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Old January 14, 2008, 06:39 AM   #26
Picher
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Heart shot deer will go 50-90 yards, depending on adrenalin at the time. A deer shot with about any kind of bullet that hits the heart will almost always result in a lot of blood. I suspect that the deer that got away was not hit in the heart, and probably not in the lungs; but I've seen lung-shot deer go a long ways if the bullet doesn't expand enough. Some people use heavily constructed 180 - 220 grain bullets in the '06 or -.308 Win and that's not a good thing. Deer are thin-skinned and standard factory ammo like Core-Loct and Power Points in the mid-grain weight ranges, are designed for deer and often work better than anything else.

If you must use .223 and other light varmint cartridges, pick a bullet designed for deer and at the velocity it will be used. If you pick your shots very carefully and keep the range under 200 yards, you shouldn't lose many deer. IMHO, this is not the way to go for beginning hunters. Military full-jacket rifle bullets should never be used on game.

Lung shot deer will go as much as 20-30 yards, provided the bullet expands adequately. A pencil-sized hole there can be a problem. I know a guy who shot an elk with the first batch of Winchester Fail-Safes throuth the lungs and had to do it 7 times over two days before the elk died from perfectly-placed lung shots. That was a .30-06 out of a Contender. If he'd used the Rem. Core-Locts he had at the ranch, one shot would have been enough. (Nosler and Winchester corrected the problem and they're great bullets now.)

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Old January 14, 2008, 09:03 PM   #27
MeekAndMild
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Quote:
what is the smallest caliber you take deer with
Smallest caliber I'm confident in would be the .243 Winchester shooting 85 grain Winchester Super-X softpoints. I prefer 100 grains.
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Old January 15, 2008, 02:48 AM   #28
Yithian
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I stand corrected on heart shots then.
I just dont prefer them tho.
I'll pop one in the head, over the chest any day.
DRT is my goal. No running or tracking, and most important to me, no pain or suffering for the animal.
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