.223 effect on target
Has anybody seen what a .223 will do to your typical varmint? I'm thinking about purchasing a rifle chambered for .223 for target shooting and possible varmint shooting, but know little about the round. I would like to know what effect this bullet has on varmints, so as not to pick a round that will cause an animal suffering. Please help.
tom gordon
tom gordon
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I have a 222, same bullet,slightly shorter case than the 223. Using 52gr HP bullets, Wood chucks and similar animals are disposed of instantly.
Keep in mind, Our Military uses a 5.56 or 223 as their primary weapon.
It's a great flat shooting cal.
Regards, Jango0 -
I put down a deer with an AR-15.....went in below the eye, came out behind the ear, expanded only a little, but she dropped in her tracks....75 yards with open sights.....definitly think it would make a good varmint gun, very accurate, light kicking round...
shoey0 -
I have a Remington vls .223. I can stop varmits in their tracks out to about 200yrds. After that they will run or go down their hole unless it is a head shot. On the other hand, I have hit an unopened soda can at 600yrds and there was no exit hole. The preasure in the can did not alow the can to explode. At 100yrds the can is blown in half. It is a very accurate and inexpensive round to shoot. It is all on what you want to do. I think that they are a very good round. If you want to shoot farther out look in to the .220 swift or 22-250 in the .22 range. I have seen a 6x47mm take coyotes down out to 400+ yrds. It stoped them in their tracks. If you want a good round that will kill dear and varmits look into .243, 6mm Remington, or wild cat cartriage like the 6x45, 6x47; any of those will kill deer and ground hogs with out killing your wallet. This is the ones that I have seen do good.
Good Luck,
Ray
More Powder, More Lead, More Dead0 -
The 69grn.BTHP works great on coyotes out to 400yds.This is with a 1in7 rifleing twist for the heavier bullets. I have bullet disenegration problems when useing the lighter SPSX bullets. They work better in the 1in10 twist and vaporize ground squirrels at 450yds.The 22-250 has a little better performance but the .223 is cheaper. 0 -
Thanks for your help!
quote:Originally posted by johngo
I have a 222, same bullet,slightly shorter case than the 223. Using 52gr HP bullets, Wood chucks and similar animals are disposed of instantly.
Keep in mind, Our Military uses a 5.56 or 223 as their primary weapon.
It's a great flat shooting cal.
Regards, Jango
tom gordon0 -
Tom,
The term cartridge is a reference to the complete unit that is loaded into either a handgun or rifle. It consists of a case, primer, powder and bullet.
Since bullets and cartridges are inanimate objects, they do not cause an animal to suffer. Bad marksmanship and the wrong type of bullet that you choose to shoot at game can contribute to animal suffering. There are some bullet designs that are not suitable for varmint or game hunting but are better suited to target shooting. It is your ability to place your shot correctly, use the most appropriate style of bullet and knowing your accuracy limits that will humanely dispatch your quarry.
The .223 Remington is an excellent target and varmint hunting cartridge. I do not limit my varmint hunting with the .223 to 200 yards since I make it a point to practice shooting for acccuracy at longer distances and use a bullet specifically designed for that kind of hunting. Some American Palma shooters regularly use the .223 for 1000 yard targets when loaded with heavier, high BC bullets designed for that type of target shooting.
I hope that this helps by being a bit more clear. Here is another site that specializes in varmint hunting: www.varminthunters.com
Below is some additional information about the .223 cartridge.
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.223 Remington
During the mid-1950's, three .224" caliber cartridges were in contention to succeed the 7.62mm NATO as our primary military cartridge. They were the .222 Winchester, .224 Springfield, and.222 Special, the latter developed by Gene Stoner of Armalite. All were stretched versions of the .222 Remington cartridge. The .222 Special won out over the other two and soon became known as the .223 Remington.
According to a popularity chart published by RCBS, based on reloading die sales, the .223 Remington is our most popular .224" caliber centerfire, ranks second only to the .30-06 among all rifle cartridges, and twelfth among all handgun and rifle cartridges. The reason for such popularity becomes quite obvious when one works with the .223 Remington. The .223 shoots flat enough for 300 yard varmint shooting and yet its relatively small appetite for powder is easy on rifle barrels, on the shoulder, on the budget, and muzzle blast is comparatively mild. Neither is the .223 choosy about the diet it is fed, a number of powders produce top performance and superb accuracy, including H335, H4895, BL-C(2), IMR-3031, IMR-4895, and W-748.
Match grade, hollow point bullets are fine for target shooting with the .223 but they often don't open quick enough for the explosive expansion needed for varmints such as groundhogs humanely at the longer ranges. Best bet for shooting varmints with this cartridge are the Speer TNT, Nosler Expander, Hornady Super Explosive (SX), and Sierra Blitz bullets, with their soft lead cores and extremely thin jackets. For competitive shooting, the Hornady 68 grain and the Sierra 69 grain hollow point bullets are excellent wind buckers but require a rifling twist rate of 1-7 to 1-8 inches for stabilization. Most sporting rifles have rifling pitch rates of 1-12 or 1-14 inches.
