ORIGINAL: BarnesX.308
What if you are offered a shot at a 250lbbuck at about 100 yards. He's quartering towards you so you need to get through the shoulder to hit the vitals. Will a 50gr bullet from a 223 have enough power at 100 yards to penetrate the heavy muscle and plow through the shoulder bone of a 250lb buck? will it getthrough that, wreck thevitals and exit in the back far quadrant of said buck? Sure, 50 yard shots at broadside standing deer is easy. A tough angle at the buck of your dreams? Why chance it with barely enough gun? Why not be prepared for anything?
I would take that 223 and place the cross hairs in the middle of the white patch on that deer's neck, squeeze the trigger and watch the buck of my dreams go belly up with a broken neck. There would be no hessitation because I know I'm a skilled enough marksman to make that shot 100% of the time.
A lot of people on this site claim this is unethical and that is unethical, but the fact is that the only deer I have EVER lost in my life was one I shot with a 270win with a 130gr ballistic tip because I made a poor shot. The gun had nothing to do with it. The only thing unethical, as I see it, is making a poor shot on an animal regardless of the caliber. I have seen more deer wounded and not recovered with a 30-06 than any other caliber in all my years of hunting and it was from 1 man because he was a horrible shot. In my opinion the only question of ethics was the fact that this bone head was hunting in the first place..didn't matter what caliber gun he was shooting.