Dennis,
This is what I'd try. 60gr Nosler Partition, but I'm kind of old school.
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This is what I'd try. 60gr Nosler Partition, but I'm kind of old school.
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I use a sierra game king 55gr and blc-2 powder had damn good results, I dont think I would want a pass-thru w/ a.223. Id rather have all the energy expended inside the animal. You just dont have a lot of ft/lbs past 100 yds.
I did.
It was very interesting and I certainly us it for a reference. The barnes copper round looks really interesting. I shoot barnes in my MZ and 30-06
Well Heather smoked down a doe with the ol' 223.
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You can see the entrance wound here.
Side of entry.
Side of exit.
Before and after.
The excellent news is that Heather despite never shooting a live animal made a perfect heart shot 70ish yards, she ran 50 or so yards before piling up. The bullet could stand to be a tad sturdier, it was found on the opposite side from the entrance wound just under the skin. Weight retention was less than stellar where the unfired bullet was 55.2 grains and the recovered slug was 25.5 however it should be noted that the Sierra part no. 1345 is marketed as a varmint bullet. To be perfectly honest the 223 is as fine of a deer cartridge as you will find, we did loose the wound side shoulder and will likely loose most of the far shoulder due to bloodshot meat. The wound channel was rather spectacular, I didn't have my camera to get pics of the vitals but I assure you that it was one of the most impressive I have seen in gutting/cleaning 100 or so deer.
I do think a bonded type or psp that is more heavily constructed would perform better penetration wise but I couldn't be much happier with the results of the Sierra Varminter 55 grain spitzer on thin skinned medium game.
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You can see the entrance wound here.
Side of entry.
Side of exit.
Before and after.
The excellent news is that Heather despite never shooting a live animal made a perfect heart shot 70ish yards, she ran 50 or so yards before piling up. The bullet could stand to be a tad sturdier, it was found on the opposite side from the entrance wound just under the skin. Weight retention was less than stellar where the unfired bullet was 55.2 grains and the recovered slug was 25.5 however it should be noted that the Sierra part no. 1345 is marketed as a varmint bullet. To be perfectly honest the 223 is as fine of a deer cartridge as you will find, we did loose the wound side shoulder and will likely loose most of the far shoulder due to bloodshot meat. The wound channel was rather spectacular, I didn't have my camera to get pics of the vitals but I assure you that it was one of the most impressive I have seen in gutting/cleaning 100 or so deer.
I do think a bonded type or psp that is more heavily constructed would perform better penetration wise but I couldn't be much happier with the results of the Sierra Varminter 55 grain spitzer on thin skinned medium game.
Good information. thanks to all that responded.
Since the original post, I've taken two more does with the same round that failed to give a pass thru, and had a complete pass thru on both. As far as the deer, none got over 40 yds before expiring. This is my first year to hunt deer with a .223, with all previous deer taken with the 06, 270 or .243WSSM.
I've heard lots of reports of deer that didn't go down, and they blamed the cartridge/caliber. I'm thinking the shooter was the problem with a poorly placed bullet. Doing the field dressing that tells the real story, I found more than enough damage to make the deer die, but did notice that with the .223 it passed thru the organs, and the deer died, but with the 06, it turns them into jelly. Still the same result...backstraps in the skillet
I've never been a fan of head shots having found two does in the field with their lower jaws shot off, and they died of starvation. I don't bad mouth anybody that wants to take that shot...its just not for me.
Since the original post, I've taken two more does with the same round that failed to give a pass thru, and had a complete pass thru on both. As far as the deer, none got over 40 yds before expiring. This is my first year to hunt deer with a .223, with all previous deer taken with the 06, 270 or .243WSSM.
I've heard lots of reports of deer that didn't go down, and they blamed the cartridge/caliber. I'm thinking the shooter was the problem with a poorly placed bullet. Doing the field dressing that tells the real story, I found more than enough damage to make the deer die, but did notice that with the .223 it passed thru the organs, and the deer died, but with the 06, it turns them into jelly. Still the same result...backstraps in the skillet
I've never been a fan of head shots having found two does in the field with their lower jaws shot off, and they died of starvation. I don't bad mouth anybody that wants to take that shot...its just not for me.
I would put money on it being a shooter malfunction 99.9999999% of the time when an animal is lost. The problem is that no one will admit they botched a shot or didn't take proper precautions after a poor shot to ensure the recovery of the animal. Whether it is a follow up shot or waiting 6-12 hours to start tracking a gutshot animal. Heather's deer's heart and lungs were turned into mush and she was dead in 30 seconds, to be honest I will probably be carrying my little Remington 700 in 223 for deer now. I am completely impressed with the performance of the caliber on small and thin skinned medium game.
As usual there is some good avise here, use a quality bullet. I use nosler flat base bullets in a Contender carbine for my daughter and she has harvested several does, all under 40yd shots 55gr. bullet H322 powder. I think you are fine as long as you use caution know your rifle and its abilities.
