.22 K Hornet for deer?

[dualsport]

I have an H&R .22 Hornet reamed out to K Hornet. 20" barrel with 1/9" twist. It's legal here for big game, including deer, pigs, elk, bear, etc. Would you use it for deer? The thing is sooo handy to pack around..., like carrying a Ruger 10/22. EDIT; It's accurate, too. Boolits or J words. Even 62 gr. green tips.

[turtlezx]

Afriend took alotta 150llb white tail with 1.
I thought he was doing all head shots
But no was taking lung shots and they didnt go far
after being hit

[shootmore]

Talked to an old guy a few years ago. Said he never needed a big bore for deer. He would set in an apple orchard till a buck came along and when it reached up to grab an apple he shot the buck in the throat.
Personally I think there is just to much that could go wrong I would want something with a little more knockdown than a K hornet.

[C. Latch]

I'm firmly of the mindset that you ought to be able to hunt with whatever suits you (on private land, anyway), but I can't think of a good reason to go that light. I've shot deer with a .223 but thought it marginal for the job, and I have found deer dying after being hit poorly with a .22lr in the back of the lungs.

I don't eat deer ribs and if I never ate another shoulder again I wouldn't miss it. I don't mind a little 'excess' damage. Most of my deer now are shot with a 6.8 SPC, and for under-300-yard hunting I think it's perfect, but given the choice between carrying a larger cartridge or a smaller cartridge, I'd go larger every time. YMMV. I'm not saying you can't do it; I'm saying I would not do it myself.

[Wolfer]

I've shot a couple with a 223. Put it in the right spot and it will work very well. Put it in a not so right spot and it will fail very well.
A good hunter that knows his rifle and deer anatomy and has good self control along with good ethics could do just fine with one.

Their not for the general public and personally their not for me. Just my opinion.

[dk17hmr]

If I had to I would use it. I wouldn't grab it out of the safe specifically for deer hunting but if that's the only thing in the safe, I would be eating deer meat that winter.

[MT Chambers]

Illegal in my part of Canada, just as well as we have some large and tough game including big bucks that don't stand around long waiting for you to make the perfect shot. .243 is minimum here for big game, I'd opt for something much larger.

[Tenbender]

No need to take a chance of a wounded animal that might take hours or days to die. Do the right thing and use something bigger. 243 - up.

[runfiverun]

I probably would.
but I hunt in some thick stuff occasionally and sometimes all I get to see are their feet, or their heads as they look around for me, or just get to hear them as they leave.
I have used the 55 gr win power point on 2 deer in my life and I killed them both.
but I was able to make good shots from a steady rest, one was in the head [just above the left eye] as he looked right at me after I low whistled at him while he was laying down in some sagebrush. [bout 60 yds away]
the other was feeding through a clearing and I leaned over a log and took off the top of his heart. [about 75 yds away]

[turtlezx]

all about shot placement with whatever you use

[GabbyM]

Normally for a 22 Hornet I'd say no. But with your 1:9 twist barrel. That opens up the heavier construction bullets. Sierra 55gr SBT soft point #1365 Game King. It should stabilize at Hornet velocity with a 1:9 twist.

Down side there is you'll have your rifle tied up with a load that is not ideal for the intended use of such a round. But if you have that issue set aside. The game king is my favorite tough 22 bullet. My get down to work AR-15's use the 65 or 55 gr Sierra SBT-Game Kings. After that I'd go with a 55gr Speer flat base SP. You'd get 8 to 10 inches penetration from the Speer hot core. Then with the Sierra GK. Perhaps a pass through with nickel size hole through a deer broadside. Thing about 22 bullets is results vary greatly depending upon variables. aka bones angles and the always present Freddy. Or Murphy's Law.

I personally have a Winchester 94 in 30-30 witch out handys and out kills any 22 Hornet ever conceived. I own what is my favorite rifle. 222 Rem in a CZ 527. I shoot cast at 2,400 fps with great accuracy. Would hit a deer with no reservations in a minute with it. But would not chose it from my huge stash of rifles to go after a deer. After all if I did. How would I justify owning a couple 243's a 270 and 30-30 plus a 30-06? Have an old Enfield 303 back there too. Yes then the 222 and uGu lets count,,,,, five 223 , 5.56 types. Problem with that dilemma is I'm sixty years old now to have collected all that stuff. Now Don't have all that much energy to chase deer.

