What would be a good all round hunting bullet for a .223 REM rifle to be used on animals up to 25 kg? (roe deer)up to 150 mtrs?

I tried Nosler BT 55 gr and Hornady V max 55 gr. Very accurate, animals drop on the spot, but violent fragmentation, causing severe meat damage.

I tried Berger HP 52 gr. but they won't group as well as the above mentioned from my CZ 527

What bullets can you small caliber fans recommend from your own experience?

I've had pretty good luck with the Sierra 62gr soft point on whitetail deer @100 pounds or more. I've also used the infamous Sierra Match King in .224. The SMK made dead deer but I never found a bullet, in fact they fragmented so badly I found very few fragments.

Next time I'm trying the Barnes TSX in .224.

THE OLD 55 GRAIN NOSLER BOAT TAILS WORK WELL FOR MULIES AND WHITETAILS BUT THEY DISCONTINUED THAT BULLET SOMETIME BACK. (I'VE STILL GOT SOME AND NO YOU CAN'T HAVE ANY) I'D HAVE TO LOOK AND SEE BUT I USED A 50 GRAIN SPEER SPITZER THAT DID A GOOD JOB IN THE .222 ON DEER SIZED CRITTERS. WITH THAT SMALL OF A BULLET YOU'D BETTER BE DARN SURE OF BULLET PLACEMENT THO.

The Winchester 64 grain pp has a good reputation along with the Sierra gameking 55 grain for whitetails.

Sierra Game Kings in 55 and 65 grains have worked well on deer. They hold together well at 223 velocities and penetrate well. The 53gr Barnes TSX is probably your best set if your gun likes it.

I taken one whitetail deer (~65kg @ ~200m) with a handloaded 64 grain Winchester PowerPoint in a 223 Remington. Worked great. The PowerPoint is also available in 223 factory ammunition here in the States. I know a fellow whose family uses handloaded Speer 70 grain semispitzers in the 222 Remington for whitetail each November. The rest of the year it is loaded with lighter more frangible bullets for varmints and furbearers.

53 grain Barnes or 60 grain partitions should work great. My brother took a nice whitetail buck with a 45 grain barnes I loaded for his 223 with one shot.
He said when he brought it to the meatcutter the guy just kept repeating how little meat loss there was and you actually could eat right up to the hole.

Since your CZ has a 1 in 9 twist I'd go with which ever of the following that shot best in my rifle. 60 Gr. Nosler partition, 64 Gr. Winchester PP or 65 Gr. Sierra Gameking.

1 in 9 twist??? Is this true????? When I bought mine, they said it had a slow twist. If this is true, that's awesome.

I used my 223 this past year to anchor(yes anchor) two deer that went 135lbs dressed. I was using 55 Hornady spitzers. Yes there was a lot of fragmentation. Both were neck shots. 1st was 120 yards and the other was 225 yards. My son used the same combination and took a 140 lbs doe quartering away. She went 20 yards and dropped. Very messy gutting job but no meat damage. Pick your shots and you'll be fine. Consider the barnes bullets for less fragmentation.

I'm surprised that someone out there isn't relating the performance of 60 gr. Hornady Barrier bullets on deer.

They once were plentiful and cheap as dirt and from performance tests I ran were very similar to the Original Barnes' bullet circa 1966. The bullet went through 6 steel coffee can lids, .060" polyethelene, the side of a 5 gal plastic pail and 9" of totally water saturated phone book.

The retrieved slug was about .075" thick and about .400" in diameter. Has anyone out there used this bullet on deer? roger

quote:

Originally posted by Jason Doss:
1 in 9 twist??? Is this true????? When I bought mine, they said it had a slow twist. If this is true, that's awesome.

CZ Varmint 223's get the 1:9 twist, others have been 1:12, but maybe CZ is moving to all 1:9?

Enough difference to easily tell using the "cleaning rod/patch method".

My pics for best, that will use a 1 in 12 twist that many have....

Not in any particular order....

Sierra 63 grain SMP,
Sierra 60 grain HP
Speer 70 grain SMP

I am normally a Partition fan, and not a Barnes fan.... but in this instance.... NIX on the Partition in 22 caliber... poor accuracy....
Thumbs up on the Barnes XLC in 50 or 53 grain configuration....

Even the little 45 grain Barnes XLC at slow velocity will drop a good sized deer in short order....

Those are the picks in my experience that have yielded the best results for myself....

Nosler Ballistic Tips will create a lot less meat damage if they are launched with an MV of under 2600 fps.. but are still quite capable of dropping a deer.... I have used them on Blacktails at 150 yds or so, launched at 2600 fps out of a 223, using 13.5 grains of Blue Dot shotgun powder...instant kills...

good luck..
cheers
seafire

What about the little Barnes 45gr XLC when driven FAST
(3500-3600fps) so it more or less matches the trajectory of 50gr varmint bullets?

AllanD

quote:

Originally posted by N. S. Sherlock:
The Winchester 64 grain pp has a good reputation along with the Sierra gameking 55 grain for whitetails.

Speer 55TBBC would be my first choice with the Nosler 60Par being the next. I would think that for a 223 which needs velocity while still making an adequate wound channel (depth and width), no others are up to take Deer reliably in the shoulder which might be the shot you must take.

Deke.