But seriously, it would be one of a few heavier rounds, think 69 grains and up, in a controlled expansion round. I leave out full metal jackets, because I simply haven't seen any above 62 grains in commercial loads. Two, full metal jacket will surely kill, however the lack of expansion means that in some instances it will not kill as quickly as a controlled expansion bullet striking the same place.
The heavier, controlled expansion rounds will dispatch both medium and small game with proper shots. Light weight frangible rounds will not do that to medium game.
If we are talking deer, a 55 grain cup and core, for example a plain old core lokt kills em 100% dead. Might be others that go beyond that, but I never found the need. This is based on a fair amount of actual experience and not something I conjured up on the keyboard. Many responses will fall into the latter.
Posts: 3811 | Location: san angelo tx | Registered: 18 November 2009
To keep with the extremely opened ended nature of the OP, I take 'most lethal' to imply the entire spectrum of things that need killing. If we're going with just game animals, sure soft points work.
I would submit though that the Marine Corp's deployment of the Mk318 SOST roundfrom a couple years back provides support to a heavier controlled expansion round as 'most lethal' in a .223 Remington package. The SOST was just the military's version of Federal's Trophy Bonded Bear Claw loading. Though to be fair, I think the Federal loading was a 62 or 65 grain bullet. So my earlier comment on 69 grains + may well be inaccurate.
If it's good of enough at penetrating intermediate barriers such as vehicles and body armor for the military; and hunters the world over have used the commercial version on everything from deer to dangerous game, it's got a pretty solid history of real-world experience.
There are probably 15 or 20 different bullets of different weight and construction all in 1st place. The 5.56/223 caliber (not to mention the cartridge) is so prolific that it may have the most industry focus of all when it comes to bullet sales.
I would vote for any of the factory ammo that runs 55 grains or more with some personal success with the Winchester 64 grain PowerPoint and the 55 grain Remington Core-Lokt as great cup and core options for a good price, from there cost goes up exponentially over performance and for very little gain. Mostly you may get a stronger sense of confidence for having invested in higher technology but not much improvement over "dead enough".
"Experience" is the only class you take where the exam comes before the lesson.
Posts: 11142 | Location: Texas, USA | Registered: 22 September 2003
I have a decent amount of experience with the 60 grain Partition. I have just started working with the 64 grain Nosler Bonded. Those bullets are designed to expand rapidly AND penetrate deeply. I can say with certainty that the Partition performs as designed. They are just lights out on deer. On broadside shots, they will almost always give pass throughs and leave a nasty wound channel. Based on what I have read from credible trusted sources, the 64 grain Bonded is perhaps a little more destructive and gives similar penetration. You get all kinds of answers to questions like this. I tend to use bullets for what they are designed to do. Varmint bullets on varmints, Match bullets for precision target shooting and deer hunting bullets for deer hunting.
Posts: 78 | Location: Perkinston, MS | Registered: 13 February 2006
