I've shot several deer with a 223 and have seen plenty of others shot with it. It works, sure, but the 300 BLK works better. The . 30-caliber bullets punch bigger holes all the way through whitetails and break bone with no trouble at all.

Can 300 Blackout take down a deer?

If the 30-30 can kill them dead since for the last 138 years the almost-ballistically identical . 300 Blackout will do the same. Keep shots under about 150yds and you are good to go.

Is a 300 Blackout a good deer rifle?

There are also a lot of hunters successfully taking deer for years on the . 300 BLK forums with the 110 V-Max. At under 2400 fps at the muzzle and less than 2100 fps at 100 yards at some point a V-Max will not act like a varmint bullet, but a more traditional cup-n-core bullet.