smallest caliber to kill deer

[DOUBLE.A]

When he said .22 mag he forgot to mention the part about the spotlight. Lol. Smallest round for personal experience is my wife's 243.

[Jäger]

In a way - aside from the suggestions for illegal rounds - I'm glad to see this discussion because for the longest time folks in Texas have wanted to suggest that anything under a .300 Win Mag was just not enough gun for a 90 lb. whitetail. LOL.

I just ran some Hornaday Leverevolution rounds through my 59 year-old Winchester 30-30 a few days ago, and achieved sub-2" groups at 200 yards with it (scoped with a Weaver 4x scout scope). I never thought of my 30-30 as a legitimate 200 yard gun, but it darn sure is now. And the recoil isn't bad at all.

Not sure why anyone would need more gun inside 200 yards for a whitetail.

John

yes sir, those leverevolution bullets are trully amazing. i would be willing to bet that there have been more whitetail killed with a lever action (the first tactical carbine ) 30-30 than any other firearm. period.

It's all about penetration. Varmint bullets are just wrong for deer.

i totally agree with this....it may go in far enough and it may turn the vitals to jelly which equals dead deer but with a .223 55gr vmax bullet there will be a tiny little entry wound and no exit, no guarantee of blood. Where ive been hunting if there's no BLOOD there's no guarantee of finding that deer.

another tip for the OP is if you find a caliber/ bullet your interested in using go to the manufactures website or go look for it at the store...if there is a picture of a deer on the box your probably safe using it. Besides it being ILLEGAL in texas iv'e never seen any manufacture advertise that you should grab a box of .17HMR or .22LR for your next hunt

[DOUBLE.A]

Have you ran some rounds through it? I know fellas that whine about pulling the trigger on that gun

Had my 30-06 since I was 12. 150 grain. No prob.

[Liven4TheHunt]

22 hornet

[JW]

When he said .22 mag he forgot to mention the part about the spotlight. Lol. Smallest round for personal experience is my wife's 243.

I agree. A perfect shot almost any round will work. But none of us especially kids and new hunters make perfect shots 100% of the time. Of the short action I like 243 as a minimum. And for dang near no recoil in the more AR like calibers I bought my daughter a 6.8 pushing a 120 Hornady SST. You can literally shoot the thing with one hand and it almost has the energy at 100 yards of a 30-30. And if anyone says a 30-30 is not a deadly deer round in it's range they are crazy.

[friscopaint]

.22 mag is great at night and won't deafen you when shot out of the pickup window like some of the others will.

[thorshammer]

22 Mag in Texas is illegal. I might edit that if I was you.
I bought my 9 year old a 6.8 SPC. Between 223 and 22-250 and recoil and near 30-30 energy at 100 yards. Hers is a Remington 700 Light Tactical. I highly recommend this cal for youth.

Why would you even post this? .22 mag is an illegal round on deer.

I just don't get it.

I'm not saying it's not effective. I'm sure it is. But really?

Since you said "not ear hole them"... Personally, a .243 is the smallest I'd use on a deer with a shot to the chest.

He just moved here from out of state. That may have been legal where he came from. Give him a break till he chimes back in. I don't personally know the guy, just from what I've read on here from his posts.

[Chasin Bacon]

For white tail it's easier to go too big than it is to go too light.

I've seen hogs taken with a pellet gun and hogs are way tougher than a WT.

[Mac]

He just moved here from out of state. That may have been legal where he came from. Give him a break till he chimes back in. I don't personally know the guy, just from what I've read on here from his posts.

This or maybe he's culling exotics. There's no restriction on them and I have also killed and witnessed axis killed w a 17hmr cause that's all we had at the time. But to answer the op's question. I would look at a 22-250 as many before have mentioned. With a high shoulder shot I've never seen em take a step.

[M16]

this has me dying laughing

Simple minded people are easy to entertain.

[JW]

Simple minded people are easy to entertain.

[Mac]

Ragin that's freakin awesome
I can't stop laughing

[talleywack97]

yeah i neck shoot deer with my AR cause im super confident in my setup .223 in texas iz smallest caliber anyone should use.

[M16]

Ragin that's freakin awesome
I can't stop laughing

See, told ya.

[clintb]

It appears that some of these guys that have posted today have never read the rule book of TEXAS