Why no love for the 55 gr a soft point?

Stu, I found the Hornady 55g with the cannalure to be tough, I don't know if the cannalure helps keep the core and jacket together or not.

I have found them to be very, very accurate in many factory bolt guns, AR's, and customs. The last 6000 that I bought only had the ogive length vary .003 over the lot which is great!
 
hornaday list, .224 55gr. sp sku:2265. I have found the jackets to be thicker than most others? when I lived in new york we would hunt woodchucks for meat, hollow points made a mess. but this bullet would just poke a hole and not waste meat?
 
Originally Posted By: Stu FarishOriginally Posted By: topendAs far as 55gr. soft points, the hornaday heavy jacket not the bulk ones have the best penetration, they flatten out to about the size of a dime! so far I have not had to make a follow up shot using these on a coyote? I stopped using hollow points on larger game! hope this helps.

specifically which bullet is this?


I think he's referring to the 55 gr Hornady SP w/ cannelure vs the 55 gr Hornady SX which is more explosive.
 
Worked in the load today looks decent. May leave it alone it should kill dogs or deer out to 200 yards. The 5th shot was my fault trying to see where my brass was landing. ( I haven't raked around my bench)
 
I also shoot the 55 grain Hornady SP with cannelure in bolt gun and AR and have been very happy with them. I buy mine from T J Conevera's in Rockford IL and pay $93.00 per 1,000 shipped to my door and in about three days there delivered.
 
Last edited:
I use the CCI 450 in my 12 twist CZ-527 in 223, and the group sizes are about half what they are with the 400. That is with W-748. I really prefer the 450 when shooting a ball powder in the 223.

I shoot some of the 50 Blitzkings in it, they do pretty good. But my favorite load is the 50 flat base Dogtown. Very accurate in my rifle, and they flat lay coyotes down. It shoots pretty good with the 40 VMAX as well, but they open really fast and can splash sometimes.
 
Last edited:
Often, a barrel will love either a boat tail sierra spt or a flat base, always check, the results can be amazing.

I just don't know how to sort out shooting long range coyotes with a short barrel 223. The best load that I have come up with for a 223 bolt gun is a heavy charge of Benchmark, cci 450, 53g Hornady V, or 55g Nosler at 3500, 24" bolt gun load only...would tear up any AR. This load is a solid 300 yd load for coyotes. Those 55g Nosler ballistic tips will not fail you, just like the Sierra 55 spt's or BTHP. I have not tried the above load with a Sierra bullet with the hot load of Benchmark.

I have unzipped quite a few coyotes in my life and I hate it every time. Shooting lobber loads is not for me, I want to kill them them outright. Probably no one hates a coyote worse than me after learning that a single pair brought in 22 dead fawns to a den.

If a hot 223 is not right for the area, then I go to a 22/250 AI with a 55g doing 4100, a 243 with an 80g doing 3400+, or a 6 AI with a 70g doing 4000.

Kill'em, don't wound them. My longest shot on a coyote kill is 450, killed 4 on a dead cow, 60g Berger out of a 6 Remington Shilen barrel on a Parker Hale Varmint with a MV of 4000, took 7 shots, cross wind was blowing the gunshot sounds away.

If I lived in the plains states, I would have two choices for a coyote rifle, a 22-243 AI with 80g or a 22-6 Remington AI with the 80g.
 
my colt is a 1/7 twist 223. I found that 68gr Hornady BTHP Match bullets are very accurate in it but they aren't good hunting bullets.

That fast twist generally doesn't like lighter bullets, but I did get both the 53gr VMax and 55gr BT's to shoot well in it, each with more than one powder. I did have to slow them down a bit though, pushed too hard they over stabilize & group size increases.

I'm going to pick up some hornady 55 SP's and see what I can do with them in this rifle.
 
Back
Top