What is your favorite deer load in the M&P 15?

[MichiganScott]

I wouldn't brag about shooting a dog-sized deer with a poodle-shooter.
I'm glad your son got his first "deer", but that deer should have been left alone to grow up.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is just plain wrong. Although I don't believe deer should be shot at much past bow range with a .223, your first deer is always a trophy. I've seen more than one child button popping proud of his/her first deer become embarrassed and ashamed because some unthinking adult belittles their kill. We end up losing another hunter that we can't afford to lose.

Not all deer are equal, I normally hunt whitetails in Michigan and Pennsylvania. For the last ten years it has been with a .243, before that a 30-06. The bucks are usually over 200 Lb. with the mature Does not much smaller.

You must be talking about Pennsylvania. In 45 years of hunting, I have seen exactly one buck dress over 200 pounds. In the northern lower peninsula, a big doe will dress at 120 lbs and a big buck at 140.

 

[tilyukon]

do not use the 223

if your going to use your ar, buy a 300blkout barrel, atleast you would have a better punchout.

 

[cyphertext]

I wouldn't brag about shooting a dog-sized deer with a poodle-shooter.
I'm glad your son got his first "deer", but that deer should have been left alone to grow up.

That is a legal deer here in Texas, and there is nothing wrong with a young hunter taking a deer of that size.

If you want to hunt deer and hogs with a varmint round, go ahead. I have no respect for anyone who uses underpowered cartridges on game animals. Such "hunters" give all hunters a bad name and have no business hunting.

Hogs are not game animals here in Texas... they are nuisance animals that destroy crops and fields and create hazards for cattle and horses. I shoot everyone of them I see, no matter what firearm I have on me at the time.

 

[A.O.]

Happily, the 223 is not legal for big game here in Colorado.

Yup, another moronic law here in colorado they have lots of them here!!

 

[Mr. P]

Happily, the 223 is not legal for big game here in Colorado.

Keep up that mindset and the freakin gun grabbers and PETA puffers will make it illegal to hunt with 30-06 or .308 or 270 or....... "Because it is just inhumane..", "it shows no respect for the animal..." Buy a 50 cal or stay home

Some of you crack me up -- you are worse than them because you should know better

 

[Mr. P]

You are doing it all wrong... too little gun and I don't see a bit of camo on your boy!

He didn't kill it with his clothes

 

[Mr. P]

I wouldn't brag about shooting a dog-sized deer with a poodle-shooter.
I'm glad your son got his first "deer", but that deer should have been left alone to grow up.

If you can afford an AR and all the tacticool mall ninja gizmos, you can afford a deer rifle chambered for a cartridge that is appropriate for the job.

Just because a magazine article says it's a good round for deer doesn't make it so.
Remember all the Marshall and Sanow BS that was being pimped in the '90s as the gospel of stopping power?
Once it came out that the results were falsified, the M&S worshippers at the gun rags got very quiet on the subject.

Magazine writers have only one job, and that is to write articles that appeal to a specific demographic and increase magazine sales. Reality be damned.

If you want to hunt deer and hogs with a varmint round, go ahead. I have no respect for anyone who uses underpowered cartridges on game animals. Such "hunters" give all hunters a bad name and have no business hunting.
All the Texas hogs I've seen killed with 5.56 Poodle-Shooter are tiny excuses for hogs. Hogs in GA are MUCH bigger.

You are so cool...... Hate much ???

Wish I lived in Ga -- where everything is better

 

[SgtBill]

I appreciate all the comments. I guess I'm still on the fence if I will use this rifle for deer hunting. If I do I will be using a 62 grain Barnes TSX.

Someone above mentioned that it wouldn't be good for close range. Could someone explain this? One of the reasons I wanted to use this rifle is because it has an Aimpoint red dot on it. The place that I hunt would be sub 100 yards, most likely sub 50 yards.

The last deer I harvested on that spot was with a scope on 5 power and all I could see was brown hair in the field of view.

If all you can see in the scope is brown then the power is turned up too high for the distance that you are shooting at. Try looking at something in the area that you will be shooting in and adjust your scope for that range. You should be able to fit the whole deer in your scope and see the whole deer in the scope. This is the only way that you will guarantee a shot placed where you want it to go.
Sgt. Bill

 

[A.O.]

