I live in Missouri and have been deer hunting for 40 years. I have no idea if it’s legal to use 5.56, because I wouldn’t even consider it. For me, I wouldn’t consider it ethical, especially when I have a .35 Remington and a .308 in the safe.
I would never give trouble to someone who would deer hunt with 5.56. Use whatever you want. But it’s too small for me to assure a clean, quick, humane kill.
And shot selection. I don’t imagine the deer will care much if both of their lungs have a .223″ hole or a .308 hole in them, but I’d be reluctant to trust a .223 on a quartering shot.
Over the years I have heard plenty of disagreement over whether 223 is enough to produce a clean kill. What I have never once heard anyone debate is if it can reliably produce good blood trails. It can’t.
Depending on where you are hunting, or who you are hunting with (i.e. a beagle) that may not be a big consideration for you. But in the swamps of south east Georgia with tons of brush and lots of water, 000 Buck and slugs are the way to go. I’ve never seen a deer on that land much beyond bow hunting distances anyway.
Don’t need a blood trail if you can hit where you aim. I always preferred the neck shot, just behind the head. They drop like they fell out of an airplane. Killed many a farm hog with a 22. Shoot’em right behind the ear. All they way out to 25 yrds. When you’re poor and are shooting to put food on the table. Missing is not allowed.
I was working in a remote part of Greenland and was handed a .22 Magnum semi-auto rifle (with a missing magazine) for polar bear protection. I thought they were joking. I was talking to a local farmer about it and she showed me the skull of a polar bear her father-in-law had shot with the .22 Magnum. The hole was roughly right behind it’s ear.
She ended up lending me a shotgun because there was no way in hell I was a good enough shot to pull that off in a high stress situation. Didn’t see any polar bears that summer, though.
Frank, not only are Scandinavians generally good shots, they are also known for their subtle and deadpan humor, most commonly exercised on unsuspecting visitors. Even if it gets them killed.
My late grandfather told me of a hunt (Wyoming that year, I believe?) in which he scored a perfect shot with his .308 Win to the heart of a buck. The buck ran a couple hundred yards on adrenaline before dropping. When he reached the carcass, he found that his shot had literally destroyed the heart (hydrostatic shock) and pulled it out the exit wound completely. There was no heart tissue on the inside of the deer left.
What he should have done is hit it with a 9mm. That would have blown out the lungs.
My whitetail buck from last year, a big body 9-point we quick-scored at 130, still managed a 70 yard dash after a 168-grain polytip .308 blew out both lungs on a clean side shot. He actually stopped and half-turned and I could see the blood pour out of the exit wound through the scope. Then took one more step and tipped over. He’s on the wall in the living room now.
What’s worse is the dreaded .9mm cartridge or the .12-gauge shotgun as the media reports. You won’t even find the deer.
It’s borderline from what I’ve heard, but I have also seen deer taken with a short barrel 5.45×39 AK. That was surplus 7n6 with hollow tip if I recall.
Where’s dacian the stupid, to tell us (i) he and his “hunter” friends have hunted deer with 5.56, and (ii) 5.56 will drop a deer at 300 yards, and (iii) we don’t know what we’re talking about, and . . . and . . . and . . . and. And the wind blew, and the s*** flew, and dacian was gone for a day or two.
Not a huge fan of the poodleshooter. I’ve used it for target, and for varmints. I have one for home defense (mostly because the ammunition is ubiquitous). Would NOT be my choice for any serious use. 7.62 x 51 is a MUCH better round for most uses. But it has its place, and I’m not averse to anyone using it for whatever they want to use it for. But it’s a “medium-power cartridge” AT BEST. My 6.5 x 55 Swedish is a MUCH better rifle, for damn near anything. What is the obsession with the (relatively puny) 5.56???? I love the T-shirt, with a silhouette of an AR15 in black, that says, “Be honest. It’s because I’m black, isn’t it?” Buncha know-nothing DUMB@$$ES, like dacian the stupid and MinorIQ, have decided to hate on the AR15, but they’re too ignorant and stupid to even competently explain their “argument” about the “deadliness” of this (fairly puny) cartridge.
I’ll continue to use my 6.5 x 55 Swedish, thank you very much. Or my 7.62 x 51 Remington 700, if I’m hunting something larger than a mulie. 5.56 is great for varmints, and serviceable for wild hogs and feral pigs.
I hear ya. An AR-10 is a superior battle weapon in certain scenarios. But are you saying you prefer a 7.62×51 for an indoor defense situation, even if you hit the tango center mass?
+1 on the 6.5×55. Even on quartering shots on pigs, it was a one-shot-stop. Piggy would jump a foot or two into the air when hit and was dead when they hit the ground. There was a small entry wound and no exit.
