What kind of .223 bullet is this?

[GaBowman]

I hope this isnt posted in the wrong forum, but I need to know what kind of bullet this is. I just bought a .223 rifle and stopped by Walmart and picked up a ' cheap' box of bullets. They are Winchester 55-grain full metal jacketed bullets in a 40 round value pack. The price of these are $7.47.

These bullets look like the regular Remington ammo that are pointed softcore bullets but the name ' full metal jacket' is something new to me. Are these regular soft core bullets that do expand or what? What kind of bullets work best on small game (I was thinking more like the ballistic tips but not sure) such as crows and squirrels? Will these full metal jackets work best on larger sized varmints such as coyotes?

GB

[bowhuntinmaniac]

Full metal jackets are exactly what they say they are. They are completly covered with a copper shell, so they won' t expand at all. they will punch a small round hole. Not real good if you want to drop animals fast, unless you are taking head shots.

[Howler]

As stated above, the full metal jacket bullets simply don' t expand. I don' t concider them good for any kind of hunting of any animals, for a couple reasons. They don' t expand which means that they will do very little in the way of killing any thing. and they will ricochet(sp) more times than not meaning that you really have to watch what is beyond your target area. For crows and small rodents, look at hollow points or poly tipped bullets. The poly tip bullets all work well in rapid expansion in small critters. For coyotes, I' d go with a soft point out of the .223. the poly tipped bullets have been know to not completely enter into coyotes, leaving a heck of a entry wound but not any damage to the boiler room, meaning that the bullets explode on impact and don' t penetrate enough. Another thing to concider, might use the 40 gr. bullets on crows and rodents and go upto the 50 or even the 55 gr. for coyotes. Lighter equals faster and more explosive and heavier is slower bullets but more punch to penetrate heavier critters. Hope that helps.

[critch]

My favorite bullet for a .223 is the 52 gr. hollow point. It will go through a rib but then do conciderable damage inside the cavity. I' ve used it for rock chucks, coyotes and deer. Rarely does any part of it exit the body. It' s a clean and very quick kill. They don' t run anywhere.
I' ve heard good things about the ballistic tip too though. I just haven' t had a need to try them.


critch

[GaBowman]

Hey guys,

I still got a few questions. A .223 is completely new to me and I guess I just dont know what such a small caliber is really capable of. I am sorta looking for one weight bullet to do all if there' s such a thing. I know I should expect ranges out to 300 yards to be do-able, but I thought if I was costantly switching weight bullets (lighter weights for smaller varmints and switching to heavier bullets for larger varmints) for different sized game then I would always be re-zeroing the dang scope vrs. being able to hunt on a spurs notice. Am I wrong in this assumption or would the heavier bullets be really close to the lighter rounds I would have the scope zeroed in for down range? I know we' re only talking 10 or 12 grains, but I honestly dont know what that means out to 200-300 yards range. Also, do you guys feel confident with deer hunting with the .223, and if so, what would your recommendations be for bullet choice?

Thanks,

GB

[Howler]

I' d suggest going with one bullet and sticking with it for every thing from ground squirrels upto the coyote. I' d suggest either a hollow point or soft point bullet in the 50 gr. range. The poly tipped bullets are great for pdogs, but not always going to drop coyotes. The hollow points do better on coyotes, but won' t explode a pdog as well, and the soft point will kill the pdog with out doing much else but will be more effective on the coyote. And as far as using the .223 for deer or antelope, it is really just too small for them, I know, I know, there are going to be guys that say that they have killed both species with the .223, but there is very little margin of error and it' s just not worth the risk of wounding and loosing an animal. Also, you are right in that if you try to switch bullet weight back and forth, you will have to re-zero the rifle, same can be said alot of times, just switching ammo made by different manufactures in the same bullet weight. They won' t always fly the same, best to re-zero any time you switch. Thats' why it' s best to find one good one by one manufacturer and sticking with it.

[Ridge Runner]

I like ultramax reman ammo, the 55 gr. sp' s are 76.00 per 300 rnds from cabelas, and they shoot great!
RR