You are so cool...... Hate much ???

Wish I lived in Ga -- where everything is better

Yeah, the guy is pretty tacky.. and man, I don't want to see any GA hogs if they are so much bigger! The last hog I shot down at the ranch in Texas was 456 pounds..

 

[SgtBill]

I have a bad right shoulder that I have had 5 major surgery's on and the last one left a steel plate across the clavicle to hold the shoulder in place. I have hunted deer for over 50 years with many cal. weapons but mainly a Win. in .270 cal. Now I can not take the recoil from this type of weapon so I have built a new 6X45 (.243)on a AR type platform with a extra heavy bbl. I handload all of my hunting ammo and I am putting together a load with a Hornady 100 grain Boat Tail Hollow Point that will be moving at about 2,550 F.P.S. The weapon has a 3X9X40 scope on it and it will shoot into 1" or less at a 100 yards all day. Again the shot placement is the most important part of the shooting. This weapon I can handle with the light recoil. For Black Powder season I will just switch to the left shoulder.
Sgt. Bill

 

[cyphertext]

He didn't kill it with his clothes

Whoa, friendly fire.... my comment was a joke, sarcasm...

You are doing just fine... You got the boy outdoors and he harvested a legal deer. Good job dad!

 

[getoff]

Maybe these?

Cor-Bon DPX Hunter .223 62gr Barnes Triple-Shock X Bullet Lead-Free 20rds DPX22362/20 - .223/5.56mm - Rifle Ammunition - Ammunition

Pretty sure it will do just fine dropping a deer if I do my part. Correct load and well placed shot.

+1 for anything cor-bon! velocity is king after all...

 

[patriotsc]

SWIFT SCIROCCO II BONDED Polymer Tip / Boat Tail Spitzer 75 gr

You are doing just fine... You got the boy outdoors and he harvested a legal deer. Good job dad!

Congratulations on safely launching your son into shooting sports, and deer hunting. Box says .224 1-8 twist. SWIFT SCIROCCO II BONDED Polymer Tip / Boat Tail Spitzer 75 grains does the trick in Carolina. Available MIDWAY ships 10/6.
Swift Scirocco 2 Bullets 22 Cal (224 Diameter) 75 Grain Bonded Spitzer

EOTECH lights 'em up, and as always, make sure you have margins around the bullet path in the woods/brush to ensure a good shot placement.

 

[15Krounds]

I wouldn't brag about shooting a dog-sized deer with a poodle-shooter.
I'm glad your son got his first "deer", but that deer should have been left alone to grow up.

I don't see anything wrong with taking a young one. I'm not a trophy hunter, I'm a meat hunter. Younger=tender and scrum-diddly-umpsious.

 

[Mr. P]

Whoa, friendly fire.... my comment was a joke, sarcasm...

You are doing just fine... You got the boy outdoors and he harvested a legal deer. Good job dad!

Yeah, I figured

 

[Redhawk500]

I hunt with a handgun, killing animals up to 700 lbs with them. Placement, penetration, bullet performance. I don't snipe humans with a .223 but they seem to work, even thought the bullet self distructs in many cases from reports. A deer shot in the CNS by a .223 should drop to the shot. Heart-lung shot deer door run a bit at times. My anemic handguns haven't let one run over 50 yards. I like the Nosler Partitions and Barnes X bullets. The NPs come apart even in large calibers and the Barnes X bullets make two holes. I have some 60 grain Federal NPs in 223 and I was going to let my middle son, a little recoil shy, use them. I've shot those tiny Texas deer and similar ones in Tennessee. All big game animals hunted hard and taken cleanly are trophies and a contribution to game management. On a local hunt I use guns I wouldn't use on a hunt of a lifetime, passing up inappropriate shots for the cartridge chosen. The original poster gets my respect for doing his research and then considering his options. I need to get my semiauto rifles out and get some hunting in with them. Problem is the list of firearms and proposed ammo is long I want to try and the time is short, mostly weekends during hunting season. Game preserves help ranchers and farmers and offer a more controlled environment for a first attempt with a new type of weapon. I've had good luck in finding places, despite fewer and fewer places to hunt. Use premium bullets, place the shot well, get out your knife.

