Lightest bullet you killed a deer with?

[dennishoddy]

55 grain Rem soft point from .223 AR
55 grain Nosler from .243WSSM
55 grain from 22-250.
I am going to kill one this year with FIL’s 30-30 using his last bullet. Then might play with a sabot and 55 grain bullets. Bought 100 sabots a couple years ago and haven’t done anything with them.

 

[2busy]

I'd like to try my great grandpa's model 92 38-40 with some reloads I did.

 

[Shinneryfarmer]

45 gr hollow point from a 22-250 by mistake. Had been coyote hunting that morning and forgot to switch to 55's. 45 gr blew a hole thru the neck, exit wound you could stick your fist in. Have took many with 55 gr v max fired from 22-250, a couple, three with .223 same bullet.

 

[TFord]

Just out of curiosity what is the lightest bullet you bullet you have shot deer with effectively/humanly? What caliber were you using?

22-250 all time favorite deer rifle , for me. 55 grain boat tail soft point.

 

[Dorkus]

.25-06

 

[swampratt]

Ok so accidental kills are included?

That would be 1.62 grains.
My first ever kill, 12 years old forgot to put a slug in my single shot 20 gauge and had #6 lead shot in it.

Only 1 tiny pellet hit the deer but it hit it in the wind pipe and the big doe could not breathe.
Fell to the ground right there gasping for air.
So sad and a mistake I never made again.

 

[retrieverman]

55 grain Rem soft point from .223 AR
55 grain Nosler from .243WSSM
55 grain from 22-250.
I am going to kill one this year with FIL’s 30-30 using his last bullet. Then might play with a sabot and 55 grain bullets. Bought 100 sabots a couple years ago and haven’t done anything with them.

I still have a partial box of 30-30 accelerators from the late 80’s. My wife killed her one and only deer in the fall of 1989 with one, and if I remember right, they shot really well out of my old Marlin clone rifle.
I actually didn’t know you could buy those sabots, but I just googled them and found them and the seating die on EABCO. I think I might try a 30-30 and 308 accelerator loads.

 

[magna19]

Ok so accidental kills are included?

That would be 1.62 grains.
My first ever kill, 12 years old forgot to put a slug in my single shot 20 gauge and had #6 lead shot in it.

Only 1 tiny pellet hit the deer but it hit it in the wind pipe and the big doe could not breathe.
Fell to the ground right there gasping for air.
So sad and a mistake I never made again.

Got ya beat I did it with a #8 lead shot pellet. And I was only 11 years old. Cmon on man dont make me put my boots on again. **** gets deep

 

[turkeyrun]

55 gr V-Max from AR 16" barrel 2789 fps and Savage axis .223 22" at 3190 fps.
Heart shots and neck shots and my buddy put them down in 2 jumps with crappy shots (under skin no vitals hit), same bullet.

Hogs over 400 lbs die on the spot with a neck or ear shot and that pill.
It is my favorite bullet out of all i have used in any caliber.
Shot a hog through the hard shoulder area and killed it where it stood.

I like it so much that I researched sabots for 30 cal to try it in 30-30 as I hate that slow 150 gr 30-30.
It is my least favorite gun to shoot deer with.
Growing up all the old guys had 30-30 and you hardly ever took deer home and if you did it was all shot up.
I have killed a few with it but sure do not like it. Running 125 HP now in it but have not hit a deer with them. Should be way better than the non expanding penciling through 150 gr.

I do not like the Hornady 55gr SP No shock factor, deer run hundreds of yards and you recover a mushroomed bullet.
V-Max 55 gr goes in a couple inches then begins to come apart like a hand grenade.
Looks like you took a 2" wood paddle bit and wallered it around for the next 8".
It will explode neck bones.

87 V max in .243 was awesome.
Stepping down to 70 gr this year.
I have become a big fan of small bullets that explode inside critters.
I do a lot of testing on meat before I try a bullet.

I did not try the 55gr SP on meat as I thought it would act like the V max and I was mistaken.
Maybe it needed pushed faster.
I do not know, I sold all of the ones I had.

I concur

I much prefer speed over a slow, heavy weight. Switched .30-30 to 150gr, for the extra velocity. Then, switched to 120gr HP, 3 years ago. Much better performance and lot less tracking.

Same bullet in .30-06 @2550 fps hits like a grenade and reduces recoil down to where 12yo grandson likes to shoot it.

 

[swampratt]

Cmon on man

Sounds like your hero quote that spreads BS.

When my dad and his friend showed up about a minute after the shot and seen the deer laying there gasping for air they asked me what I shot it with and where was my shotgun.
Being young and my first deer i was excited to get to the deer and left the shotgun against the tree.

I had to go find the tree i was sitting in and the shotgun.
Opened it up and out popped an empty bird shot case.
I got a cussin for that.
They just shot up a deer that refused to die with a 30-30. Nothing left but hamburger meat.

The deer I shot had no blood and we did not know what "downed" it until we skinned it and seen the small blood clot spot on the hide in the neck area. A single hole in the esophagus.

It was put out of it's misery from a follow up shot to the head with a 30-30.

I could never hit crap with that Stevens 20 gauge.
Hunted ducks for 3 years and all flew off.
Finally got to use a 12 gauge and it was my grandfathers A5 that was a game changer.
The trigger had broke on the 20 gauge.

I gave that 20 to a friend years later and he took it to the gunsmith in Moore OK and the smith told him it had a bent barrel!

That made me feel much better about crappy shots.
Ya can't make this stuff up.

If you think I am a liar then that is on you. Not me.