[Longranger]

Originally Posted by kildare.17hmr

Can ya shoot them with 223?? I heard they can take down a cow......

A well aimed slingshot should do the job!

[323]

Originally Posted by kildare.17hmr

Can ya shoot them with 223?? I heard they can take down a cow......

Was waiting for the 223 to come up, ain't nothing that wee varmint round can't do.....

[meathstevie]

No messing now but with the right type of ammo and spot on shot placement a .223 can be quite amazing. I can see no reason why for example a shot with a slow expanding soft point in the flank of a boar ( from the rear aimed to the front at a small angle slightly behind the ribcage ) shouldn't be an immedeate kill shot. Let's face it, people have shot them stone dead in the past with black powder front loaders, standard 12g shotguns ( no fancy 3" magnums either ) with 00 and AAA cartridges, Brenneke slugs etc...all stuff that doesn't come near the velocity and penetration capabilities of .223.

[garv123]

Originally Posted by meathstevie

No messing now but with the right type of ammo and spot on shot placement a .223 can be quite amazing. I can see no reason why for example a shot with a slow expanding soft point in the flank of a boar ( from the rear aimed to the front at a small angle slightly behind the ribcage ) shouldn't be an immedeate kill shot. Let's face it, people have shot them stone dead in the past with black powder front loaders, standard 12g shotguns ( no fancy 3" magnums either ) with 00 and AAA cartridges, Brenneke slugs etc...all stuff that doesn't come near the velocity and penetration capabilities of .223.

i agree with you but again if it can knock a boar if can knock a deer. so that argument would be for a .223 for deer too.
but its all about the room for error because you rarely get the time and rest for the perfect shots you get at paper. (how often woud you get a chance at the shot you described)

[TriggerPL]

Originally Posted by garv123

i agree with you but again if it can knock a boar if can knock a deer. so that argument would be for a .223 for deer too.
but its all about the room for error because you rarely get the time and rest for the perfect shots you get at paper. (how often woud you get a chance at the shot you described)

i agree you can knock a deers with a .22 but that dont mean that you go out shooting deers with it . , .223 will knock everything you want t knock but it when you dont place the shot right or it moves just as you squeeze the trigger this is when the big power comes into it .

[garv123]

Originally Posted by TriggerPL

i agree you can knock a deers with a .22 but that dont mean that you go out shooting deers with it . , .223 will knock everything you want t knock but it when you dont place the shot right or it moves just as you squeeze the trigger this is when the big power comes into it .

Yup, thats exactly what im saying. a perfect placed .223 round can knock any game in the world without any bother but you rarely get the perfect anything out in the field. Its grand doing it on paper when you have all day and the paper wont move.

[It wasn't me!]

You could use a .223 and probably do reasonably well, but I'll always rather be overgunned, if only because it allows you more opportunities. Yeah, with a dedicated bullet with very good penetration and controlled expansion you could make that shot you described, but when I can take the likes of a .308 or a .30-06 with quality 180gr bullets and poke them through both shoulders, the choice is a bit of a no-brainer really.

[Grizzly 45]

Komarodo[sic] Bell,a famous big game hunter, Once shot a bull elephant with a .243!! But then he had been hunting elephants all his life,had made a study of their anatomy for decade and shot it thru its ear hole,at almost point blank range.. It can be done but I wouldnt recommend it for everyone.He usually used a much bigger caliber for the day to day work.
Same with the .223 ,shot placement will do it every time.But do you and can you grauntee a perfect shot placement and opportunity every time?

[It wasn't me!]

Actually, Bell did use some medium bores, and some big ones, but he was a major champion of small bores for shooting elephants. His favourite was a 7x57, with which he shot 1011 elephants. He only ever shot solids, which is still common practice for elephant, though some will use one top end expanding bullet and follow it up with solids. He also used a 6.5x54, a .318 Westley Richards, .303 British and the like, alongside bigger doubles, but that 7x57 with 173gr military FMJs was the rifle he killed the most with.

[meathstevie]

That man's anatomical knowledge must have been flawless to achieve kill shots with a 7x57 on African elephants. It would compare to shooting big red stags with a .22lr and consistently dropping them.

[It wasn't me!]

Originally Posted by meathstevie

That man's anatomical knowledge must have been flawless to achieve kill shots with a 7x57 on African elephants. It would compare to shooting big red stags with a .22lr and consistently dropping them.

Yeah, he dissected skulls and mapped the path to the brain from just about every angle conceivable. He also shot his 173gr bullets into samples to see whether penetration was sufficient. Fundamentally, he was a believer in the idea that if you put a hole in the heart, lungs or brain of something, it's going to die, and he used all of those, didn't head shoot exclusively, though it was a favourite of his. A quartering away shot into the back of the brain is still thought of as his party trick. It wasn't always perfect and he learned a lot of stuff from making mistakes and surviving the results, but he gets all the credit because he survived long enough to write the lessons for everyone. Harry Selby's daughter shot probably the last elephant to drop from a 7x57, using Bell's own rifle! (Of course, his was a .275 Rigby) Personally, I think it all works, big guns, small guns, medium guns, whatever, as long as you shoot it well, and take shots within the capabilities of the rifle, cartridge, bullet and shooter. Since I know I'll make enough mistakes, I'd rather keep the shots sensible and use a bit more gun every time, but that's a personal call, and of course, what suits me might not suit someone else who's a bit more recoil-shy or who handles a different type of gun better.

[Double Barrel]

You never know when you will need an elephant gun.

[steyrman2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdsxEwcIbho
here the are