Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints What's your favorite bullet for p-dogs in .223?

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 BT's....

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.

50 or 53 grain VMAX

53 V max......223 AI........

Gotta be the flattest 223 varmint boolit out there

devastating on p/dogs !

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!

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

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.