10 year old girl using .223 upper for youth deer season. Which bullet?

[hydrotech]

I have 62 grain Barnes ttsx, 65 Sierra game king, and 55 grain blitzkings I can load. Guessing blitzkings are poor choice for deer. I also have half a box of Winchester ranger law enforcement that says 60 grain partition factory loads. Shots will prolly no more than 150 yards.

[Schwag173]

Assuming that .223 is legal for deer in Missouri, my choice would be the Barnes. I would also go for a lungshot.

[LRRPF52]

There's a forum member here who has done a ton of AR15/.223 deer hunting, and posted extensive results with details and pics on AR15.com

MtnMymag - found it. He has used all types of bullets to take deer.

[Drifter]

I successfully used the Sierra 65gr GameKing in a 223 a few days ago. Shot a 175-lb whitetail in the chest from ~100 yards. The buck traveled ~25 yards after the shot, leaving a decent blood trail via the bullet's entry wound. Bullet entered slightly off center, penetrating ~14 inches and wrecking one lung. (Bullet not recovered.) MV was 2900+ fps. Great accuracy using AR-Comp powder and ~2.240" COL in a few different barrels.

ETA- I also tested the bullet beforehand by shooting into gallon-size water jugs from 50 yards away. Penetration was the same as a 6.5mm 123gr A-max launched at ~2450 fps (both captured in the 3rd jug). The recovered 22-cal GameKing held together better, although retained weight for both was ~55%.

[mongoosesnipe]

i would go with the heaviest Barnes the barrel will stabilize or the Nosler Bonded PERFORMANCE 64gr should be a decent contender

[cory]

i would go with the heaviest Barnes the barrel will stabilize or the Nosler Bonded PERFORMANCE 64gr should be a decent contender

The Nolser Bonded 64gr shoots better than just about anything out of my 5.56 spikes tactical barrel.

[hydrotech]

Thanks guys for the input. I myself have used the gameking and it passed through one deer at about 60 yards, shot another at 100 and it failed to exit but dropped the deer within 20 yards luckily because it left no blood trail. I bought the barnes TTSX last year but have not killed anything with it. maybe she can be the first to see how the 62 TTSX does.

[LRRPF52]

I would also look at the 70gr TSX. There's a 5.56 NATO 70gr TSX load that is pretty impressive.

[ginshun]

My daughter has used a .22-250 to shoot two deer over the past two seasons, one with a 60gr Nosler Partition and the other with a 55 grain Sierra Gameking, both at about 75 yards and both one shot kills. The Partition was a complete pass threw and the Gameking hit the front shoulder and what was left of the bullet was found in the other shoulder. Neither deer went more than 10 yards. The Gameking penetrated almost all the way through, even after it shatterd the shoulder, but all I was able to find was part of the jacket. The jacket and core separated completely.

I would say that a Nosler Partition (my family has killed many deer with this in many calibers and never had any problems) or a Barnes Triple Shock (no personal experience) of the heaviest weight that your barrel twist will stabilize is your best bet. A bonded bullet of some sort would probably be fine too. I'd stay away from standard cup and core bullets in that small of a caliber.

If you are shooting an AR, the twist is probably fast enough for most bullet weights available. If not, I would be careful and make sure to shoot as far as your furthest shot would possibly be. I know that in my rifle (Howa 1500), which I think is a 1-14 twist rate, anything heavier than 55gr will start to tumble eventually. The 60gr Partitions were consistently grouping under 1" at 100 yards, and I could barely keep them on paper on an 11"x17" target at 200yrds.