Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Speer TNT 50 grain in .223?

Hello everyone!
I'm going to fiddle with a handful of 223 Remington rifles I have. Hoping to maybe shoot prairie dogs this summer. I have several bullets available and a couple of my rifles are addicted to the 55 Ballistic Tips. I'm thinking I want to try the TNT bullets in a couple. I think the accuracy should be good and expand properly for prairie dogs. Maybe even use it as a Coyote bullet should the situation arise.
Anyone have any experience with the 50 grain TNT? Good or bad? I would love to hear from you!
Thanks, and take care!
Rick

Don't the TNT's have a thin jacket ? My thought is a 1/12 twist would be ideal. I wouldn't use them on a coyote in fear of them breaking up before entering the body.

kwg

I've never tried them but, a friend years ago used loaded them for his .223 and liked them on groundhogs and crows.

The 50 TNTs usually group very well at 100 yards, and expand well. (Dunno about penetration on coyotes.)

But they wind-drift noticeably more than plastic-tips of the same weight at any range beyond about 150 yards.

Ive shot PDs and coyotes with the 50 TNT, as JB said they will wind drift a tad more. They are quite frangible and Ive gone to them for all my gopher and some PD shooting to avoid ricochets, especially where's theres cattle.

I shoot them in a heavy 222 for PD's and they are extremely accurate. I also use them in a 224 Valkyrie for coyotes with DRT results. I buy in 1K boxes, can't beat the price. Part number 4705

If you shoot the 50 grain in a fast twist, it will probably vaporize in flight.

The 55 is built a little heavier and will work in fast twists

Bolt guns, no problem. Blitz, SX, and others with thin jackets (include Rem PLHPs) take a beating at the gas port. Even 1:12 uppers.

I like both the 50 grain TNT and 50 grain SX in a 1-12 twist .223. I've used both in a 1-14" twist .22-250 with fairly mind-bending loads of Varget. In one rifle they tied for best accuracy.

In older days before the plastic tipped bullets arrived, my go-to in .223 was the the 50 grain SX. Don't overlook the Hornady 45 grain pointed hornet bullet .. it's pretty much the same shape just 5 grains less. Both performed quite well on varmints at the ranges available to me with max loads.

I've shot the 50 grain TNT in a 1-8" twist AR ... bullets got to the target, no particular signs of jacket failure, but accuracy wasn't good. For a fast twist the advice to choose the 55 grain instead is probably good but it wasn't much more accurate in the AR for me. Standard Hornady 55 grain soft points, flat base or boat tail, shot considerably better.

I have shot a lot the 50 gr TNT through the years on gophers and PD's. They give great performance - think lots of splat. The best part is that they have invariably been easy to develop loads for and buying them by the bulk pack they are relatively inexpensive.

drover

Have been shooting this bullet thousands of times through 2 different 223 bolt guns, one a 1-12" twist the other a 1-9"twist.....very accurate and deadly !!!!!!!
most shots were Rock Chucks or Prairie Dogs at moderate ranges....a few coyotes also, none survived !!!!
Probably one of the best bullets ever for a 223 for close to moderate range varmint shooting.
Very seldom ever share my loads with the number of troll's on this site but the load with both of my rifles is 25.5 gr N133 50gr TNT

My thoughts on them and the 6mm version at 70 grains?

I order them in the 1000 round package for the 22 cal version and the 750 round package in the 6mm 70 grain container.
Normally buying 3 or 4 bulk packages of them before varmint season starts..

When it comes to the .223 50 grain TNT, there are two different bullets. One with a more open point (4705) and one with more of a match type hollow point (1030). I only have experience with the 1030, but it has proved to be one of the most accurate bullets in my 1-12" TC Venture Predator. I'm no benchrest shooter, but it's shocking how many loads have shot less than 3/8" while doing load development.

I primarily shoot critters, not paper, and I would say it's just as explosive as a V-max. Soft enough to vaporize crows, but penetration enough to look coyotes. I think I've only killed two coyotes with this bullet though, most have been with a V-max or buckshot. Given the prices of V-max these days, I've decided to completely switch over. I found some more two days ago for $.14 apiece... about half the price of V-max for the same performance.

Where is everyone getting the Speer 22 cal. bullets from. I see Grafs has the 55 gr. for $12.39 a box. I don't think that can be beat. I am not sure how accurate they are ,however , it's an option. I want it for targets .

