I wanted to share a few thoughts and experiences on using 22 caliber rifles for deer. I am by no means an expert. Having only recently gotten into deer hunting. With five deer all taken by a Savage 22-250 with 63gr Sierra SMP to my name. But I find such discussions interesting and wanted to add my .02 worth.
First off I do not claim that 22-250 is the perfect deer cartridge in every situation. No cartridge is. Only that it is perfectly serviceable under certain conditions. In my opinion the major drawback with using a 22-250 is the inconsistency of the blood trail. Two of my deer ran any sort of distance the other three being cns hits. Of those two deer I had run one was a yearling doe that produced a easily trackable blood trail. Not that I needed that I saw her go down in the corn field I was hunting. The other a mature doe produced no blood trail that I could find but like the yearling went down in the middle of a wide open corn field. So not the best choice if you want reliable blood trails but it does offer some real advantages.
It is cheaper to shoot meaning it is more economical to practice with. I believe accuracy is the most critical thing when it comes to hunting and that the power of the round does not make up for lack of shooting skill. Meaning that 338 Rum is of no use if you put the round into the deer's digestive tract.
Recoil is less which makes it easier to shoot accurately and allows for quicker follow up shots. I experienced this first hand. I am a bird hunter and what I was taught is pick a target and continue to shoot at it until it either goes down, is out of range, or you run out of ammo. Well when I got my chance to take my first deer I shot at a mature doe broadside at about 50 yards. I noticed no indication that I had hit her so I reloaded and fired again. At that point the guy I was hunting with tells me I got her and to move on. So then I notice a yearly doe that was part of the same herd standing broadside around 35 yards away. I again fire two shots at her as well. I wind up making four lung hits on two deer in the space of only a few seconds. While shooting the deer twice was unnecessary and it was at extremely close range it does go to show what is possible.
People tend to disregard the 22-250 with out any experience to back up their claim just saying it is unethical. Or you get people who say to only take head/neck shots or only perfect broadside shots. Maybe they say to keep your shots under a certain range. While that last point is true I have read accounts of people taking deer at 300+ yards with 22-250's. So I would say that it is fine at any reasonable range a normal hunter should be shooting at.
Now I will admit that the 22-250 can certainly produce a greater percentage of wounded/unrecoverable animals than say a 308 win if your bullet selection is poor. I would never recommend modern varmint bullets like v-max, varmint grenade, tnt, among others. Nor would I recommend target bullets of any description. What I would recommend is bullets like the Sierra 63gr smp, Speer 70gr smp, Win. 64gr PP, Nosler 60gr partition, Swift 75gr sirocco II, Barnes 55gr+ tsx/ttsx, Sierra 65gr gameking, among others. With those bullet you should see expansion with adequate weight retention along with sufficient penetration. Through and through penetration would not be uncommon with a broadside shot and especially with the Barnes tsx/ttsx breaking both shoulders is a real possibility.
To illustrate my point I have had four bullets that expanded and exited the other side and on one of the other deer I put the round high in-between the shoulder and spine with a downward angle. The bullet wind up breaking a rib in multiple place on the off side and I think had it been a broadside shot instead of a quartering shot it would have completely penetrated. Just goes to show you these aren't inept bullets and absolutely perfect shots aren't needed. I don't mean that poor shot placement is effective and that you won't lose the deer. Only that you do have room for error such as you would have with other cartridges.
I hope I gave a reasonably balanced account of the 22-250 as a deer cartridge. So do any of you guys have experience with .22 cal rifles for deer and what has your results been?