effective range of 223?

[Jack]

Well as all things I reckon what you see is what you believe and hunting in la from its swaps to its hills I all ways laugh when we take the rolling tape back to the shot from the the stand to where we find the deer or first blood 300yrds lolololo

I don't know if this is farmer Fran or boomhauer, either way Rosetta Stone is missing out on a great market.

 

[blitztech]

My hatred for them has always been that it is an inferior gun. If it cost $200 I would understand but you can buy a cheap AR for the same price. I've shot 3 Mini 14s and none of them were reliable. Its a gun that I just don't "get". But I'm glad someone likes them. That sellout William Ruger needs money too I guess.

I only paid $400 for mine so I consider it very worthy for the price. I saw one for sale at Jefferson Gun a few weeks ago for $1300 and shuttered to think that anyone might actually pay that. If I spent that much I'd probably hate them too I suppose.

 

[Emperor]

A properly placed shot from a Benjamin Pump in .177 can kill a deer. In the real world of hunting from the; I was there, files; I noticed that small calibers (.243 in this case), would kill deer, but would not spill enough blood to track them efficiently. Of the 4 deer my son shot with the .243 only one bled like a stuck pig, and I never found it. Ironically and perhaps only coincidentally, it was his furthest shot.

So, if I applied this same logic to an even smaller caliber (.223 in this case); I personally wouldn't expect different results on blood letting for tracking.

Now, I've no experience with a Mini-14 so I can't comment on that original question of accuracy. But, since this thread took the turn of caliber size for killing deer, voila!

You shoot anything in the head with it, it's going down! But that's not the OP question now is it? I don't shoot them in the head anymore anyway. Too messy! That neck is large enough for me. And it, like the head shot is a light switch!

FWIW of course!

 

[JNieman]

I've seen 223 blow out significant chunks of head and neck, myself. Like anything else in the world, you need to pick the bullet that does what you want it to do. If you want to create a big exit wound, there are several deep-penetrating fragmenting bullets that'll do that for you, and try to spill the blood quickly. If you want a bullet that retains as close to 100% of it's mass as possible for internally 'clean' shots, they have good heavier hitters for that, too.

Bottom line is that there's nothing /different/ about using .223 than using any other cartridge on deer, and it still drops stuff dead. Anecdotes don't matter - I know guys who've lost deer after shooting them with belted magnum 30 cal rounds, and I and others have hit 'em with .223 and had them DRT.

Here's some online documentation of it's ****shitupness:

.223 on deer: http://www.ar15.com/mobile/topic.html?b=10&f=23&t=626832
A pretty good collection of using .223/5.56 on various medium game with lots of pictures of effective MurderDeathKill http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=3&f=16&t=519091

More documentation: http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Wound+Database/.224+cal+-+Winchester+Factory.html

Even the Fudd-mag says it's ok http://www.americanhunter.org/blogs/223-for-deer-hunting

 

[Rebeldave]

I've seen 223 blow out significant chunks of head and neck, myself. Like anything else in the world, you need to pick the bullet that does what you want it to do. If you want to create a big exit wound, there are several deep-penetrating fragmenting bullets that'll do that for you, and try to spill the blood quickly. If you want a bullet that retains as close to 100% of it's mass as possible for internally 'clean' shots, they have good heavier hitters for that, too.

Bottom line is that there's nothing /different/ about using .223 than using any other cartridge on deer, and it still drops stuff dead. Anecdotes don't matter - I know guys who've lost deer after shooting them with belted magnum 30 cal rounds, and I and others have hit 'em with .223 and had them DRT.

Here's some online documentation of it's ****shitupness:

.223 on deer: http://www.ar15.com/mobile/topic.html?b=10&f=23&t=626832
A pretty good collection of using .223/5.56 on various medium game with lots of pictures of effective MurderDeathKill http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=3&f=16&t=519091

More documentation: http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Wound+Database/.224+cal+-+Winchester+Factory.html

Even the Fudd-mag says it's ok http://www.americanhunter.org/blogs/223-for-deer-hunting

how many have you dropped with a mini-14

 

[JNieman]

Does the mini-14 somehow magically transform the .223/5.56 cartridge into something different? I don't see why it's relevant to bring a gun into a cartridge discussion. You said 223 isn't good for deer. I strongly disagreed.

