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Heavy Poly-tip Bullets 223 for Prairie Dogs

Anybody doing it with the newer 75 to 80 grainers? What're your results relative to the light weights?
 
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If you're like many of us and enjoy the splat factor and want to see bits and pieces exploding through your scope, I think lighter faster bullets is what you want, but if you are looking to connect way out there as far as possible, the heavier, higher BC bullets will be your friend.
 
I'm starting to think that it might be cool if Barnes made a tipped, boat tail version of the Varmint Grenade. Then we could have long range and high splat factor.
 
In my experience, heavy .22 caliber bullets at moderate velocity are (at best) a crutch. In a .223 they are great at punching paper at longer distances but their performance on colony rodents is marginal. I tried heavies in a .224 Valkyrie last summer. Unspectacular hits and crawl-offs were all too common as yardages increased.

A .223 Rem is a ton of fun using bullets in the 50 grain range. The 53 grain V-Max may be the ultimate ticket. Once the shooting distances outpace that combination, it’s time to step up to a more suitable cartridge. Trying to turn a cartridge into something that it aint has too many down sides.

As the distances start to stretch out, it’s hard to beat a 6mm 87 grain V-Max in a chambering that can send it at 3100+ FPS...and preferably faster.
 
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In my experience, heavy .22 caliber bullets at moderate velocity are (at best) a crutch. In a .223 they are great at punching paper at longer distances but their performance on colony rodents is marginal. I tried heavies in a .224 Valkyrie last summer. Unspectacular hits and crawl-offs were all too common as yardages increased.

A .223 Rem is a ton of fun using bullets in the 50 grain range. The 53 grain V-Max may be the ultimate ticket. Once the shooting distances outpace that combination, it’s time to step up to a more suitable cartridge. Trying to turn a cartridge into something that it aint has too many down sides.

As the distances start to stretch out, it’s hard to beat a 6mm 87 grain V-Max in a chambering that can send it at 3100+ FPS...and preferably faster.
Plus one here.
 
My 223a sends 50 tnts to 3850.

When I went with David Tubb he was using 77 grain match ammo with the noses cut with his nose cutter and they blew up good.
 
I've shot 40's and 50's at ground squirrels and you get WAY better air time and splat factor with 50's. It seems to be the difference between getting hit with a VW vs a Dodge Ram. The difference is very noticeable.
 
Thks. guys--I've also noticed that lighter/faster is generally more explosive. I also think that when a lighter bullet is pushed fast out of a faster twist it's often a bit more explosive. I will agree that one of the best out there for explosive results even out of my 223 AI AR is the 53 V-Max.
 
After making and observing tens of thousands of hits on prairie dogs from a variety of bullets, I've noticed several things of interest.

The 22rf is effective at killing them with any body hit inside of 125-140 yards.
The 17Mach2 and the 17HMR can kill them at 225 & 275 yards or more.
The 204 Ruger class of cartridges perform right up there with the 22/250 class with less blast and recoil
The 223 Remington will shoot the widest weight range of bullets, but seems best for explosive kills with 52-60gr Tipped or open hollow point bullets.
The 6mmBR & the 6XC; If the wind comes up it's hard to beat these two with high BC bullets, if the wind is not blowing that fast, the 70gr are my favorites. See the 204 note above to contrast these with the fast 6mm/243 Winchester.

I have shot plenty of dogs with the 308, 25/06, 6.5x55, and the 6.5x284. The blast and recoil from the full sized rounds wear you down very quickly after 100 plus shots per day with them.

This is not meant to be a complete guide, just what I have direct experience with.
 
F224, what bullets do you use out of your 22 RF's? I also use 22 RF for walk-around handgun pd shooting and prefer the Armscor for terminal effect and OK accuracy. What 204 bullets are you shooting-40ish grainer polymer tips? I also have a friend who LOVES his 20 BR XP-100 handgun with 55 Bergers for best terminal vs. BC combination. Thinks it's the best setup ever.

I just developed a good load out of my AR 223 AI using the 60 TMK for coyotes. Will have to shoot a few pds to test it.
 
For 22rf; It's always been the Federal American Eagle copper washed hollow points.
In 204 Ruger; after extensive testing with everything from 32gr to 50gr, I'm using the 39gr Sierra BlitzKing.

The 60gr V-max works really well in the 223, but the 55gr BlitzKing is my bullet of choice these days.
 
F224, what bullets do you use out of your 22 RF's? I also use 22 RF for walk-around handgun pd shooting and prefer the Armscor for terminal effect and OK accuracy. What 204 bullets are you shooting-40ish grainer polymer tips? I also have a friend who LOVES his 20 BR XP-100 handgun with 55 Bergers for best terminal vs. BC combination. Thinks it's the best setup ever.

I just developed a good load out of my AR 223 AI using the 60 TMK for coyotes. Will have to shoot a few pds to test it.


For pds the 60 gr. TMK has become my second best bullet with the 53 V-Max being number one from my 12 twist 22-250. The V-max is more explosive as it should be, but the TMK was no slouch either. No pencil through that I observed. At longer distances, past 400, the TMK seemed to eject them from the mound like you hit them when you were teeing off with a golf club.

Jim
 
I shoot 95 gr vmax out of my 6.5x47 lapua 8 twist. On prairie dogs this is the most explosive combo I’ve ever seen and I’ve shot alot of 20,22,243 calibers on prairie dogs. Speed of the 95 gr vmax is 3250 fps and 1046 foot pounds at 500 yards. This is absolutely not a fur saving combo on predators either. If you like to blow holes and drop em this is the best combo.
 
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The heavier bullets tend to have thicker, sturdier jackets.They will outperform in the exterior ballistics department to help with long shots - but they won't open fast enough to get the good hand-grenade effect. Tradeoffs.
 
I have had some time on 77 TMK this year. They did just fine, and really helped out at distance when the wind came up.
They certainly didn't have the explosive performance of a 40 VMax, but the 40 VMax didn't show the distance potential that the 77 TMK showed with ease. We ran the 40's out to about 350 yards, but then the 77 TMK took the show out to 600.
 

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