 

[Jim G]

.223 For Deer

I'm considering using my M&P 15 for deer hunting this year. It will give me another reason to shoot the MOE some more. Where I hunt is pretty thick and brushy and if I do get a shot it will be less than 100 yards.

I'm curious to know what you all would suggest for a load. Was thinking maybe the Nosler ballistic tips.

Cheers

The whitetails here at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains, at least the ones in my back yard, are small and I shoot one or two each year. Seems fair since they eat my bushes and rub on my trees. Wyoming has legalized the .223 (60 gr bullet min.) for deer and I will shoot one this year with my AR 15 and 69 gr hollow points with little trepidation. For larger deer and in particular big Mulies, not so much. I hit a 250 lb Mulie a couple years back with a 150 gr .308 Power Max right in the boiler room and it just hunched up and kept on going. The next round up in my DPMS LR .308 was a Barnes 130 gr and it anchored the critter with an offside broken shoulder. The Power Max did not exit on the same kind of angling shot. Range was 100 to 150 first to second shot. The deer was dead but did not know it after the first shot but a little further and he would have been down in a deep coulee so deep I would have needed to bring my frying pan and just eat him down there. Consider the potential size of the game and potential situation, and never go under gunned is my motto.

 

[derek45auto]

Why not buy a 6.8mmSPC upper.

6.8 uses common 90-130gr .270 bullets

I really like the SIERRA 110gr PRO-HUNTER bullet with H322 powder.

This is my woods rifle, perfect for deer.
Wilson combat lightweight 16" middy barrel
PRI carbon fiber handgard
JP trigger
AIMPOINT/LARUE

 

[Jaymo]

Hate? No.
If you're going to teach your child to hunt, you should also teach them to wait for the right animal and the right shot.
Killing the small/young ones hurts the deer population more than killing the adults that have already procreated.

Deer that small aren't even worth the processing fee.
Doe days in GA have been limited because of the number of young deer killed by coyotes. The effect on the population is not lessened by irresponsible hunters doing the same thing.
Passing on tiny animals and only killing mature adults is better than teaching our children that it's okay to kill any deer they see.
Waiting for the right deer is much better than the instant gratification of letting them do whatever they want.

450 pounds is not a large hog in GA. We have a problem with them here.
They are not game animals. They are an invasive species.
That said, I kill them as humanely as possible. I don't even want a pest to suffer.

Hate? No. No hate. Just responsibility. I've seen what happens to the deer population when people in the hunting club allow deer of any size to be killed. After a couple of seasons of people shooting a bunch of dog-sized deer, there aren't many adults left in the area. Those dog-sized adolescents have to grow up to become adults worthy of shooting/processing/eating.

Sure is a fair bit of vitriol coming from the proponents of using too little gun, or shooting too-small deer.
So, who really hates?

As far as "everything being better in GA", I'm not getting into that urinating competition with you, but I'm glad you don't live here and I wouldn't live in FL on a dare.
Our hogs are bigger, our deer are bigger, our bears are bigger, and I can legally own shotgun specialty ammo here (felony in FL).

FL has it's pluses, but I'm not a beach or theme park person.

Our coyotes are bigger than out west, but that's pretty consistent with all states east of the MS river. More food equals bigger animals.

 

[15Krounds]

Why not buy a 6.8mmSPC upper.

6.8 uses common 90-130gr .270 bullets

I really like the SIERRA 110gr PRO-HUNTER bullet with H322 powder.

This is my woods rifle, perfect for deer.
Wilson combat lightweight 16" middy barrel
PRI carbon fiber handgard
JP trigger
AIMPOINT/LARUE

This seems very interesting to me. The 6.8 cartridges fit in the standard AR-15 magazines, all you need is the different upper? Or can you just change only the barrel and everything else is compatible? Any suggestions on where I can find a good value barrel?

What are the ballistics like? How would it compare to my .270? I assume it would be quite a bit slower.

Again, thanks everyone for your input.