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hornetguy · January 4, 2012, 08:34 AM

It depends.

There are many factors that come into play in making that decision.

The size of the deer. The maximum distance you will attempt a shot. The bullet type. The "presentation" of the shot, as in, standing broadside, quartering away, alert, grazing, etc.

I would definitely try it on small Texas whitetails, using a 60gr bullet, preferrably the Nosler.
I was looking at 6 does last Sunday evening, and none of them would weigh more than 90 pounds. I felt slightly overgunned with my Marlin 45-70. It would have worked fine, but I chose to not shoot, for several reasons. At that point, I was thinking that a smaller caliber, like my 6.5X55 would have been more reasonable.

If I was hunting larger mid-west whitetails or mulies, I probably would not consciencely choose the .223. (did I spell that word correctly?)

January 4, 2012, 08:34 AM	#4
hornetguy Senior Member Join Date: January 14, 2011 Location: on the north side of DFW Posts: 970	It depends. There are many factors that come into play in making that decision. The size of the deer. The maximum distance you will attempt a shot. The bullet type. The "presentation" of the shot, as in, standing broadside, quartering away, alert, grazing, etc. I would definitely try it on small Texas whitetails, using a 60gr bullet, preferrably the Nosler. I was looking at 6 does last Sunday evening, and none of them would weigh more than 90 pounds. I felt slightly overgunned with my Marlin 45-70. It would have worked fine, but I chose to not shoot, for several reasons. At that point, I was thinking that a smaller caliber, like my 6.5X55 would have been more reasonable. If I was hunting larger mid-west whitetails or mulies, I probably would not consciencely choose the .223. (did I spell that word correctly?) __________________ I always felt that if I got to the point where I thought it was time to bury my firearms, it was actually time to pick them up..