Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Hornady 55gr SP on deer?

I've always been under the impression that the cannelured versions actually hold together slightly better than the plain.

The cannelure strategically weakens the jacket so that it folds back a bit more at that point, tucking everything together a little tighter.

Probably one of my top ten favorite threads on the fire. I’ve read it about a dozen times. I haven’t landed a 222 yet, but I did happen across a nice 1:12 twist 223 Rem chambered M77 Ultra Light! The 55gr Power Points should do the trick.

The 55gr Hornady SP has a small boat tail now, how does it compare to the older flatbase version on deer?

No worries with the 55 SP. My son has had used them in my 22-250 with no problems.

GreggH

you guys can draw your own conclusions on this post, involving something I saw using Hornady 55 grain SP and FMJ bullets.

A bunch of 4 x 6 steel plates were left at the local range on one of the banks at 100 yds. Their thickness was 3/8 of an inch.

I shot one of them with a 223, loaded to 2650 fps MV. 10 Shots and I had 10 holes in the steel plate. I was thinking I shouldn't be seeing this, but there they were.

So I went home and loaded up 40 rounds of 223 ammo, divided into groups of 10.

2 groups each, with ten 55 grain SP Hornady bullets and ten with 55 gr FMJ Hornady Bullets. The load gave 3150 fps MV at the Muzzle, for both bullets. This is military MV specs for an M 16.

The second two groups were loaded with the same two bullets, ten each, with an MV of 2650 fps at the Muzzle. 55 gr Hornady SP, and 55 gr FMJ.

So the results I saw, when shooting at 100 yds, with several of these same Steel plates.

When leaving the Muzzle at 3150 fps, ALL of the 55 grain SP and 55 FMJ Hornady bullets, did nothing but splatter when hitting the plates.

Next, I shot ALL of the other group of bullets, leaving the Muzzle at 2650 fps at two plates. One for the 55 gr SP and one for the 55 gr FMJ. ALL of the bullets leaving the MV at 2650 fps, managed to penetrate right thru the same steel plates EACH time. I didn't expect to see this, but there it was, right in front of me. However that is not what I expected to see.

I went home and had to put some thought into why I saw those results. Finally it came to me pretty clearly:

The answer was structural integrity. The Steel plates have a certain amount of structural integrity to them. The bullets have a certain amount of structural integrity to them also.

Leaving the barrel at 3150 fps, and contacting the steel plates at 100 yds, the Structural Integrity of the Steel Plates, had the ability to overcome the Structural integrity of the Steel plates. So the results were seeing ten 55 gr FMJs and ten 55 gr SPs hitting the steel plates and splattering EACH TIME.

The next pair of groups were leaving the Muzzle at 2650 fps, and in contacting the Steel Plates at 100 yds, at the lower speed, the structural integrity of the bullets were able to overcome the structural integrity of the Steel Plates. Results were that I had ten holes in each of the two Steel Plates. One with 10 holes from the ten SP bullets and the other with ten FMJ bullets.

Conclusion to this project test: Bullets have certain parameters that they can penetrate a media they are shot at. At least on these Steel plates, when the speed of the bullet is slowed down, they have the ability to penetrate more than the faster moving bullets. So if people compare the results on game, with a 222 vs a 223, the slower speed of the 222 will do better in penetration than the 223 running at a faster MV.

AS I said, draw your own conclusions. But since this experiment to find an answer to my question, I've seen a lot of different bullets out of different caliber guns, in distance under 200 to 250 yds, work better at the slower speeds. Hence at my age now, I am down to using the 6 x 45 and the 6.5 Grendal for my deer hunting for the number of seasons that I have left in me.

seafire...
May 4, 2024.

good post Seafire. I have noticed the same

Don't people have something more to do than ask these stupid questions day after day???????

I find this subject matter about 1000X’s more interesting than another thread about a 30-06.

The 64 grain Power Point is designed for shooting antelope and deer with the 223 and 22-250 as loaded by Winchester in their factory ammo. I shot a whitetail doe several years ago with that bullet fired from a 223 WSSM. There was snow on the ground and I have never seen an off-side blood spray like this bullet/cartridge combination produced.

I personally have never been a fan of the 223 for deer but have shot quite a few hogs and deer with the round anyway. Never lost one using it. For some situations like hunting from a blind watching a feeder it is as good as anything else if you know where to put the bullet and can do so. I have used the 55 and 60 gr, Hornady SP's along with the Hornady 60 gr. HP with good results overall. I personally feel the 22-250 is a step up giving a bit more range.

This again. I have killed several does, one smallish buck, and a pig or two with this bullet from my 527 in .223. Like most bullets it works fine-just have to put it in the right spot. Wound channel looks a bit like that of a .243. How true it is I do not know but I have been told that Joyce Hornady designed the bullet so it would work in a .220 Swift as a decent varmint bullet. In the slower cartridges like a .223 it acts like a regular softpoint.

55gr. Sp works on Pigs, 1 per customer. Rio7

My grandsons and I have taken several deer and hogs with Barnes bullets in the 223 with good results.

For me the Barnes have a narrow wound channel (tsx) but the ttsx may be better. They need velocity to work well.

Out of my .22-250 I've dropped a couple WT does with the 45gr tsx. Placement and velocity is what makes the copper ones work.

There are a lot of references to proper shot placement in this thread. So is the proper shot placement with the
Hornady 55gr SP (for deer) on the point of the shoulder, to break some bone, or just behind the shoulder (heart/lungs)???

I'm sure either would result in a dead deer.

But what is the preferred shot with this bullet?

My preferred shot on deer with ANY bullet is behind the shoulder. Admittedly I hunt wide open country 99 percent of the time so a 100 yard runner isn’t a big deal. My experience with deer and a 223 has been great with all of them being DRT scenarios even with the behind the shoulder shot. These examples being a mix of 55gr SP and a 53 TSX.

I've lost count of the number of deer and coyotes I've shot with a 22-250 and 55 grain sp on top of 36 grains of varget. I do however remember shooting a few in the chest at about 100 yards that looked like they got hit over the head with a sledgehammer. I have had a few rodeos with light bullets and deer though......one instance I was calling coyotes and had a mid 150s 8 point stand up in a thicket about 300 yards out. Lucky for me it was rifle season and I had a .243 win and not the 250 that day. The little 75 vmax anchored the buck. When I got about 50 yards from home he jumped and took off. He was headed to the river and started walking slow at about 450 and I gave him another. About 10 yards later he fell. If I would have had that 250 I would have made a stupid decision and more than likely lost that deer. I wouldn't use it as a dedicated deer sized bullet, but it can work.

I have seen lots of deer taken with .22 and .24 caliber rifles flinging bullets of between 55-80 grains. They are adequate under proper circumstances. Certainly not ideal but adequate.

Interesting, Seafire. That kinda makes a mockery of my local range’s velocity limit for shooting at the steel they have set up.

There are youtube videos that compare the effects of different cartridges on steel plates. The higher velocity cartridges are always the ones that punch through where the lower velocity ones just dent or splatter. This jives with my own exoerience on steel plates of which I've shot quite a few with various cartridges. My .30-30 for instance will just dent plates that my .223 or .22-250 with full velocity soft point loads will punch holes through. What a bullet does to a steel plate has little relevance to what it will do when it hits meat and bone. A 170 gr. .30-30 bullet for instance will far out penetrate a 55 gr. sp .223 bullet in flesh.