Thread: 223 varmint projectiles

I'm saving my pocket money to get myself a 223 or 204 . I'm interested in how safe they are to use on a smaller farm ?. Hard to get my point across but I've always thought a bit windy on the safety factor . Question is what happens to the projectile when you hit a bunny ? Do they keep going or fragment ? , and if some do and some don't what do I need to use .

If itsa smaller farm then a supressor would be the first thing and tame that noise. As for projectile.choice it shouldnt make a difference as if you dont have a safe back drop you shouldnt be shooting. You may want to consider a 17hmr
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It might be nice to have a 223 so you could take it onto DoC land but since you only mentioned hunting on the farm then 17HMR would be the way to go. The Vmax projectiles blow up real nice - I used them on crows all the time :-D

He's worried about ricochets at a guess, I've had 77gr SMK bounce off flat ground behind a target with a nice fizzing sound

Originally Posted by gimp

He's worried about ricochets at a guess, I've had 77gr SMK bounce off flat ground behind a target with a nice fizzing sound

That's the one , I'm fine with my firing zone ,but still concerned with a pill doing 3k .

Any varmint projectile will be fine. Vmax or similar will explode, not ricochet.

Originally Posted by gimp

Any varmint projectile will be fine. Vmax or similar will explode, not ricochet.

Thanks gimp

Example, Rabbits on flat ground with no backstop except aforementioned flat ground. Rabbits love to chill out on flat ground. I was shooting a target on flat ground, nothing for 1km behind it. SMK ricochets, 55gr soft points don't. Experienced this like 4 weeks ago. bullet construction makes a difference to ricochets. I've only had it with the SMK from a centrefire though. Rimfires are different, .22 loves to ricochet, too slow to splatter I guess.

Agree that ricochets won't go far but still a possible danger. Use a vmax or something and not a FMJ or big long heavy SMK and it'll be fine. Especially if you actually hit the rabbits.

Originally Posted by Tussock

Read question. Small property. Flat ground = bad backstop. Not smart to fire.

Fine with a bullet that explodes on impact with the ground. Vmax don't ricochet.

Hornady 55gr SP trainers go straight through doing the damage at the same time and make a nice trench, see below. Haven't noticed any bounce after, from the bunny or the bullet.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

If you want to see how bullets bounce, fire tracers at a flat paddock at night. Spectacular.

I've fired them into a steep hillside during the day and watched them bounce off

Although it could have just been splatter.

Originally Posted by Tussock

The one in the photo, if thats the "trench" under the suppressor then that bullet headed off into the distance.

Nope. The trench just gets deeper. We dug out the separated pieces afterwards.

Originally Posted by gimp

I've fired them into a steep hillside during the day and watched them bounce off

Although it could have just been splatter.

My playing around with them iv found the tracer part flyes out of the end when they hit stuff.
By the time the tracer is half bunt the lead inside is molten.
Light one in a vice held just by the very tip

The old man uses SST's in his .223 - nothing gets up from those - brutal effect. Explode IS the right word... Goat heads usually rattle when inspecting them after...