Small game with AR-15

[Frog48]

If you were to hunt small game with commercial .223 with your AR-15, would would be the performance differences between 50 grain JHP compared to 55 grain soft point?

I'm guessing that FMJ and/or surplus is not ideal for hunting.

 

[trickyasafox]

fmj is often not legal for game

just something to think about

 

[Limeyfellow]

For most small game the .223 is a little overpowered. You talking coyote and other similar varmints rounds here up to whitetail with good shot placement.

I quite like the Hornady V-Max 55 grain for coyotes. Depends really what game exactly you hunting when you mean small. If its the likes of squirrels, rabbits etc a .22lr will do the job fine and a 40-50 gr bullet .223 for long range shots.

 

[DogBonz]

223 for game that you want to eat?

Not recommended in light weight HP's. You don't want "explosive performance" in a hunting round. If you are talking about dispatching varmints, then a 45gr vmax is awesome.

 

[Frog48]

Yeah, I guess I should have clarified... Coyote, feral pigs, and other pests.

 

[Onmilo]

If by pests you mean those wannabe whitetails there in East Texas, Winchester 64 grain power soft point did the trick for me when I was living in Austin area.
By feral pigs you mean the big ones or the javalina?
I don't think anything less than a .30/06 will stop the big bastards when they are worked up and running.
A 55 grain softpoint will more than do for javalina
I have used 50 grain hollowpoint, 52 grain hollowpoint, 52 grain Match Hollowpoint, 55 grain power softpoint, 55 grain full metal jacket, 62 grain full metal jacket, and 64 grain power soft point ammunition on coyote and fox here in Illinois and they all work pretty much the same out to 300 meters.

Bullet hits critter, critter goes no more than fifty meters and dies.HTH

 

[rangerruck]

the soft point will give you deeper penetration, for tougher game.

 

[quatin]

fmj is often not legal for game

I thought fmj was legal in Texas?

 

[1911 guy]

Coyote and similar sized game.

I'd opt for a good H.P. around 50gr. Anything larger, I'd go for a heavier soft point. If looking for a "do it all" round, err on the side of the heavier S.P.

 

[marineman88]

hello i'm new to this, but i was wondering if you could squirrel hunt with an ar15 .223

 

[Highland Ranger]

No.

Use 22lr for Squirrels.

Look up ballistic tables in your browser and look at the energy difference between the 2 rounds.

I'd guess that a 223 would vaporize a squirrel.

 

[wundudnee]

Works on groundhogs. This one predicted six more weeks of winter.

 

[NailGun]

Look! It's "Lootie" the groundhog! ....oh wait...that's not a Heineken.
Nice shootin, wundudnee.

 

[Onmilo]

I'm just wondering why he gets his own box!

 

[koja48]

Squirrel Hunting with a .223

You could shoot 'em, but don't plan on eating any (or, quite possibly, finding many remains). Squirrels are the reason God created .22s . . .

 

[JShirley]

"Head shots".

 

[never_retreat]

I would kill him also if he was drinking my Yuengling.

 

[Sniper X]

grant, I hunt everything from prarie dogs, Coyotes, feral pigs (smaller ones) , and even deer with my M4 but usually don;t hunt anything I want to eat with it because of the enoumous wound cavaty. I usually use a .44 mag on the big Feral piggies, and .357mag (1894 rifle) for deer or for deer a .308. And the .308 or maybe .223 for the Goats (Pronghorn Antilope), but for varminsts and rodents and basically all non-game animals the .223 is fun...but not on smalll stuff like Squirrels and rabits, those I use the 10-22 or Marlin model 60s.

 

[EricTheBarbarian]

Hunting squirrels with a .223 that i would say youd really have to see to know what its gonna do. ive seen a squirrel take a head shot with an sks and it was nothing short of awesome. It blew the head apart but the meat was fine. Ive heard people tell me before that hitting a rabbit with a 12 ga would blow it to pieces and thered be nothing left. I found that isnt true at all with game loads. Hit a squirrel with a .223 and itd be pretty good whether there was meat left or not. When you put it all in the slow cooker you usually dont loose to much meat even if its tore up. Id be interested to see if anyone has any pics of a squirrel getting hit with a .223.

 

[Reginhild]

In most states you can only hunt small game or varmits with a .223, deer hunting is usually illegal with the .223.

Coyote - 55gr+
Boar - not sure if I would
Smaller stuff - solids/FMJ...unless you want to blow them up.

 

[Beta76]

You can kill pigs up to 200-225 pounds with the .223 using:
Black Hills 68-grain OTM
Cor-Bon 53-grain DPX (Barnes Triple Shok bullet)
Federal 55-grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw
Black Hills or Hornaday 75-grain OTM/TAP
Black Hills 77-grain OTM
Shoot them in the neck or straight into the shoulder.

Do not use 55-grain SPs. They will kill smaller pigs, but start to break up when they hit bone.

This is based upon personal experience covering about 20 kills. I field dressed most of them and took a look at the internal damage. When I opened the chest cavity I found it full of blood, and the onside lung was just trashed.

Steve Moses

 

[TX1911fan]

.223 is legal in Texas for deer.