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Winchester .223 Supreme CXP2 ammo for whitetail deer
Friend of mine has been invited to hunt next month up north close to the local border with Equador.
Terrain is thick dry brush with no more than 100 yards clearences, most shots being made from hideouts between 50-100 yards tops against the local variant of a tad smallish whitetail deer.
The only rifle he has available for that trip is a scoped bolt-action .223 Kimber Super America and the only available ammo for such job he has been able to find (Other than 55gr. FMJs) are 3 boxes (60 rounds) of Winchester Supreme CXP2s.
He's wondering if the round would be up to the task (He's a good shot and a seasoned small-game & feather hunter so is well aware of the basic requirements for taking a shot) as the factory box states ("For thin skinned game").
Reloading is a no-no, no other .223 hunting rounds are currently availabe and it's already too late for him to do the legal paperwork required to take another rifle from his stash. Any inputs about that particular round and its behavior in hunting situations?
Terrain is thick dry brush with no more than 100 yards clearences, most shots being made from hideouts between 50-100 yards tops against the local variant of a tad smallish whitetail deer.
The only rifle he has available for that trip is a scoped bolt-action .223 Kimber Super America and the only available ammo for such job he has been able to find (Other than 55gr. FMJs) are 3 boxes (60 rounds) of Winchester Supreme CXP2s.
He's wondering if the round would be up to the task (He's a good shot and a seasoned small-game & feather hunter so is well aware of the basic requirements for taking a shot) as the factory box states ("For thin skinned game").
Reloading is a no-no, no other .223 hunting rounds are currently availabe and it's already too late for him to do the legal paperwork required to take another rifle from his stash. Any inputs about that particular round and its behavior in hunting situations?
Replies
Bullet type and weight.
As far as Whitetail, I can't give you first hand knowledge, but worked well on Turkey.
Winchester Power Point has been my 1ST choice in factory hunting ammo for years, and never felt compromised.
Happy Hunting.
He had already unloaded the rifle to pick up his stuff, seeing only the back of the animal above the vegetation, but enough to risk a shot; had to quietly load 3 rounds in the magazine, close the bolt, aim and fire through cover.
The animal jumped, ran parallel to the shore for 100 yards and then dove into the forest; took for a while to him and the guide to find its track of blood but finally found it like 100 yards uphill.
Round does a nasty work; he was aiming to the shoulder area and as he pulled the trigger the deer apparently turned, so the bullet hit above the rear left leg leaving a massive wound with lots of lost blood. Haven't heard the full story (He arrived 4:00 a.m. and had to dump his stuff at home and head straight to his job; called me 6:00 a.m.) but as you guy stated, the cartridge is a perfectly performing round for this type of prey.
Still need the details of wound channel, if he recovered the bullet, distance, etc. so will be eagerly waiting. This was his 1st. deer ever (Not easy to find them here), and will probably take him a while to go hunting for them again.
Maybe the bullet hit the vegetation partially covering the prey and deflected....who knows? Anyway he's quite happy!
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
Distance was 120 yards from opposing river banks; he said that he could have ventured an open sights shot with his '94 if its paperwork had been issued on time, or any of his surplus military Mausers. Have seen him shooting with irons and think he's right.
Bullet hit the Hind leg's upper joint and made a mess out of it, tearing skin, flesh and bone in a fist-sized wound; after dressing it they couldn't find any traces of the projectile.
As a side note, one of the local guides shot an aadvark the day before (Using a single-shot 20GA rechambered to 16GA....go figure!) and cooked it by smoking the meat in flat strips, sort of a beef jerky; surprisingly for them it was pretty edible, with a little sweet aftertaste.
Also was surprised when the guides dressed the 2 other deers his pals hunted and left it hanging from a tree branch the whole night (Temperature drops severely to around 45°F or less) but not before rubbing the meat with cooking oil to avoid flies from laying eggs in it during the daytime.