Source: Hodgdon Data Manual, 26th Edition
Historical Notes:
The 223 Remington first appeared in 1957 as an experimental military cartridge for the Armalite AR-15 assault rifle. In 1964, it was officially adopted by the U.S. Army as the 5.6mm Ball cartridge M193. It is used in the selective fire M16 rifle which is based on the original AR15 design. The cartridge was the work of Robert Hutton, who was technical editor for Guns & Ammo magazine and had a rifle range in Topanga Canyon California. One of the requirements for the cartridge was for the projectile have a retained velocity in excess the speed of sound (about 1080 fps at sea level) at 500 yards, something you could not achieve with the 222 Remington. Working with Gene Stoner of Armalite, Bob Hutton designed a case slightly longer than the 222 and had Sierra make a 55 grain boattail bullet. This combination met the design requirements. All this was documented in the 1971 issue of Guns & Ammo Annual.
Originally an alternate military cartridge, the 223 (5.6 x 45mm) is now the official U.S. and NATO military round. It should also be noted that NATO forces, including the U.S., have standardized a new 5.56 x 45mm round with a heavy bullet and the M193 is no longer standard.
Shortly after the military adopted the cartridge, Remington brought out the sporting version, which has largely replaced the 222 Remington and 222 Remington Magnum in popularity. Practically every manufacturer of bolt action rifles has at least one model chambered for the 223. In addition, there are a large number of military type semi-auto rifles available in this caliber. At one time the Remington Model 760 slide action was available in the 223.
General Comments:
The 223 Remington is nearly identical to the 222 Remington Magnum, the only difference is the 223 has a slightly shorter case. The two are not interchangeable although the 223 will chamber in the 222 Remington Magnum rifle. The result, though, is to create a gross headspace problem, and the 223 case will rupture in the 222 Remington Magnum chamber.
The 223 Remington has proven to be an effective military cartridge for fighting in the jungle or forested areas and for close-in fire support, and has been improved lately by NATO with heavier (SS109 designed by FN of Belgium) bullets fired through a fast twist (1 in 7 inch) barrels. As a sporting round, it is just as accurate as any other long range, centerfire, 22's. Military brass cases are usually heavier than commercial cases so maximum loads should be reduced by at least 10% and approached cautiously. That is because the reduced case capacity results in a higher loading density and increased pressure with the same powder charge. The 223 Remington can be classed as an excellent medium range varmint cartridge at ranges out to 250 yards.
** In 1979, SAAMI cautioned shooters that the 5.56x45mm military chambers and throats differ from the 223 Remington sporting rifle chambers. Therefore military ball ammo may produce high chamber pressures in sporting rifles.
Source: Cartridges of the World0 -
Maybe its been said here already, but decide what your primary target(s) will be first...if possible.
The reason is bullet weight and barrel twist-rate.
If your varmits are small...prairie dogs; you may likely be buying cartridges with 40-50 grain projectiles. These are often "ballistic tip"...meaning they expand a great deal very easily and will make an average prairie dog explode in a red-mist! You ideally would want a 1:12 twist barrel for this specialty/projectile weight. The 1:12 was actually designed for 55 grain projectiles...original AR-15/M-16 round.
If your targets are non-specific, and you don't want to commit to anything special; a 1:9 twist-rate is good. It is best suited for ~62 grain projectiles. It will shoot 55 grain okay, but the 40-50 will suffer.
1:7 twist rates are best for heavier than 62 grain projectiles.
Stabilization is the concern here. Twist-rates are specific to projectiles. Over or under stabilization can occur with the wrong combination.
A simple explanation of over-stabilization (spinning the projectile too fast) is that the gyroscopic effect and consequent stability of the projectiles position in flight will be maintained instead of "ending-over" and will continue to fly as it has become an air-foil. The longitudinal axis of the projectile (along the length of a projectile) should change in flight to allow it to impact the ground point first. So, although your bullet may fly farther, it will not behave according to its intended ballistics and expected accuracy.
If you want to look into this further do a search on google for "over-stabilization."0 -
go for the .223 they are a nice gun. with the hollow points or the soft point your target will never feel a thing. they also shoot fmj. real well. we shoot clay pigeons with the fmj. at some very long distances. anybody can hit a woodchuck at 200-300 yards. but try to hit a clay pigeon at 300 and 400 yards. this is alot of fun and really makes you bear down and shoot. you will love the .223. see yaaaaaaaaaa 0 -
I cleanly kill coyotes at ranges up to 300 yards with my .223 Mini-14, using various factory loaded ammo.
God Bless America and...
NEVER Forget WACO
NEVER, EVER Forget 9110 -
Get the .223rem and practice practice praactice you will like it and once good at paper try shooting skeet placed on the ground at differant yardages. once you can make clean shots at them then shoot the varmints
and wala you have well placed shots! hope this helps0
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