One comparison would be this. 22 Hornet, with a proper bullet, is a lot more killing power than an archery setup. Proper bullet is the key here. If your rifle will shoot those 62gr green tips it will very well shoot the Sierra 55 SBT-GK. Generally speaking you'll get 20 plus inches of penetration sans big bone. Broadside chest shot you will get an exit. Most states do not allow FMJ bullets like the 62gr green tip. I an tell you from experience. The 55gr M193 from a 1:12" twist barrel M16 is one of the best lung shot deer bullets you can use from a 22 rifle. Bullet drills through hide / ribs then yaws at 4 inches to turn lungs to mush with it's near full power after outer layer penetration intact.
FMJ's are illegal in most states IMHO because they present a horrid potential for ricochet. Given the light weight of the 55gr M193. I'd rate it's public danger as less than the 30-06 with any bullet that I'd take as my first choice deer hunting. But there is the clue. I'd take my 30-06. Not my 270. Not my 30-30. Then for woods deer under 230 yards. I'd use my MP Molds 180 grain cast HP or my 220 grain cast bullet FP. Long range I load the Sierra 180 grain PH. Not the SBT which is a blitz bullet. But again that's just because they are in my gun case and that is what they are for.

If the 22 is all you have then go for it. Otherwise you may kick yourself in the rear. Since your shot picture only includes a few angles. When yo hear of those Alaskan Natives hunting with the 22 Hornet. They wake up every morning to look out upon game. They don't take shots at running animals or long range. With a 22 Hornet. Butchers kill steers by the millions with little rim fires from two feet.

[mac266]

Shot placement is everything; you have to hit the vital organs to make it count, no matter how big and powerful the cartridge is. That said, I would still want to have the advantage of having enough power to stop the animal in its tracks. I wouldn't do it.

[Mica_Hiebert]

ive killed deer out to 200 yards with 55 grain soft point out of a 223 Ive seen many natives take deer with a 22 lr they hunt where they want, when they want with what they want. I used to run around with a few in my teen age years. I say if you can put it in a pie plate and you have something with decent expansion and a little penetration go for it! a well placed piss cutter round will kill better than a poor placed magnum round any day of the week!

[Don Fischer]

I have an H&R .22 Hornet reamed out to K Hornet. 20" barrel with 1/9" twist. It's legal here for big game, including deer, pigs, elk, bear, etc. Would you use it for deer? The thing is sooo handy to pack around..., like carrying a Ruger 10/22. EDIT; It's accurate, too. Boolits or J words. Even 62 gr. green tips.

If a 22K Hornet was all I had, I would easily kill deer with it. I believe your rifle is a single shot, right? You can buy other barrel's for it I believe. I'd buy a barrel for it in a larger caliber. With cast bullet's I haven't a clue what a min good cartridge would be but it would not be a Hornet! I think I'd start out at a min 6.5 with a min 140gr bullet. I have two 6.5's, a 6.5x55 and a 6.5x06, and decided to go with a 30cal, just think it would be more suitable. Two thing's cause penetration, velocity and weight. If you sacrifice weight to gain velocity, you go the wrong way as with cast bullet's it seem's that getting much over 2000fps can be trying in the first place. So a 150gr cast bullet at 2000fps will absolutely destroy a 50gr bullet at near the same velocity. Keep in mind, for any bullet to work it has to get inside the animal with enough remaining velocity or weight to destroy vital organs. Oh yes, keep in ming that the 55gr bullet is going to lose velocity faster than say the 6.5 140gr bullet. You go to a 243 barrel and at least you get the available bullet weigh up some.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I have an H&R .22 Hornet reamed out to K Hornet. 20" barrel with 1/9" twist. It's legal here for big game, including deer, pigs, elk, bear, etc. Would you use it for deer? The thing is sooo handy to pack around..., like carrying a Ruger 10/22. EDIT; It's accurate, too. Boolits or J words. Even 62 gr. green tips.

