.22-250 and deer

Hay for y'all hunting and kling deer with .22-250 , what bullet are you using and where are you hitting them ? Also how far are they going ?

55jhp. neck or head. drt

I knew a couple poachers here back in the day that used .22-250 on our big Iowa deer. They liked the accuracy so well for their neck and head shots. DRT. 55gr HP or ballistic tips I'm sure.

Flint beat me to it, but it may be legal there. lol

That’s all I used for probably 15 years. 50 or 55 grain soft points lots of neck shots and heart/ lung shots. Great under rated caliber for deer.

45grbt. left testicle. dsw.

Hornady has loads made especially for deer hunting check the usual ammo suppliers. Shoot them like any other deer.

Mmmmmmhmm. Very interesting so far

I have shot several with mine. Shot a buck at about 200 yards with a 55 grain ballistic tip. Behind the shoulder. Went about 150 yards. Easy recovery. Not much cover never lost sight of it. 55 grain sierra spitzer shoots close enough I dont need to adjust the scope. They dont get that far.

.223, 22-250 are a popular rounds out west they were a real big deal 40 years ago but the newer rounds are now popular also.

60 grain partitions or Sierra 63 grain SMP. I shoot them behind the shoulder. Pass Thru shots and good blood trail. Usually run 50-75 yards.

Wish it was a legal caliber here in VA. Eric

62g lubralux coated nosier ballistic tip. It will clean them for you if you use benchmark powder

I have used Federal Premium Vital - Shok
55 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw ammo ..
It was actually designed for deer ..3600 FPS
Bullet penetration is good ..

I thought ya were right handed

Why do it? A larger cartridge kills them deader from more angles.

I can't think of a single reason I'd want to use a .22 caliber for deer.

Jim

One reason for states to allow the use of an .22 caliber for deer.
So people such as women and children can enjoy the life that r founders built for US

I've killed a truckload of caribou with a .223. (The limit is 5 a day in certain units.) Barnes bullets.

Cause you got a tag in your pocket and your checking traps. Coyote gun is the one you have and opportunity knocks

Nosier has a 60 grain Partition that works good.

Accuracy is everything. Tracking isn't that difficult and a cannon isn't necessary to harvest a deer.

I have killed many but I never had a blood trail. I should have experimented with bullets and believe I was shooting the heaviest soft points I could find but it’s been more than 30 years ago and things are a bit fuzzy. What made me quit using it was when I thought I missed a buck at 50yards and then as it crossed a dike and turned and gave me another shot at a hundred yards at a run. There was around a foot of snow and I found nothing at the first shot and what looked like a small piece of gristle, no blood, at the second shot. I had all but gave up and stopped to take a leak and I looked over and seen an antler sticking out of the snow. I thought some slob shot a buck and never found it, so I went over and grabbed an antler and my buck came out of the snow. I looked at the tracks and it came wide open started staggering and nose dived under the snow. After it crossed the dike and went out of sight I heard the cattails rustling and thought it went in them, but it never did. I had hit it both times double lung the first and just above the rib cage behind the shoulder the second shot. I couldn’t even get blood on my finger from either exit wound, and after that bought a different caliber so I always had a blood trail for tracking.

Yep, but some standard 14 twist barrels don't shoot them well.
A standard 55 soft point will work fine with proper rib cage shots.

55 gr ballistic tip last one I shot with 22 250, it was about 50 yards out, lunged it and it ran about 50 yards after. If do use it i rather head or neck shot.

I hand loaded 63 GR. Sierra BTHP. Chest shot them all. Never lost one.

I've shot deer with 22 250 and have helped recover some shot with it and 223. It's like catching 8 lb bass on 4 lb line it can be done. What I don't like about them the most I'd no blood trail is likely. Also limited range and very limiting on shot angles if your being ethical.

No you don’t. If you can’t see it go down there will be that one trophy deer you loose because it ran. No blood trail. Remember the thread about 243 and lack of blood trail? That problem is 10 fold with a 22 caliber rifle. I didn’t say it won’t kill one. 22 lr killed ton of deer. I bet gentleman killing truck loads of caribou is shooting them where he can see 300-500 yards

I finally found some common ground with James.

Lol...he will change his mind now...

I have killed LOTS of deer with 22 caliber. Like 62 grain Barnes X bullets. In Texas is very common to NOT need some big gun to kill deer. People have excellent Marksmanship down here. Know guys that kill big mule deer every year with 204 Ruger. Seen it kill. Does well. Seen 350 lb axis deer fall DRT. I have killed 100s of deer with everything from a 22 rimfire to a 338 Lapua. Accurate shots. Are all that matter

Holy crap Steel Traps.
You purposely trying to stroke out jbyrd?

