04-09-2011, 12:55 PM
Thanks for the replies. If I were going to head shoot them I would just continue to use the .223. We(my young son and I) have killed several deer with a Win 64g PP out of a .223 AR and bolt rifle with no issues. All have been through the chest with complete pass throughs-couple of bam flops and a few short runs with poor blood trail. I use a .260 bolt rifle a lot and have settled on the 129g Hornady as an effective inexpensive bullet. Going to the 6.5/6.8 in the AR to get more punch and better blood trail for runners-plus it will be a pretty much do anything rifle for TN coyote and deer. Don't know if I will have room for the 129 in my case/magazine and was thinking on something in the 100g range. Haven't looked at the Barnes offerings yet but reckon they have some sort of tsx in that weight range for the Grendel-trying to find an effective inexpensive bullet. Range is typical woods ranges with occasional 200-250 yard shots in cow pasture situations. I would expect a 100g 6.5 hunting bullet(non varmint) to punch through deer readily on broadside shots out to 200 yards. Thanks again for your experiences. TTT