Thread: Favourite 223 bullets for game?

Having recently acquired a 223 and deciding what to feed it, I thought it would be interesting to find out what projectiles you clever folk prefer to poke holes in medium sized animals with.

In my case it won't be a primary deer rifle, more for goats and wallabies (though the capacity to take deer as well is useful). And 1:9 twist so it should be happier with heavier rounds, but with all the different bullet designs it would be good to learn what people have found most effective for NZ hunting.

In my .22-250 I use 55gr Sierra sp. very good on goats and fallow.

I haved used the Hornady 55gr SP with or without cannelure for as long as I can remember @ 3250ish in my .223. Its freaky accurate and has worked well for me on everything, including a couple of large bodied bull thar.

Been using the 63gr sierra SP for a long time. They have been great on deer.

Nosler 60gn Parition
Sierra 65gn Gameking (What I use)
Swift 75gn Sirroco

Cheers lads, gives me some ideas to go on.

Originally Posted by R93

I haved used the Hornady 55gr SP with or without cannelure for as long as I can remember @ 3250ish in my .223. Its freaky accurate and has worked well for me on everything, including a couple of large bodied bull thar.

+1
Hornady SP or Vmax for me

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

I would hope you are not implying that he should use 223 vmax projectiles on medium size animals.

You wont be shoulder shooting deer with 55gr 223 for a start - neck only - 55gr Vmax is the perfect round
Wallies in the top half - same, perfectly fine for foward of the shoulders on goats also

Originally Posted by Spanners

You wont be shoulder shooting deer with 55gr 223 for a start - neck only - 55gr Vmax is the perfect round
Wallies in the top half - same, perfectly fine for foward of the shoulders on goats also

+1. If I have to put one in the body it goes thru the lungs, they dont run far on mashed lungs and one breath thats been blown out of them anyway.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. So please forgive my sausage fingers!!!

Originally Posted by Spanners

You wont be shoulder shooting deer with 55gr 223 for a start - neck only - 55gr Vmax is the perfect round
Wallies in the top half - same, perfectly fine for foward of the shoulders on goats also

Sorry I disagree. While a neck shot is the ideal, I have shoulder shot heaps of deer with my 223 using 55gn pills, like upwards of a hundred. I wouldn't shoulder shoot a big stag, or solid bull tahr with it but smaller red deer, spikers, hinds etc and fallow deer I don't hesitate to put one into the shoulder. Anyone that knows southland reds, they are typically very big in the body. I've yet to lose a deer with the 223, although did have one last year that ran a couple of hundred metres before I caught up with it, due to me putting the initial shot too far back. The 223 can do some serious damage and in the right hands is a deadly calibre.

I used to use handloaded Hornady SP, but have now started using Hornady training ammo because its just easier and cheap.

Have fun GravelBen, not only is a 223 a very versatile calibre, it is also a very fun and effortless calibre to shoot.

I have just loaded the 69gr Targex pill for my kids 223, was using the 52gr Targex that I had left over but they were just head shots on the deer that were shot

They are doing just over 3K in a 22" 1:9 and I hope to test them on goats soon

Originally Posted by JoshC

Sorry I disagree. While a neck shot is the ideal, I have shoulder shot heaps of deer with my 223 using 55gn pills, like upwards of a hundred. I wouldn't shoulder shoot a big stag, or solid bull tahr with it but smaller red deer, spikers, hinds etc and fallow deer I don't hesitate to put one into the shoulder. Anyone that knows southland reds, they are typically very big in the body. I've yet to lose a deer with the 223, although did have one last year that ran a couple of hundred metres before I caught up with it, due to me putting the initial shot too far back. The 223 can do some serious damage and in the right hands is a deadly calibre.

I used to use handloaded Hornady SP, but have now started using Hornady training ammo because its just easier and cheap.

Have fun GravelBen, not only is a 223 a very versatile calibre, it is also a very fun and effortless calibre to shoot.

I agree with the Hornady 55 sp, a shoulder shot is fine but I would think the V max would be better left for clean shots. I have only just loaded some 50 gr v max Smiddy gave me. When shooting a few hares I noticed the diff in damage from the sp to the v max big time. Very explosive.

Personal opinion I spose - I wouldnt put a 55 into the shoulder of anything bigger than a wallie

If you can get barnes ttsxs to shoot accurately in your rifle they can take it to a whole new level!

Originally Posted by Spanners

You wont be shoulder shooting deer with 55gr 223 for a start - neck only -

Hmmmm, they can't have seen the memo.

On subject, whatever some else is paying for as they all kill, it's up to the buttnut.