anyone shoot 223? who big of a grain do u use?

[mrfishy34]

i haven't got a 223 yet but on saturday we are goning to get one and i found some umc 55 grain. is that big enough or should i go bigger? since its going to be mostly all varmet do i want to get a bipod for it?

[BCEncorePA]

Mr. Fishy,
The .223 is a great all around varmint caliber. Bullet weights range from 40grn up to i believe black hills makes an 87grn. Now .223 rifles usually come in 2 different twist rates for their barrels. 1-9 and 1-12(some ar-15 have a 1-7). The 1 in 9 inch twist is better for the heavier weight bullets from 50 on up(the more versatile twist in my opinion) the 1 in 12 will have trouble stabilizing the heavier, longer bullets. Now to get away from the complicated junk. The 55 grn bullet is a good varmint weight. I believe the UMC is a full metal jacket(more of a target/military round). That will do the the trick, but these days with so many options for the 223 I would recommend a bullet like the hornady v-max or a sierra blitzking hp. any 223 will put a hurtin on ground hogs, for coyotes I would use a 50, 52, or 55 grn quick expansion bullet. Shoot whatever is the most accurate out of your gun. The best part of the 223 is the amount of options. Hope that helped.

[mrfishy34]

thnks. that is helpfull. so what would i want to get the one with with 1-9. does that still shoot smaller grain good?

[wyote]

I used a 17 rem for years so I wanted something that was similar in performance. I use a 40 nosler BT in my rem 700 (1 in 12 twist) for everything from picket pins (gophers) to coyotes. I've had no problems with them.

I've had several 40 gr V-max's blow up on entrance on coytes. They are alittle to fragile for coytes. 40 grV-max's are great on PD's, rockchucks, and gophers