choosing bullet .223 PD

[SS427]

50 grain Zmax bullets. Cheap, accurate and explosive.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

Can't go wrong with VMax.. Any grain

 

[stacy]

53GR V-MAX FOR ME !!!!!!!!!

 

[DeadWoodDan]

Thank everyone. Order placed for some more 53 Vmax & 50 Zmax bulk to try. Have a few (4?) .223's so finding one load and practicing at various distances is main objective this summer.
Good luck everyone!

 

[Egg]

I'm not doing too bad with the 75gn a max out of my stock savage 12 lrpv 223 1-7 twist. Target was at 200 yards. Getting ready to shoot some 55gn a max tomorrow and I will post results.

 

[SS427]

Has Hornady discontinued the Zmax line? That will be too bad if they did.

 

[DeadWoodDan]

Has Hornady discontinued the Zmax line? That will be too bad if they did.

Not that I see. Its still available at many online retailers. PVI is where i made my purchase, lots choices there.

 

[SS427]

Yeah, I see them for sale still but they are not listed on the Hornady website any more. Might be time to stock up.

 

[Texas10]

Another bullet I find that will shoot tiny groups and is made for varmints is the Sierra p/n 1400 HP flat base. Shot over IMR 3031 or IMR 8208XBR it is extremely accurate.

 

[AckleymanII]

At 3800 fps, the 40-45g bullets just run out of gas around 275, dogs just fall over.

Sierra blitz kings are the most explosive bullet I have ever shot, they also have match quality jackets and cost a tad more due to that factor.

All the V max line works well on dogs, and the 50g TNT will be well also. A 55g Sierra lead tip Blitz is awesome at 3500 fps on p. dogs and coyotes.

Try develop accuracy with your rig that is 1/3 moa or better so you can head shoot the dogs at 300, when they just want to stick their heads out of the hole.

Heavy bullets with slow speeds are a party killer in acrobatics, but will help in the wind.

 

[Idaho-45]

Sir, 53 grain V-Max is my favorite Ground Squirrel bullet by far!!!! That's out of a Remington 700, 5R-223, 1-9 twist. Good Luck! Idaho-45

 

[DLALLDER]

OK, This question id for all you that hunt the PDs regularly. What is the ratio of shots to kills? My wife and I will be going on our first hunt and wondering what to expect. Thanks

 

[Damon555]

OK, This question id for all you that hunt the PDs regularly. What is the ratio of shots to kills? My wife and I will be going on our first hunt and wondering what to expect. Thanks

The answer is......it depends. The more time spent in one town or one place the longer the shots get. Once you've cleared out all the close targets and the ranges start to increase your hit ratio will go down.

 

[sw282]

40gr VMAX have been my favorite since they first came out... After a long dry

spell of 7 years l will be going this year to NM.. Will be shooting some 35gr

Bergers in a 221FB... Also plan on taking along a TC Contender in 22HORNET.

The 10'' Hornet is also used to Shoot Field Pistol in IHMSA Silh competition.,

l will be using a 40gr JHP and a touch of H110 for the Hornet...

 

[DeadWoodDan]

OK, This question id for all you that hunt the PDs regularly. What is the ratio of shots to kills? My wife and I will be going on our first hunt and wondering what to expect. Thanks

I'm just relating to shooting black birds and ground squires ( smaller targets ) at home, but would add trigger time on REAL targets and not paper made me a better or improves my skills. Not sure where you live, but if you can get that type of practice it will help ranging and what I call wind reading for holdover. Using my 17HMR the last few yrs in IL trying to shoot a bird at 100yds with wind is challenging for me some days. Wind gusts really push that bullet around, for me anyways. Thats out of a RAR with trigger mod.

 

[DLALLDER]

Well from the 3 responses, kill ratios must not be very high. LOL I was just want numbers so maybe I could compare our shooting ability. Thanks

 

[drover]

I shoot mostly gophers (ground squirrels) which are about 1/3 the size of a full grown PD, I use a 22 LR is from point blank to 100 yds, when shooting gophers from 100 to 300 yds I use a 223 with 40 gr NBT at 3750.
Starting this time of the year and up until mid-June when we go on our annual PD shoot I have already shot 3000 - 4000 rounds of 22 LR and 500 - 700 rounds of 223. During this period my hit ratio is around 80%.
When I am on our annual PD shoot I usually shoot from 100 to 300 yds and my hit ratio goes up to around 85 -90% because I have had so much practice on the smaller gophers prior to the PD shoot.

The real answer is that it depends - if you are shooting on a windy day your average will be fairly low, if a calm day then expect more hits.

p.s. using the 223 I put a case mouth down for a hit and case rim up for a miss - it makes it easy to see the hit/miss ratio.

drover

 

[DLALLDER]

Thanks, Drover. That very good shooting. I am hoping for 50% overall. Never shot dogs before but we do a lot of paper punching. I expect the vast majority of our shots will be held to 200 250 yds. May get crazy and move out to 300.

 

[urbanrifleman]

For straight 223, 26.5 grains of AA2015/LT 32 is hard to beat with a 40 grainer of your choice. CCI 450 primer. Should get you 3750 or so... This is a PROVEN load I have used for 20 years on PDogs and Ghogs with the old Czech AA2105 and the new Canadian AA2015/LT32 is even better. In fact, I will go out on a limb and say the new Canadian AA2015/LT32 is the most under rated powder out there. It is the do all in 223 for sure. Works even better with 52 grain Barts. The upper node on the 52 Barts (the old Fowler) in my 223ACKLEY is 26.5 grains and gets me 3600 FPS. Bart said they really blow up too. This is the standard 223 24.7 honey node using LT32 (but my lot is nearly the same as AA2015). I use it for fireforming too. That is a very typical group. Seriously.

You could try the 34 grain Nosler with as much AA2015 as you can get in the case.

 

[johnfred1965]

Well from the 3 responses, kill ratios must not be very high. LOL I was just want numbers so maybe I could compare our shooting ability. Thanks

My brother doesn't like to waste ammo shooting rediculous ranges. He once sat down with his .223 bolt action, would not take a shot over 300 yards, and hit 97 out of 100. I on the other hand, like to see how far I can stretch things, and will go after Dogs twice that far. I got dialed in on a group around 425 and hit 15 in a row, but then had to move farther out. I ended up with 42 out of 3, 30 round mags. not quite half. Then there was my brother's friend, he wanted to hit one out past 1K. He hit one, out of a box of 50 rounds, and it turned out to only be 983 yards!

PS your first name isn't Ben is it? reminds me of an old Jerry Clower story.