Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles .223/5.56 NATO ammo for small meat hogs?

Some 55 sp will barely go through a sheetrock wall. Others penetrate normally. IIRC Hornady were supposed to be decent to hold together. I have no experience with them though. Grab a box and shoot some pigs and let us know. Plenty pigs to test on in most places.

The 55 Hornady SP with cannulure is a great 223 bullet. It’s not as soft as a real varmint bullet at 223 speeds and acts very predictably. You can count on 10-12” of straight penetration with a 1.5” wound channel. I’ve killed a bunch of pigs with them, my favorite cheap bullets for knocking around truck gun use.

The 55 Speer SP is softer and doesn’t give as much penetration, but it kills well on broadside shots.

The Hornady is good enough scenarshooter used them in a 220 Swift for elk and everything else.

Sounds good going to order some hell buying 50 is less than a dollar a round if they are accurate would be better than FMJ I would buy a few hundred rounds.

Yep. Used them on a couple elk myself. 1 per customer

If accurate in your gun, given the actual knowledge of the folks here that the bullet works as I've heard it does, I'd think about 500 rounds minimum.

I have yet to be mad at myself for buying stuff in large amounts. I'm usually mad I didn't buy larger amounts.

Let us know how they shoot.

Took a few days but got a response from Hornady about .223 55 gr sp. Hope it helps anyone needing help.
Charles,

Thank you for your question. The .223 55 gr soft point should be a suitable choice for hunting hogs and deer with an AR-15 16 ' barrel with a 1:8 twist. This bullet weight and type are commonly used for such purposes, and the 1:8 twist rate is versatile enough to stabilize a 55 gr projectile effectively. However, always ensure that the bullet construction is appropriate for the game you are hunting, as you want to ensure adequate penetration and expansion for a humane and ethical harvest.

What a politically stupid reply. Yes it should work. BUT always ensure the construction is sufficient... OK. YOU are the maker of the bullet. Its why we asked you to start with.

Oh well. Maybe its why I stick to Barnes and Berger for most of our choices.

Have you tried the 40g nbt? They have a thick copper base that usually penetrates a bit even when the front of the bullet explodes. I find the penetrate better than the 40g vmax but my testing was done with a 26" 12 twist 22-250 shooting them at 4200.

I've had a 40g vmax create large shallow entrance wounds. The 40g not does it too but a little bit always seems to make it deeper. I'm assuming it's that thick copper base.

Bb