Smyth Busters: Is it Ethical To Hunt Deer With a .223?

.30-30 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, and .308 Winchester are some of the all-time most popular deer-hunting cartridges in the United States. See a pattern? Yep, they're all larger calibers than .223. A lot of hunters - and state game departments - have long believed the .223 Remington round doesn't have enough power to consistently and ethically take down a whitetail deer. "Au contraire," say Brownells Gun Techs™ Caleb and Steve, aka the Smyth Busters, it all boils down to the TYPE of ammunition and the SKILL of the shooter. A hunter who can't land his shot properly will fail to make a clean kill with a large caliber just as easily as with a smaller one. A .223 Remington hunting bullet designed to EXPAND on impact is perfectly capable to dropping a whitetail quickly and cleanly, assuming you land it in the right vital spot. "Don't go out there with military ball ammo and expect great results," says Uncle Steve. Caleb concurs: leave the "penetrator" M855 5.56 NATO at home! You need a bullet that will expand to cause maximum tissue damage. In fact, some states have recognized the advances in .223 cartridge development and now allow it for deer hunting. So the myth is BUSTED. You can use .223 on deer under the right circumstances.