.222 for roe

Visit Scotland and enjoy roe with a treble 😉👍 well until the leab ban that is 😢
Genuinely: it’s well worth an annual visit to Scotland just to give the .222 an opportunity to stretch its legs a bit, and (re-) convince you how suitable a round it is for Roe.

I have mainly used 55gr bullets: Sierra #1365 (IIRC) and Sako Gameheads: both do the job perfectly.

My .222s have both been quite sensitive to bullet length, and the worst results I ever got were 52gr ELD-M, which are overly-long and didnt stabilise fully in a 1:14 barrel
 
Good old post from 2012!


I think folk underestimate how light framed roe are. Any of the legal .22CFs work fine. You just get more leeway with the larger calibers if there’s some brush or stronger winds
 
Triple Deuce and 55gns Sierra Gamekings over 19gns of Viht N120 flattens roe as far out as you will want. Excellent results over years in Scotland. Any doubts about the triple just ask any Australian - their goto calibre for Fallow!
🦊🦊
 
Shot 4 bucks this season with my old .222 using Winchester 50g soft points between 50-120 metres and all been in the chest and everything has been dead.

Use it for Muntjac and chinks too
 
Triple Deuce and 55gns Sierra Gamekings over 19gns of Viht N120 flattens roe as far out as you will want. Excellent results over years in Scotland. Any doubts about the triple just ask any Australian - their goto calibre for Fallow!
🦊🦊
Yes having seen the mess it makes of a heart and lungs it's not surprising 🤣
 
I shot some Rusa Stags in Mauritius with a .222; they were neck and head shots.

The deer didn`t complain . The Rusa is a largish deer and the locals use .222 regularly as they can also use it for rabbits and macaques. I think we were using 50gr SP.

I just got rid of my Remington 700 BDL in .222 and replaced it with a Blaser semi weight barrell in the same calibre. I am expecting good things from it!
Same here I had the 700 BDL lightweight in 222 and 243 awesome rifles and calibres shot many a Roe in Scotland and again swapped to blaser which I really get on with, but shouldn’t have sold the Remingtons, no plastic parts then, all steel, decent bit of kit
 
Shot a lot of Roe North of the border with 50gr SP ammunition, using a .222.
In the naughty old days, like the late Richard Prior I chest shot plenty with a 45gr sp or hp from a .22 Hornet. As has been said, it's bullet placement that counts and plenty of Fallow succumbed to that little rifle in those days as well. All down to the person using any rifle knowing how to use it, ( known as experience).
 
Funny how the .222 is used for Red deer, Sika, Fallow, pigs etc in NZ, yet bring it to the UK and it's considered a mouse gun... :rofl:

What settles the argument for 'not enough gun' is asking the doubter if they would stand in the way of said bullet launched from 300m or more away...
 
Shot a lot of Roe North of the border with 50gr SP ammunition, using a .222.
In the naughty old days, like the late Richard Prior I chest shot plenty with a 45gr sp or hp from a .22 Hornet. As has been said, it's bullet placement that counts and plenty of Fallow succumbed to that little rifle in those days as well. All down to the person using any rifle knowing how to use it, ( known as experience).
Grassed a few scottish Roe with the hornet, remember the first one I had that gave me a fright,Doe and a yearling alongside a wood with a wire fence, decided on taking the youngster, 90 yds approx cracked off the shot, through the scope ( 6 x 42 big mag them days ) see the bullet strike and the deer didn’t move.

The Doe had leapt over the fence by then and I had reloaded and the crosshairs back on the yearling another shot off see it struck again, this time the deer which hadn’t moved run until now moving to the fence went to clear the fence and fell over backwards stone dead, the ghillie with me suggested I wasted the second shot, i think he saw the fear in my eyes that i could have wounded it and the second shot was sent, the rifle was a single shot Holland and Holland rook rifle in hornet calibre Winchester factory ammo with the original barrel in .410 another rifle I should have kept. :doh:

I’ve always had a hornet or two and 222 in the cabinet for as long as I can remember, they are so easy to shoot and deadly accurate

when I gralloched the deer both shots went through the heart, since then I have had runners with almost all deer calibers I’ve shot except a .270 but using the hornet expands the fear, sometimes even on 100 yd foxes without a justifiable reason they do the job admirably
 
Grassed a few scottish Roe with the hornet, remember the first one I had that gave me a fright,Doe and a yearling alongside a wood with a wire fence, decided on taking the youngster, 90 yds approx cracked off the shot, through the scope ( 6 x 42 big mag them days ) see the bullet strike and the deer didn’t move.

The Doe had leapt over the fence by then and I had reloaded and the crosshairs back on the yearling another shot off see it struck again, this time the deer which hadn’t moved run until now moving to the fence went to clear the fence and fell over backwards stone dead, the ghillie with me suggested I wasted the second shot, i think he saw the fear in my eyes that i could have wounded it and the second shot was sent, the rifle was a single shot Holland and Holland rook rifle in hornet calibre Winchester factory ammo with the original barrel in .410 another rifle I should have kept. :doh:

I’ve always had a hornet or two and 222 in the cabinet for as long as I can remember, they are so easy to shoot and deadly accurate

when I gralloched the deer both shots went through the heart, since then I have had runners with almost all deer calibers I’ve shot except a .270 but using the hornet expands the fear, sometimes even on 100 yd foxes without a justifiable reason they do the job admirably
As a youngster I shot a number of Fallow with a .22 rimfire. Thought it was great when the farmer bought a "Big rifle" (.22 Hornet) and never lost a beast. Lost a few since with one or two "legal" calibres over 60 years. Got my own Hornet at 18 and inherited my Grandad's 7x57 the next year.
 
Enjoyed using 222 for roe does and if legal would have used it for larger deer, without a second thought, hit in right spot dead as dodo. Not a forgiving round, but in right hands perfect as no doubt the hornet.
Only thing that has struck me with 222, been hit a fox a little bit back will run on a tad more till it knows it’s dead.
Same hit with say something bigger or faster has more perceived wallop.
 
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