Jim:
When you stop an think about the thickness of the human chest as compared to a large well-muscled deer they are about the same.
This is what my family and our friend have done with the same .223 rifle this year:
– Buck 150 yards one shot one kill. Dropped on the spot, dead.
– Doe 125 yards one shot one kill. Walked five feet and dropped dead.
– Doe 220 yards one shot one kill. Dropped on the spot, dead.
– Doe 275 yards one shot one kill. Dropped on the spot, dead.
– Buck 400 yards one shot one kill. Walked and dropped dead fifty feet from impact.
The rifle: 24 inch heavy barrel 1 in 9 twist, bolt action with a scope, hand loads Nosler .224 68 grain solid base moly hollow point boat tail screaming out of a moly barrel. Point of impact, just behind the shoulder.
All shots were taken from a standing rest or prone.
The meat damage not a bad as a .30 caliber, but the shock of a hollow point moving at a very high speed does a real number on them. This bullet one seems to explode internally. They just stand
there a minute, then fall over dead. All the bleeding is internal.
Now I am a big .308 fan but my respect for the .223 just went up 500%. Now we have one more doe tag to fill and we are looking for a 500 yard shot.
So when the SHTF do not forget the little .223., especially one that is dialed into a sub-1/2 minute of angle (MOA) accuracy.
Speaking of dialing in a rifle, everyone should get to know every rifle they plan to depend on, and every scope they plan to use. Commonality in scopes is just as important and commonality in rifles.
Kind regards, – Martin