It depends on the deer, and it depends on the circumstances. There could easily be long shots you ought to pass up. But this is a rifle with enough twist for a heavy bullet, substantially jacketed by .22 centrefire standards. I can't see why it would do worse than a light-bullet .223. Long ago when it was legal I killed a 60lb. deer cleanly with CCI Stinger rimfires - four of them you could cover with your hand, but there was a dog if I'd needed one, and nowhere she could disappear to. A Hornet varmint load with a bullet of 40gr. or less is not the one to use.

I wouldn't go for a head shot unless it was close enough to be foolproof, though. It takes so little error to send the poor beast off with a broken jaw that means starvation. The frontal neck shot is a lot better, since it is relatively easy to keep central when you can afford a bit of leeway up and down, and there isn't much wounding area in a neck. But I would rather aim just the way you would with anything else. Hitting him in the right place, the heart or just above, might let him get far enough in undergrowth not to be found, when a powerful round wouldn't. But it isn't going to leave him to die slowly. With a single shot I would want another round in my watchband.

[Mk42gunner]

Just because something is legal to use doesn't mean you should use it.

Will a .22 K-Hornet kill a deer? Yes. I have never used one, but I have seen a standard .22 Hornet kill several deer with Winchester factory loads.

In my opinion, you would be better off with a .30-30 barrel on the H&R.

Robert

[quilbilly]

Many many many years ago, I took my first deer with a 222 downloaded to 22 hornet velocities on the theory that, with the bullet technology of that time, the projectile would penetrate rather than disintegrating. It worked and the deer was DRT. The range was 40 yards.

[Alan in GA]

IT will kill small to medium whitetails nicely IF you use the right bullet. I tested several handloads and bullets in a 2' deep clear water hole next to my house. Speers, Hornady, Sierra and Nosler BT's all did what was expected of a varmint bullet.....turned to metal flake.
However, I accidently found a game bullet when I bought some factory ammo, Winchester 22 Hornet with a 45 grain SP bullet. I got it at a good price and decided it would be nice to be able to plink with my Ruger 77/22 Hornet and get nice fire formed brass in the process.
To my surprise I discovered nicely mushroomed bullets in the test pond. Bullets expanded to a very wide beautiful mushroom with about an eighth inch of bullet shank left to hold all together.
Long story short, shot this same ammo to kill two does that came by my tree stand about 25-30 yards away....both broadside lung shots. One died in tracks, the other ran the customary 30 yards and dropped DRT.
I recovered the identical beautiful mushroomed 45gr SP's on the off side hide after they penetrated ribs and lungs. So, the 22 Hornet will kill deer but even so, better rounds are easily available. What might have happened if a twig or two got in the way might have given different results.
Also, you might not get a perfectly broadside doe at only 30 yards, so a bit more power would be wise.

Here is one of the Winchester 45gr SPs recovered from under the hide of the far side of one doe:

157089

[GooseGestapo]

I've got/have Hornets. Have used cast to kill deer. If you are close, and you are patient, it'll work. Not my first choice for sport/ meat hunting, but I carried one in my patrol truck and dispatched several injured/nuisance deer with it. Quiet and efficient.
My load was 6.2grn of #2400 under 49.5grn Lyman 22541 mold, sized .225" gaschecked (Hornady) 50/50NRA mix lube. ~2,000fps. acww.

Added:
I've taken several dozen using jacketed too. Ranging from 35grn V-max to 50grn Hornady and Sierra's. Most perform like the 45grn Winchester shown above. Only the Hornady Vmax and Nosler Ballistic Tips have fragmented. However, both were well placed to blow up in the heart or cranium, so kill was actually rather spectacular.
Again; a cool headed shooter, an accurate rifle, well placed shot- the Hornet will work every time. It was only after seeing it used several time by poachers using it (apphrended them....) that my eyes were opened and mind changed.
Just like with our beloved cast "boolits"! SHOT PLACEMENT, SHOT PLACEMENT, SHOT PLACEMENT!!!