I picked up a box of 85 grain 6mm bullets today from Speer at Sportsmans. They had about 10 on the shelf... and same with other calibers also, especially 7mm.

I’ve shot lots of 50 grain TNT bullets in my 22 ppc at PDs. They work well, but seem a little less explosive that plastic tip bullets.

^^^^^^
I shoot the 39 TNT out of my 20PPCAI and they shot very well also.

I used to shoot a lot of these and 52 gr. hollow points, I still have several thousand 52 gr. when they worked they were awesome. But several batches copper fouled the barrels that constant cleaning was a pain. They sent me a new batch, same crap. All other brands shot just fine. I wish you luck. If they are a good batch, they are great.

Easily the most cost effective PD bullet manufactured for medium capacity .224's. I have never struggled with finding a sub .5" load in any rifle capable of that size group with any varmint bullet.

Blitzking's and V-MAX might be a bit more explosive and drift a bit less but for the cost I'll work on my wind reading skills and shoot twice as much for the same money.

For those shooting 10K+ rounds a year at dogs it is a consideration. For a 1 or 2 trip a year shooter not so much.

Great bullet and quite accurate too. Put it ahead of 25 gr of H335 and they’ll sometimes give you tiny little cloverleafs. They are just as, or maybe even more explosive than the plastic tipped versions at half the cost.

Not if you bounce them in front of the prairie dog, and they come up as shrapnel....tears the crap out of them...

sends sage rats into airborne parts. I've bounced them 8 to 10 feet in the air after being hit... especially if their mound is behind them... they bounce off of that, and go flying into the air in pieces.

Hence my reference to Red Mist above....

They’re very accurate in every rifle I’ve shot them through ( probably 10 22 cal rifles and 3-4 in 6mm). Probably 20-25 years ago I used them a lot more than I do now. 2 years ago we went out to shoot pdogs in SD. I took a very accurate 223 varmint special in 223 shooting 50 tnt’s and a pac nor barreled 223 shooting 50 vmax. The VS was every bit as accurate as the pac nor gun, but out in the wind my hit percentage was quite a bit better shooting the vmax’s. MD is right about the tnt’s drifting noticeably more. I also don’t think they are as explosive on varmints as the vmax. I shot quite a few coyotes with them 25-30 years ago out of a 223…. They killed very well but did shoot a few in the rear end as the ran away…. They usually needed a finishing shot… but that wasn’t the fault of the bullet. I still buy them. They’re very accurate and very cheap. But I think BT’s and vmax’s are butter pdog bullets.

They worked very well in the 1-12" twist of my last 700 VS. They don't do so well in my AR with a 1-8" twist. They hold together to hit the target, no keyholing, but the accuracy isn't great. (so .. get closer? :)) I might be a little hesitant to use them on coyotes, they might be too fragile. Guess try 'em and see? For coyotes I'm mostly shooting 60 grain VMAX or, better yet, 60 grain ballistic tips, in .223.

My last .22-250 .. 700 LVSF, 1-14" twist .. lived on 50 grain TNTs and 50 grain Hornady SX, both with the same load .. 37.5 grains of Varget. That is **hot** but at 37 grains the groups had gone from around 0.2" for 5 shots to around 2" for 5 shots so .. guess we'll live with hot. I tried a lot of combinations and I could not get under 2" with any other load so .. shoot it or sell it. I shot it. No problems with case life but I couldn't reuse the primers .. shock, huh?

That bullet is the preferred bullet for both of my 222’s. Group extremely well and like a bomb on prairie poodles out west.

I recently purchased several thousand TNT's for both 224 and 243 but haven't had the opportunity to test them yet. All the reviews I've read though are overwhelmingly positive in terms of accuracy and performance so I'm optimistic they will work well...and at a fraction of the cost of Nosler I've killed many, many thousands of P-dogs with the 224 Nosler 40gr BTs in 223 and 22-250, so the TNT's have big shoes to fill! Of the many varmint bullets I've tested, the VMax has also done really well (although not as good as the Nosler's) which are also much more economical then Nosler these days.

From an accuracy stand point I think the vmax, bt’s and TNT’s are all superbly accurate. I just let the rifle pick which one it likes. But could say the same thing about most sierras too. Honestly I think about any “name brand” 22 cal bullet will shoot tiny groups if the rifle is up to snuff and a guy “tunes” the load a bit. Some bullets are more “dramatic” on impact and some are a little tougher but they’re all pretty lethal on varmints.