Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles .223 Remington w/ 75gr HPBT Hornady Bullet

I can only speak for me and won't throw stones but I believe I'll stay with hunting bullets for hunting applications. I know many guys here regularly hunt with match bullets and do very well with them. I just don't think its the right thing for me. Pigs and coyotes are not game and I'll shoot them with anything I have available.

I just did a workup and some accuracy testing with this bullet in a 5.56 A3 style 20 inch upper. This upper is combined with a pretty heavy barrel that takes a while to get warm. At any rate I ended up with 22.8 grains of AA2520, popped by a CCI 450 primer and the cannelured version of the 75 gr. BTHP. It will put ten rounds right at an inch and 5 inside an inch every time. During load workup I found that between "accuracy" nodes it could really spread them out to more than 2 inches. I have shot one deer with this bullet and performance was acceptable, hit one shoulder and out over the other shoulder blade with the biggest part of the bullet going through the hide sideways. I like the Hornady 60 grain HP and SP bullet better for hunting.

I didn't comment earlier since the question was about 223 Rem, but in a 5.56 or 223 Wylde there is a very good load for this bullet that shoots well in a lot of rifles. Try 23.4-23.6gr of 8208 XBR or Benchmark with this bullet seated to AR mag length (~2.255"). Velocity should run ~2675-2700 fps in a 16", but probably 2750+ in your 20" barrel. In the rifles I've tried it in, this load shot better with WSR primers than CCI 450, but either were acceptable. That load seems to be at a node that works well across a wide range of rifles, and it's very temp stable too. Either of the powders mentioned seem to work, as they are very similar. Hope that helps.

Good to hear your experience with this bullet for hunting. It's mainly a target bullet for me, but I figured it'd probably do fine on deer if I needed to use it. I think I'd grab my 65gr Sierra GK load though if I intended to hunt.

53,55,75 and 88 grain bullets in 223,223 imp
I have great results with ar comp and aa 2520
and imr8208 powders

I will try some of the 8208 XBR when I empty my 8 pounder of AA2520. The 75 gr Hornady BTHP is mostly a target/truck gun load for me. I have a bunch of them and hope to shoot them all before I kick the bucket. I originally used BLC2 with good results also. For a varmint bullet there are many better choices.