Just bought a .222 rifle. Have used .308, .270, 7.62 X 55, .303 (ex-British army)to knock over I don't know how many deer and pigs. I have shot from the ground and from helicopters on venison recovery operations with a Colt armalite .223 and Ruger mini 14. I have always used the bigger calibres when ground hunting but I have found that I'm flinching lately so went to the .222. Boy I should have done it years ago, what a nice little rifle to shoot with, deadly accurate and it knocks pigs over no sweat and with a little care, deer too. Any comments?

Welcome to the forum! I have never shot a .222 but my dad used to always use one for coyote hunting. He always said it was a great fast, long range rifle.

i have heard of people killing deer with a .222, but man, thats small, even for a .22 centerfire. most of the people i know who hunt deer with a .22 centerfire use either a .22-250 or a .220 swift. most people think that a .223 and a .222 are a bit light. for hogs though, if you can put one in the ear, it isn't going anywhere

I had a .222mag forty years ago, wish I has it back now.

Years ago when I was young and dumb, I witnessed deer shot with a 222 that left endless blood trails, but never found. A week later a deer was killed by a neighbor with a nasty festering wound and fit the discription of the wounded animal as well as were the bullet hit.

Two deer that I know of didn't go down from what should have been lethal placement with a larger caliber bullet.

Shot placement such as head or neck, and then it's still no guarantee with a tough animal if that tiny fast bullet hits bone just right.

I've heard that shooting in the rain, not sure about the truth to that, but for sure hitting just a small twig will cause a clean miss and a lingering slow death if you should hit bone.

I persoanally wouldn't shoot deer with it even being an expert shot there is no guarantee.

243 would be my limit on caliber for deer, but that's just me!

Years ago when I was on the road selling "toys" I was always surprised at the number of 222's sold especially in the Texas Hill Country. Small deer, lots of coyotes that drove the goat and sheep guy's nutz, small hunting areas with short shots, and lots of neighbors made the quiet lil' 222 a prime caliber of choice...but then these guys could put a bullet anywhere they wanted it to go. I actually witnessed a bet where a big as the end of my thumb green horse fly on a soda can was the target...and the bet was which eye - left or right - at about 75-80 yards...the shooter won the bet too! 'cause we found the fly!!! mashed up a little but missing the chosen body part.
Ron

I hunted with a 222 for many years. I owned one in a Model 788 Rem. Super accurate, almost no recoil and very quiet. I used this gun as my nightime calling gun for many years. This being a 250 yard gun max killing range on coyote size critters. It worked very well at night,and due to the quiet report we could alot of times kill two or three different animals on the same set-up. I switched to a 22-250 a couple of years ago because one night I lost a mountain lion (sorry it was yellow) that I shot with the 222.Nerves was probably partly to blame but I've always wondered what the outcome would have been had I been shooting a little more gun

I sure like my 788 in 22-250 ,the best varmit gun i could ever want.

i've never shot a .222. i know that if i was hunting with one, a big ole boss hog or a mature cull buck would step out and i'd be hard pressed to make a shot with such a small gun. there is no such thing as overkill...if there is, it dosen't hurt

Saying there is no such thing as overkill is just as rediculous as saying the gun isnt big enough. Extreems suck, all things in moderation, and you will be a 0k.

matt

how is saying there is no such thing as overkill rediculous??? is there such a thing as too dead? ask bayou rat if he thinks that mountain lion would have gotten away if he had a .243 or a .270. perfect example. i'm not saying every one has to shoot a .460 weatherby but use enough gun for the critters tht you hunt. just cause i killed a pig with my .17hmr doesn't make it a pig gun. the .222 rem wasn't even powerful enough for the army, and all its replacement does, the .223, is wound people. dead is dead, no matter how you cut it

hmmmm,
overkill? When I pull the trigger on the 300 win mag, I want whatever my target is, to fall over dead... As sportsmen, we should not be willing to take a shot (or use a weapon) that could injure or mame our intended target.
If you are comfortable shooting deer with a .222 or whatever, feel free. As long as you can effectively do it, then I will support your said right to do so, to the ends of the earth. But if you injure animals, and bring heat on us as sportsmen (collectively), I am left to scold you and basically "hang you out to dry". That is the last thing in the world I would want to do. As it would turn one of my own (fellow sportsmen) into an outsider. This is an old debate that is used to divide us as a group. And you know what the next step in that sequence is, don't you??
divide and .......
We should all support each other in our rights. but along with that rights support, comes holding each other to a higher level of accountability. Would you welcome me to go goose hunting with you, with a .410 or 20 gauge?
Maybe you would, just so I could be laughed at??
Overkill is in the eye of the hunter.. But underkill brings us all into the eyes of our skeptics.

Quote:

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the .222 rem wasn't even powerful enough for the army, and all its replacement does, the .223, is wound people.

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TT85,
Please reconsider this part of your post. While I understand and agree with your sentiment, I don't think it's a good idea to make these kind of statements. You are correct in the statement but it could be read and taken very wrong by some. For all intensive (military) purposes, the AR-15 or M16, .223 & 5.56 Nato rounds are intended to wound, not kill. The logic used is that a wounded enemy soldier incapacitates at least one, maybe two, others who must carry or drag the wounded. However, for the purpose of hunting, I think we all agree that it is intended to humanely kill the intended game and will do so with well placed shots.

Now about the "overkill" thing...NO SUCH THING! My brother (DTCOOPER) summed it up pretty well in my opinion.

I bought my wife a .222 Remington about 10 years ago and have used it quite often. I've killed 6 or 7 deer with it and the deer never took a step. Now it is Grandsons gun. He killed a hog and a deer with it this year.

If you shoot a deer in the neck or a hog behind the ear, they work great. That said, I wouldn't consider shooting at a game animal with it at over about 100 yds. I like some shock power and I am no longer an incredible marksman.