One winter morning, I watched my younger brother get excited and gut shot a doe with his Marlin 1895 .45/70 with a 300grn FNGC @2,000fps. 45yd off hand shot at deer standing broad side. I found carcass 8mos later while bush-hogging fire breaks...
I've lost more deer poorly hit with .243-.30/06 than with .22cf's... Go figure!

[Blackwater]

A K Hornet should do the job IF you stick to taking ONLY shots within its capabilities, which is basically head shots at or near 50 yds. or less. Most folks can't place a shot precisely enough for head shots any further than that, and many can't do it at 50 yds. from hunting positions. In support of my position, a friend and his SIL and grandchildren had access to a farm where the owner was afraid of "big guns" and would only allow use of .22 RF's. My buddy and his son and grands are really good shots, including from hunting positions (and not just off a bench), and they went 1 shot per deer for a long time. The old farmer knew them well, and finally said they could use a .22 RF Mag. That extended the range a mite, but still went 1 shot per deer for a good while. Then they tried the .17 HMR, mainly just to see what it'd do, and as long as they got really good brain shots, it did as well, but one day, one took a 2nd shot, and they abandoned that caliber. Just not enough penetration. Then one got a NEF in .22 Hornet, and the owner said it'd be OK for the grandboy to use that. It did a good job even with well placed body shots behind the shoulder. The stands they hunted from allowed them to wait for a good angle to use the Hornet with, and the lower velocity of the Hornety with 55 gr. PSP's allowed good penetration. Most of these deer didn't exceed 130-140 lbs., though, so take that into consideration. Deer vary quite a bit in size according to where they're hunted.

One other story I have about small calibers on deer involved a buddy who lives in a rather exclusive gated community. Many tree and bunny huggers there, and one woman and her husband had to be thrown out of the place due to repeated refusal to stop feeding a particularly and increasingly threatening bear with cubs! Yeah, people with lots of money can be real idjits, too! Anyway, my buddy's wife has a very prosperous landscaping business, and he's retired, so has been pressed into duty as one of her hired hands, and he also keeps the books. They have lots and lots of plants on their acreage, and the deer and wild turkeys are a constant problem. They had to install one of those intermittent sprinklers that spurts a shot of water every few seconds, and that's worked as good as anything they've tried in keeping them out of their front yard where she keeps most of her more expensive plants and trees. It still only works for a while, though. Deer DO learn. So one day after being really tested by these deer, a nice 8 pt. buck was in their back yard munching on some of her nicer plants, and he said to himself, "I'll fix you old boy! I'm about to give you one big headache!" and he got his TC Carbine .22 LR and loaded a .22 CB cap in it, aimed right between his eyes, and pulled the trigger. Much to his surprise, with the forehead being one of the thicker bones in their bodies, apart from leg and sholder bones and hips, the deer went down as if struck by lightning! And STAYED down! It was as dead as a wedge! I can't recall if it was him or someone else, but someone I know and can't recollect at the moment did the same exact thing for the same reason with a .177 pellet gun, too!

Moral of story? Don't shoot at ANYTHING you don't intend to kill with ANY gun. Also have a friend who was permanently blinded in one eye as a kid due to playing cowboys and indians long ago with BB guns. You really CAN "put out an eye with that!" Have seen a couple of others through the years, all from the same exact thing.

It really doesn't take that much to kill IF we place those projectiles right. Marksmanship is the great prerequisite, though, and anyone but a genuinely good shot who's confident form hunting positions should probably use them, but luckily, lots of practice with small calibers is cheap and easy on the wallet and the ears and shoulders. It's a very good way to GET good with a rifle as quickly and cheaply as possible. Using one is a lot more like bowhunting, though, because of the range limitations imposed by most of our skills, though, but it CAN be effective, and I'd bet my money on a really good shot and hunter with a .22 RF than I would on a yahoo with a .300 maggie! I've seen this work repeatedly. It really IS th eshooter much moreso than it is the gun or caliber, providing only that the gun is accurate and the shooter is capable. That doesn't suit some folks' illusions, but it's the truth, nevertheless.

