Weekly Newbies & FAQ Thread - Post your questions here for PAL/RPAL application, timelines, CFSC/CFSRC, references & requirements, or general new to firearms ownership -type questions

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[u/The_Phaedron]

If it's the only thing you already have, and money is extremely tight, and you're picking well-constructed and heavy-for-calibre bullets, and you have the discipline to keep your shots under 100yds? Sure. It's adequate.

If you're buying a rifle intentionally with deer hunting in mind? 223 Rem is a bad choice.

At the muzzle, it starts off barely above the minimum power needed to reliably and humanely take a deer. By 75-100yds, it's dropped below that *KE *floor.

tl;dr it's at the bottom end of adequate. If you haven't bought yet, buy something else.

[u/bepislav_molotay → u/The_Phaedron]

Above a certain velocity, projectile rounds will frag (thus make significantly larger wound cavities) beyond just their energy in joules. This makes it so that you can ethically hunt deer within 400 yards if you choose the correct loading.

[u/The_Phaedron → u/bepislav_molotay]

Above a certain velocity, projectile rounds will frag (thus make significantly larger wound cavities) beyond just their energy in joules.

All cup-and-core constructed bullets do this when you're talking about softpoints around the 2500-3500fps range. 223 isn't some ultra-fast round that somehow separates from the normal ballistics of chamberings that are more appropriate for medium-sized game.

It's very much in the same velocity range as more deer-capable rounds like 270 Win, 243 Win, 7mm-08 Rem, and 30-06 Spfld — except it's a smaller case with less powder capacity, and it can only reach the velocities of more-capable rounds by sacrificing bullet weight.

Compared to those others, 223 Rem is a far weaker round with significantly less killing power.

If one chooses the correct loading, 223 Rem is adequate for deer at shorter ranges, and only barely.

This makes it so that you can ethically hunt deer within 400 yards if you choose the correct loading.

I genuinely hope that no newbie reads this and thinks that it's ethical to hunt deer anywhere near 400yds with 223.

No reputable ammo manufacturer or outdoors publication is touting 223 Rem as an ethical option that can reliably make quick, humane kills on deer at that range.

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For newbies here who are seeing two people disagree on a forum without a way to sort out what the correct answer is, I'd suggest looking at what reputable sources are saying: That it's adequate at shorter distances, but suffers from some severe limitations in power.

If you're broke, licensed, in need of a full freezer and a 223 Rem is all that one has, it's be justifiable to bring that rifle deer hunting and stay within its limitations.

But those limitations are significant well before getting to MPBR distances. 7.62x39 is a better choice of chambering if one is seeking out a rifle purchase with deer hunting in mind.

[u/bepislav_molotay → u/The_Phaedron]

I am just getting back to the notification backlog and missed this somehow.
Personally, the distances I normally encounter see me shooting at max 150 yards for deer which is why I bring that up. Between the 30 or so in the past 10 years where we were hunting, I'd say 25~ of them were taken with a 5.56 loading mainly because it's the platform to which they're accustomed.

I think your point of "I genuinely hope that no newbie reads this and thinks that it's ethical to hunt deer anywhere near 400yds with 223." is good advice (and for me) and probably something I will consider typing out in the near future as edge cases really would not dictate the norm, as you said, especially for a newbie.