Deer Hunting with AR-15 223 opinions?

I am thinking about deer hunting with my new AR-15 and would like some opinions.

I know plenty of people who hunt with an AR or a .223. Its all about shot placement anywways, with any gun in fact. .223 will be fine, don't over think it.

Neck shots are the best with .223 or make sure its a double lung or heart.. BUT remember with those your blood trail may not be that big.. That is why I like neck shots DRT.

Limit the distance and use a quality bullet like Nosler Partition, Federal Fusion, Sierra Gameking.

I couldn't find the beating a dead horse smiley. Just use the right bullet (i.e. soft point expanding, NOT the varmint Amax bullet, no FMJ or match)

And the neck shot vs. high shoulder shot argument could be made here too. Personally, I don't believe in the neck shot with any bullet, but that argument has been beat to death too. My recommendation would be high shoulder.

220 yards?

I plan on shooting pigs, deer and varmint but will probably be 200+ yards out.

Personally I would step up to a larger caliber. YMMV.

Best option is a larger caliber.

If you are going to use .223, I would try to get closer. Except for coyotes...if you can hit a yote at 220 with a .223, you should be good to go.

Get a bigger gun.

Just do a search and you will find plenty of opinions

Get you a 6.8 upper for your AR.

Yeah I would go with a larger caliber at that distance for deer. Federal Fusion 62gr seems to be a good deer hunting round under 100 yards.

IMO, it's much like those who believe an ATV is just as good at plowing a food plot as a tractor. My advice to them is to compare the looks of a tractor to that of an ATV and then decide for yourself. Take a .223 round and line it up against a .270 or 30-06 round and decide for yourself.

Can you plow with an ATV? Yes, if you have soft soil and not too large an area to work. But no question, the tractor is the only choice in terms of something designed specifically for the task.

You can find one that's good enough for 300-400 dollars.

I have no problem using my 22-250 at 200+

It's a small round and only sissies and call of duty playing millenial's use it on deer.

You never did post your coyote recipe.

about the worst combination you could make, get a bolt gun in a descent whitetail cartridge

I think you should choose for yourself a rifle as "hells canyon speed" instead of choosing rifle "AR-15 223"

When you're looking at 200+ I would say for deer you should probably use at least a .243. Hogs use whatever you want, they'll run off and die, but deer deserve a little respect, Please use a little bigger caliber.

limit your hunting to HOGS with the AR-15

get a .25-06 or 270 to shoot deer

^^ This. I was sitting in the blind calling yotes with my 223 and had 74gr Hog Hammer loaded. A pig came trotting through the field and didn't stop so I took a broadside shot. The impact rolled it and it ran off squealing to high heaven but I couldn't find a drop of blood anywhere. So now I'm building an AR10.

I don't think it matters what cal. you hunt with. The important thing is make a good shot on the animal. I had 3 deer lost this year because of bad shots. Two were lost with a 30-06 and one with a 243. Maybe those folks were scared of their rifles and that made them mess up. Just maybe if they were shooting something they were more comfortable with their shots would have been better. And all three of these deer were less than 100 yds.from the shooters.

Heart shot or head shot

I agree to a certain point. Anything less than .243 is retarded in my opinion. But i will attest to the toughness of a whitetail deer. I have shot elk with my 30-06 using 180gr soft points and had them drop within 10 yards. I made a what i thought was perfect shot on a buck this year using those exact same bullets, and ill be damned if i couldn't find that deer. I even found a piece of bone the size of my thumb on the ground, along with a large area of blood. Only problem was the trail ran cold after about 10 yards. It was a 75 yard shot, and i know i hit him solid. But in hind-sight, i sure wish i had taken a little more time on that shot. I will admit i think i got complacent using a larger caliber (and just for the record i am 100% confident and comfortable shooting my rifle), and thought i didn't need to take as much time on the shot. NEVER again will i make that mistake. But still, it amazed the hell out of me that deer could have ran off. I swear i made a perfect behind the shoulder shot...but it just goes to show you, you can never get complacent no matter what rifle you are using.

There was a huge thread about this. .223 past 200yd IMO is no-no, for deer/pigs.

I think as long as you're out there hunting and can place the bullet precisely where you want it, I don't really care what you hunt with. But I have to ask why? Can you only afford one gun? The AR is not the best platform for deer hunting but it'll do with proper HUNTING bullets and shot placement.

That is the key...a 223 round is worthless in brush or grass...it deflects too easy and starts tumbling

.223 is worthless when you compare it to about any other round north of .243. Why even bother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everytime i see a hunter using an AR i laugh, so unpractical for hunting, and, you look like an idiot.

You might be taken a little more serious and less like a troll if your grammar was a little better.

I’ve shot exactly 20 whitetails (MLD) so far this year with a 22-250. Over half were head/neck shots and the rest were BEHIND the shoulder, which I rarely had an exit wound with a 50 grain v-max. I know, I know, that isn't the best bullet, but it is NASTY and that's the bullet I reloaded most of my brass with. I will admit that while it’s plenty deadly (hollow point or solid), I don’t trophy hunt with a 22-250. Large calibers WILL leave more room for error. I was just wanting to get a little practice for the upcoming varmint hunts and couldn't put the 22-250 down. It's a sweet caliber. It's all about shot placement.
As for a .223, they will knock'em dead, but smoke one square on the shoulder at 250 yds and you might have a problem. They aren't going down where they are easy to find very often. I haven't shot may deer with a .223, but I put a lot of holes in pigs. While it will kill them, it isn't enough gun to make every shot a "one hitter quitter." SHOT PLACEMENT!

A little birdie told me once that HF deer are weaker and thus drop much easier with a .223

I wouldn't know but I would think that with all that protein they ingest, they would be pretty strong. By the way, a little birdy told me that they are all shot with high powered rifles with BIG muzzle breaks. They only use .223's when they are going through the "AR" phase of their life. The coolness wears off after a while.
I'm sorry, I'm just being serious.

I can understand shooting does, varmints, hogs, etc. with one.

I will never understand why anyone would want a .223 in their hands if there was any chance the buck of a lifetime (or even a season) might step out.

I like my chances with 30 bullets lol

save some money and get a decent bolt action with a caliber in the class above .243

I grew up hunting on a ranch where the rifle of choice was a .222. Later, when teaching youngsters to shoot and taking them hunting, we rolled over a lot of deer with a .223. Many dropped in their tracks and very few that ran went far. Well, over the past few years my wife suffered from cancer. She could not hunt last year and this year she could only handle the little 223 due to pain with recoil from her 243. Well, we went hunting for does. As it happened, an exceptional buck showed itself. In spite of all the many, many deer we have seen harvested with 222's and 223's, she could not bring herself to take a chance on wounding a big, well-boned and bulky buck. I couldn't do it either and one of the nicest deer we have seen while hunting with each other for more than several decades walked back into the brush without a shot fired.
Lesson: Take it from an old hunter, 223's are fine for hunting does and will drop bucks just fine, but when a large buck walks out into the sendero you will wish you had at least a 243 in your hands.