22s are too small said the bow hunter.
30-30s too.

It's not about whether a round will kill an animal it's about the limitations each round has to do it ethically, ie shot placement, range and hunter ability. Central nervous system shot are smaller targets and are the only placement that consistently make drt kills, which limits ranges and shot angles. Here you need a blood trail to consistently find harvested deer shot through heart or lungs in alot of hunting situations.

The real discussion should be about what ethical limitations each cartridge has and then each hunter should be able to honestly be able to judge there own abilities. I don't place head shots on deer as ethical because it such a small target that is possible to move farther than the size of the target in less time than it takes for u to decide to pull the trigger and the bullet to arrive on target.

If a 22-250 is a good deer cartridge a 22 mag by the same standards is a good coyote round but I bet most serious coyotes guys arent going to take them coyote hunting, particularly if you have to kill a livestock killer and have to recover it.

My first 20+ deer and all the kids I take out mentoring are all killed with a 22-250. Nothing fancy, 55 gr. soft point bullet @ somewhere around 3600-3700 fps. Shoot them in a pie plate area of the vitals and if they aren’t DRT, they tip over within sight. The hemorrhagic effects of the impact at such high speed ruptures any vessels nearby. Often times will pass through the chest cavity if held just behind the front shoulder. What is found upon field dressing resembles soup in the area above the diaphragm. Very effective hunting round if you know how to shoot consistently.

Mmm ok thanks everyone this there is very enlightening

62gr Barnes TTSX.
Deer won't go any further than if it was shot with a 30-06.

Those Barnes bullets are a mean load... loaded some from dad's 270 because the bullet he had were deadly accurate but wouldn't exit. The guy taught me to reload told me to reload him some Barnes, exit size of a baseball next deer he shot

69 gr Sierra BTHP lung shot!

My goodness. Your first sentence is hard to read. I believe I know what you mean, though!

Chris

My last 22/250 is a little different. I lost interest in a Remington model 7. I dropped it off at Krieger and had them spin, cut and install one of their barrels in 22/250, 6.5 inch twist. I settled on Berger 90 grain VLD. No deer have succumbed to that combination. Just Wyoming antelope.

I used a .223 in AK on deer and caribou ALOT! Really liked the Ted Nugent 70gr Barnes TSX bullets out of it.

Yes, pretty much all out in the open, but what difference does that make when they fall dead within 10 yards? Most one step. And I'm talking a hundred or so over the last 10 years.

Yes, pretty much all out in the open, but what difference does that make when they fall dead within 10 yards? Most one step. And I'm talking a hundred or so over the last 10 years.[/quote]

Holy crap, if SteelTraps post didn't stroke jbyrd out, this one should do it.

Stick with a 55 soft point, aim for the ribcage and...

Explain "work fine"

There something I'm curious about and this post is showing me something interesting

Any ethical shot with this cartridge will produce the results you want. Now a 600 yard Texas heart shot, maybe not. But why take that shot in the first place?

James is correct. Depends on angles. If your gonna take running shots, a bigger caliber with more horsepower will shine.

Nowadays, it appears folks like to just sit in an elevated blind, open a window and shoot a deer.
Normally plenty of time to wait for a perfect shot opp.

I'm a bigger guy and have shot rifles for 40+ years . I Hate recoil! Made me flinch 40 years ago and still does today.

I'd feel more comfortable shooting at an animal at 300 yards with a 22_250 that shoots 4" groups then shoot a .300 mag that shoots 2" groups.

Bottom line, a GOOD bullet in .223 cal will work just fine.

What are you curious about, Wolfdog?

Two exceptions have been raised to what I posted, as good reasons to use a light .22 caliber. Opportunity and recoil. I agree on both.

Danny points out that you might get an opportunity at a deer while only having a .22. If using a .22 centerfire is legal in your state, then go for it. You might think of limiting yourself to broadside shots though.

Bucksnbears says avoiding recoil is a good reason to use a .22-250 or .223--also a valid point. Reaction to recoil is largely involuntary, but I've never felt recoil from any rifle or shotgun when firing at game, even when shooting a .416 Rem Mag, which shoots 400 grain bullets at 2,400 fps.

I'm somewhat sensitive to recoil, though I'd make the opposite choice than Bucks. In Alaska, a .300 WM was my rifle when hunting deer. I can shoot about twenty rounds from that rifle before I begin to flinch uncontrollably, and it's time to put it away. I can only get half a dozen good shots from the .416.