However, I do not find the same criticisms and questions directed at archery.

Yeah they(military) also liked the 223, and got rid of the 3006 because they found people were having trouble keeping their shooting accurate with the '06. I am not here to say that it is the perfect deer gun, but it will get the job done if you do yours. I know some of you are like sticks in the mud, and will never change, but you are just plain wrong. I used to think the same way, then we bought a 223 for a varmit rifle, and soon wanted to shoot deer with it, with varmit bullets, hp, and balistic tips, it is a sub par choice, but with a 60 grain nosler partition or bear claw it is a true blue deer killer, even in or behind the shoulders at and past 100 yards. I feel no handicap whatsoever when I cary this gun, and enjoy shooting it.

As for the "no such thing as overkill" that is bs. I have had overkill with guns as small as my 270. My objective is not simply to kill something, because then there would be no such thing as overkill, I like to have a little something left to eat, and also you say you want to humanely kill the animal, well I am on the same page there, I think blowing a huge hole in one is just as bad, if the hole is bigger than a half dollar it is too big in my book. This is all just my opinion and what has always and still does work for me.

matt

TT85,
I want to clear something up real quick. You and I have no disagreement here. I myself think the .223 is a fantastic little round if used correctly. In fact, my AR should be in any day now. The only point I was trying to make is that your above statement could be misconstrued or misunderstood by a less interested party or individual.

Redchevy,
Let me correct myself a little bit...I said there's no such thing as "overkill" and that was a mistake on my part. My true feelings on this are as follows. Caliber selection is something that should be done on an individual basis and therefore, there is an "overkill" scenario that comes into play.

Well guys I seem to have stirred up a hornets nest here. I have read with interest the comments made by the Cooper brothers and agree that shooting an animal with the intent of injuring it and not killing it outright is wrong. I used to use a .270 and have lost deer with that too, a 130 grain hollow tip .308 didn't do the job on one red stag I shot in the neck either. I have hit a stag in the nose with a 150 grain .308 at about 50 metres and it wasn't dead, the bullet stopped in his sinuses. Gave him a heck of a head ache though. I had to finish him with another shot behind the ear from close up before he tried to run away.

An old deer culler laughed at me one day because I had a .308 as he showed me his AR15 which he used to deadly effect.

As for the .222 being quiet and effective, I have always known the .222 as being a poacher's rifle and as a rural policeman had a lot of trouble catching one particular poacher with his triply.

Another old hunter said that the .270 was the best rifle for deer as it didn't mess up the meat like a .308. I saw a German hunter shooting red deer with a .300 mag, he even had sabots so that he could use a short round to finish the deer off.

I think that its all in the eye of the beholder, I used to think the .222 inadequate, but have now used it and see that used sensibly it is very effective. I had used the .222 to shoot goats before and it was effective and a lady I have hunted with for years uses one too. I have seen the damage a .222 can inflict from 50 - 100 metres on a chest shot and its staggering. I thought that she had used my .308.

I don't usually shoot from more than 100 metres anyway, I don't like lying down and shooting from 400 metres, I might as well get a canon and do the job, so I crawl etc up to as close as I can. I have just about touched a wild deer once before it became aware I was there.

Altimately I will give the .222 to my son to get him started on shooting as I don't want to scare him off with a big recoil rifle.

Cheers Guys.

And just as I said in my post above, I will defend to my death, your right to use which ever firearm you choose. So long as you are proficient with it, and it's legal to use.
I guess as far as overkill goes, we will all have to agree to disagree. A well placed shot with a .308, 300 win mag, 300 ultra mag, whatever you choose, will not waste any more meat than you would with any other chosen weapon, and a same well placed shot. Now, am I going to shoot prairie dogs with a 300 win mag? Probably not... Squirrels? no..
But to hear someone tell me that my 300 win mag is overkill, when they use a 30-30 or 30-06, is a little bit of a double standard don't ya think?
I hate to go back again and get all huggy and sentimental, but we must defend our own and each other's rights to use whatever we choose, so long as we are proficient with it.

Not to go too political here, but with the recent elections, and with imminent upcoming and proposed legislation, we are all going to need to be able to lean on one another and hold each other up, to defend our rights guaranteed us by our forefathers. The incumbent politicians (most of them) want nothing more than an unarmed sheepish society, which relies on them for safety and security. Neither of which they can effectively provide.
Don't you think it strange that any money you donate, provide, give, etc, to the NRA is a non-tax deductible donation, however you can provide Ingrid Newkirk and her PETA wacko's all the funding you wish, and they can do whatever they want with the money, and their 501c3 status is never questioned?
I know I am preaching to the choir here guys, but EVERYTHING we do is scrutinized to the infinite degree. And as I said in a daily devotional I gave in 2nd grade.. "You do something good, no one remembers.. you do something bad, no one forgets" Dang, that was a long time ago.

Well Daniel thanks for the comments, I agree with you. As for the political issues I can't comment too much living here in New Zealand but certainly agree with the sentiment. Theres an anti gun lobby here too and sometimes I wonder where they are coming from. We have had the crazed gun man going wild shooting people and there are cries to outlaw all firearms, but I reckon we have the easiest gun laws in the world. I sat an easy test some 34 years ago and was given a licence to buy as many firearms that I could afford, so long as they weren't fully automatic.

I'm no gun smith but am told that converting an SLR or AR15 or similar to fully auto isn't too much of a job, so where is the logic.

But wait theres more! Now adays you can get a collectors licence and buy military firearms that are fully automatic, so long as you have proper security. Guess whose firearms get stolen most often?

It isn't the firearm that shoots people, its the person behind it, and yes I know I'm also preaching to the choir.

Good luck to you all.