Hunting ammo for 223

[Greekboi95]

I load 55gr Vmax in my .223 and they are very accurate. The 60gr are too. I only use them on gongs and coyotes (a bit bigger than jackals). The won't exit coyotes on most shots, broad side, as they are that frangible. Good for saving furs. I would never use them on any game animal unless I was up for brain shots only on springbuck-impala class animals (for example if I was a well practiced culler). I have shot Impala with 55gr Remington factory softs and they killed them but I wasn't impressed with penetration and broken up bullets. I like exits. A 55gr .224" is a very small bullet! I agree with Messor, get a good premium bullet if you are shooting for the heart/lung area. I also don't like frangible bullets because I don't like eating lead.

I've been loading the 55 grainers in my savage axis ii and they are extremely accurate in my rifle. I've had the chance to take a few animals with these and here's the results.

Blesbok at roughly 100m, placed just ontop of the shoulder, ran about 15m before expiring. No exit hole. Plenty meat damage.

Blesbok at 150m, tucked just behind the shoulder, she jumped up like a raging horse and made it about 5m from where she was standing. No exit and plenty meat damage again.

Impala ram at roughly 70m, facing me, placed on the junction of the neck and body, dropped on the spot. Obviously there was vertebrae damaged and lots of small pieces of bone fragments and bullet fragments.

Apart from those close shots, I have taken blesbok at 300m + with these bullets (Obviously conditions were good, slight wind, steady shooting rest etc) and results were pretty much the same on broad side shots but with a little less meat damage, I suspect the speed of the bullet slowed down enough to cause less damage.

With that being said, if I had to do it all over again I would probably end op going for a Barnes or Peregrine that I know won't break up and expand reliably with the kind of speeds we get out of the 223.
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Fishman]

@Greekboi95 what muzzle velocity do you attain with the 55 grainers?

[Greekboi95]

@Greekboi95 what muzzle velocity do you attain with the 55 grainers?

Fishman, my average MV was 3190 ft/s with the V maxes.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[A-R]

Howa says their 223 rifles come with 1:12" twist barrels. I have seen the standard and varmint models with 1:9" barrels. No identifying marks on the rifle or box. You have to go measure the rifling twist to know what you have. If it refuses to shoot 50 - 55gn cup-core bullets of decent quality into 1 MOA or less, you likely have the faster twist rate.

I have shot lots of animals, mostly vermin but quite a few small antelope with a 223. At a time I used Hornady 50gn SP SX bullets. These have very thin jackets and soft cores and are "Super Explosive" on impact. Works great on varmints. I once shot a duiker through the lungs with this bullet, aiming to miss the shoulders. Meat damage was minimal and he fell over like any jackal would. Shot placement is critical with such soft bullets.

My favourite small game 223 bullets are the Sierra 63gn Pro Hunter and Nosler 60gn Sold Base (long discontinued, but I have hidden a small stash.) I suppose the Nosler 60gn Partition would be even better. All of these should stabilize in a 1:12" barrel. Their jackets are thicker than typical varmint bullets, so they are less likely to disintegrate on impact. Proper shot placement is still important.

The various copper mono bullets should be about the best for hunting small game. Just choose the correct weight for your rifling twist. In a 1:12" barrel, the 40gn bullets are a good choice. Retained bullet weight is still better than any cup-core bullet from the same rifle.

If hunting small game is the primary use of a 223, then having one with a fast twist barrel is the way to go. CZ, Tikka and Sako make 1:8" barrels and Howa makes a 1:9". Load them with mono copper hunting bullets of around 55gn and you have a solid performer on game, even much larger that you should attempt to shoot with a 223.

I do know that "real men" hunt with bigger calibres. I also know that my kids shoot and handle my 223 much better than any bigger calibre rifle. That is where the calibre shines, provided you use the correct bullets, place them correctly and it's use is allowed.

