My .223's both shoot very well with the Hornady 50 and 55 gr SPSX bullets. These "super explosive" bullets also perform with great effect on gophers and rockchucks. How much does the small game performance fall off with the standard 50 gr SP bullet in the .223? I push the 50 gr bullets around 3200 to 3300 fps and have always used the Ballistic Tip and V-Max bullets, but they get a little spendy if you shoot a couple hundred a day. I still remember getting pretty good "red mist effect" with the Sierra Blitz, the SX and the Speer TNT. But I haven't been able to find any of the Hornady SX bullets of late and would kind of like to save the $5 or so per box with the old school soft point bullets. If I was shooting a .22-250 or a Swift, I wouldn't be concerned, but at .223 velocities, will the standard SP bullets perform? Appreciate any comments.

well they have worked well for a lot of years

50 grain spsx and benchmark are a great combo. i get my spsx bullets from pat's reloading. pretty good prices online. give them a try.

quote:

Originally posted by 2ndtimer:
...have always used the Ballistic Tip and V-Max bullets, but they get a little spendy if you shoot a couple hundred a day. ...would kind of like to save the $5 or so per box with the old school soft point bullets. ...at .223 velocities, will the standard SP bullets perform? ...

Just got a Flier from Midsouth. They are advertising Varmint Nightmare bullets in 55gr PSP, 500-count for $40.05 and 2000-count for $154.70. The Varmint Nightmare X-Treme bullets in 50gr PSP, 500-count for $44.64. And Hornady 55gr SP w/cannelure, 6000-count for $454.90. All would require a Shipping Cost, but Midsouth goes out of their way to keep the Shipping as low as possible on the things I order.

I do not know if they would meet your criteria for Kill Effect or their Accuracy.

They also have Nosler 52gr HP Custom Competition 1000-count for $135.64. I've not bought them in the 1000-count, but the ones I had are very accurate in my 223Rem. I do not remember Killing anything with them besides paper.

Best of luck to you.

2ndtimer

I've been using the Hornady 55 SX as my "go to" varmint .223 bullet for all varmints from belding ground sqirrels up through coyotes since '75. I have shot thousands of them out of 12 and 14" twist .223s with excellent terminal effect. The standard SPs are made to withstand the stress of much higher velocity/RPM and thus the terminal effect is not as good at .222/.223 velocitites.

In the .223 with 12+" twists I've not found any of the newer plastic tipped bullets to provide any better accuracy or terminal effect. They only cost more is all. The 55 gr SX is still my "go to" bullet for the .223 in 12+" twist barrels.

Larry Gibson

Thanks for the replies. I tend to agree with Larry. I have had excellent results with the Hornady SX bullets, and find them to unbeatable for the price. Sadly, I was unable to locate any during the peak of the post Obama hoarding, and out of desparation, ordered 1000 of the standard 50 gr Spire Points. I felt lucky to get those at the time. I guess I will use up the "other" .22 bullets on hand, a collection of Nosler 52 gr HP, V-Maxes, Noser Ballistic Tips and Sierra 40 gr HP's before I open up the standard Hornady's. Maybe I will be able to locate some of the SX bullets before I am forced to use the standards. Thanks again for the input.