if you want penetration for deer?
the construction of most varmint bullets are just fine for deer... except they need to be slowed down to mild 223 levels to be able to do so..
otherwise they will just hit and give a shallow explosive mess on the animal you are trying to take down...
I've posted this before...
several 4 x 6 inch steel plates, 3/8 and inch thick....55 grain bullet leaving the muzzle at 2500 fps, penetrated right thru them..
I didn't think I should be seeing this.... so I went home and loaded up 55 gr Soft Points and 55 gr FMJs, at 3100 fps... 223 military load velocity.
and then the same thing I had before, 12.5 grain of Blue Dot, with the 55 SPs and 55 FMJs at 2500 fps MV.
at 3100 fps MV, at 100 yards, those bullets just splattered when they hit the steel plate, both the SP and FMJs.
Same bullets leaving the muzzle at 2500 fps, at 100 yds, shot right thru the steel plates...
conclusions... at the faster velocity, the bullets structural integrity, could not overcome the structural integrity of the steel plate...the bullet just splattered...
at the lower MV of 2500, same bullets and their structural integrity was able to overcome the steel plates structural integrity and punched right thru the same steel plates..
Think of it this way and you should see what I am talking about.... standing in water waist deep, ran your fist into the water hitting it as hard as you can...
you will feel the resistance of the water, as your fist hits it....
now do the same thing but just put your fist into the water slowly.... you feel no resistance at all...
your fist slowly is overcoming the waters structural integrity...
when you hit the water as hard and fast as you can, you can feel the water's structural integrity stand up to your fists structural integrity...
so back to the OP question of what is the fastest can I push a 55 grain bullet? whats the point unless you just want to blow up something, or give a shallow wound to a game animal?
I've also test 55 gr Ballistic Tips out of a 243 into tree trunks of Manzanita Trees ... at varmint bullet speeds, they hit and explode....
slow them down to so 2500 fps or less, they punch right thru a tree with say an 8 inch diameter...
at 55 grain Ballistic tip at 2500 fps MV is a lot more effective deer bullet, than one leaving the muzzle at 4,000 fps...
try it for penetration if you don't believe it... I wouldn't have believed it, until I saw it for myself... when I wasn't looking for it..
but it made me test it out, and that is exactly what I saw...
Sorry, but this is absolutely not the case. It’s velocity that punches holes in steel plates.
Every rifle match with steel targets have velocity limits to protect the steel.