[CK]

Howa says their 223 rifles come with 1:12" twist barrels. I have seen the standard and varmint models with 1:9" barrels. No identifying marks on the rifle or box. You have to go measure the rifling twist to know what you have. If it refuses to shoot 50 - 55gn cup-core bullets of decent quality into 1 MOA or less, you likely have the faster twist rate.

I have shot lots of animals, mostly vermin but quite a few small antelope with a 223. At a time I used Hornady 50gn SP SX bullets. These have very thin jackets and soft cores and are "Super Explosive" on impact. Works great on varmints. I once shot a duiker through the lungs with this bullet, aiming to miss the shoulders. Meat damage was minimal and he fell over like any jackal would. Shot placement is critical with such soft bullets.

My favourite small game 223 bullets are the Sierra 63gn Pro Hunter and Nosler 60gn Sold Base (long discontinued, but I have hidden a small stash.) I suppose the Nosler 60gn Partition would be even better. All of these should stabilize in a 1:12" barrel. Their jackets are thicker than typical varmint bullets, so they are less likely to disintegrate on impact. Proper shot placement is still important.

The various copper mono bullets should be about the best for hunting small game. Just choose the correct weight for your rifling twist. In a 1:12" barrel, the 40gn bullets are a good choice. Retained bullet weight is still better than any cup-core bullet from the same rifle.

If hunting small game is the primary use of a 223, then having one with a fast twist barrel is the way to go. CZ, Tikka and Sako make 1:8" barrels and Howa makes a 1:9". Load them with mono copper hunting bullets of around 55gn and you have a solid performer on game, even much larger that you should attempt to shoot with a 223.

I do know that "real men" hunt with bigger calibres. I also know that my kids shoot and handle my 223 much better than any bigger calibre rifle. That is where the calibre shines, provided you use the correct bullets, place them correctly and it's use is allowed.

Very informative thanks, I'm planning on getting an AR-15 with a 1:7 twist and a 16" barrel. Will that fast twist be unsuitable to get good accuracy at 100m with light bullets? If so what weight would you suggest?

[A-R]

Very informative thanks, I'm planning on getting an AR-15 with a 1:7 twist and a 16" barrel. Will that fast twist be unsuitable to get good accuracy at 100m with light bullets? If so what weight would you suggest?

Depends. Stability is a function of length, not weight, so the material they are made of is a factor too. You will just have to test and see.

[Juriew]

In relation to my previous post. i have some feedback on the Sierra Blitz king 55gr bullets. This past hunting trip i took 5 x Springbok not one was shot more than once. i did not get an opportunity on any blesbok whit the .223 this year. Minimal meat damage was observed on most the shots as only one was not a head shot. The Body shot i took was straight into the vitals at 160m there is a bit of rib meat that will be lost i think with the bone it should be around 300 grams total.

I did manage a warthog also. Shot placement here was a challenge as the beast was running. The first round clipped some meat at the rear and "applied the hand brake" on the second shot the animal was sitting down and i shot it in the spine at 230m. The bullet fragmented in the spine the animal went down on impact at this point.

Though i could not test like for like on the blesbok. Last year the Vmaxes i shot did not penetrate sufficiently and it took more than one round to put a blesbok down. I can see from the damage that the blitskings expand slower than the vmaxes allowing better penetration. Though a monolithic would still far out perform both on penetration. 20180501_141503_resized.jpg

[seedat7]

I currently use the Sako 55gr Hammerhead factory ammo in my 223 and have had excellent results on Springbuck, impala which were shot at distances from 50m-150m. The heart lung shots worked extremely well, finding the mushroomed bullet on the other side of the body on a few occasions. I found meat damage to be minimal as well. I bought these as I recently acquired my rifle CZ527 and tested the rifle with the Sako bullets and was very surprised at how well they grouped. A box of 20 costs R275 so not bad for the accuracy and performance. I have purchased 2 boxes of Sierra game kings 65gr as I prefer reloading my own ammo. Good luck