If you were to reload 5.56mm/.223 remington for medium game...

armoredman said:

What bullet would you use? I'm assuming most of the varmint style bullets like the 50gr MidwayUSA Dogtowns might not work so well. Assume a 1-7 twist semi auto rifle. Thanks for any replies other than, "Get a bigger rifle, you numbskull!"

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Nosler Partitions have always worked great for me on medium game the times I've used a .223. Mainly white tail deer, and they've always dropped easily to a shot in the "boiler room". The 60gr Partition in my load clocks from a 20" AR around 3145fps and was developed after I had a good experience with Federals "Vital Shock" version of that bullet. Also Noslers E-Tip is a good performer, with a little less penetration than the Partition. The Etip is a redesigned version of their 55gr tipped varmint bullet made suitable for larger game, and it does quite well but I prefer the partitions. Speer and Winchester also make soft points in the 55-64gr range that work quite well also. For powder I use Varget and CFE223 for these loads.

Droped it this evening should be on the first plane tomorrow.

Laphroaig said:

I bought a box of Nosler 60 gr. Partitions anticipating that I would be able to hunt deer in Pennsylvania with my AR. Maybe someday,
.

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Load them up because Gov. Wolf signed the bill allowing us to use semi-autos for hunting starting this season.

I have seen a deer run only 20 feet after being shot with a 60gr Nosler Partition from a bolt action .223 rifle. While I'm not a fan of using the .223 for deer it seems to do the job. I would however want to use a premium bullet like the Partition.

Laphroaig said:

I bought a box of Nosler 60 gr. Partitions anticipating that I would be able to hunt deer in Pennsylvania with my AR. Maybe someday,
.

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I almost built a 7.62 AR47 for the same reason. Oh well.

But to the OP, my stainless 1:7 16 inch barrel likes the Remington Hog Hammers (62 gr TSX bullet) and Federal Fusions (62 gr. SP) alot. Get around 1ish MOA with a garbage trigger. I wouldn't go lighter than that. Never tried anything hotter or heavier but if you handload I bet you can get good results with a heavier bullet.

I've only shot 4 medium game animals with the .223 One with a 60 grain softpoint and 3 with 55 grain Dogtown hps. All of them dropped where they were standing. What I have loaded for "next time" are 55 grain Barnes TTSX. Nosler partitions seem like a good idea also.....but the hollowpoints worked perfectly. So did the softpoint but it seemed to come apart faster than the HPs.

Order grab bag .224 from RMR my 2000 order came with 12 different style and grains of bullets hollow points and soft points mostly 50 grain frangibe probably 50% then 25 % 55gr fmj the other 25 % were mix jhp and soft point try them all see what shoots well but I would recommend the soft points