Best 5.56/.223 round for hunting

[csmith936]

What's the best bullet for hunting? I've read a lot about the Barnes TSX and TTSX bullets....federal fusion? Nosler?

Anyone around here shoot Barnes in their 5.56 AR's??? I'm looking at the 62gr and 70gr bullets specifically!

I will be hunting with either my DD 5.56 or my BCM 5.56 (both 1/7" twist)

Hogs, varmints, and pretty much anything in between

Thanks!

[Lungbustr]

I bet if you search this topic has been covered at least 2 to 3 thousand times.

[Wylde E]

I just use hornady soft points and it does great on hogs and coyotes. You won't be able to keep the hides but knocks em down.

[csmith936]

I bet if you search this topic has been covered at least 2 to 3 thousand times.

Sorry for asking a question.......

Guess I'll dig deeper next time

[csmith936]

I just use hornady soft points and it does great on hogs and coyotes. You won't be able to keep the hides but knocks em down.

What grain and what kind of accuracy are you able to maintain?

[LWD]

For bigger than small varmints—i.e. for coyotes and up—I'd look at the 75 and 77 grain bullets from Hornady, Nosler, and Sierra. There's little difference between them. They consistently give 3-4" of penetration before extreme fragmentation.

Here's a link to a study of them on AR15.com: http://www.ar15.com/ammo/project/Bal...est5/Test5.htm

If not the 75/77 grain stuff, look at the Hornady 60 grain bullets. I know a guy who's culled into the hundreds of deer with the Hornady 60 grain HP.

LWD

[DUKFVR]

I use the 62 gr. Barnes load by Black Hills. Works Great on game.

[Coach W]

Rule of thumb for the 1:7 twist is anything up to 77 grains.

Im shooting 50 grain vmax out of my 10.5" noveske its sub moa at 100 and deadly on my intended targets (yotes).

Find a round your gun loves and place those suckers well.

[Coach W]

Pic for reference.

[wade _s]

Killed 2 deer this year with my .223. Used 62 gr Fusion on one and 55 gr Hornady sp on the other. Both shot in the shoulder at a little over 130 yd and both required no tracking so I would use either of these again.

[Buck-N-Rut]

Ok ... My AR is 1-7 twist. I load two different rounds. I load the 62 grain barnes tsx behind 24.9 grains of win 748. Very accurate for me. I also load 65 grain Sierra game kings behind 25 grains of Win 748. Also very accurate. I shot a hog with on of the 65 gr game kings and dropped him dead. But a 22 would have dropped him dead because I shot him in te head. So that being said I don't know exactly how good they are on animals. Just like anything else, if you shoot em in the guts then it really doesn't matter.

[csmith936]

For bigger than small varmints—i.e. for coyotes and up—I'd look at the 75 and 77 grain bullets from Hornady, Nosler, and Sierra. There's little difference between them. They consistently give 3-4" of penetration before extreme fragmentation.

Here's a link to a study of them on AR15.com: http://www.ar15.com/ammo/project/Bal...est5/Test5.htm

If not the 75/77 grain stuff, look at the Hornady 60 grain bullets. I know a guy who's culled into the hundreds of deer with the Hornady 60 grain HP.

LWD

Thanks for the info! Link was very informative

I use the 62 gr. Barnes load by Black Hills. Works Great on game.

I was looking at the ammo earlier....guess I need to buy several boxes of different ammo and see what it likes the best!

Rule of thumb for the 1:7 twist is anything up to 77 grains.

Im shooting 50 grain vmax out of my 10.5" noveske its sub moa at 100 and deadly on my intended targets (yotes).

Find a round your gun loves and place those suckers well.

Yea I'm thinking with these 1/7" twist barrels I'm gonna try to find some 70gr pills

Killed 2 deer this year with my .223. Used 62 gr Fusion on one and 55 gr Hornady sp on the other. Both shot in the shoulder at a little over 130 yd and both required no tracking so I would use either of these again.

I've heard a lot of people recommend the fusions as well!

[Drycreek3189]

What grain and what kind of accuracy are you able to maintain?

Depends on what your gun shoots best, but my go to load for yotes or hogs with a .223 is the Hornady Superformance 75 gr. BTHP. I know the heavy bullet is not supposed to group well in the standard twist ARs , but this round is a shooter in both my Mossbergs. It will devastate coyotes and I have never lost a hog with it .

[Mike D]

Thanks for the info! Link was very informative





I was looking at the ammo earlier....guess I need to buy several boxes of different ammo and see what it likes the best!







Yea I'm thinking with these 1/7" twist barrels I'm gonna try to find some 70gr pills







I've heard a lot of people recommend the fusions as well!

Stick to pills in the mid 60 grain range. Barnes 70 grain pills only expand reliably at 2000fps and above. Assuming a 16" barrel, your going to grip below that quick and limit your range quite a bit.

For a premium round get the 62 grain Barnes. For a budget round 62 (or maybe 64 grain, I can't remember) Fusions.

Everything else will fall in between price point wise. The key to killing with small calibers is to keep the speed up as much as possible.

I wouldn't be scared to hunt deer and pigs with a 50 or 55 grain Barnes bullet.

[Jarred]

Monarch brand from academy is really good out off my ruger sr556. The 55 grain soft point works great on deer and hogs and pretty much anything else