Bullet selection for White Tail with a .223 - Youth hunt

So upon recently visiting my Father in law in Arkansas and reading the regs, turns out my son can hunt deer in the state, and it is reasonably priced for non resident. This would be a great opportunity for him next year, as it is still a few years until he will be able to fulfill the Wyoming age requirement of 12. He is already obsessed with hunting and shooting prairie dogs and such, I'm certain he would love it.

He's a pretty small guy for his age, he was born at only 27 weeks and his physical growth has always been a little stunted, though he is incredibly responsible for his age. He handles his cricket .22 safer than most kids 3 or 4 years older than him. But because of his small stature, I think the perfect solution for a deer rifle for him is my Ruger AR-556. With the stock collapsed all the way down, and putting the gun in a hog saddle and him sitting, he can shoot pretty respectably with it, I would allow him to shoot out to about 100 yards on a deer (he has hit prairie dogs at that range), and the recoil is negligible for him. Now my only question is bullet selection....and here are a few of my ideas

Hammer Hunter 64 grain
Sierra Game King 65 grain
Hornady GMX 70 grain
Nosler bonded performance 64 grain
Nosler Partition 60 grain

Do any of you have any experience with any of these bullets on white tail? It has a 1:8 twist, so it will stabilize all of them listed, and it has generally shot pretty good, though for 100 yards, extreme accuracy is not essential. More important is how the bullet will perform terminally on the deer. I personally have killed one small framed 3 point mule deer with the 65 grain SGK at about 150 yards, punched through both shoulders and was under the hide on the off side, and the deer fell where it was standing, but that was only one deer.

Any experience with any of these, or if there are other, better options, would be appreciated. Thanks all.

I've killed numerous red deer with 64gn Winchester factory stuff. Slip one in through the lungs and they don't go far.

I posted a thread on the 65 SGK look it up. It works as well as all of the ones you've listed.

60 grain Nosler Partition would get my vote. Federal make factory ammo with this bullet.

Not 223 but i let my buddys daughter who is 11 use my 300 bo with 125 speer tnt. She has killed 3 deer between the last 2 seasons. Maybe another option for ya, good luck.

Any of them should do the job but also add the Speer Gold Dot bullets to the list. They make it in 55, 62 and 75 gr. You also might want to look into getting an AR upper in 6.5 Grendel. Way more punch for game and does not have much if any more recoil than the 223 especially with the right muzzle device. A friend just got one for his 10 year old grandson and he loves it. I have two of them and SMOKED a deer this year with a hand loaded 120 Speer Gold Dot. Was dead BEFORE it hit the ground.

Nosler Partition 60 gr. in .223
I loaded these for a few years for a cousin when she was little. She killed several deer with them. All deer recovered as far as I know.

I like the Barnes 62gr TSX for .223, because they shoot well in my AR. I don't deer hunt with it so no first hand experience. Probably a good option though.

For my kids I use a Ruger ranch rifle in 300 BO. I load Barnes 110 gr TAC-TX. I like 300 BO for a youth gun. Recoil is gentle, even in that little rifle, and nil with the suppressor on it. All that and you get 110 gr bullet rather than 60. It's like a 30-30 light.

Partitions!

There are a ton of options for the ar platform. Nosler is introducing the 24 nosler 85 sierrias at 27-2800fps the 6.8 the Grendel, Valkyrie 22 nosler and all the wildcats based off of those and the 223 case. Plenty of butt stocks that can make the fit lifelong. I'd also look for an effective side discharge brake vs the birdcage style.
Pics will be mandatory of rig and summer shooting accomplishments!!!

Capt RB said:

Pics will be mandatory of rig and summer shooting accomplishments!!!

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I will certainly get some this summer!! I don't have any real recent ones right now, but here are a few from about 2 years ago ha ha. He is certainly a great hunting buddy.

My daughters taken quite a few deer with her mom's 223, the best little bullets I've seen we're a soft point in the 60 gr range. Every deer she's shot with it 60-300 yards has had a pass through and just messed them up, not small whitetails but decent mule deer bucks, we've used it for elk too and it's worked excellent for smaller shooter, they have exited every cow elk also, kinda a surprisingly effective set up!!!

I think the most important part for kids is making the rifle fit. You've got that done, and a godd selection of bullets to choose from.

I like the last picture, has a look on his face if the BB don't kill he'll stare it down!! Gotta love shooting and hunting with the kids, good time!!!
My son just started with the Red Rider BB gun, pretty much bad _ss if you ask him!

bigngreen said:

I like the last picture, has a look on his face if the BB don't kill he'll stare it down!! Gotta love shooting and hunting with the kids, good time!!!
My son just started with the Red Rider BB gun, pretty much bad _ss if you ask him!

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Yup ha ha ya he is pretty in to all of it ha ha