.223 HP Pros...

[Zwetschgen]

So, I made the mistake of not checking my ammo at the gun store, picked up a few boxes of .223 HP, I am of the understanding that when a .223 bullet hits you it is supposed to tumble and cause massive internal wounds, with a hollow point it should expand, this may be an issue, does it make that big of a difference for target shooting, what about on game? Any ideas?

 

[longdayjake]

Hp will do as much or more damage to whatever you are shooting at. If you really want to do some damage go with SP.

 

[Pat-inCO]

What do you intend shooting with the .223?

It is not a large enough caliber for hunting deer, at least in Colorado.

As far as the tumble, think about a gyroscope. The bullet IS spinning rather rapidly (you do the calculations on how fast) and rest assured it DOES NOT instantly begin to tumble when you hit something. During initial evaluation by the military (any of you less than fifty will probably not remember because it was complete before any of you were born) they found that under extremely cold conditions and when the round was pushed well over three point something thousand (as I remember it almost 4K) the round tumbled and the accuracy went WAY down. Current ammo is in the low 3K range and tumbling is not a factor.

 

[Loosedhorse]

At usual .223 velocities, the 40 gr "varmit" HP bullets will fragment, so that their exiting a deer-size target is not expected--this is an important consideration for those needing to minimize over-penetration risk from their ARs. The 55 gr HPs' performace is probably similar.

From the Olympic Arms site:

Bottom Line: In every test, with the exception of soft body armor, which none of the SMG fired rounds defeated, the .223 penetrated less on average than any of the pistol bullets....

Hollow and soft point [.223] bullets in this caliber can be expected to upset and fragment much sooner and more consistently that full metal case (FMC) bullets. In light of this more consistent performance, Fackler recommends hollow points over "ball" ammunition for police use, providing the HP bullet penetrates deep enough to disrupt something vital. However, in his candid opinion the most effective round currently available for law enforcement operations is the 64-grain, Winchester-Western, pointed soft point, currently referred to as "Power Point".