As the title states and why? Also, what's your load recipe?
50 Vmax- N133. Because it blows the sh%t out of them
40 grain Vmax.. Sharpnel liked this so I tried it.. For varmint shooting it is awesome..
40 gr. Nolser Ballistic Tip, 26.3 gr of N-133.
Seating depth doesn't seem to be critical with this load but I usually seat .005 off lands, primer or your choice - I have not found much difference in accuracy with any of them using this load. This load was the accuracy load in the Nosler manual but has been downgraded slightly in the more recent edition. It has worked miracles in every 223 I have tried it in though.
A near max of H-335 also is very accurate but I have had problems with it in hot weather.
drover
If you shoot a LOT of dogs, Speer 50 TNT's can usually be bought reasonably and I haven't come across a 222, 223,223 AI or 222 Mag that won't shoot them very well.
53 V max......223 AI........
Gotta be the flattest 223 varmint boolit out there
devastating on p/dogs !
40 grain Vmax.. Sharpnel liked this so I tried it.. For varmint shooting it is awesome..
ditto
50 gr. blitzkings give the most air.
50 gr. blitzkings give the most air. takes 8 ft. to get a 10
Devnull: One of my favorite bullets for Hunting Prairie Dogs with my 223's is the wonderful 50 grain Sierra Blitz (not Blitz-Kings!).
I have used this bullet in MANY 223's during the past 30+ years and not only are these bullets accurate they are amazingly lethal on Prairie Dogs out to a ways past 400 yards!
And they are affordable and consistent year to year (decade to decade!).
Several of my 223's prefer this Sierra 50 grain Blitz bullet (#1340) along with H 4895 powder and Federal 205 M (Match) primers.
Be sure and give these bullets a try.
Best of luck to you with whichever you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
50g V or Zmax, W748, splat & fly depending on how hit.
50g V max, then 50g Sierra Blitz, then 50g blitz king, then 50g TNT
At 300 yards, the 50's carry the freight, while the 40's give out of gas somewhere between 250-275 yards with the dogs just falling over...no fun in that!
If you shoot a LOT of dogs, Speer 50 TNT's can usually be bought reasonably and I haven't come across a 222, 223,223 AI or 222 Mag that won't shoot them very well.
This one!
If you shoot a LOT of dogs, Speer 50 TNT's can usually be bought reasonably and I haven't come across a 222, 223,223 AI or 222 Mag that won't shoot them very well.
This one!
Graf's has them on sale right now for right at $100 for a 1000 pack.....
.223 ... my first .223 was back in the day before the TNT came out and before there were any polymer tipped bullets.
My two loads used the 50 grain Hornady SX over a slightly excessive amount of H335 and Hornady's 45 grain Hornet bullet over AA 2230. That hornet bullet is a spire point, not a round nose, and shot pretty flat.
Generally I shot the 50s about 10:1 over the 45s, but when it came to the very smallest varmints, "stump-monks" of various sorts, the 45s would give blow-up, the 50s would not. Most of my varmints here are about half the size of a p-dog and gave the 50s enough to "push against" to create pretty impressive results.
On their best day, though, the performance was not the equivalent of a 50 grain ballistic tip or VMAX. Those are where I'd start today.
Tom
50 gr. blitzkings give the most air. takes 8 ft. to get a 10
We shoot sage rats, not prairie dogs over this way...
if you want air time ( which I do enjoy), I've learned to "bounce" this bullet just in front of them...
it comes up as shrapnel, and is really doing a job on them when it hits...
I prefer to do this when they are standing up to look around...
HPs really work well for this...
Lately I have been shooting 40 Gr. Vmax, but have shot thousands with 50 gr. Blitz and SX.. Many mentioned the TNT's.. I shot those also, but I had several 1000 round packs that the jackets were too soft and fouled the barrel.. Speer replaced one pack, then I ran into the same problem with 52 gr. HP.. Still have some of those, but mostly I have dropped Speer bullets..
I prefer a 22 , its my life.
P.
I ended up loading up 55gr VMAX over Benchmark. It's what I took out to SD last time and they seemed to do OK. I ran some drift charts and at their speed, they seemed to drift less than the 40 and 50s grainers. I might have given up something in terms of spotting my hits. We shall see...
Thanks all for the input.
You will definitely give up seeing some hits by using 55 gr rather than 40 gr bullets. I originally went to the 40's because they allow me to spot for myself and the 40 gr Nosler BT's have always shot very well in every rifle I have tried them in.
I no longer load anything heavier in my 223's, the great majority of my shooting is withing 350 yds though - my self-imposed limitation to keep my hit percentage up.
drover
If you shoot a LOT of dogs, Speer 50 TNT's can usually be bought reasonably and I haven't come across a 222, 223,223 AI or 222 Mag that won't shoot them very well.
Agreed. I bought mine in the 1K count little ammo cans, and they're both accurate and very violent. Even the little Deuce hits with real authority.
40 grain nosler varmagedon,there cheap and shoot great!favorite load is 14 hrs.bluedot ,rem.6.5 primer,in my 223 ack imp they cruise along at 3320 f.p.s.,no recoil,can shoot a ton of p.d.'s without barrel getting hot,incredibly accurate.
40 gr v max works great
50 gr tnt also...