Joined
·
505 Posts
Went out this last weekend for late rifle season and ended up with some interesting bullet performance that I thought you guys might be interested in. I was using some cheap 223 hollow point, don't remember the brand.
So the deer was at 150ish yards and facing almost straight towards me. There were a few deer and they all seemed skittish so I didn't exactly take my time with the shot but it still felt good, I could tell by how she jumped that I made contact. I get over to her and I see blood coming out right behind her front shoulder. She was facing me and I aimed for a center mass heart shot and so I was very confused how this could be. Upon opening her up I see that the bullet entered almost perfectly in the center of her chest, maybe hit rib bone although I forgot to look, made a left turn and exited right behind the front shoulder. The bullet left the barrel on a path for the heart but after making such a sharp turn it barely got one of the lungs, missing the heart entirely. Judging by the permanent would cavity either the small hollow point did not expand or is still small enough that the permanent cavity was still not very large.
I have always been of the belief that shot placement is by far the most important thing and that bullet weight/velocity/expansion style all just gave you more room for error. I always thought that people who complain about 223 hunting performance just need to suck less and aim better. The deer that I shot this fall with the same ammo had much better results but with this one, considering I put the bullet exactly where it needed to go, I can really only blame the cartridge. I would guess the bullet was going 2700-2800fps upon arrival so my assumption is that the 55gr weight was the issue. She only went about 40yds after being hit but that is the farthest I have ever had one go so the performance was obviously not the best.
Where I normally hunt the deer may be at 200yd or they may be at 20ft (like the one I shot last fall) so that is why I use my 20in barrel AR with a 3-9x optic as opposed to my 308 with a 6-24x as the lowest setting of 6x is still too much when the deer is at pistol ranges. This particular day I was at a different field where 100yd would be the closest possible shot so I had planned on switching out rifles but I forgot to do so until I was already on my way to the field.
Overall I don't think there is any possible way a deer could walk away from a shot with that bullet placement, but the way the bullet deflected and almost missed the vitals entirely does give me some things to think about for my future weapon of choice. Food for thought
I'm sure some of you will be bothered and even say its "unethical" that I would use such a small bullet for deer hunting but this is definitely not the first deer I have taken with a 223. One of them didn't take a step, and the others weren't much better off.
So the deer was at 150ish yards and facing almost straight towards me. There were a few deer and they all seemed skittish so I didn't exactly take my time with the shot but it still felt good, I could tell by how she jumped that I made contact. I get over to her and I see blood coming out right behind her front shoulder. She was facing me and I aimed for a center mass heart shot and so I was very confused how this could be. Upon opening her up I see that the bullet entered almost perfectly in the center of her chest, maybe hit rib bone although I forgot to look, made a left turn and exited right behind the front shoulder. The bullet left the barrel on a path for the heart but after making such a sharp turn it barely got one of the lungs, missing the heart entirely. Judging by the permanent would cavity either the small hollow point did not expand or is still small enough that the permanent cavity was still not very large.
I have always been of the belief that shot placement is by far the most important thing and that bullet weight/velocity/expansion style all just gave you more room for error. I always thought that people who complain about 223 hunting performance just need to suck less and aim better. The deer that I shot this fall with the same ammo had much better results but with this one, considering I put the bullet exactly where it needed to go, I can really only blame the cartridge. I would guess the bullet was going 2700-2800fps upon arrival so my assumption is that the 55gr weight was the issue. She only went about 40yds after being hit but that is the farthest I have ever had one go so the performance was obviously not the best.
Where I normally hunt the deer may be at 200yd or they may be at 20ft (like the one I shot last fall) so that is why I use my 20in barrel AR with a 3-9x optic as opposed to my 308 with a 6-24x as the lowest setting of 6x is still too much when the deer is at pistol ranges. This particular day I was at a different field where 100yd would be the closest possible shot so I had planned on switching out rifles but I forgot to do so until I was already on my way to the field.
Overall I don't think there is any possible way a deer could walk away from a shot with that bullet placement, but the way the bullet deflected and almost missed the vitals entirely does give me some things to think about for my future weapon of choice. Food for thought
I'm sure some of you will be bothered and even say its "unethical" that I would use such a small bullet for deer hunting but this is definitely not the first deer I have taken with a 223. One of them didn't take a step, and the others weren't much better off.