Thanks howl, this is the type of stuff I was hoping to hear. Just looked it up, my Savage has an under 2ms lock time vs 10ms on an Ar, that's a big difference.

Just because I can means that I will

No one filling our damage tags or hunting the farm properties is allowed to take a head shot. If they mention headshots before I submit their tag info, I'm very clear, vitals or NO TAG.
There's nothing worse than watching an animal walk around with it's jaw hanging down unable to eat because of a stupid shot. They're pathetic looking and if ya
do the right thing, you risk poaching charges lol. You're only saving what, a pound or two of meat? To those that do, shoot straight

Troll

You mentioned 150 yds. I don’t know the answer to this question, but in addition to other factors, I wonder what time-to-impact is from barrel to head at 100 or 150 yards? Add that to rifle lock time, plus human reaction time, and I think there’s enough that a deer could move its head an inch or two (?) from where intended. Then to that distance (whatever one assumes), add the radius of your gun’s grouping at distance. Then … after that, add some sort of honesty factor distance of what distance error you might introduce under the pressure of a shot.

I’m not good enough I don’t believe. I still get shook up shooting a deer to some degree

This is with a 1.5’’ vital zone. 10mph cross wind. (I don’t take head shots but to each his own)

^^This thread suddenly turned productive, type of stuff I was hoping to see.

150 yards is not set in stone. I haven't spent much time thinking about it yet, and haven't done any work towards it. I'll learn as I go, and may learn not to do it. If nothing else, it will be fun getting a rifle set up for this purpose in the off season. My prediction is I get tired of waiting for a headshot, and put one through the ribs. I'll also only be doing this at my shooting range, which they frequent. I will be very familiar with the ranges, wind, lighting, and such.

Shaving 8+ms off the lock time would be useful, and I would like to keep the high velocity and affordability 5.56 ammo. Probably be cheaper to get a new 5.56 bolt action rifle than set up a .308 for it, and I now have an excuse to buy a new gun! Any recommendations? Taking Ar mags would be a plus. Ruger American is the first thing that comes to mind. I don't like that you can't lock the bolt closed on them, but I guess that won't be an issue when waltzing to my shooting range.

I wouldn't try it in low light, if they have time to react they gonna see that muzzle flash

There’s entirely too much thought being put into this topic. Lol

1. Once you shoot a deer in the head you will either realize you didn’t accomplish anything special and not waste time trying to get a perfect shot or you get over confident, continue to do it, and end up screwing up by rushing a shot.

2. With a .223 or 5.56 you won’t be wasting enough meat to matter so in reality you just want to shoot a deer in the head to say you did. Lol

3. Your mind is made up so Just go do it and get it out of your system. It’s not that hard and doesn’t require near as much thought and effort as you are putting in to it. Not to mention you got all these guys stirred up and they already have other more important aldeer issues to worry about. Lol

I'm a nerd who likes to tinker. It's really just an excuse to obsess over something for the next year lol.

Idk. There's been so little mention of what it takes to make such a shot. Nobody said anything about verifying how close to zero a scope holds over time. You can kill any deer at normal ranges with a boiler room shot using a rig that won't hold zero within a MOA. It'll move around a little. You'll tweak it at preseason sight-in. That's not good enough for headshots.

Is your rifle, scope, load and mount up to it every time? Awful lot are not. Hardly anyone takes the time to ensure.

I check zero frequently, I can even do it a couple of hours before the deer show up. I will be sitting at my shooting range, and the deer aren't bothered by my shooting. I'd check the groups looking through glass to avoid walking down there. I'll probably get a BOG death grip if I go through with this.

I know shooting squirrels is different, but braining them at 70 yards with a less accurate rifle and cheaper glass has demonstrated to me that I can do it. I posted a thread last year on ar15.com about blasting squirrels at 100 yards. It was very similar to this thread, a lot of hate with some useful info sprinkled in lol. Haven't done 100 yards yet, but I have a setup that can do it if the situation every arises.

Keep poking holes in my idea howl, it makes me think.

Let's say you have:
-a gun that will put a bullet within a half-inch of POA at the furthest distance with a fouled, cold bore every time and have proven so year-round.(I currently only have one out of several.)
-A large supply of factory ammo it uses to do this all from the same lot (I never have other than 223 match.)
-A bomb-proof mount
-A scope that holds zero dead-on year round and has been proven.

If you have all that then you yourself have to be able to hit from a field position within 3/4" of POA 100%. These numbers aren't exact. It's a practical scenario considering something like a 223 used to a max of 100 yards.

Further out you want something else. I used a 300WM that did sub-half-MOA 5-shot groups reliably with a tuned handload. And I shot it often enough to realize when a formerly proven scope stopped holding zero. This not putting a factory rig together, zeroing it, showing off one 3-shot group and heading to the woods.

I'll be sending you a PM in the near future howl. It's the blinky envelope in the top right corner. Pretty sure everyone else would like to see this thread die lol.

What do u plan on using as a rest?

I was out of line redgineer with my post the other day. It’s none of my business or concern on how you shoot a deer. It’s a hot topic for me because head shooting a deer put a deep wedge in a friendship of mine years ago. Good luck with your hunting and be safe.

There’s nothing more ethical than a .223 in the eye socket. I’m talking about 30-50yd plot sitting for meat. They can’t duck that quick from my experience

Only shot better than that would be a rage through that big artery in their ass