Jim

the 60 gr. partition was developed to shoot in 12 twist 222/223 and 14 twist 22-250's, it is the same length as most 55 gr soft points, length of the bullet is what determines the twist needed not weight. Same with the nosler 64 gr. bonded, and 64 gr winchester power points. all are exceptable 22 cal. deer bullets

When I was hunting with the 22-250 I had 3 rifles, a scoped bolt 22-250, a scoped Mini 14, and a bolt open sight 243. I killed deer with all of them but was most comfortable and accurate with the 22-250. The 243 gave me a blood trail and I should have just put a scope on it but instead got a 7mm mag. Now 30 some odd years later I put a scope on my 243 this fall, but couldn’t find a deer.

Is a 7mm Rem Mag too small? A few years back a buddy of mine made a bad shot on an antelope doe. It ran 200 yards across the sage with its guts dragging the ground. Not enough gun? Bad shots are bad shots.
Your best info will be from the "been there, done that" group, as in most things. Or at least those who have seen it pass/fail. Speculation and conjecture is only that: speculation and conjecture so take it for what it is. Maybe useful, maybe not.

I have done it. For Whitetails and antelopes the 55 Fed hp (this was a special Sierra bullet for Federal, not the standard Gameking) gave complete pass-thru out to 200 plus. This was a factory loading but its not available anymore, Maybe some old stock some places. Some others have mentioned ballistic tips but my experience has been less than satisfactory. I don't even like them on coyotes. The Barnes 50 X-bullets are excellent and the 55 Speer gold dot is the best for 22-250 IMO. While bullet length and the twist rate are important to bullet stability, bullet profile and velocity also factor in and maybe a few other things. Also some of the bullets that are "supposed" to work are right on the edge of 22-250 in 14 twist ability. Most will stabilize them, some will not. The Speer 70, the Winchester & Nosler 64's, etc.
Learn to shoot so you put your shots where you want them. Learn to hunt so you get in range to do it. Save the "don't know but I'm gonna try" shots for paper.
These are all just my thoughts of course.

Personally, I don't see the fascination with using barely enough gun, that you need certain angles and perfect shots on the intended animal.

Wolfy, use your 17 for rats and mice, this one for the coyotes and get you a better suited gun for Deer/hogs. I doubt you've shot very many or you wouldn't be asking so error on the larger side.

^^^^ This.

My Wife has access to all my rifles, but when she goes out to kill deer these days, she wants to use the .300 WSM or the.300 WM. There’s a 6.5 Creedmore, a .250 Savage, a .308, a 30-30, and a .243 in the safe, but she wants one of the magnums. When I asked her why she liked those guns, I thought maybe it was because of optics on them. No, she said because when I shoot deer with them, they fall over where they were standing.

While she’s never gonna write a gun column for Outdoor Life or Field and Stream, I can’t argue with her reasoning.

...... weren't a lot of y'all saying I was trying to much when I was talking about a .300wm and even more with .300wsm ?.....

no matter what gun you choose somebody wont like it.

my favorite deer gun is my old 270

i have killed deer with a pile of others though. including 22 250. just dont use those bullets designed to kill coyotes

P.S. dont have a short mag but 300 wm kills em just fine.

It's more the person using it not so much the gun.

Deer aren’t hard to kill. Growing up we had 2 does and 1 buck limit per day for a while in early 90s. I killed 27 deer one year in high school. And culling deer for high fence??? Always use 223 - 22-250 or 308 Depravition permits ??? Sure. Helped on lots of them in the = soy bean days before farmers went to cotton In south Alabama. Kill lots of deer with 6mmBR out to 600-700 yards. Find a gun. Shoot it well. Don’t worry about anyone else’s opinions Just kill the deer DRT ! LoL!

I have a Win 70 .22-250, I think its a late 1960s rifle. Its my back up or for something different. I hand loaded a 70 grain Sierra semi-spitzer. Shot white-tails busting them out of CRP grass. None of them went any distance. I think a 70 grain is about as heavy of a bullet out of a .22-250.

I've shot far more running deer than standing still but mostly with a .30 cal. You post up first and last hour or so of light. The rest of the day we used to push "cover" such as dried up sloughs, CRP grass, or shelterbelts (that's our trees for you forest dwellers). Sort of like hunting pheasants but without dogs.

PS. When I said VMax were junk I meant for coyotes. Too much sewing. Ballistic tips USUALLY cause less. I dont think any bullet is a perfect fur bullet.

Neither are good deer bullets. Need bullets not designed to come apart inside a coyote

I used a 222 with a 50 gr. blitz, that was all the rifle I had, it killed deer, and it was all I could afford, before that I used a shotgun.

