Deer hunting 5.56 round

[Notime]

I am looking for good round for a 5.56 AR. I have a 1 in 9 twist and I read something about being able to shoot up to a 72 grain bullet.  I am going to use this for deer hunting and I would prefer being able to shoot the same grain FMJ. If anyone has had a good experience with a brand or weight I'm open to opinions! Thanks!

[Ufatz]

And I suppose you insist on shooting a deer with this caliber and that weight bullet.  Seems to me we go through this argument/discussion every fall.  What's wrong with just using an adequate weapon to put a deer down cleanly and quickly and humanely.  Use the little toy gun for breaking balloons and blowing up pumpkins and wrecking gallon cans of water and shooting those things that make a big colorful boom. You know: like a fireworks toy.

Grumble grumble grumble.....snort growl......

[Notime]

Why yes I am going to shoot deer with it! Just like the post says! Lets see, quickly and humanely, are head shots quick enough? You obviously must have an unlimited budget for ammunition and great big guns! Are you over compensating? I have lost deer with a .27 and .30 caliber rifles. Nothing is a given with hunting, you should know that given your vast experience in life! You sir are a potato... Now, if anyone else has a recommendation for a good bullet I am open to suggestions. Let the but hurt begin!

[nofishfisherman]

You're opening up a large can of worms with this one.  You'll probably get more flack for going with an undersized round and also planning on head shots than you will get advice on round selection.  Both issues usually get a lot of feathers ruffled.  Also your response to Ufatz probably won't win you any bonus points.  

The only thing I'm going to point out is that if you've already lost deer with larger rounds what makes you want to go with a smaller round where wounding and losing deer becomes a greater risk?

If you really insist on hunting with it and are really planning head shots than i would suggest getting your hands on a couple different options and see what shoots the best for you.  Go with the ammo that gives you the greatest level of accuracy.  And then pray the deer doesn't turn its head at the last second.

[Ufatz]

Well NoTime,  I beseech you to not take any more head shots with your 5.6 or any other weapon.  Please, please PLEASE don't do it. If you have lost deer with larger calibers what makes you think you can quickly put a deer down with a 72 grain bullet. I have never lost an animal. Never. I have been hunting since 1948. And yes, I DO have some larger rifles.....all the way from .22 to 6.5 to 378 Norma magnum to 458 Winchester magnum and several odd dozen in between. I do not precisely recall how many deer I have taken and would have to sit down and try to the rest of the animals harvested in over 40 years in Alaska and Yukon, Montana and British Columbia and Minnesota.

I'm sure you are an accomplished marksman and skilled hunter. And I hope you are also a conscientious hunter who wishes a quick and clean kill.

Best of luck out there. And always remember to carry two things:  some toilet paper and a little flash light!  Never leave home without them.

[leechlake]

Some guys aren't fans of lever actions, some aren't fans of semi-automatics, I'm not a fan of those "style" of rifles.  They just look too commando for me.  I'm fine that you like that style it's just not my cup of tea.  It reminds me of when I was about 12 and my dad taught me that even though it was okay to wear my knife on my belt out hunting when we went into "town" even a small town the knife didn't stay on a man's belt.  That's what he taught me right or wrong.  That may not make sense to you but it does to me.

As far as bullets there is quite a bit of info out there that is important when choosing the round you have decided on.  Hornady came up more than once.  I do know that at a bare minimum you want 1000 foot pounds of energy in a bullet to kill a deer so your max range is probably 100 yards, if you hunt in the woods of Hubbard County like I do 100 yard shot is rare, but it's a big county with plenty of pasture/field areas.   My recollection is that the most popular deer calibers, 270, 30/06, 308 probably have 2300 foot pounds or so out to 200 yards with a 130-150 grain bullet.  You may have just typed it as a reference point regarding the head shot, but if you were my friend I'd tell you to skip that choice and shoot them in the lung/heart region.  Bigger area, humane kill, and I hate looking at dead dear that have been head shot whether accidentally or on purpose.  Then again that's just my preference. 

[jparrucci]

Federal Fusion is a bonded bullet that works very well in a 1:9 twist.  Getting above 70 grains with 1:9 twist can lead to destabilation.  Barnes TSX is an all copper 55 gr that would also work very well.

5.56/223 is a very common round used for deer throughout the rest of the country.   This is the round used by our military  (with crappy ball ammo due to the Hauge Convention).  The average size human is larger than the average sized deer. You have better ammo choices than the military.   I shoot 10 round groups sub MOA with an AR-15 occasionally.  I feel more than comfortable taking a head shot at a stationery deer.  The AR platform is a very accurate gun and if you shoot and train with it, you are probably much better than 90% of the Fudds out there during deer season who fire their deer rifle once a year with old crappy FMJ ammo from the 80's. 

Or if you want to borrow a .338 lapua mag to hush the nay-sayers let me know.  

[Neighbor_guy]

Federal Fusion in 62gr is what I have used in the past. Once through the lungs@40yards. Knocked her off her feet. She got up and ran dead for about 50yards and down she went. Blood everywhere. 

She wasn't any more or any less dead than the deer I shot the next day with a 20ga. That deer followed almost the same path. Once through the lungs at 35yards and ran dead for 65yards before falling down dead. 

In both cases the round did its job and the deer died. 

I've gone round and round on which firearm to have my daughter use this year. She is 11 and extremely petit. She can't hold my ultra slug steady as its too heavy. The recoil on the .270 is too much for her. And while she can vary and shoot the .410, she can't hit the barn from the garage with it. But she CAN hit a tennis ball 10 times with 10 shots at different distances from 10 to 100 yards with a zero magnification red dot on one of my ar-15 rifles. Which do you think she will use??? 

At "realistic" MN deer hunting ranges of 35-65yards the .223 round is balisticly equivilant to the 30-30 and millions of deer have been killed with that round. 

Say what you want about it. It might not have much room for error. But in the end you gave a target the size of a volley ball. I am confident she can cleanly take any shot that presents itself. And will not be doing so beyond 65yards. Thus the zero mag sight. 

[Notime]

I found some Hornady 55 grain Ballistic tips from L & M in Bemidji. They worked like a charm this morning on the first deer I saw all season. He peeked around the tree, looked at me and I shot him in the neck and he dropped, 45 yard shot.