Killed them with both. Although, I wasn’t hunting deer with a .223. It’s just what I had at the time. It’s more about shot placement than anything. Nervous system hits drop everything. Right there.
In the USA there’s a very low threat of mass shootings (contrary to the media statements). Much rather deal with these over the 1,000 acid attacks a year now in the UK, mass slashings, and crowds being ran down with vans. But hey they don’t have AR15 rifles so that’s good right?
It’s a good point though, the liberals don’t care about deer rifles strong enough to remove a human limb and at a few hundred yards away or 12ga buckshot for that matter. Just goes to prove it’s not about the safety it’s about removing rights.
And .45-70 erases you from the universe? But I like your thought!
ANY caliber can kill a human; some are actually suited to it. While I could reliably kill a human target inside 400 meters, it would NOT be my caliber of choice. I find it intriguing that ignorant nitwits (like dacian the stupid and MinorIQ) can pontificate about matters firearm-related . . . without the slightest clue what they are actually talking about.
It wasn’t a good idea to post this meme, because anti-gun hoplophobes will see that meme, think it’s completely true, download it, and spread it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all over the interwebs.
I mean, Grandpa Joe Biden already thinks it’s true — that’s the only explanation I can think of for him constantly asking, “Do you think deer are wearing Kevlar vests?” — so his followers think so too.
1971 AFTER VIET NAM , LAST DEER HUNT USED 300 SAVAGE . I LOST THE TASTE AND HUNT FOR DEER . KEPT QUAIL HUNTING , THEN STOPPED , FEW YEARS LATER .
YEA , 5.56 OR 223 BIT MUCH IF ON FULL AUTO , HA …
God bless you NTexas.
Scraps in the ditch much appreciated, dont bitch about the skunks, they usually beat me to it. They cant chew the bones tho, ha ha on them.
So they want 5.56/223 now? Ok… We all know the makers will comply because the feds are paying their bills. But the rest of us have been using other calibers for long enough to not give a fuck really.
I mean – fuck you. You can’t have it. Or something like that. (In reality – nobody is going to stop them so just stfu and swap your barrels)
I’ve shot deer with just about every caliber . I believe if I could get a BB gunm powerful enough to get a BB inside the head theyd drop just like anything else Ive used.
I did lose one deer using a .223, only deer I’ve ever lost , 425 yards or so, high lung shot. Deer fell over but got up and I never found it, went home and got the dogs but they quit on its trail when they hot nosed another one.
I’ve also seen a guy shoot a horse with a mini14, blam , and the horse just fell over, give a kick with one leg and that was it. He swore he could kill a grizzley bear with it. ” Yeah man. It’ll drill a little hole right through its head.” Never got to test that theory out though, they put him back into the institution. Might have had something to do with shooting the neighbors horse? I dont know.
Contrary to the democrat and anti-gun and Biden hype lies – there has never been even one documented case where a ‘semi auto 5.56’ round decapitated and dismembered anyone or ever blown anyone apart.
A 5.56 round will kill a deer – maybe. Not all 5.56 round shots will all the time. Overall, basically, for example, with hunting rounds (not FMJ) up to 200 yards with at least a 16 inch barrel with proper shot placement there will be a little entry hole and the deer is more assured of going down. But blowing one apart? Nope, never has and never will unless you are shooting a Hollywood script movie deer on a movie set for a movie and the special effects team has rigged the deer with explosives.
Tannerite packed fake deer for poaching reduction……..I think someone actually floated this very idea a few years ago and confirmed at least a few NY state employees surf the chan’s…..DEC was always a bit weird though.
What? ……… that doesn’t happen?
I live in Missouri and have been deer hunting for 40 years. I have no idea if it’s legal to use 5.56, because I wouldn’t even consider it. For me, I wouldn’t consider it ethical, especially when I have a .35 Remington and a .308 in the safe.
I would never give trouble to someone who would deer hunt with 5.56. Use whatever you want. But it’s too small for me to assure a clean, quick, humane kill.
.223 5.56 is legal in Missouri.
As always shot placement matters
Thank you, and I 100% agree.
And shot selection. I don’t imagine the deer will care much if both of their lungs have a .223″ hole or a .308 hole in them, but I’d be reluctant to trust a .223 on a quartering shot.
Just use a .9mm and BLOW THEIR LUNGS OUT.
Over the years I have heard plenty of disagreement over whether 223 is enough to produce a clean kill. What I have never once heard anyone debate is if it can reliably produce good blood trails. It can’t.
Depending on where you are hunting, or who you are hunting with (i.e. a beagle) that may not be a big consideration for you. But in the swamps of south east Georgia with tons of brush and lots of water, 000 Buck and slugs are the way to go. I’ve never seen a deer on that land much beyond bow hunting distances anyway.
