Mar
09
hunting deer and pigs with a .223 rifle?
ByIf the only gun you own is a .223 rifle, and you need to go hunting for food, would it be able to kill a big deer or pig with one shot to the body. I do not mean kill them dead on the spot, but would the wound kill them within the hour, so you could just follow the blood and find the animal dead. I was think from a distance of 200 yards.
11 Comments
March 9th, 2010 at 4:43 am
Short answer is yes, a properly place bullet from a .223 Remington will cleanly take a deer or a pig if the shot is placed perfectly. The largest Brown Bear ever taken in Alaska was killed by a native girl with a 22 rimfire do it can be done, just not the best choice.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:19 am
the first deer that i ever killed was shot with a 223 savage.
have never tried to kill a pig with one,but i think that it will do the trick just fine.uaually i shoot pigs with a 308
i think even a 22 or a 17 will do the job if the shot placement is correct
March 9th, 2010 at 5:29 am
Yes, no problem. I’ve killed a deer with a .22 rifle. Just make sure you get ‘em in the lungs or heart and lungs. With a larger animal a .223 may not have enough power to penetrate the internal organs for a kill. Good luck and be careful.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:10 am
The short answer is yes you could. As others have said, not the best choice and shooting deer with a .223 is illegal in most states so check in your state to confirm you can hunt big game with this cartridge.
I once shot a huge pig in LA with an AR-15 when stationed there and killed it with a lung/heart shot. It still ran for about 300 yards. (Didn’t know it was dead because their blood flows so slowly I guess) So it can be done, but if you can beg or borrow a friend or family members larger caliber your chances are much better to drop an animal with one humane shot.
Good luck hunting.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:16 am
A heart or head shot with a 223 will put down a deer or pig as fast as anything else would. I’d get closer and be certain of switching off the animal with that one good shot. If you get back in to the lungs or liver then the animal is going to take hours or days to die.
A 223 on a big animal will typically leave no exit wound and the bleeding will mostly be internal. If you are intending the usual lazy ‘somewhere in the vitals’ shot then you are condemning an animal to a slow and private death.
How about trading your 223 for something that makes a bigger hole?
March 9th, 2010 at 6:48 am
223 is legal in a few states, and it’ll work, but it’s iffy. In my youth, when it was still a new cartridge, I came across a buddy in the woods who’d killed a sow with several well-placed shots from his 223, but not before she ran him into the bed of his pickup and put a pretty good dent in the tailgate. And there’s always the possibility it won’t penetrate at all, so it’s best to be near a tree you can climb if you’re going to take on a big boar hog or get between a sow and her pigs.
March 9th, 2010 at 7:32 am
If you are a REAL hunter you want a clean kill nothing else. IF you are in a survival situation you can kill a deer or pig but the odds of a clean kill are low compared to bigger calibers! A .223 is good for fox and coyote but is not a good firearm for survival or deer hunting.
For survival I would suggest a 12 guage shotgun and you can carry slugs (for bear or deer) or bird shot and even flares. A Winchester 30.30 trapper model is an option too but hard on birds and rabbits.
For deer hunting a 12 guage shotgun or rifle .270 at a minimum!
March 9th, 2010 at 7:42 am
A “perfect” hit will of course drop an animal fairly quickly. If I were starving, I sure would use what I had to feed the family. Having said that, with a .223 you have to make sure you don’t use full metal jacketed ammo as it won’t work well on animals, not expanding properly. Also, hollow points might work on a deer, but not on a hog. I’d use soft points for bets results. Also, a .223 is not legal in some states for hunting. My brother hit a fair sized buck with a .223. He hit a little high and back. He wasn’t much good at tracking and lost the blood trail after about 150 yards. He drove down the mountain and got me. We went back and trailed that deer for a full day, that animal was suffering the whole time. We finally got a chance to finish it off with one shot from my .270 the next morning. Would I shoot a hog with it?? me personnally? no chance. Those are some tough and mean critters. I’ve shot them with both handgun and rifle, but no, I would not use a light .223 on them unless they were a smaller hog.
Possible to hunt with the .223?? yes, recommended??? No
March 9th, 2010 at 7:51 am
The answer is yes, of course a .223 will kill a large deer or pig. Shot placement aside, let’s talk about something that is really important: A hunter’s responsibility.
Shot placement is critical anytime you hunt. But hunters are always under scrutiny. A hunter also must always use enough gun to humanely take the game he is hunting. A .223 is NOT a deer gun. It is a varmint caliber. The largest acceptable game would be the Peccary, known down south as the javalina. It is also good for gobblers if you can make a neck shot. Deer? No, it doesn’t kill them fast enough.
In 1979 I was hunting with some other hunters in South Texas. One of the hunters had just bought an AR-15. I told him I though it was too small for deer and he scoffed at me. He took one small deer and five pigs with single head shots. Then one morning we heard rapid-fire coming from the direction of his blind. We headed out his way and came up on one dead doe. He excitedly said to us that he had just shot the biggest Whitetail deer he had ever seen. It was a trophy buck running with five does (one of which he accidently killed) and it had a Boone & Crockett rack. The neck was completely swollen and he popped it twice in the neck with his AR-15, but the buck just ran off carrying his head cocked to one side. Five of us searched for that buck until 10:00 p.m. that night finding tantalizing patches of blood here and there and once startling the buck which ran before it could be shot with a proper deer rifle. Long story short, we NEVER FOUND THAT TROPHY BUCK.
The next day my friend took out his old tried-n-true Remington 700 ADL in .270 Winchester and never brought that 2-2-3 back to deer camp again. Which is only one reason why I advocate: Always use enough gun. Bullet placement goes without saying. For this reason we have deer rifles, buffalo guns and elephant guns. Hunters are always being criticized. Don’t give the antis anymore ammunition. Use enough gun and bring home the bacon, venison or whatever it is you may be hunting.
Best.
H
March 9th, 2010 at 8:04 am
Yes it can kill them both. The .223 is a pretty versatile caliber. I killed a hog with a .22 hornet hollow point. It stumbled probably three yards bfor it fell dead.
For deer, the .223 is small. Its fast and accurate. IT hits hard. Howevewr, its too small. It will work very well on hogs and anything smaller.
Also, as H said, shot placement is one of the biggest responsibilities of a hunter. Its very inhumane to shoot an animal and expect it to die on its own time. A hunter has a responsibility to make a good clean shot and kill the animal as quick as possible, making it painless for the animal. If you dont, then your not a hunter, just a murderer. Its hunting, not killing. Big difference.
Get ur ethics straite bfor u pull the trigger….
BCKSHOT
March 9th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Yes it is possible, even with a .22LR round.