I viewed Sierra's website today and noticed a new bullet. I have pined for a harder 224 projectile for coyote hunting and it seems this might be the ticket.

Has anyone used this bullet on game or target?

Winchester has made a 64gr .223 bullets for years, Midway sells them cheap. I shoot them in .223

For coyotes you might also look at the nolser 55 grain solid base boatail softpoint. My father has used them for years. Always about a 1 inch exit wound and will shoot through a coyote end to end no problem. Seem to kill well also.
Matt

vman-I've 2 boxes alas they remain unopened and untried -wish I could tell you more.



I do think they will work quite well though for yotes/lopes/deer.



"GET TO THE HILL"



Dogz



one last thing-I've used there 63 for years and have always found it to my liking...

Try the speer 70 gr. My 788 .22/250 loves them. 40 gr. H4831. Really accurate.

Sierra 65 gr. GameKing BTSP

Odds are it won't shoot in my 1-12" 223 rem right?

I wouldn't think the 65gr Sierra would shoot with a 1-12, the 64gr Win will, it is a flatbase bullet.

Nope it is a boattail and I am quite sure it will shoot just fine in a 12 twist. I'de be amazed if it didn't shoot in a 14 which is factory spec.

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dogz

I'd like to try a box...what kind of speeds would be doable in a 223?? Like 2800-2950 fps in a 22" barrel???

Threads getting a little old now, but I have been unable to find to much info on the Sierra 65gn pills so I will tack on my results here.

I didn't set out with the Sierra's in mind. I had actually gone to the back paddock to test the 62gn Barnes Bullet [in 223 of course]. Never had much joy with any Barnes pill. Still no joy.

Anyway. I remembered seeing this thread last night and thought I would give the 65gnrs a crack with Varget [aka ADI2208]. In between sets I loaded up some with 24gns of said Varget. I gave them a shot, all 5 of them. They shot better than the Barnes so I went back to the shed and loaded some more with 25gns. I have no idea really what the recommended dose of Varget for this projectile is. Info is hard to come buy.

Well!!! The 5shot group results are below. F@#k me!!. Hardly ideal conditions I might add. About a 10knots breeze about. Thats a 1" circle there.



Rifle is an AR15 with an 18' barrel. See my sight AR15Hunter for details. The scope I was using I my usual 1-3 power CQT scope. Not exactly target shooting stuff.

I will be giving them a go for sure. Thats as good as results I I have had with some of my best 55gn loads. Impressed.



The 24gns of Varget and 65gn Sierra cronied around 2600fps. Unfortunately I didn't get to crony the 25gns of Varget load. My crony suffered a fall. My AR sight are about 3" above the bore line and I had lowered the front rest to play with a mates rifle. Forgot to adjust the rest back up again.



Pretty terminal.

Hope this helps someone else wanting to try out the Sierra 65gn pills. FYI.

What twist rate is your AR?

quote:

Originally posted by MLC:
What twist rate is your AR?

1:9
18" barrel. Custom profiled. Sort of a medium weight contour. Was an HBar but I had it turned down and shortened. Floated.

Pic attached now.

According to ADI's 2005 loadbook, 25grs of AR2208 is the max for that projectile.

I use them in my 1:12 700 Sendero with excellent results. 26.0/IMR 4895 runs 2950fps and shoots one little hole at 100 yards. 25.5/Benchmark runs 3000fps and shoots one little hole. Neither load shows any ressure in a 20" tube. The BM load shoots 2" at 400 yards. I killed a big buck at 385yds with a neck shot, the bullet shattered his neck bone and severed its jugular.
I have shot this loas for about 3 years and REALLY like it. At about 3400fps this bullet turns into a varminter but loaded to 223 velocity it penetrates well.

Perry

quote:

Originally posted by perry:
25.5/Benchmark runs 3000fps and shoots one little hole. Neither load shows any pressure in a 20" tube.

That would be a pretty hot load wouldn't it?. I use 25gns of Benchmark with my 55gn loads.

I think mine would be ticking along about 2700-2750fps. 24gns was 2600fps. I need a new crony!!!

No pressure is shown with either load. Primers in good shape and case head isn't showing an ejector mark. I ran them hotter and started to show pressure and backed off.

Perry

AR 15 Hunter, welcome to the forum.. gather with the "Mate' you are from down OZ way or are a Kiwi..

With varget, 26 grains should not be overpressured with that bullet... I haven't seen the pressure specs, but it is resizes easily in my press, so it can't be pushing pressure limits... a die can tell you if you are running too high of pressure by how easily or hard it resizes...

Varget in a 223 case, you can load 25 plus grains with 75 and 80 grain match bullets.. a 65 grainer should be just fine at that charge...

26 grains of Varget with a 75 grain Hornady Match HP in my Savage gives me problems at all, and resizes with little resistance when I reload them...

Cheers. I got an email from the good folks at Sierra today
"Hi,
We used a starting load of varget at 22.8 grs. up thru a max load of 26.3 grs.
With Benchmark,try a starting load of 22.0 grs. up thru a top of 24.2 grs.Velocities runs about 3050 FPS on the top end from either load."

I would imagine their loads would be on the side of caution for cya purposes.

Im gogin to play with a little hotter loads when I get a target scope on it. Bit hard with the Leupy CQT scope!
Yeah. NZ mate.

****************
I just finished cronying the 25gn loads. 2723fps [10shot av.] New crony works well

So do you think they would work for a 1:12 5.6x50R (think 223 with an extra 1/4" length)

quote:

Originally posted by Vman:
I have pined for a harder 224 projectile for coyote hunting and it seems this might be the ticket.<br /><br /> Has anyone used this bullet on game or target?

You might consider the 63gr Sierra. Very accurage in my 14" twist, some folk use them on deer, work great on yotes!

quote:

Originally posted by olarmy:
You might consider the 63gr Sierra. Very accurage in my 14" twist, some folk use them on deer, work great on yotes!

I had a look at those 63grns but figured being "labelled" a Varminter they would be a soft jacketed beast.

?

I emailed Sierra. The 65 SBT and 63 SMP projectiles have the same jacket and core material. Only the external shape is different. The 63 does open marginally quicker than the 65 in my 1 in 9" .223 on game <30kg liveweight. Again, it must be due to the projectiles shape.