Steel Case .223 Ammo for Praire Dogs...Anything accurate enough?

[loudandproud]

Hello all,

I currently reload .223 and have a fair amount of "mixed" .223 reloads for my M4. They are various powders (due to the shortage), all of which have been tested and proved to be safe in my rifle. I mix them in and have no problems with accuracy out of my M4 because I rarely shoot over 50 yards with it and it only has an AIMPOINT on it.

My buddy and I are talking about going on a P-Dog trip this summer. I am going to need about 1000-2000 rounds of .223 to bring. I plan on shooting it out of a Custom Barreled savage 10FCP.

To be honest, I don't feel like buying an additional 2000 pieces of brass, decrimp them all, and reload them all at $.33 a piece (if I have to buy the extra brass).

I see a lot of accuracy reviews of WPA, Tula and Bear .223 ammo claiming 3 MOA accuracy out of AR's. Has anyone shot this ammo out of Precision-ish bolt gun?

In order to reach out and shoot P-dogs, im going to need 1 MOAish accuracy.

Anyone do any testing with a GOOD bolt gun?

 

[people]

I can not speak to new stuff but about 4years ago would not hold 2moa in bolt or semi. It is great for blasting but not accuracy.

 

[abishai]

It may be a lot cheaper to invest in a 17 hmr .......... I would guaranty it will out perform and underblast steel cased ( FMJ ?)
223 . Super lethal at 200 , can go farther

 

[MikeMcCasland]

I've seen them shoot roughly 1 MOA in a bolt gun before.

Honestly if I were in your shoes, I'd just bring the AR and borrow a precision optic. I'd deal with a few misses. You'd be out roughly $700-800 for the ammo, plus with 2k rounds down the pipe in that short a timeframe you'd probably be out a halfway decent barrel on the savage as well ($350). I doubt you'd ever notice 2k on an AR with an aimpoint.

That or bring 500 rounds, and all your reloading gear .

 

[Hoier]

I shot some Wolf out of my Weatherby Threat Response 223 and they shot ok about 1.5" at 100. But I definitely would not take that fmj junk to do any shooting where animals are involved. I would probably spend the money and buy more brass and load some Midway/Midsouth varmint bullets if you can get some.

 

[NCFrank]

Seen plenty of this stuff fresh out of the box with bullet jacket material scraped and burred up around the case mouth.

 

[OB]

I assume your talking about FMJ ammo. It never seems to me to be a good idea to shoot FMJ in an area like a prairie dog town. There is not usually much to keep the bullet from travelling a long distance. Not to mention FMJ bullets do not reliably dispatch prairie dogs like a varmint type bullet will.

 

[people]

I assume your talking about FMJ ammo. It never seems to me to be a good idea to shoot FMJ in an area like a prairie dog town. There is not usually much to keep the bullet from travelling a long distance. Not to mention FMJ bullets do not reliably dispatch prairie dogs like a varmint type bullet will.

Any bullet can bounce not just a fmj. Even a v-max can bounce if shot shallow enough like when shooting pd.

 

[josh.rizzo]

I've had really good results out to 600 yards with the Wolf ammo that uses the 69gr Sierra Match King out of my Steyr AUG. Found it on AIM Surplus. Hornady also makes Steel Match ammo, again, if you can find it.

Good steel cased ammo exists and yields surprising results, its just hard to find.

 

[seymour fish]

I've had really good results out to 600 yards with the Wolf ammo that uses the 69gr Sierra Match King out of my Steyr AUG. Found it on AIM Surplus. Hornady also makes Steel Match ammo, again, if you can find it.

Good steel cased ammo exists and yields surprising results, its just hard to find.

Maybe in my X-wife's rifle

 

[dickn52]

No clue, never and never will use steel case in anything other than a pistol or two that I shoot every now and then.

 

[Downhill]

I would look at the potential and probable percentage of likely misses. If I where planning a cool shooting trip with buddies I would just bite the bullet and hand load quality ammo. The stories to be told of hits at extended ranges will out weigh any money you might save buying cheap blasting ammo.

 

[vonb]

Here's a couple things to consider:

1) The stell cased ammo is usually of a full metal jacket variety. I would not recommend this for shooting p-dogs due to ricochets.

2) If looking for some quality varmint ammo that is reasonably priced, I would look for further than Fiocchi Extrema with a 40 or 50 gr VMAX. It's plenty accurate, affordable and cases can be reloaded. You can find this ammo as cheap as $.37/round if you look around. Check ammoseek.com. Another option is the Federal American Eagle AR 223 Tipped Varmint.

 

[msinc]

Maybe in my X-wife's rifle

This!!!!!!! I would never run that junk in any rifle I own. Went shooting with a guy once and he was using that steel cased stuff. It was starting to get dark outside and we noticed his bullet impact in the gravel bank was accompanied by what appeared to be a little spark. I stuck one round in my pocket and when I got home and stripped it down the bullet had a painted steel jacket. I guess that's okay in a hard chromed AK barrel, but it aint going down none of mine. The steel was very soft on the bullet, but still steel.
The steel case has some kind of what looked like varnish on it. It looked like a brown tarnished brass case, but it was steel. The bullet was painted with copper colored paint. At a quick glance in the box, the stuff didn't look bad. I honestly couldn't remark on the accuracy potential though....we were shooting a Ruger.
Painted steel bullets and varnished cases....good god almighty...........nooooooo! Couple that with a Ruger and you know some precision shooting was happening!!!!

 

[powderbrake]

Hello all,

I currently reload .223 and have a fair amount of "mixed" .223 reloads for my M4. They are various powders (due to the shortage), all of which have been tested and proved to be safe in my rifle. I mix them in and have no problems with accuracy out of my M4 because I rarely shoot over 50 yards with it and it only has an AIMPOINT on it.

My buddy and I are talking about going on a P-Dog trip this summer. I am going to need about 1000-2000 rounds of .223 to bring. I plan on shooting it out of a Custom Barreled savage 10FCP.

To be honest, I don't feel like buying an additional 2000 pieces of brass, decrimp them all, and reload them all at $.33 a piece (if I have to buy the extra brass).

I see a lot of accuracy reviews of WPA, Tula and Bear .223 ammo claiming 3 MOA accuracy out of AR's. Has anyone shot this ammo out of Precision-ish bolt gun?

In order to reach out and shoot P-dogs, im going to need 1 MOAish accuracy.

Anyone do any testing with a GOOD bolt gun?

If you already have the Savage, it is time to test your ammo. See how it shoots. I would separate the ammo into batches of the same bullet and powder load, and test the accuracy. Many years ago I shot mixed brand cases in 223 loads with no problems.
Select the loads that shoot the best, and if you don't have enough ammo, then add cases and load to the best shooting load.

1000 to 2000 rounds is a LOT of prairie dog shooting. I wish you luck in finding the towns with that many dogs in the 223 range. I agree you will need 1 MOA accuracy to hit them, but I suspect that the Savage will do better than that with the correct load. Good luck.

 

[Ggmac]

Load your own with good varmint bullets ( thin jackets ) or don't bother with the savage just take your AR and stick a better scope on it .
The steel cased stuff is so so and I'd not use it in any of my bolt guns , even a shooter axis .
A stuck case in your bolt savage could ruin your trip .

 

[Kracken McGraw]

AE223G-American Eagle .223 50 grain hp is high quality and accurate. Should be able to buy it on internet .35 cent range.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Good Lord, Three and a half year old thread. Sorry!