Don’t need a blood trail if you can hit where you aim. I always preferred the neck shot, just behind the head. They drop like they fell out of an airplane. Killed many a farm hog with a 22. Shoot’em right behind the ear. All they way out to 25 yrds. When you’re poor and are shooting to put food on the table. Missing is not allowed.
I was working in a remote part of Greenland and was handed a .22 Magnum semi-auto rifle (with a missing magazine) for polar bear protection. I thought they were joking. I was talking to a local farmer about it and she showed me the skull of a polar bear her father-in-law had shot with the .22 Magnum. The hole was roughly right behind it’s ear.
She ended up lending me a shotgun because there was no way in hell I was a good enough shot to pull that off in a high stress situation. Didn’t see any polar bears that summer, though.
Frank, not only are Scandinavians generally good shots, they are also known for their subtle and deadpan humor, most commonly exercised on unsuspecting visitors. Even if it gets them killed.
My late grandfather told me of a hunt (Wyoming that year, I believe?) in which he scored a perfect shot with his .308 Win to the heart of a buck. The buck ran a couple hundred yards on adrenaline before dropping. When he reached the carcass, he found that his shot had literally destroyed the heart (hydrostatic shock) and pulled it out the exit wound completely. There was no heart tissue on the inside of the deer left.
What he should have done is hit it with a 9mm. That would have blown out the lungs.
My whitetail buck from last year, a big body 9-point we quick-scored at 130, still managed a 70 yard dash after a 168-grain polytip .308 blew out both lungs on a clean side shot. He actually stopped and half-turned and I could see the blood pour out of the exit wound through the scope. Then took one more step and tipped over. He’s on the wall in the living room now.
only a buck for art!
Shoot it twice with a 9mm and the bastard will be completely field dressed.
What’s worse is the dreaded .9mm cartridge or the .12-gauge shotgun as the media reports. You won’t even find the deer.
It’s borderline from what I’ve heard, but I have also seen deer taken with a short barrel 5.45×39 AK. That was surplus 7n6 with hollow tip if I recall.
Never saw it so well explained…not even the lungs survived the 5.56.
Looks like one of Braindeads 9mm stories.
If you want to blow out a deer’s lung, I have it on “good” authority that 9mm is definitely the way to go.
I don’t think it’s legal for hunting purposes in my state, though. Probably because it’s too dangerous, or something.
Next you’re going to say that when people get shot with a gun that they don’t go flying 10 feet in the air. Oh my.
The “flying 10 feet in the air” only applies to shotguns and 40mm grenades as actually depicted in any Arnold Schwarzenegger movie from the 80’s
Where’s dacian the stupid, to tell us (i) he and his “hunter” friends have hunted deer with 5.56, and (ii) 5.56 will drop a deer at 300 yards, and (iii) we don’t know what we’re talking about, and . . . and . . . and . . . and. And the wind blew, and the s*** flew, and dacian was gone for a day or two.
Not a huge fan of the poodleshooter. I’ve used it for target, and for varmints. I have one for home defense (mostly because the ammunition is ubiquitous). Would NOT be my choice for any serious use. 7.62 x 51 is a MUCH better round for most uses. But it has its place, and I’m not averse to anyone using it for whatever they want to use it for. But it’s a “medium-power cartridge” AT BEST. My 6.5 x 55 Swedish is a MUCH better rifle, for damn near anything. What is the obsession with the (relatively puny) 5.56???? I love the T-shirt, with a silhouette of an AR15 in black, that says, “Be honest. It’s because I’m black, isn’t it?” Buncha know-nothing DUMB@$$ES, like dacian the stupid and MinorIQ, have decided to hate on the AR15, but they’re too ignorant and stupid to even competently explain their “argument” about the “deadliness” of this (fairly puny) cartridge.
I’ll continue to use my 6.5 x 55 Swedish, thank you very much. Or my 7.62 x 51 Remington 700, if I’m hunting something larger than a mulie. 5.56 is great for varmints, and serviceable for wild hogs and feral pigs.
I hear ya. An AR-10 is a superior battle weapon in certain scenarios. But are you saying you prefer a 7.62×51 for an indoor defense situation, even if you hit the tango center mass?
+1 on the 6.5×55. Even on quartering shots on pigs, it was a one-shot-stop. Piggy would jump a foot or two into the air when hit and was dead when they hit the ground. There was a small entry wound and no exit.
Killed them with both. Although, I wasn’t hunting deer with a .223. It’s just what I had at the time. It’s more about shot placement than anything. Nervous system hits drop everything. Right there.
should be fine on key deer.
The dems are experts at giving “expert” opinions on things they know absolutely nothing about! AND giving this advice to people who know even less!
