deer with 5.56 Hornady 55 gr VMAX

[jonconsiglio]

That's great. I've recently switched over to 70gr TSX as my hunting bullet of choice.

Beautiful pup, what breed is he/she?

[500grains]

The dog is an English mastiff. He only got to sit in the car, but that is better than staying home.

The butchering is done and no 5.56 were recovered.

Two .45 acp Gold Dots were fired onto the larger deer after the above photo was taken. Photos of those bullets are at this link:

http://m4carbine.net/showthread.php?...20#post1418720

[ImBroke]

Those are 55 gr VARMINT bullets that on a great day might do 7"-8" of penetration. That is an incredibly irresponsible choice in ammunition for hunting deer, and even more so at 175 yards plus. You should know better.

I really wish that they would legalize .223/5.56 for hunting in my state. But you make a good point, there are good and poor bullet choices in this caliber for taking deer. The people who make decision about the law either don't know about the better medium game bullets out there, or are worried about folks using the wrong bullets which in this case ended well but if good luck hadn't been on their side there would be wounded deer running off. Course they could also just be biased against black rifles.

[trackmagic]

I've got some black hills 75gr hollow points I've been using (5.56) any thoughts on those?

[ST911]

I really wish that they would legalize .223/5.56 for hunting in my state. But you make a good point, there are good and poor bullet choices in this caliber for taking deer. The people who make decision about the law either don't know about the better medium game bullets out there, or are worried about folks using the wrong bullets which in this case ended well but if good luck hadn't been on their side there would be wounded deer running off. Course they could also just be biased against black rifles.

They are legislating the lowest common denominator. There is difference between calibers and ammo you can use, and ammo you should use. Enough will make bad choices that the rest have to suffer for it.

[Texas42]

Looks like you guys had a great time, but you were lucky. I'm happy that your kids killed deer. But it sounds like some more range time is in order, espeically with 200 yard shots in whatever position you hunt in.

How was your blood trail on the second deer?

[ImBroke]

I've got some black hills 75gr hollow points I've been using (5.56) any thoughts on those?

That's their Heavy Match hollowpoint right? Then no, it's not designed for medium game. Check out one of the loads in the ammunition section for duty .223/5.56 use.

Skintop911, I understand your point and that is the situation, just grumbling about it. There's another game law that says you can hunt big game with a handgun as long as it is .23 or larger and has a minimum of 350ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle. So, one can use a 9mm but not a .223/5.56.
Oh well, I hope it changes soon. Where I hunt whitetail, shots are less than 100yards. My S&W M&P15A is more accurate @100yds with Fed 62gr Fusion than my .243 Rem 700 Varmint or .308 Savage Accustock both with hunting ammo, with much less recoil and the collapsible stock is great with hunting cloths on.

[Hehuhates]

The bigger kid shot the bigger deer at 175 yards. The deer was on a dead run and he hit it square in the hind quarter. The deer did a forward roll and stopped.
The smaller kid shot the smaller deer at 250 yards. The deer was walking at the time. Again, an ass shot. The deer ran about 100 yards and laid down in some weeds.

What kind of blood trail did these ass shots leave? In my experience with 55gr. V-Max and 55gr. Ballistic tips I get very little blood even with double lung pass through shots.While 55 gr. "varmint" bullets do work they are a horrible choice. I've had deer run 60-80 yards or so and it was a bitch finding them. I hunt dense woods, nothing like what I see in the background of your photo.

Am I the only one that thinks this is a prime example of piss poor hunting practices? I bit my tongue for a while but WTF? You should NEVER take your kids out Ass shooting deer with Varmint bullets!! Then you cook off rounds into dead deer at point blank to conduct a pointless experiment? WTF?? Seriously? A ricochet in the nuts would have taught all in attendance a much better lesson.

Any other time people on this sight take themselves pretty serious. We seem to have no problem trying to un**** each other when bad judgement is being used. Why the free pass here? In fact people have made nice shot comments. I know they are young kids, butt(pun intended) both of those shots were ill advised and it was "blind ass" (pun2) luck they hit anything. the shots were 18"-20" inches off. Stuff like this is way out of line. And why young hunters need Supervision and not an audience.

[ImBroke]

Spot on. I guess a question of ethics is more of a don't-touch topic than gear or training.

[mtdawg169]

What kind of blood trail did these ass shots leave? In my experience with 55gr. V-Max and 55gr. Ballistic tips I get very little blood even with double lung pass through shots.While 55 gr. "varmint" bullets do work they are a horrible choice. I've had deer run 60-80 yards or so and it was a bitch finding them. I hunt dense woods, nothing like what I see in the background of your photo.

Am I the only one that thinks this is a prime example of piss poor hunting practices? I bit my tongue for a while but WTF? You should NEVER take your kids out Ass shooting deer with Varmint bullets!! Then you cook off rounds into dead deer at point blank to conduct a pointless experiment? WTF?? Seriously? A ricochet in the nuts would have taught all in attendance a much better lesson.

Any other time people on this sight take themselves pretty serious. We seem to have no problem trying to un**** each other when bad judgement is being used. Why the free pass here? In fact people have made nice shot comments. I know they are young kids, butt(pun intended) both of those shots were ill advised and it was "blind ass" (pun2) luck they hit anything. the shots were 18"-20" inches off. Stuff like this is way out of line. And why young hunters need Supervision and not an audience.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter. Use the right caliber & bullet for the game and anticipated ranges. Don't take shots you can't make, like running deer at 200+ yards. Teach your kids NOT to do irresponsible shit like this. Dumb ass luck that these deer went down at all.