles. The difference is VERY noticeable.

 

[Virgil Co.C]

762x39 , drops em , never had to track a deer with it. Also like to change up I’ve used 270 , 3006, 3030, 35 Rem, 12g, .50 muzzle load ,do like my 308. Recently 44 super Redhawk no success yet with it . But I would have to say I’ve harvested more deer with my muzzle loader , felt it always shot better&farther than shotgun.Most the time in shotgun county so I would use that instead.

 

[Naptown34]

30-30 or 35 Rem.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[K31]

.454 ball, 70 grains of BP

 

[fabsroman]

Steve,

The twist rate for the 220 swift is 1 in 14.

 

[Muleskinner]

Savage 220 slug gun with accutips One shot, one kill, haven't had to track one yet
Henry lever 357 mag
Ruger American Ranch 350 legend
High Point carbine in 10mm with Buffalo Bore heavies
Glock G20 with a lonewolf 6 inch barrel, again, using the Buffalo Bore heavies

 

[steves1911]

Steve,

The twist rate for the 220 swift is 1 in 14.

Barnes has load data for the swift with 50 gr tsx. The 14 twist rules out heavier pills but the Barnes should certainly do the job especially at 220swift velocities. Hammer bullets may be worth looking at too if you want to experiment. The hammers are a little easier to work up a load for. I've been playing with the 90gr hammer In a 257 wby next step is to test on game performance.

 

[geda]

I was mostly a woods bow hunter but just don't have the time anymore. My suppressed 300BO Ruger American shooting 125gr Fiocchi SST ammo has done everything I have asked of it for the past 6 years. Suppressed supersonic 300BO sounds like a .22 and barely kicks. This year one night I was able to harvest 3 does in under 20 seconds when they were confused and ran towards me. If I had anything more powerful and louder I am willing to bet the outcome would have been different.

My normal shot is a double lung behind the shoulder, they normally run 10-40 yards before falling over. There is no wasted meat and the lungs are soup. When I have a chance to take more than one animal I try to do immobilizing shoulder shots. There is plenty of power to break both shoulders and destroy everything heart-lung area. The only real thing I have noticed different from a 30-06 is that a high shoulder shot is not a guaranteed DRT. That is something that I can live with given how quiet this setup is. The only thing I might change is switching to a 10" break barrel pistol. I was lucky enough to buy two cases of this ammo before COVID.

 

[730waters]

Sako 25-06

 

[dlharsh]

When I hunted mainly in Garrett County and WV it was usually a 270, 30-06, 300 wsm or 50 caliber muzzleloader. Now I hunt more in Baltimore County and I've sold my Savage 220 20 guage and gone to 450 Bushmasters or a 50 caliber muzzleloader. Carried a Howa mini in 350 Legend a few days this year but haven't shot a deer with it yet.

 

[ChrisD]

My primary West Virginia deer rifle -
Remington pump 30-06,
shooting Remington Core-Loct 150 grain.
In MD I use a Savage Apex 350 legend, shooting Winchester Deer Season XP 150 grain.
Muzzleloader - Thompson Center Triumph.

All 3 have Leupold glass on them. The Savage was a combo that had a Vortex Crossfire 3-9 When I purchased it.