[M-Tecs]

I have killed deer with .223's and 25/20 without issue. If I was 100% confident with bullet placement and bullet performance I would use it. About 10 years ago worked up a load for a buddies 270 with some very heavy tough bullets designed for Moose and Elk. He shot a large Moose with it and it worked very well, however, he gave me the remainder of the bullets. I shot a medium sized muley buck with the same bullets three times. All hits were double lung just behind the shoulder. First hit was about 150 yards and third was 250 plus. The buck covered 800 to 1,000 yards but was too weak to cross the fence into the neighbor's property. I shot it through the neck. Only the neck hit (spine) showed any expansion. The K-Hornet offers zero room for poor bullet performance or placement.

[quilbilly]

Given what has been said here and others have said above about 243's and other small caliber rifles, it would seem there is such a thing as too much velocity when hunting deer type game. The important thing it would appear is terminal velocity at the longest range you will allow yourself to shoot. With my 6mm Rem and 100 gr boolits I found that the maximum terminal velocity I wanted for for quick harvest and minimum meat damage on deer would be 2500 fps and the minimum at 1800 fps. It may have been my imagination but when I was still deer hunting with modern rifles (I have had muzzleloader tags for 20+ years), the deer required more tracking after shooting with the 6mm at the high MV of 2900 fps than when I reduced the MV to 2400 fps. It would have been interesting to run this concept by Elmer Keith since he disliked small "screaming banshee" calibers of that day such as 6mm's and 270's.

[M-Tecs]

I am of the Roy Weatherby school that speed kills. Of course meat damage increases greatly as the speed increases. As long as the bullet stays together long enough to provide adequate penetration I have never seen an instance were this was not true with jacketed bullets.

I have a buddy (game warden) that only uses an improved 220 Swift for deer. He uses a 50 grain jacketed varmint bullet. He only takes broadside behind the front shoulder shots. Of the 7 or 8 I have seen him shoot none took a step. Zero meat loss. Bullet liquefied the lungs and didn't penetrate the offside rib cage but it would leave fragments on the surface of the offside rib cage.

The brother in-law to the land owner were I hunt deer uses a 300 Weatherby with 125 grain Nosler BT's. lightening quick kills but 1/2 the deer is a bloodshot mess.

I have never shot a deer with a cast bullet that was going faster than 1,800 fps but some were as slow as 900 fps. Never really noticed much difference. Very few made it past 50 yards. Same for the 30/30 verse the 30/06. The only time I have ever had any issues was poor shot placement or bullets that didn't open due to too tough of a jacket or alloy.

I have way more experience on deer with jacketed bullets than cast. Out of the 150 or so with a firearm about 10% have been cast.

Way to much has been written on this forum about certain types of cast bullets that become less effective as velocity increases to discount it.

Same claims for FMJ's. I tried FMJ's for coyotes in the 70's. Both reduced and full velocity. Neither worked well for me unless the bullet tumbled than it gave lot of hide damage.

[Fishman]

I know a ranch manager that only uses a standard hornet for doe culling and hog removal. He's never mentioned needing more gun, although I know he has plenty available. That said, I wouldn't want to be limited to that cartridge for deer hunting if I had anything larger available.

[Smoke4320]

Like many others here I hate wounding a deer and losing it.
If I had a choice I would go bigger.
If not and needed meat I would strive for the best possible shot to assure a clean quick kill

[Nicholas]

Get a bigger gun. I do not advocate pushing the upper limits of what a firearm can do. A round out of the hornet at 30 yds might be effective, but at 100 not so much. Why not get a more versatile and reliable caliber for medium to large game? There are some economical CVA single shots out there in excellent deer capable calibers.