2nd hit looks more like a 9 mm to me…
In the USA there’s a very low threat of mass shootings (contrary to the media statements). Much rather deal with these over the 1,000 acid attacks a year now in the UK, mass slashings, and crowds being ran down with vans. But hey they don’t have AR15 rifles so that’s good right?
It’s a good point though, the liberals don’t care about deer rifles strong enough to remove a human limb and at a few hundred yards away or 12ga buckshot for that matter. Just goes to prove it’s not about the safety it’s about removing rights.
5.56 is a high power cartridge, 9MM blows the lungs out of the body, but .45 kills the soul.
And if you didn’t have a soul to begin with?
If no soul, .45 will actually fill your body with soul just so it can vaporize it again.
But what does .44mag do?
You’d be Joe Biden…
Ouch
…and fww wins the Interwebz Comment of the Day!!
Nicely done, Sir.
Yep!
Cold iron bullet for demons, silver for lycanthropes, hollowpoint wadcutter for vampires (need to make a big enough hole to stick the stake in)
You’d need a ghost gun to get him, then.
Ba-dump…bing!
Thank you, thank you. I’m here all week. Please try the salmon…
And .45-70 erases you from the universe? But I like your thought!
ANY caliber can kill a human; some are actually suited to it. While I could reliably kill a human target inside 400 meters, it would NOT be my caliber of choice. I find it intriguing that ignorant nitwits (like dacian the stupid and MinorIQ) can pontificate about matters firearm-related . . . without the slightest clue what they are actually talking about.
It wasn’t a good idea to post this meme, because anti-gun hoplophobes will see that meme, think it’s completely true, download it, and spread it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all over the interwebs.
I mean, Grandpa Joe Biden already thinks it’s true — that’s the only explanation I can think of for him constantly asking, “Do you think deer are wearing Kevlar vests?” — so his followers think so too.
1971 AFTER VIET NAM , LAST DEER HUNT USED 300 SAVAGE . I LOST THE TASTE AND HUNT FOR DEER . KEPT QUAIL HUNTING , THEN STOPPED , FEW YEARS LATER .
YEA , 5.56 OR 223 BIT MUCH IF ON FULL AUTO , HA …
God bless you NTexas.
Scraps in the ditch much appreciated, dont bitch about the skunks, they usually beat me to it. They cant chew the bones tho, ha ha on them.
Don’t get in a SHOUTING match with NTexas…He’ll blow your ears clean off.
what caliber does that?
But where are the lungs?
So they want 5.56/223 now? Ok… We all know the makers will comply because the feds are paying their bills. But the rest of us have been using other calibers for long enough to not give a fuck really.
I mean – fuck you. You can’t have it. Or something like that. (In reality – nobody is going to stop them so just stfu and swap your barrels)
I’ve shot deer with just about every caliber . I believe if I could get a BB gunm powerful enough to get a BB inside the head theyd drop just like anything else Ive used.
I did lose one deer using a .223, only deer I’ve ever lost , 425 yards or so, high lung shot. Deer fell over but got up and I never found it, went home and got the dogs but they quit on its trail when they hot nosed another one.
I’ve also seen a guy shoot a horse with a mini14, blam , and the horse just fell over, give a kick with one leg and that was it. He swore he could kill a grizzley bear with it. ” Yeah man. It’ll drill a little hole right through its head.” Never got to test that theory out though, they put him back into the institution. Might have had something to do with shooting the neighbors horse? I dont know.
Contrary to the democrat and anti-gun and Biden hype lies – there has never been even one documented case where a ‘semi auto 5.56’ round decapitated and dismembered anyone or ever blown anyone apart.
A 5.56 round will kill a deer – maybe. Not all 5.56 round shots will all the time. Overall, basically, for example, with hunting rounds (not FMJ) up to 200 yards with at least a 16 inch barrel with proper shot placement there will be a little entry hole and the deer is more assured of going down. But blowing one apart? Nope, never has and never will unless you are shooting a Hollywood script movie deer on a movie set for a movie and the special effects team has rigged the deer with explosives.
Tannerite packed fake deer for poaching reduction……..I think someone actually floated this very idea a few years ago and confirmed at least a few NY state employees surf the chan’s…..DEC was always a bit weird though.
Deer don’t wear kevlar vests, but bad guys do sometimes.
Are we positive that isn’t supposed to say .45 ACP?
No.
.223 is like a mini nuc-lair weapon going off. Why do you need all that powaz?
I mean a 9mm is going to blow the lung out so that above photo is a good approximation to a 223 detOnation.
Where’s the lung-less version of a deer shot with a 9mm? Or the completely vaporized version of a 6.5 Creedmor hit?
Having dropped stone dead 10 Titanic loads of deer with a 22lr ….shot placement is key!