eldeguello

I tend to agree, yet when discussing wound ballistics, Army experts such as General Hatcher(Hatcher's Notebook) seem to use impact velocity of a given bullet as the measure of whether or not that bullet is capable of inflicting a dangerous wound or not.Energy levels are notincluded as a measure ofwounding ability.

James B

It should come as no suprise that I agree with you on this one. Yes I would include the 25's but I sure can't disagree with the core statement. Your posts usually make a lot of sense to me, Even though I have to admit that only I am right all of the time.

retrieverman

On the flip side, I can't understand using a 300 WM or WSM on deer (which I have). Deer are not that difficult to kill, and if you use then for range and HAVE to shoot 300+ yards, then maybe you should evaluate your hunting skills. I agree that 270 and 30-06 are great deer cartridges (I have used 270 for years), but deer are different sizes in different parts of the country. Down here in Texas, 243 works great on 100-150 lb deer.

ShatoDavis

I agree with the core statement.

But of course it can't end there can it. I for the life of me don't understand why people get so worked up about other peoples choice of weapons. What's it to them?

People, If I choose to hunt whitetail with a 22 hornet or a 338 win mag, whats it to you? You make your choice and I'll make mine. Its kind of like the 30-06/ 270 debate. If you prefer the 06 great, or if you'r a 270 fan terrific. I don't care one way or the other, I'm a 280 man myself. And NO I don't think the 06 is the most versatile weapon. That destinction is a toss up between the 280 and 7 mag for me. Nothing wrong with the 06, it just never flipped up my skirt.

FYI I would have never used a 22 hornet deer hunting until what I saw this year (not that I intend to at all, but). During the youth portion our deer season I saw a youngster shoot a doe at 75 yards with a hornet through the boiler room and the deer only ran 20 yards before it piled up. I was impressed to say the least. Now I don't think that I would want to shoot very far with it but to say 100, the hornet looks up to the task from what I seen. One thing is for sure though, in the 22 calibers the hunter has to insure that well constructed bullets are used. The highly frangible varmint bullets certainly won't do the job.

ipscshooter

Yep, I got two last weekend with my .243. Neither of them took a step. And, hit a running pig at 175 yards. Fun weekend!

On the basic point, I agree, as regards deer sized calibers. I'd also add in the .243, the .25-06, the .257 Roberts, and a few others. However, I wouldn't include cartridges like the .30 Carbine in the list.

Rebel Hog

I also agree with you!

James B

eldequello. How does Hatcher explaine the 45-70 with a 500 grain bullet at 1200 fps killing buffalo? I take it that its not just high velocity he is talking about. Just curous, I am not familar with his writings.

TxStorm

Not to pick a fight or anything, but I have issues with this statement. It strikes me that you are saying that only on your property do you have the confidence and opportunity to have a perfect shot. Shouldn't a well practiced rifleman have confidence anywhere he/she shoots? A responsible hunter should access the target, what's behind it, over it, under etc., if the shot should be taken and is the weapon in hand up to the task. And how can you state that perfect shot bit? Is the poor lil' deer gonna be fitted with concrete shoes and have a 2x4 propping him up so he can't move? There is no such thing as a perfect shot with humans, they do go your way sometimes on the really difficult ones. And yes, they can feel perfect to the one that pulls it off, but it is subjective. Wind blows, rain falls, animals move and people twitch.
Like I said, not trying to pick a fight here, just don't understand statements like this. Also, perhaps I merely misunderstood your intentions based on lack of sleep etc on my part.

Gangly

One of the issues that i dont think many people have thought about, granted i didnt read every single post, is "what if i dont get a good shot off". Now, im sure many people are excellent shooters, but EVERYBODY gets a bad shot off atleast once, and if you havent, then you will eventually. Now when that happens, you want a round that is gonne do enough damage to hopefully do more than just wound the deer. So, knowing that eventually im gonna have a bad shot on a deer, regardless of my skill level, i want it to be with a large enough round that even though it might be off the mark a little, its gonna do enough damage to do more than just hurt it. With a 22-250 or a 223, I couldnt say that i would feel comfortable enough taking a shot knowing that if i didnt hit him just perfectly right(which is gonna eventully happen to everyone) that it wouldnt down him quickly and permanently. I would prefer to always have more gun than neccessary because eventually you are gonna make a bad shot and the only thing in your favorwill be having a large enough round to pick up the job where you couldnt come through (ie. do enough damage to make up for your bad shot). I cant see anything worse than shooting an animal and doinglittlemore thancreating an animal that is gonna hobble and be in pain for the rest of his life because I wanted to hunt with a gun that i knew would do little more than injur the deer if i didnt hit it perfectly.

However, all of us will eventually make a bad enough shot to where the size of the round prolly wouldnt make much of a difference...
I shot a beautiful buck with afriends 270 that he said he had sighted in.He didnt tell me that he sighted it into only hit paper at100 yards (not even sure if thats true) and so obviouslyall i did to the deer was wound it at 169 yards. Searched for 2 days for the deer andnever found anything but a chunk of meat from the location where he was shot at. I could have KILLED my friend for that. From that day on I have decided that I would do everything i could to keep from just wounding another animal. Best way i see that happening is to use more gun than neccessary and toshoot only your gun that you sighted in and are comfortable shooting. Leave guesswork to other people who dont know better.

ipscshooter

Seems to me that by making that statement, you are leaving some guesswork in the equation. The only reasonI can think of to "use more gun than necessary" is if you are concerned that you might make a bad shot AND, using more gun than necessary is more likely to lead to making a bad shot (i.e. flinching).A gut shot deer with a 7mm Remington Magnum is still a gut shot deer. I'd rather use my .243,not have to worry about shooting with my eyes closed, and know that the bullet is going to hit the deer exactly where I put the crosshairs.