[white eagle]

I have killed a few deer in my 45 years of deer hunting
a bunch of different calibers from 22-54 and shotgun slugs
what I have noticed is that when deer are shot in the correct
spot with a large caliber they do no go far and tracking is a snap
with the 22's and high velocity stuff deer hit in the correct spot usually
run for a greater distance than the larger bore's do in my experience
I shoot for a behind the shoulder heart or double lung hit
the deer I took with the 22 cal was a 220 swift with premium bullets
the animal was calm and had no idea it was targeted it ran about 100 yds
not saying you shouldn't but there are better options available
best of luck

[freebullet]

Why not archery hunt or stalk with a bowie knife & slit the throat?

If you have to ask you should probably already know the answer. My favorite deer cartridge is a rubber band gun someday, it'll work.

[Don Fischer]

I have been reading these thing's about using a cast bullet and decided to get some ballistics on one. It does seem that the 180 gr 30 is a popular bullet. Few day's ago I was looking at molds on line some where. I saw that the bullet I use has a BC of 314. So I ran that through my ballistics calculator, PACT MK III. I used the velocity I've read most that seem's to normally be 1800fps. I use that bullet and a couple years ago got something between 1900-2000 fps. I have not run up a ballistics on it yet.

Here's what I get with the 180gr bullet, BC 314,velocity 1800 out to 250 yds.
Max PBR = 196yds max PBZero = 167 yds +3.9 at 100 yds
vel a zero equal's 1800 fps
Bullet path
50 yds 1690 fps energy 1142 ft lbs + 2.7

100 yds 1586 fps energy 1005 ft lb. +3.9

150 yds 1487 fps 884 ft lbs +1.5

200 yds 1395 fps 778 ft lbs -4.5

250 yds 1312 fps 687 ft lbs. -15.1

This was figured using a target of 8" where the bullet never rise's more than 4" and never falls more that 4" above or below the line of sight. The trajectory I could live with but the ft lbs energy get's awful low pretty soon. At 125 yds it falls below 1000 ft lbs e; 943 ft lbs. A whole lot of people discount energy as a product in a bullet's ability to kill. Those really messed up deer when shot are the product of a fast bullet shedding a lot of weight. I would limit my shot's to 125 yds then recalculate a 8" target @ 175yds.

I think that the loss of energy is something to consider.

[starmac]

No doubt it will kill a deer, probably as many killed with a rimfire as any other round, my question is why would you.
What would you gain bydoing so, some sort of delusional bragging rights.
I have a 22 hornet, nice fun little rifle, but it was far from my first rifle.
For many years I could only afford one rifle or at least thought so, I never considered a 22 anything as a gun for a one rifle household.

[dualsport]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm canning that idea. I have a .243 Win. barrel for that H&R that shoots decent groups.

[horsesoldier]

60 grain nosler partition. If you can drive it fast enough that's the only bullet I would use

[southpaw]

60 grain nosler partition. If you can drive it fast enough that's the only bullet I would use

That or a 45, 53 grain tsx bullet. I don't believe that the 53 will stabilize in a 1-14" twist barrel. I have not shot anything with them but they shoot real well. Not sure what the lower velocity for them or the partition is tho. If I was to use the hornet or k-hornet I would try one of the softer bullets and see how they perform in some sort of test median. I wouldn't rule it out, just need to be real picky about your shots and bullet choice.

Jerry Jr.

[kycrawler]

i wont use a rifle I cant rely on to leave an exit wound . I hunt with a 7 mm rem mag or a down loaded 375hh my wife started hunting this year and I started her on a 243 3 deer shot and no exit wounds she now has a 7 mm 08 lined up for next year . the 375 with a 270 grain hornady bullet at 21-2200 fps puts deer down hard and has very little recoil

[Greg S]

In Cali, 60-70 barnes to where it is accurate, patiently wait for the shot to present itself and take them. If the animal doesn't participate, let it walk, don't push a bad shot since you really don't have any excessive energy in reserve.

[Rustyleee]

I have a friend that grows soy beans on his farm. Deer tear them up so he gets permits from DNR to take deer in his fields. He used to use an old '06 and was killing them on the spot. Then he figured out he could lung 'em with the Hornet and they would walk outside the field before they dropped. Then he didn't have to drag the deer out of the field thus messing up the crops. He plans it that way.