 

[tallwalker]

Years ago, I watched a friend drop a deer where it was standing with a slingshot. Shot placement.

 

[Rebeldave]

Does the mini-14 somehow magically transform the .223/5.56 cartridge into something different? I don't see why it's relevant to bring a gun into a cartridge discussion. You said 223 isn't good for deer. I strongly disagreed.

If you go back to the beginning of this thread the question? Was about the rifle not the cartridge. With iron sights at 100yrds you would be very good to put your rounds on a pie plate at a range. Add adrenalin in the scenario and the average Louisiana brush with that rifle no go for deer. Yes I shoot a 30/06 best round made.

 

[JNieman]

Ok, then the rifle isn't good for deer (debatable) - it's nothing to do with the cartridge though. I think that much is quite clear.

 

[mickey]

Here's your requested picture.
Shot at 80 yards with a 60 grain Nosler Partition. Went 3 steps before falling. A.223 may not be the best round for deer hunting but in the right hands it can get the job done. Olympic Arms AR-15. This is the 5th one taken with it.

They tied it to the tractor so you could shoot it and not have to track it down?












All Jokes aside, can you knock a deer down at 100y with a mini 14......... probably.

Are there better MUCH better options out there to do it with.... YES

 

[charlie12]

I killed a Mocking Bird when I was 15 with a rock. It really impressed my city cousins when the bird hit the ground. Oh it wasn't flying it was on a Dixie Electric line running across the driveway.

 

[JR1572]

I killed a Mocking Bird when I was 15 with a rock. It really impressed my city cousins when the bird hit the ground. Oh it wasn't flying it was on a Dixie Electric line running across the driveway.

Should have used the rock on that pitbull that chewed up the Aerostar.

JR1572

 

[senseiturtle]

It's my opinion that -yes- a .223 will kill a deer. No doubt about it... but that's not necessarily the issue. The issue is if you make a poor shot (through poor gun precision, bad optics, poor trigger discipline, shooting too far, etc), higher-power rifles will give you more leeway in whether or not the animal actually dies quickly and humanely.

I use a 7mm-08. Light recoil, fantastic ballistics, and just an overall pleasure to shoot. While this is NOT about that cartridge, if I miss vitals, the impact of the additional 1,400 joules of energy (or ~1000 lbft, whatever) is theorized to partially make up for my mistakes. The larger cartridge and higher energies COULD turn a non-instant kill into a more humane, instant kill. The extreme example is a 50BMG.. i'm sure as long as you don't hit the legs, it'll kill quick, in addition to field-dressing the animal.

Of course, no one's performed the studies, so it's all in theory... but there's a reason why there are state-minimum calibers for certain game.

Use whatever you want. For the animal's sake, strike hard and aim true. If your mini-14 can hit apples at 100 yards, use it.

 

[mickey]

Should have used the rock on that pitbull that chewed up the Aerostar.

JR1572

 

[JNieman]

. but there's a reason why there are state-minimum calibers for certain game.

Prejudice or ignorance, I assume.

 

[charlie12]

Should have used the rock on that pitbull that chewed up the Aerostar.

JR1572

I wasn't there, my girlfriend was

 

[JR1572]

I wasn't there, my girlfriend was

If you would have been there with a rock, that pit bull would have been in trouble.

JR1572

 

[charlie12]

If you would have been there with a rock, that pit bull would have been in trouble.

JR1572

Would have been a X7 MF'er.

 

[Jmann]

..

 

[Jmann]

That kinda makes me sad :/ Ruger is not bad with a lot of their stuff. And a mag fed ranch rifle is like... it's a good thing. It's just a shame that they apparently made a less-than-par product with that premise

Well sorta did a trade with my father for his marlin 444 and yes he's still Pissed .