Aknome I’m sure you have killed hundreds with your 223 But I find it hard to believe they only take 1 step or even 10 yards on that many animals. I’ve seen deer shot with 270, 6 mm, 300 win mag, 222,223,22-250, heck even a 12 gauge slug run 50-100 yards with their heart turned into jelly. Yes neck or high shoulder shots will drop them in their tracks. But most ethical hunters are told to aim right behind the front leg.
So you’re saying you have never had one run off past 10 yards out of the hundreds you have killed ?

Hey your in Alaska call around ask the guides if they will let their clients use a 22 caliber rifle on a hunt. If they say no ask them why not! You have killed hundreds and never had one go past 10 yards

Bingo! There is you answer why a lot of people use a 22 cal. You can find 223 ammo cheap every where. Even in AK

This is my sons first deer. It was shot with a 222 using 55 grain spitzer. 75 yards and obviously lung shot. It was in a clover field and ran around 200 yards before piling up at the far end of the field Late evening about 45 minutes before dark. Deer stood back up 2 times and would stumble and fall. If he had ran back in the thicket he came out of not sure we would have found him that night. First weekend in October and 70 degrees it would have ruined. The next year he had a 243. That was in 1999. First year Ky allowed anything below a 24 caliber bullet

Yep, and this thread is about the 22-250. The 222 and the 22-250 may shoot the same bullet, but with vastly different velocities and terminal results.

True TC1 but it soon got turned into a 223 is good enough for grizzly bear. My last 3 post went of track concerning 22-250. Whole different outcome when you drop down to a 223 / 222 . Like I said in my first post. Will it kill a deer? YES Are there better choices? Yes and not just my opinion...

No one said you can't, I have shot several with one but.....why ? When there are much better suited rounds readily available and Wolff has some.

Ok so another question because , I learning alot about some stuff here ,

What's eveyone consider a "good run off distance". Like from where they where shot to where you find them what's is like eveyones good/ acceptable?

Dead and on the ground where I first pull the trigger is best for me.

Blood trail wider than long.

I actually have no real desire for one. But there's more questions inside the one I asked that are being answered very well right now

You head shooting Alaskan guys don't count

Yeah, caliber don’t matter much at ten yards.

Kind of a baited question, Wolfie. Seems like you are probing ethics, which is a slippery slope.

I don’t want to have to follow an animal after I put a shot in it. Especially after loosing sight of it fleeing the scene.

This whole thread is baited it seems, since he isn't interested in what he asked about.

But anyhow, good luck with your hunting.

Kind of a baited question, Wolfie. Seems like you are probing ethics, which is a slippery slope.

I don’t want to have to follow an animal after I put a shot in it. Especially after loosing sight of it fleeing the scene.
[/quote]

With this logic, you must not be an archery guy. Not trying to stir the pot, but a very low percentage of archery deer fall within eyesight, especially if hunting in heavy cover. Just pointing out that fact.

I have shot archery. Not my thing for hunting though.

DRT is ideal. I'd honestly say with a rifle, 90% of my deer have not made it 2 steps. I'm not a lunger, I'm a shoulder guy. Color blind so I cant see blood well, so tracking ain't my favorite.

With a good shot on my part, I'm upset if they go 50 yds.

Used just about everything within reason from a 204 up to 45-70s and 300 Wbys. Majority have been with your mid calibers, 25s, 7mms, and 30s. 30-06 is the ideal deer hunting cartridge, anyone who says different is wrong.

Am I interested in the caliber ,yes, do I want one , not really if someone gave me one or I got one for like $150 yeah I'd play with it but egh the larger powder consumption and large rifle primers are turn offs for me right now.

That being said I've noticed that there a certain... exemptions, I guess you could say in the hunting world. Such as a conversation ive seen alot : .22 cal is too small for deer ....but .222 .220 swift , .22-250 , this work great.
Now I have to say I find that interesting, but if you just ask " HAY WHY IS .223 BAD BUT THESE OTHER .22CAL GOOD ?!" You usually don't get much good info.

However if you asked what I did you get important stuff. Shot placement,ranges , bullets , velocity , personal preference, tradition usage.Those things help create a much better bigger and detailed picture. All of which answers alot more questions.

These bullets at this velocity at this shot placement will kill a deer dead in .22-250 across the board, so that answers some questions about other calibers.

Eveyone who loves it generally says it's because is XYZ

This bullet does this at these speeds in .22-250 so that bullet just requires a high impact velocity,they probably why in caliber 123 people say they don't kill well at all


Honestly in the three questions I've asked y'all have answered about 10-15 more that's explained a lot about other stuff .

To call it baiting,egh j guess you could but that give off the connotation that I'm doing this for bad reasons which honestly I'm not .

I’d say a .308 or 7mm-08 is about as good as it gets for a whitetail caliber.

If you think a .22-250 is not enough gun for deer, especially little Ms. deer... that's crazy.