Whats favored Hornady 55gr SP or FMJ

[Bayou1535]

Trying to decide between the two as what to start stock piling, the hornady 55gr SP or FMJ's. Mainly just for paper punching and practice. I have never reloaded rifle before and I figured I might as well start getting things together. From what I understand the SP's are are more accurate but harder to load without a BT. The FMJ's are $71.91 and the SP's are $80.91 a k. Are the SP's worth $9 more? Thanks

 

[LiveLife]

Mainly just for paper punching and practice. I have never reloaded rifle before

If you can, I would suggest you try some of each bullet in your rifle to see which bullet/powder/charge combination give you better performance for your rifle's barrel/thickness/length/twist rate.

Before I started reloading .223/.308 cartridges, I bought various weight factory ammunition to see which bullet weight worked best for each rifle. My 20" 1:9 HBAR didn't have much preference for bullet weight (even after the barrel got hot) at 100 yards but the 16" 1:12 .308 barrel preferred 150-168 gr loads with cool down.

 

[NCsmitty]

Proper case preparation with inside and outside case mouth chamfer will allow the loading of any style bullet without issue. SP bullets will likely be more accurate than most BTFMJ in most rifles.
The bulk SP/HP from Midwayusa and Midsouth are accurate in most rifles, and can be used for target or varmint.

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0000422455SP500

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/93...22-caliber-224-diameter-55-grain-hollow-point


NCsmitty

 

[Walkalong]

The Hornady soft point will out shoot the Hornady open base FMJ all day long. Any FMJ as far as that goes.

I have a .222 Mag that simply loves the Hornady 50 & 55 Gr SP's.

harder to load without a BT

Simply incorrect. They load easy as pie.